WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

A DAY AT THE ZOO WITH MY GRANDSON

Last week I went to the zoo in Antwerp with my 3 year old grandson. The zoo opened it’s doors in 1843, it is in the city center of Antwerp next to the train station so we went by train. It is a small zoo as it is in the city center but a little gem with lots of flowers and century old tree’s, if I would live in Antwerp I think I would go every day. One of my favorite animals here are the gorilla’s , I LOVE gorilla’s !!! As it was during the week and on a schoolday there were not so many visitors so we could go and do what we wanted in piece.

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BABOON

SMALL ANT EATER

MONKEYS, I COULD WATCH THEM ALL DAY

OKAPI, APPARENTLY THERE ARE MORE OKAPI’S LIVING IN ZOO’S THEN IN THE WILD

 

ONE OF THE VERY OLD TREE’S, BEFORE IT WAS A ZOO THIS WAS A PARK WITH VERY OLD TREE’S

THERE ARE ANIMAL STATUES ALL OVER THE GARDEN OF ANIMALS WHO  ONCE LIVED HERE BUT DIED

MOST PEOPLE WHO VISIT THE ZOO GO SIT ON THIS GORILLA TO HAVE THEIR PICTURE TAKEN, UNFORTUNATELY MY GRANDSON WAS AFRAID OF THIS BIG MONKEY….

HERE’S A REAL GORILLA, ISN’T HE  BEAUTIFUL !!???

CHIMPS

BLACKFEET PENGUINS

PELIKANS

HERE IS MY GRANDSON LOOKING FOR NEMO, THIS WAS THE BEST PART FOR HIM, HE WOULDN’T LEAVE THIS AQUARIUM, HE WAS SO PLEASED TO SEE NEMO AND HIS FRIENDS IN REAL LIFE, HE DIDN’ T UNDERSTAND WHY NEMO’S SHARK FRIEND WAS NOT IN THERE WITH THE OTHERS…..

THIS WAS TAKEN INSIDE THE TRAINSTATION OF ANTWERP

As you can imagine we both had a lovely day.

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend all !

 

MAS MUSEUM IN ANTWERP

Last weekend we were in Antwerp where we met some Dutch friends, we had planned to walk arround and visit all the nice places in Antwerp but alas, the weather was cool and it rained constantly so it was a perfect day to visit a museum. As many of the museums in Antwerp are being restored or worked on we decided to go to the MAS museum (means museum on the border of a stream) as you all know Antwerp is a world harbor at the border of the river Scheldt. Part of this museum is filled with permanent exhibitions and part of it is filled with temporary exhibitions, it is huge so we couldn’t see all the exhibitions. The permanent exhibitions are about ships and what they brought back to Antwerp from far away countries.

A VERY OLD MODEL OF A SHIP

THIS LADY WAS ONCE THE FRONT OF A LARGE SAILING  SHIP

AND SO WAS THIS GENT

ALL SORTS OF KNOTS THEY USED FOR BOATS AND SHIPS, YOU COULD LEARN HOW TO MAKE THEM THERE AT THE MUSEUM AND KIDS LOVED IT

THIS BOAT LAY AT THE BACK OF THE MUSEUM AS THE MUSEUM IS ALMOST SURROUNDED BY A SMALL CITY PORT

HERE YOU CAN SEE ANOTHER PART OF THAT SMALL HAVEN, MAINLY USED BY PLEASURE BOATS, AND YOU CAN SEE IT WAS A GREY AND WET DAY

ONE OF THE EXHIBITIONS WAS ABOUT WAR SHIPS IN VIETNAM

THIS TAG BELONGS TO THE SHIP ABOVE

A VERY OLD DUTCH PAINTING

THIS PAINTING IS MADE OF OLD DUTCH TILES FROM DELFT (HOLLAND), THE DELFT TILES ARE ALWAYS IN WHITE AND BLUE AS IS ALL PORCELAIN MADE IN DELFT, SUCH AS COFFEE CUPS AND POTS, TEA CUPS AND POTS, TIMBLES, STATUES……..

THESE HELMETS WERE WORN BY SAILORMEN WHEN THEY HAD TO DEFEND THEIR SHIP

AND THESE WERE THEIR WEAPONS, ALL MADE OF IRON AND VERY VERY HEAVY

JAPANESE DOLL’S

ISN’T SHE PRETTY ????

JAPANESE HORSE

 

OLD AFRICAN ART

A SMALL AFRICAN STATUE MADE OF IVORY, YOU CAN SEE A MIRROR IN THE BACK SO YOU CAN SEE IT IS DECORATED  ON ALL SIDES

DOESN’T HE LOOK SCARY !!!

A VERY OLD BIKE, CAN YOU IMAGINE PEOPLE RODE ON IT !!!!, BEHIND IS A PAINTING OF ANTWERP AND THE BIG HARBOR

AN OLD AMERICAN CAR, IT WAS HUGE

I hope I can show you pictures of the city of Antwerp some day, it is an interesting and very old metropolitan city, with lots of very old buildings and numerous restaurants and bars where you can eat and drink well, in Summer many restaurants serve mussels with French fries (who are actually Belgian fries but that is another story…) a delicatessen !!

