Hertogenbosch

Yesterday we did some of the tourista thing and went to the nearn by town of 's-Hertogenbosch and is the capital of the province of North Brabant.  The Dutch colloquially seldom say 's-Hertogenbosch but Den Bosch, which is traditional Dutch for "The Forest". It is only about 15 km away and Hettie drove us for this outing. Finding the car park was interesting and with both the Tom Tom and Koos giving Hettie directions! She is quite patient, with the "yes, Koos. Yes, Koos!" as she simply drives the way she wants. He doesn't drive (and never has) but he is good at giving directions! lol! We parked the car a couple of km from the town centre and took a free bus. 2 Euro for parking and the bus. It was quite crowded and I ended up facing backwards and standing and was quite happy it was only a short ride!

Den Bosch is a beautiful town and the highlight is Sint-Jankathedraal, the Roman Catholic catherdral which is the first place we went. It is still operating and open to the public for free 7 days a week. What a magnificant example of gothic architecture. It never fails to fascinate me to imagine how these buildings were constructed centuries ago. The cathedral has a total length of 115 meters and a width of 62. Its tower is 73 meters high. It receives support from the Dutch government and the entry into the cathedral is free. They have a staff of 150 volunteers that keep it running for the public. The cubic capacity of the church is 83,000 cubic meters and the floor surface is 5000 square meters. Just shut your eyes for a moment and try and grasp the sheer size of that.  The foundation of the church was put in by Duke Henry I of Brabant in 1185. 1185!! Wow! And by 1210 the base of the Roman St John's had begun. By 1280 it was a self-supporting parish. After the turn of the next century, in 1318 'ish the current Duke ordered the ramparts to be widened and the original church now stands inside those walls. And by the mid 1300's, the architcture had turned to the gothic style. The transept and choir were finished in 1450. and the cathedral completed in 1529. As the cathedral was being built, there were multiple fires which caused setbacks and reconstruction etc.  At a certain point in time (early 1600's) the cathedral belonged to a protestant minority and eventually fell into a heavily dilapitated state. Finally in 1810, it was returned to the Catholics by Napolean (because they had the money) for ownership and restoration. The 3rd (and most recent) rennovation of the cathedral started in 1998 and was completed in 2010, and cost more than 48 million Euro. There are 600 statues inside and outside the cathedral, and of the 59 churchbells (yes, I said 59) the heaviest weighs 5500 kilograms. During the last restoration 25 new angels statues had been created by sculptor Ton Mooy, including the one with a modern twist. The last angel in the series holds a mobile phone and also wears jeans. "The phone has just one button, says the artist. - It dials directly to God". The mobile-using angel had to be first approved by the cathedral's fathers, who rejected earlier designs with the jet engines on the angel's back. The great organ that is above the entrance  dates from 1617 and is a sight to behold. And the stain glass windows! 700 square meters of stained glass windows. I could have spent all day just studying the windows alone.

After the cathedral visit, we wandered across the street to rest at an outdoor cafe where the people watching was premium and the food and drink even better.  I had a toasted brie and pecan panini and it was mmmmm, mmmmmm, MMMMMMMMMM!!! We sat for an hour and relaxed and visited with our table neighbours as they came and went. After this, we wandered the street towards the market square where we could hear a brass band playing. It was once again somewhat like herding cats! lol! Dad stopping to chat with complete strangers and seeing which children he could get to give him a high five, while Hettie wanted to get both her old men to pose with her in front of the living statues (street entertainers), while I kept looking for kodak moments! Finally, they spotted some ice cream and may a beeline for the ice cream lineup while I wandered the square with my camera. I have a wonderful photo of Koos with his ice cream, dancing in the street!  :-)  We didn't really visit any shops, although at one point I was standing in front of a souvenir shop when Koos came up to see what I was looking at and he immediately exclaimed "I hate that!" When I questioned him, he said "The whole world thinks we (the Dutch) eat from Blue Delft and wear wooden shoes!" I laughed and told him it was ok, because the whole world thinks we (the Canadians) live in igloos and travel most of the year by dog sled!

Last night we went out to a favourite restaurant of Koos's here in Boxtel. The Lotus. And yes it was Chinese food. It was excellent and quite a fun experience trying to understand a chinese menu  in Dutch. The banter between Dad and Koos often has me in stitches. Last evening as we were sitting visiting with Marie Christine and Franz, Koos started to tell a story about the Chinese food restaurant as he has frequented it for decades and MC's dog came over to stare at me. I invited Snoopy to sit on my lap and at the same time, Dad made a comment to Franz. Koos muttered "pot fer damma" and stopped his story and refused to continue. We teased him and told him we were listening and he said "No! Jeannie is talking to the dog and Ted to Franz" and we laughed and he said we had to pay attention to him if we wanted to hear the rest of the story. So we teased him, gave him our rapt attention and said please Koos, please continue!! He laughed, and there was a dramatic pause ... and .... Koos said he couldn't remember what he had been about to tell us! Well!! We all laughed till we cried and never did hear the rest of the story!! ;-)

Time to go! Dad and I are headed back to Den Bosch by bicycle today to see more of the city. More later!