Filed under: Uncategorized
We arrived safely home 12:30 a.m. Saturday, June 12th, 2010. Our trip went smoothly, with the exception of the last leg from Chicago to Minneapolis. A late departure from London caused us to miss our connection in Chicago, and the flight we were reassigned to was subsequently delayed. We landed at MSP three hours later than scheduled, and almost exactly 24 hours after we took off from Brussels.
It is nice to be home. Actually, we’re staying at the Borgen house in Bloomington until our house is ready July 1st, but it’s still nice to be home in the sense of being back in the Twin Cities. We expected some sort of reverse culture shock, but so far it just feels a little like we never left.
I am traveling Tuesday to Oklahoma City for an audition, but after I get back I have a few more posts in mind to round out this blog. I have pictures of our last trip to Paris, some thoughts on mouthpieces (I’m sure you can’t wait for that one!), and some general reflections on our year abroad.
Filed under: Uncategorized
We leave Belgium this morning to return home. Departing Brussels Intl. at 12:30 this afternoon, we arrive at MSP at 9:30 p.m. after gaining seven hours along the way. From within the whirlwind of activity this morning, it’s difficult to gauge our emotions, but it’s safe to say that we are simultaneously sad to leave Ghent and excited to return to Minneapolis. Please pray for safe travels!
We have been saying our goodbyes to friends and neighbors in Ghent. Friday I went to a special B.A.E.F. luncheon (B.A.E.F. provides my funding here), where I said thank you to the B.A.E.F. staff, and Katie, Wes, Vera, and I said goodbye to Brussels. Saturday I had my last clarinet choir concert, so I had to say goodbye to many friends from the Ghent clarinet studio. Sunday we had a goodbye tea with our upstairs neighbor, Jasmien, and were later treated to a goodbye snack session with Danre and Gawein at Frituur Sint-Jacob. And today, Monday, Wes said goodbye to the Paddington ride in Zuid shopping mall.
Goodbye Grand Place
Jasmien and Wes
Snacking at Frituur Sint-Jacob
Goodbye, Paddington!
Wes and Paddington (September, 2009)
Being in a reflective mood tonight, I was reading back over some of my early blog posts, made just after our arrival in Belgium. Not surprisingly, many of my feelings about Ghent (and music, and kids, etc.) have evolved over the 9+ months that we’ve been here. In some cases, I discovered that I had even written some factually inaccurate things. For example, in September I wrote a few lines about fries. I said that Frituur Sint-Jacob has “been run by the same family through several generations,” but I now know that the stand was sold a few of years ago AFTER having been run by the same family through several generations. I also wrote that “most people choose mayonnaise” to go with their fries. Really, I was in no position to make such a statement after only a few weeks in Belgium, and it turns out that people choose from a myriad of sauces (cocktail, andalouse, curry ketchup, samurai, etc.) and most often do NOT choose mayonnaise. I wrote in the caption that the fries stand is “in Bij Sint-Jacobs,” but I now know that the Dutch word “bij” means “by” or “at,” so “in Bij Sint-Jacobs” is redundant. I have also learned that fries are just one of many fried treats that people order at the frituur. So, even about something as seemingly simple as “French” fries (a misnomer), I’ve learned a lot this past year. I like to think that most of my fact checking throughout the blog is better than in this one instance, but I’m definitely not the last word.
Belgian fries
Deep-fried bonanza, Belgian style, courtesy of Danre and Gawein
Prior to leaving Belgium, we squeezed in a visit to the dentist. Wes had his first check-up, and I had a very effective ultra-sonic cleaning of my lower front teeth, all for a total of 79 Euro. We waited just ten minutes, and the whole thing lasted about half-an-hour. Based on our experiences with the Belgian health care system, and having talked to a number of Americans living in various other European countries, I’ve concluded that the U.S. healthcare system needs improving, to put it mildly. If I had a lot health issues, I wouldn’t think twice about seeking care outside of the U.S. In fact, if you need major dental work done, I recommend that you consider a medical vacation to Belgium. You can get a European vacation AND your dental work for less than the price of the dental work alone back home. Here is the name of the great, affordable dentist we visited, and whom Katie picked more-or-less randomly from the phone book: Tandarts VERBEKE, 9000 Gent, +32 (0)9 221 67 94
Wes's first check-up. He's fine.
