Birthday Waltz

Here's the link for the video I mailed you about:

Here's the story behind it:

My birthday present this year was a private lesson at my old ballroom dance school in Arnhem.
For years I had been nagging Pieter: I so very very much wanted to once again dance a Viennese Waltz (the most glam of all the ballroom dances, imho!).

The Viennese Waltz I did. Plus we were trained up a bit on the quickstep: Pieter was taught the spin turn in order to - well, yes - turn corners.

And I'm still super proud I got on the floor and waltzed away - after a whopping 40 years.
Kudos for my ballroom teacher in '75, and for his son who danced with me now and made it feel the easiest thing in the world!


Now that I have your attention: I must admit I've been a bit slack on the blogging front. I have finally  finished the blogs of our Midlands holiday (see August), but haven't started yet on our last trip: the Gambia, where we spent a wonderful week before Christmas. Am going to do so very soon, I'll keep you posted when you can read all about it ;)

Sunsets in Staffs

A room with a view, that's what we had when we stayed a couple of nights in Cheadle, Staffordshire. 

The place must be famous for it's sunsets. They're stunning, aren't they!

Vibrant Birmingham

It might have been because of the bright Summer weather. It might very well have been because Birmingham is always a vibrant city, but the two days we spent there it was full of strolling people, literally from all corners of the world, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

And then the city itself!
The canals with the locks and narrowboats, the construction activity that gave the city a Rotterdam-like feel, the large square with the library and the famous Symphony Hall, the markets, open and covered, as interesting as their mediterranean counterparts.
We loved it.
We'll be back for sure.
In the meantime, check out the photo's of what we thought Birminghams most interesting feature: all the waterways that crisscross the city.

ps with two extra's. Think the Beauty and the Beast - had to include them ;) 

The Birmingham Central Library: a librarian's dream

I planned to write only one blog about Birmingham. Then I saw all the pictures I took from the Central  Library and suddenly, vividly remembered the stunning building. 

This library - designed by the female Dutch architect Francine Houben - is a librarian's dream come true, and since I'm (still) a librarian, I couldn't resist blogging about this unique building. 

The building is stunning, by any standards. 

The city has been very brave to build it. 

Only trouble is - and that's why the building for us librarians is still a dream - the city council forgot that  a building by itself doesn't make a library. You need books. And there's no money left to buy new ones. 

So the public is asked to donate..... 

The Big Hoot

Nothing could have endeared me more to Birmingham than their Summer Art Exhibition, a colourful invasion of many (85, all over the city!) individual designed owls.
Man sized they were everywhere, and we soon tried to find as many as possible.

We didn't have time to find all of them, and I shan't show you each and every owls we did find.
See how Birmingham celebrated summer!

Potteries!

My first official thesis was about (Josiah) Wedgwood - I was 17. Never could I have imagined then I would once visit the Barlaston Wedgwood factory IRL. Together with a lot of other porcelain factories!

After Blackpool we stayed south of Stoke on Trent (Potteries country) and had a great time visiting the various potteries. This again is such an interesting part of English History!
Now I'm not the one to update you on this subject, but do see some pics I took that might give you a good impression of this centuries old industry.

PS. Please note. I wrote way back then about Josiah Wedgwood because I was interested in what he had accomplished and I revered him for his social works. When we visited 'his' factory the new premises - museum, shop - were just about finished. It's the new 'World of Wedgwood Visitor Experience'. 
The museum is stunning. 
The shop offers the now on sale porcelain, and it's for the Super Wealthy. Only. Think Russian olicharchs and Middle East (Oil) sheiks. 'Normal' people, like the inhabitants of Barlaston and Stoke,  can hardly afford the beautifully made Wedgwood anymore. Nor can I. 

Personally I don't know if Josiah would have agreed, had he lived now. 
That said, perhaps it's the only way to survive these days. I don't know. But the blatant, shiny, glittery - and IMHO rather tasteless - luxury of the new shop was rather overpowering and it strongly gave the impression we didn't belong there. Unworthy. 
And that's a pity. 

Oh Oh Blackpool

We're Dutch and we're Anglophiles.
Come the Summer holidays and the endless traffic jams in the countries we normally spend our holidays in.
And we want to Go Away.
So we consider our options and decide we want to see Blackpool.
Famous holiday resort, in an - to us - unknown part of England.

Fast forward to a week later, when we took the Hoek van Holland - Harwich ferry, spent a couple of days in the Peak district (read my last blog, this is such a beautiful part of England!) and went to Blackpool.
To see it IRL.

Goodness - what a sorry place it was.
Blackpool had it's heyday more than a century ago. You can still see the grandeur it had way back then but now the place has a cheap, dilapidated feel that was enhanced by the weather: too cold, too windy, with the usual promise of rain. BTW, this seems to be how the English remember their Blackpool holidays as well, weather wise ;)

We felt so sorry for the place. And I am so sorry I can't make it other than that.
I'm glad I've been there. Perhaps I'll come back again in a blazing summer. But for now - see my pics.

Brontë country: the stunning beauty of the Peak District

'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.'
(first lines of Jane Eyre). 

Whatever idea I had of the Peak Districts' moors and dales after reading the Brontë sisters - - it wasn't what we saw when we came there to spend our holiday: a stunningly beautiful, mid summer landscape.

In between visiting the cities that surround the Peak District we came back again and again to this splendid countryside. At the beginning of August we drove around in total silence, and in blazing sun - only once we drove in the mist the Brontë sisters described so strikingly. We did love that special atmosphere but alas, no eery countryside for us, bright blue skies it was!

We kept taking pictures. We can only show you a tiny selection.
If ever you can: go and see the moors and dales in real life. You won't regret it.