 

I hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves !

 

 

BARCELONA ; ART

Barcelona is full of art, and when I say full I mean really full ! It is everywhere you see, old art and new art.

I think you need a life time of holidays to see all the art in Barcelona. But pictures say more than words, right , so here we go.

LIFE STREET ART, PEOPLE LOOKING LIKE STATUES CAN BE SEEN ALL OVER BARCELONA

THESE TWO WORKS I FOUND IN A FORGOTTEN CORNER ON THE STREET

THIS PAINTING OF  A TREE WAS IN A VERY SMALL SHOP, I WAS AMAZED WHEN I SAW IT AND IT WAS REALLY HUGE, SOMETHING FOR A HOUSE WITH BIG BARE WALLS

THIS IS THE WORK OF THE FAMOUS GAUDI, I HAVE DECIDED TO DO A WHOLE BLOGPOST ON GAUDI AS IT IS TOO MUCH TO INCLUDE THE WORK OF GAUDI IN THIS BLOGPOST ON ART

WHAT A PITY SOMEONE SPOILED IT WITH GRAFITTI !

When we were unable to visit the Picasso museum we found the museum of contempory art nearby and what a pleasant surprise it was !!!!

The following pictures were all taken there.

THESE STATUES WERE MADE OF COPPER BUT THEY LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE MADE OF WOOD

HERE YOU CAN SEE THE LIVE MODEL, THE CLAY MODEL AND THE END PRODUCT IN COPPER AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE ARTIST HIMSELF RICHARD MACDONALD.

The following works are from many different artists but also in the museum of contempory art.

ALL THE PHOTO’S YOU MAY THINK ARE PHOTO’S ARE IN FACT PAINTINGS !!!!!

A CLOSE-UP OF THE BLACK AND WHITE PAINTING ABOVE

PAINTING OF A SELFIE PICTURE

This was just a small selection of the art we saw in just 3 days ! My next blogpost will be about Gaudi.

Have a great week all and thanks for stopping by ! And to all mums, HAPPY MOTHERSDAY !

 

 

 

BARCELONA ; VIEWS

Last weekend was a long weekend for us so we headed off to Barcelona for a city trip. Little did we know the whole world had the same idea !!! We knew we wouldn’t be there alone but we never expected it would be so crowded. I had plans to see some things I really wanted to see, alas we had to change that but despite everything I enjoyed every minute of it. Barcelona is a wonderful city but you need to have good feet and a lot of patience as the cues to go see something interesting are loooooong !!!!

Enough said, I’ll show you some pictures of Barcelona in this blog post, the next blog post will be about the art exhibitions we went to and the third blog post will be about flowers and plants, cacti and succulents.

Many of the following pictures were taken from a riding bus so they are not always of good quality.

YOU FIND PEOPLE WHO LOOK LIKE STATUES ALL OVER BARCELONA

OLD BUILDINGS AND STATUES ARE EVERYWHERE YOU SEE

THESE OLD BUILDINGS ARE ALL IN GOOD SHAPE AND CLEAN, DESPITE THE MANY TOURISTS BARCELONA IS A CLEAN CITY

THIS MIRROR WAS ON THE CEILING IN A SHOP, THE FRAME WAS MADE OF SNAIL SHELLS

THERE IS ART EVERYWHERE ON THE STREETS, MODERN ART AND OLD ART

THIS LAMP WAS ON THE CEILING IN THE BREAKFAST ROOM OF OUR HOTEL

THERE IS A HARBOUR FOR PLEASURE BOATS IN THE CITY CENTER

MODERN BUILDINGS

ELECTRIC CITY BIKES YOU CAN RENT ALL OVER THE CITY

BARCELONA IS A GREEN CITY WITH LOTS OF TREE’S AND WINTERGREEN SHRUBS

AND HERE SHE IS, THE SAGRADA FAMILIA,THEY ARE FOREVER WORKING ON IT………, IF YOU WANT TO VISIT THIS CHURCH INSIDE YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR MANY HOURS OR SLEEP ON A BENCH IN FRONT OF IT THE DAY BEFORE IN ORDER TO BE THE FIRST VISITOR IN THE MORNING….

THERE ARE SOUVENIR AND FOOD STALLS NEAR EVERY INTERESTING PLACE YOU CAN VISIT

 

A NARROW STREET IN THE OLD CITY CENTER

THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING INTO THE FOOTBALL STADION OF BARCELONA, THERE WERE 120.000 VISITORS THAT NIGHT, THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN AROUND NOON, THEY WERE ALREADY ARRIVING FOR THE MATCH A 21.00 H !!

STALLS NEAR THE FOOTBALL STADION

This was just a small selection of the photo’s I took in Barcelona, feel free to ask questions if you have some, ok ?

Have a great week ! and thanks for stopping by !