Satisfied customers
Filed under: Clarinet, London, Travel | Tags: Albert Schweitzer, All Hallows, Clarinet Mouthpiece, Club Quarters, Eurostar, London, Ramon Wodkowski, Tower Bridge, Westminster
May 27-31, 2010, we made our first-ever trip to London. The Eurostar whisked us there through the Chunnel from Brussels in under two hours, making it an affordable and convenient trip. We arrived at St. Pancras station at 8:56 a.m., walked to our hotel (Club Quarters, St. Paul’s), took showers, and headed right back out to explore.
Being near St. Paul’s Cathedral meant that we were very centrally located. Two blocks brought us to the River Thames and the new Millenium Bridge. For lunch we had - what else? - fish and chips.
Millenium Bridge over the River Thames
Millenium Bridge with St. Paul's in the background
Enjoying the funicular-style elevator by the bridge
- Fish and chips
After lunch, we walked on to Tower Bridge. Being a structure that so perfectly combines two of Wes’s main passions, towers and bridges, it demanded a climb to the top. The observation deck is enclosed in plexiglass, which was somewhat disappointing, but the mini-museum there gave us a nice introduction to London.
Tower Bridge
The descent from the top of Tower Bridge
We toured All Hallows Church, where Dr. Albert Schweitzer made some of his famous Bach organ recordings in 1935. Like much of old London, the organ he recorded on was destroyed in a German air raid in 1940. The crypt floor in All Hallows has the original mosaic tiled floors of the Roman houses that once stood on the site. A kindly old English lady enjoyed holding Vera while we explored.
In the evening, while I practiced at the hotel, Katie took the kids out for a walk. She came across a garden on the site of a former church, St. Mary Aldermanbury. According to a sign in the garden, the church was destroyed during World War II, but interestingly the ruins were shipped to the United States and it was re-erected in Fulton, Missouri. At least one other London landmark now stands in the United States, namely the 1831 version of London Bridge, which was bought and shipped stone by stone to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, in 1967.
Wes in the Garden of St. Mary Aldermanbury
We ended our first day in London with a late dinner at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, across the street from our hotel.
Friday we spent in and around Westminster. We saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral (entirely different from Westminster Abbey, as I discovered), Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, and Trafalger Square. Lunch was again fish and chips. We rode the tube home and had a late dinner from another London chain – Pizza Express this time. Each morning for breakfast, by the way, we bought muffins, shortbread, scones, pastries, and milk at a Marks and Spencer grocery. The baked goods were so fresh and delectable that every day we bought more of them than we did the day before. The fresh milk (as opposed to the UHT milk in Ghent) was about the best we’ve ever had.
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
Katie with the London Eye in the background. The long lines scared me away from riding it, but I sort of regret skipping it now.
Wes-minster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Quire of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Cathedral
Wes in sun cap with London cab
Buckingham Palace
Diaper change outside of Buckingham Palace
Baby Vera
- St. James Park
We began Saturday with a trip across the Millenium Bidge, past the Tate Modern and Globe Theater, to Borough Market. A market has existed near London Bridge in one form or another for over a thousand years, and it remains a great place to buy produce, gourmet food items, and a quick, high-quality lunch. I tried a Pimm’s lemonade and Katie and Wes shared a regular lemonade. Next we took the Tube to Trafalgar Square to meet my friend Ramon. Having not yet changed the clock on my phone from Belgian time, we arrived over an hour early. Once I realized my mistake, we took the opportunity to visit St. Martin-in-the-Fields church and the National Gallery. Most of the big museums in London, including the National Gallery, are free, which is a great idea in my opinion. We spent just one hour there, but we saw enough to understand that it is one of the world’s great museums. We managed to see most of the Dutch and Flemish paintings, including two Vermeer’s and a full room each of Rembrandt and Rubens. St. Martin-in-the-Fields church was interesting to me because it is the original home of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields chamber orchestra, which is, so I’ve heard, the most recorded orchestra of all time.
Millenium Bridge near Tate Modern
Borough Market
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Interior of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
National Gallery
Baby tourist
Saturday was the only day that we had any rain in London. The rain was not hard and lasted just long enough to give us a taste of London in the rain. It stopped by the time we met Ramon. He took us through Piccadilly Circus, Soho, Covent Garden, and to dinner in Chinatown. After dinner, he helped us onto a double-decker bus back to Club Quarters, our home away from home away from home.
Staying dry in Trafalger Square
Dan and Ramon in Piccadilly Circus
Ramon is one of my best friends from the time I spent at the Yale School of Music. He moved to London six years ago and has developed his career as a clarinetist and clarinet mouthpiece craftsman. On Sunday, he came to the hotel and let me try some of his mouthpieces. He also put a terrific new facing on the old Lelandais mouthpiece I found in our Sint-Jacob flea market.
