I’m busy. And tired. And busy. And tired. Probably tired, because I’m busy. But I finally took the time to go through the rest of the Antwerp photos. It was gloomy most of the time, so I won’t share too many photos, because grey sky above grey buildings is depressing. I’ll go back to Antwerp next year for sure…
We did get some blue sky in between…
There are some interesting sculptures and statues in the city centre. Nello & Patrasche in front of the cathedral and then of course the Brabo fountain, which shows Roman hero Brabo throwing the hand he had cut off a giant. The “hand throwing” (hand – worpen in dutch) is the reason the city is called Antwerp.
The grey and gloomy sky was the reason I only share a night time photo of the outside of the cathedral. I went in after a long day of sightseeing, so I might not have been able to take it all in with the appreciation it deserves. It’s a vast space filled with typical cathedral stuff – stained glass windows, statues and all that. This one though also had a lot of paintings by Rubens.
We also went to this cool modern building – the MAS – Museum an de Stroom, which houses a variety of collections. We went up to the roof terrace. By escalator because we didn’t see the sign for the lift. There clearly needs to be better signage, because I’m sure we looked! We were tired! Escalators are fine of course, but it took ages. Look at the size of the building. But enough moaning, it was kind of cool.
Lyrics “Reasons Not to Be an Idiot” – Frank Turner, 2008
I’ve been back home from my last stint as “Travelling Fangirl” for a good week now and still haven’t shared any photos or stories. From the two Frank Turner gigs I went to or from the two cities I visited – Antwerp and Paris.
So, Antwerp. We went there because Frank Turner played a show, but also because the city itself seemed interesting enough. And it was. So lovely and with so many interesting museums / buildings / churches to see. We only were there for a day and so of course were only able to scratch the surface. I do plan to spend a whole weekend or even a bit longer there next year – preferable in the spring / summer and not November.
Let’s start with my favourite (only to be honest) museum I visited that day. The Museum Plantin-Moreteus, which is a museum about the history of book-printing and within that also about cartography. As someone who loves maps and cartography and books and who is interested in the history of things I was in my absolute nerd heaven. Which I hadn’t even expected to be to be honest. I came back out with the impulse to find non-fiction history books on a variety of subjects, which I felt I don’t know enough about. I admit I haven’t gone searching for those books yet, but I might.
Here are the two things that made my nerd heart soar a bit in this museum, both came as a surprise.
Remember the days – 20 or so years ago – when more and more fonts became available in any kind of word processors or web design software? How many do you really know of, except Times New Roman, Arial and Comic Sans? Did or do you have favourite fonts?
I always had a thing for serif fonts. Not Times New Roman in particular, but others. Georgia is my favourite these days, I think. On this blog I use a font called Libre Baskerville. I must have had a thing for the Garamond font back in the day as well. At least I remember it well. So imagine my delight to see this little label on a wall next to a glass case:
Information on GaramondThe original Garamond matrices
How awesome is that? The mere idea that we are typing our thoughts in a typeface someone had thought of 400 hundred years ago?
The whole process of actually making the metal types being used for printing also was super interesting to read up on and see images off. How they standarized the types so that the letters are all spaced equally in a line / on a page and all that stuff.
The second piece on exhibition which blew my mind was the first ever atlas. Maps collected in one book. Sounds so simple these days. Well for us who learned their geography from maps hang on the wall in a school room and atlases and not through maps on a screen. No judgement for the latter, just a bit of nostalgia.
The first ever atlas
Abraham Ortelius had the idea to adjust the scale and format of maps to make them fit into one book. It wasn’t even called atlas then. They only came up with that term about 100 years later. And there it was the first ever collection of maps in one book. I did A level geography, so of course my mind was blown.
I could go on and on and on. I won’t, don’t worry. Just trust me that I had a great time and might come back to this place if I visit Antwerp next year again.
The lighting wasn’t always good enough to snap proper photos and I wondered about that and alsovabout health and safety on narrow old stairs and such until I saw this sign 🙂
That explains it….
Anyway here are a few more photos. For some reason I can’t get the gallery working the way I’d like. Maybe in my next post.
Courtyard of the private home – now museumA globe from… wheneverEven back then they needed copyeditingThey printed all kinds of languages and also sciency stuffNo idea from when that map was, I just impressed by the detailsPhilosopher Seneca
And yes, that painting is a Rubens. In a private home of a rich businessman back then. Because, why not?
This was supposed to be a “Books I read in October” post, but I only read two non-fiction books – one self-help one which was ok, a German one about various aspects of modern law, which was great – and the Atlas Series, which even though it’s three books is sort of one big story and deserves it’s own, albeit post. I’m also not sure if I’ll continue with the “books I’ve read in…” post either to be honest. We’ll see.
The Atlas Series
So, the “Atlas” series I enjoyed it! All three parts, some more than others though to be fair. The first one I enjoyed probably most and the third one least, but unlike other reviews and people I talked to about it, I didn’t hate the final book. I read all three books in a row so parts of the plot and the various character developments blended and I can’t recall if that happened in book 1 or 2. Well except for everything around Libby in book 2, I guess. The final book had its flaws, I admit that. The plot was all over the place. There seemed to be a lot happening but it didn’t always move the plot forward and in parts felt rather redundant. THE experiment which was such a focus of many conversations and activities in the first two books was quite the disappointment though, wasn’t it?
But that aside I actually liked the world building in this whole story, our contemporary universe but with magic. It felt more grown-up magical as for instance Harry Potter, even though books like The Atlas Series probably wouldn’t have been possibly or successful without Harry Potter, so there is that.
I liked the variety of characters among the six (but also the supporting characters) and how they were allowed to grow and change. Not always for the better, but that’s life, I guess.
What I especially enjoyed about the series and what might make me re-read them all over time was the various ethical and philosophical issues raised and discussed all throughout. What are you / what are we as a group or society willing to do? And for what reason? What does it take?
And then of course there was Blake’s writing, which I still adore. I lack the vocabulary to explain why. I just do! So much that after a the disappointment of “We Solve Murders”, which I did not finish, because ugh, I think so much is wrong with this book, I will read Alexene Farol Follmuth (Olivie Blake in real life) second YA romance next, because I’m pretty confident I’m going to enjoy that one much much more.
