A European Collection

We stopped in many beautiful churches, both grand and tiny, on our travels in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Here are some pics of churches, religious icons and statues that we enjoyed:

This first picture is from Midnight Mass on Christmas in the town of Hengelo, on the Eastern side of the Netherlands.

Hengelo Madonna and Child.

After the Christmas holiday we traveled just across the border to the German town of Bad Bentheim.("Bad" meaning "Bath"; this town is known for hot springs which, sadly, we did not visit).
This Jesus-on-a-Cross is made of stone and about 1000 years old. It's quite famous for it's age, and for centuries was the only statue of Jesus in the region. There is still a local saying, when someone is concerned, of exclaiming to "Lord of Bentheim!"


This next series of photos is inside the Bad Bentheim castle chapel. At that time they didn't have church pews; people stood through mass. Interestingly, this chapel is one of the rare places where the altar is lower than the rest of the floor, and is studied for this architectural oddity. The chapel was very simple: it was Catholic but built around the time of the Reformation when decorations were discouraged. I loved the light in this space. This (VERY OLD) wooden Mary statue was double-sided, with the same engraved image on both sides. It hung in front of the altar.








From the balcony.



After only one day in Germany, we were off to Belgium! This is me outside of the Beguinehof chapel in Leuven, Belgium.


Also in Leuven, we visited St. Peter's church in the town center. This Madonna statue is sortof the town mascot, hoisted around in annual centuries-old parades (and still today)! This particular statue is actually a copy of a copy. The original was too small to be seen in the parade, so they made a larger one. Then the French repeatedly came through and burned down the whole church. This is the third version.

This wooden head of Christ is believed to be miraculous. It was originally on a crucifix carved around the 1200's. In the 1700's a French army ransacked the church and burned it out. However, this head happened to be out of the church at the time being repaired. The head was lost for several hundred years and recovered in a flea market in Paris. A monk from Leuven found it at the flea market, purchased it for a small price, and returned it to the city. Some people consider this artifact to be miraculous because it 'cries' (Our tour guide acknowledged that the 'tears' could be tree sap).

St. Peter's is enormous, and was built from front to back over the course of CENTURIES of building. Consequently, the head of the church is Romanesque, and the back of the church is much newer architecture (Maybe Baroque? I've forgotten.) I liked the Romanesque columns popular in its groundbreaking in the 1400's.

Our wonderful tour guide told us that this fascinating statue is called an "Anna Trinity", depicting Anna (mother of Mary), Mary, and Jesus. This style of statue was popular in this region of the world for some time, although I'm not clear on the theology.

Another Anna Trinity.

My dear friend Amber has a special relationship with Mary, whom she prays to frequently. I'm not quite sure how she started this, being raised in Protestant and Wiccan households, but this alliance with Mary has seemed to serve her especially well while she's lived in Catholic Holland. When I was sick last year, she often visited Mary chapels to pray for my health.

I noticed many fleur-de-lis in this particular church, which was probably influenced by French styles and/or theology. I was interested to see this, as several years ago I studied the history of this symbol. There is a reputed historical connection between the fleur-de-lis symbol and the belief that Mary of Magdela was the bride of Jesus. According one version of the story, Mary, pregnant with Christ's child, fled in a boat to Gaul (Southern France) where she gave birth to Sarah. Jesus' bloodline is said to continue in Southern France. There are no historical documents indicating whether this story is true (or false), but there is considerable documentation of the belief of this story in Gaul. Whether or not it's true, I found it interesting to see the art. This picture is taken from behind the main altar in this Belgian church.

And here's Joseph, holding a lily (upon which the fleur-de-lis is designed), with Jesus.

I like this peaceful depiction of Mother and Child.


On the morning of 12/31, Nick and I traveled to Brussels, Belgium to see the tourist sites and find more chocolate. Here's Nick taking a stand at the Cathedral in Brussels with somebishop. We like the modern building just across the street from the Cathedral, which echoed the old-style towers and windows in a fresh way.