Ramon working his mouthpiece magic
After the mouthpiece session, Ramon took us via Kensington Gardens and Royal Albert Hall to the Royal College of Music, where he did an artists diploma. We had Sunday dinner (Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for me) at a pub, and stopped briefly outside of Harrods department store.
Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
Ramon in front of the Royal College of Music
Sunday dinner in a British pub
Monday we checked out of our hotel, visited the Tate Modern, met Ramon for lunch at a fantastic Turkish deli, and then went to St. Pancras to catch our afternoon train back to Brussels. On our way to the station, we spent some time in Regent’s Park. British gardens have a charm distinct from those of the continent. They are more wild and whimsical, and to me more relaxing. Katie had read online that a gate at Regent’s Park was the model for the one in Disney’s Mary Poppins where Bert makes his chalk drawings. The park certainly reminded us of the movie, but we couldn’t pin down an exact match with any of the gates we saw.
Bro and sis relaxing in the hotel
Tate Modern
The view across the Thames from a Tate Modern balcony
Turkish Deli
Wes's "house" in Regent's Park
English-style garden (St. James)
After nine months in Belgium, London felt several steps closer to home. Everything was back in English, buildings and streets had a familiar feel, and in general we felt more at ease. Moving from the exotic to the familiar, we felt a little as if we were on a vacation to home. Indeed, we relaxed and slept quite a lot during our five days there, just like you do when you are home from college. Talking to my Belgian friends, I was surprised to learn how many of them, given how short the trip is, had never been to London. To me, this is a good example of why the European Union is not directly analogous to the United States. EU countries have relatively little in common with one another culturally speaking. Ghent is just 200 miles from London, yet almost everything about the two places is different.
The differences between American and British English caused one or two misunderstandings. For example, when we got on the tube for the first time, an older man asked us, “Are you alright?” We replied that we were alright, but that we were getting on the Tube for the first time and trying to figure out the system. He showed us the way to our train. Later, a cashier asked Katie, “Are you alright?” and she responded that she was fine and then asked if he was alright. We were beginning to think that we must really look like a wreck and in need of help, but Ramon later explained to us that in England “Are you alright?” is used the instead of “How are you?” We were relieved to know that we don’t look like a total pity case.
Filed under: Belgium, Clarinet, Ghent, Travel | Tags: Michael Kibbe, potty training, spare ribs, Vinko Globokar
As you may recall, back in April I played a triple clarinet concerto, Michael Kibbe’s “Triple Threat,” with Gawein Antonie and Danre Strydom. Another clarinetist, Valerie, snapped these pictures of us in action:
Rehearsing "Triple Threat" in Miry Hall, Ghent Conservatory
"Triple Threat" performance with Gawein and Danre, April 25th, 2010
In addition to the concerto, we played a different Kibbe trio, “Ebony Suite,” for our fall chamber music exam, and then a completely wacko trio by Vinko Globokar for our spring chamber music exam. All in all, we spent a lot of time together and became good friends. To celebrate a successful year, we three went out for ribs at De Gekroonde Hoofden (The Crowned Heads) with Katie and the kids. Spare ribs are sort of a speciality in Ghent, popular with locals and tourists alike. The most famous ribs restaurant is Amadeus (of which there are now three locations in Ghent alone), but there are a few other nice places as well. De Gekroonde Hoofden is in a cool old building with the heads of kings carved into the facade, situated just across from the canal from the Gravensteen. You choose from four different sauces (original, spicy, honey, sweet and sour), and the waiters will bring as many ribs as you can eat for a flat price. Katie and I both prefered the ribs at De Gekroonde Hoofden to those at Amadeus, but we did miss the baked potatoes with garlic curry sauce that you get at Amadeus. In any case, we recommend going out for ribs when you’re in Ghent.
The trio in front of "De Gekroonde Hoofden"
Ribs!
Keeping Wes busy putting toothpicks into bread
Danre and Wes by the enormous fireplace
After the meal, we recruited Gawein to take a few pictures of our family. Since one of us is usually behind the camera, we have relatively few with all four of us.
In front of the Gravensteen
On the bridge near the Vleeshuis
Earlier in the day, Wes went poopy on the toilet for the very first time. As promised, he got a special present as a reward. We haven’t pushed potty training too hard with him, but it is exciting to see steps in the right direction.
Wes with his new Lego circus train