Here's another Anna Trinity in Brussels!

The amazing celing in the church of St. Nicholi, in the very center of Brussels.

St. Nicholas!

In several churches in Brussels, we found statues of St. Therese of Lisieux!

And a Belgian bar, decorated with churchy paraphernalia and stained glass windows! With house-made brews! What a great way to end the tour.

A favorite from our Europe trip: the Beguinehof

I've intended to write more about our trip to Europe, before I forget it all. There are two official languages of Belgium: Dutch and French. Going to Belgium was a nice opportunity for me to practice my French, which I hadn't studied since high school. Perhaps my favorite thing in our trip to Belgium this Christmas time was the Beguinehof in Leuven, a small town outside of Brussels. On December 29 we arrived at the Leuven/Louvain train station, Belgium.


Belgium is totally beautiful. I've already written about the food and beer, but just look at this:

Loading…

No results found.

On the morning of the 30th we got up early (before sunrise) to attend a Taize prayer service in St. Peter's church.

The Groot Begijnhof (pronounced Beh-HEIN-hoff) was founded by the Beguines in 1232, though most of its houses date from the 17thC when around 300 Beguines still lived here. It's a UNESCO world heritage site, and you can read more about Beguines here.

Loading…

Groot Begijnhof was founded by the Beguines in 1232, though most of its houses date from the 17thC when around 300 Beguines still lived here.

our last meal before going to Europe: Mexican, of course!

Getting on the train from Amsterdam to Hengelo. Amber kindly met us at the airport in Amsterdam (2 hours from her home).

A little tired.

Vegetable sandwich and chocolate croissants from DeliFrance.

This is the first stupid picture. Whenever I go to a new country and I'm all excited about everything, I tend to take dumb pictures of things like this, or a pigeon, or the garbage cans or... you know. In this case, I was all excited because I thought this was THE Grolsch restaurant (the famous beer Grolsch is made in Hengelo). However, i would come to see many similar Grolsch signs around town: this restaurant happens to be Mexican food. Go figure.

The alleyway leading to Amber and Adam's apartment is paved with very old, misfitting bricks. I wonder how long ago those bricks were laid?

The town of Hengeo installed a temporary ice rink in the town square during the holiday season. Ice skating is a traditionally important sport in the Netherlands, harking back to the time when people used to skate the canals. However, due to global climate change, Netherland's canals haven't frozen over in decades and so people must skate in places like this.

Gracie really enjoys this ride in the holiday festival!

These fellows played their long wooden horns, similar to an alpenhorn, in the town square. And look at their great wooden clogs!

Hengelo has two nice clocktowers.

These ladies, dressed as Santa's helpers, handed out clementine oranges and Dutch cookies. They pushed a large cart and announced themselves with their bells.

I told them that my friend lives just above this store here. They clanged their bells in greeting to Amber.

Amber poked her head out of the livingroom (just one floor above the town square) to wave hello and suggest a nice beer for us to try at the bar.

Because of the distinctive shape of the glass, the flavor of this beer changed as we got to the bottom 'bulb' of the glass. Amazing!

I'm off to meet three friends of mine And sing a song of cheer, And if you'd like to know their names, They're Porter, Ale and Beer.

This was a nice end to our long day of travel to Europe! We were glad we 'pushed through' and stayed up late the first night to adjust our body clocks... and enjoy these delicious beers!

The Dutch eat french fries with an extreme amount of mayo.

The market.

Fish and chips.

Sausage (vors). It was fun for me to be in the Netherlands and learn some of the Dutch words... Africaans, one of the official languages of South Africa, is based on Dutch. It was exciting when I recognized a word! Nick also had opportunity to practice his German.

Amber choosing produce.

Adam and Mary Grace looking on.

Dutch cheeses are amazing!

These waffles, bought from the olibolla (sp? donut) stand, were pretty tasty!

Nick, Adam and Gracie went on a bike ride into the countryside.

"This is how you make a pie crust."

On Christmas Eve the Briggles hosted several friends and coworkers to eat dinner and do a gift exchange.

Hagel slag is a weird Dutch traditional (?) food. It's chocolate sprinkles which you put on your morning toast. Maybe it's Holland's answer to Count Chocula?

Baby likes beer. (don't worry - it's not open)

Many bikes outside the church before Christmas Midnight Mass.

Midnight Mass was packed!

Perhaps the best Dutch food: Stroopwaffles!

Gracie LOVES her new musical instruments!

She is totally standing on her own! At 10 months!

I love this photo of Gracie and Adam!

Aunt Valerie, Mary Grace, Amber, Aunt Teresa

This was the door to Hengelo's historical museum.

Hengelo is in the far Eastern side of the Netherlands, but some canals do extend this far inland.

I didn't expect there to be 'coffee shops' in this small town, but had always heard about them in Amsterdam. They certainly smelled ...herbal... as we walked by. But we kept on walking.

This building was a very strange combination of old and new architecture.

Adam and Nick were crafty, making beaded tree ornaments.

Mary Grace read the book I brought her from my church. "God's Dream" by Bishop Desmond Tutu.

What a lovely view she has of the church from her livingroom window!

Gracie cried when I tried to pick her up. Here's a series of us getting acquainted...

Who are you?

Why is Daddy in my ball house?

Goin out on the town...

a funny outdoor 'couch' in Enschede

There's a carnival! It's a giant ferris wheel next to the church in Enschede!

Leinenkugels! And Bud.

Juices in the grocery store Hema.

How cute! You can buy little cheese pieces with herbs on them... ready for serving on fancy crackers!

Rasperry gelato in champagne glasses!

St. Norbert's church in Hengelo. It's cold!

Olive bar at the market.

Fish and chips, served with curry ketchup (for the chips).

Gelato.

When Adam wipes off her face, Gracie likes to suck on the wet paper towel.

I like it when dudes-in-the-back jump into our pictures. Makes me laugh!

Look! It's a German castle! We went to the town of Bad Bentheim, just over the border from the Netherlands.

We got really lucky! Although it was a Sunday, there happened to be a guided tour just when we arrived. The tour-guide-man spoke in German, which gave Nick opportunity to try to use his German comprehension. Amber's German is pretty good, but our friend/tour guide was fluent in all three (Dutch/German/English). What luck!

These photos are from the night watchman's tower.

This Jesus-on-a-Cross is made of stone and about 1000 years old. It's quite famous for it's age, and for centuries was the only statue of Jesus in the region. There is still a local saying, when someone is concerned, of exclaiming to "Lord of Bentheim!"

We were inside the castle armory/torture chamber when I took this photo looking out upon a huge statue of a lion.

This armory was also used as a prison and torture chamber. They would lock up criminals (or... someone they wanted to confess) into this tiny little cell and leave them for several days with no food or water. This would usually lead to a confession.

This is a newer area of the caste, built in maybe the 1700's.

Nick likes libraries.

This series of photos is inside the Bad Bentheim castle chapel. At that time they didn't have church pews; people stood through mass. Interestingly, this chapel is one of the rare places where the altar is lower than the rest of the floor. The chapel was very simple: it was Catholic but built around the time of the Reformation when decorations were discouraged.

This (VERY OLD) wooden Mary statue was double-sided, with the same engraved image on both sides.

N in the castle entrance, where the guards used to stand. There are many scratches and indentations on the stones here. Historically, visitors to the castle were only able to bring in one small dagger (they had to 'check their swords at the door'). That dagger was allowed but they had to 'dull' it before entering; thus the indentations on the stone.

A giant LION! Notice, this is the same stone lion we saw when we were inside the armory/torture chamber.

Driving further into Germany.

We drove to the German town of Tecklenberg. Notice the pastoral scene, with a nuclear power plant in the background.

The old castle wall in Tecklenberg.

I was in pain from walking in the cold. We stopped and had hot cocoa and waffles.

amazing ice cream (CREAM) and cherries (not from a can) on a waffle; Tecklenberg, Germany

There was a "witch" theme in this town, but we don't know why...

Beautiful!

Holland!

A glimpse of the future : Mary Grace and windmills.

Leuven/Louvain train station, Belgium. There are two official languages of Belgium: Dutch and French. Going to Belgium was a nice opportunity for me to practice my French, which I hadn't studied since high school.

Louven library. The Universiteitsbibliotheek was rebuilt in Flemish Renaissance style after a fire raged through it in WWI. Rebuilt from the charity of 400 American universities, it again burnt down in WWII and was rebuilt yet again.

On the morning of the 30th we got up early (before sunrise) to attend a Taize prayer service in the church.

Leuven stadhuis (town hall). Late-Gothic with 236 statues representing prominent locals throughout the ages - scholars, artists, nobility - but were added as an afterthought in the mid-19thC. The stadhuis survived relatively unscathed during the wars.

This wooden head of Christ was originally on a crucifix. In the 1700's a French army ransacked the church and burned it out. However, this head happened to be out of the church at the time being repaired. The head was lost for several hundred years and recovered in a flea market in Paris. A monk from Leuven found it at the flea market, purchased it for a small price, and returned it to the city. Some people consider this artifact to be miraculous because it 'cries' (tree sap?).

A common image in these parts is the Anna Trinity: Anna (mother of Mary), Mary, Jesus.

Note the fleur de lis on the back of the crucifix. I didn't have an opportunity to ask our tour guide whether people in this region believed in Mary of Magdala/Sarah.

This famous painting is by Dirk Bouts (1415-75), a Flemish Primitive artist who spend much of his life in Leuven. Het Laaste Avondmaal (The Last Supper) shows the purple-clad Christ surrounded by his disciples in a typical Flemish dining hall. Bouts painted this between 1464-67 and it is considered to be one of the period's masterpieces, mixing Biblical theme with contemporary Gothic architecture. Unique for the time, Flemish Primitives painted lush landscapes (as opposed to Italians at the same time who had no background). The panels were sold off several times and ended up in Germany, returned to Leuven after WWI as part of war reparations, and carted off again in WWII and saw the war out stored in a salt mine.

This area is the original pillars and altar of the church built on this spot in the 12thC, underneath the currently standing St. Peter's Church of the 1400s. It is unusual because of the octagonal shape.

Anna Trinity.

The crown sitting atop this Mary is not part of the original (and our tour guide felt strongly that this detracted from her beauty). Actually, the original sculpture was much smaller than this one, and was carried about town in festivals (it's the patron of Leuven's famous Katholic University). However, the original was too small so they built a larger statue. Then that statue was bombed, so this is the newest version.

Domus, a microbrewery in Louven. Also in Leuven, Stella Artois is made.

St. Peter's.

Oude Markt

Groot Begijnhof was founded by the Beguines in 1232, though most of its houses date from the 17thC when around 300 Beguines still lived here.

St. Jan de Doperker's Gothic facade supposedly hides an elaborate barouque interior (but, alas, the doors were locked and we could only walk around the outside).

Dijle River, running through the Begijnhof.

Notice the Stars of David.

Stopping for hot cocoa.

Tartufo chocolatier: family-owned, handmade, creative

G. Raets-Putsevs

This guy bought us a beer and talked our ears off. He'd had a hard time recently, but plans to move to Mexico.

We went to an Indian restaurant on the night of the 30, but MG was feeling ill and fussy. She became very sick later that evening. But even when she was upset, the pretty lights never failed to excite her!

Rough-housing, pre-vomit.

On the morning of 12/31 Nick and I traveled to Brussels (just 20 minutes by train from our cute little Leuven). Here's Nick taking a stand at the Cathedral in Brussels with somebishop. We like the modern building just across the street from the Cathedral, which echoed the old-style towers and windows in a fresh way.

Cathedrale

The waffles in Belgium really are superior to those in Netherlands.

Famous Brussels lace.

Happy New Year! We visited Brussels on 12/31/08.

Jeanneke Pis (the less famous female counterpart to Manneken Pis) was erected in 1895 by Denis Adrien Debouvrie.

Remarkable, and very famous, and very touristy "Grand Place" in the Grote Markt.

Church of St. Nicholas near the Grote Markt. The church dates back to the origins of the city of Brussels about 1000 years ago, but very little of the original remains. Major events for the building: The choir dates to 1381, the Lady Chapel from 1486, heavy damage from religious disturbances in 1579 (including dozens of priests martyred in the church), bombardment of the town in 1695 (French?), collapse of tower in 1714, transfer of the reliquary of marters in 1868, new stained glass window restored 1956.

St. Nicholas

St. Therese

When most of these churches were built they were painted vivid colors with religious paintings. But in the time of Reformation is was considered 'too much'/unfashionable/offensive to have such decoration, so most of the paintings were removed. You can see a little of the remaining here.

We happened upon this mysterious alleyway...

which lead to a bar that looked like a church inside, complete with religous stained glass and statues!

De Biertempel, stocking 550 Belgian brews plus matching glasses and all manner of beer paraphernalia.

Cookie/candy shoppe. i bought caramel.

Just in front of St. Catherin's church, we encountered the strangest carousel we have ever seen. It had creepy music and the weirdest rides!

That ride is like a steamengine or combustion engine.

flying unicorn with flapping wings

iguana with a submarine-like shell on its back, which you can crawl in; seahorse; strange fish

this boat moved up and down in waves, and dolphins lept out of the waves around it!

flying man with flapping wings; giant beatle

pufferfish - on most of the rides the kids could push bicycle-like pedals to make wings flap

ostrich

lambic (cherry) beer (very belgian)

the steam engine thing

ostrich with real feathers and a moveable neck

St. Catherine

all chocolate : clogs, santa, yule logs

back in the Grand Place, this Guidhall had phallic-like decorations carved into the columns.

Brussels has a famous Atomium, a space-age leftover from the 1958 World Fair. It was built by the Belgian metal industry as a model of an iron molecule enlarged 165 billion times. It's 102m high. Pretty famous. We didn't see it, but here's a version of it made out of chocolate.

Manneken Pis, a national symbol, sculpted by Jerome Duquesnoy in 1619, but a stone version stood here from the mid-14thC. Some say he's modeled on a boy who extinguished a fire; others say he was a nobleman's son.

That's Nick to the far L, in line with the men in the painting.

another Anna Trinity

Nick's New Year's Eve meal, very famous in Belgium: seafood chowder in a white wine cream.

For our three nights in Leuven we stayed at the Holiday Inn very near the center. They served a generous breakfast (included in room price) and had comfortable rooms. This is New Year's breakfast, all feeling ill. Gracie was just recovering, but Nick and I would become very ill later that day.

Riding the train on 1/1/09, violently ill. My 'thumbs-up' reminiscent of a plane ride on 1/3/08 with a busted-up leg.

Nick took a canal tour of Amsterdam on January 2, once he had recovered sufficiently to go out for a couple hours. This is the only photo we have of Amsterdam; Teresa didn't make it out of the house at all.

America! Welcome back!

No results found.

Amber and I were both drawn to visit the home of these women in intentional community. From her reading and travels, she's learned that many Beguines decided to form community because, while so many men were off fighting or perished at war, the women needed to come together for protection and economic viability. Along the way, they built strikingly beautiful villages.

Now this Beguinehof is used for visiting professors' housing for Leuven University. Adam and Amber hope that, someday, Adam could work here for a while so that they might be able to live here.

The protective wall surrounding the community has wells on both sides.