First was my birthday on the 3rd... I received beautiful roses from my parents-in-law who were visiting, a great big Solingen Wüsthof chef's knife from Maggie, a bottle of Maker's Mark from Malcolm and two short Churchill romeo y juliettas from Duncan. Obviously I've been doing a good job of blatantly advertising my tastes to my family, and they have been paying attention!
After a great birthday celebration meal of truffle and mushroom-filled ravioli, roquette salad and a pumpkin cheesecake that Maggie expertly whipped up (with brown sugar and bourbon whipped cream, no less!) we needed some exercise, so the next day headed off to Waterloo to tour the site of the battle. The view from the Butte du Leon was quite stunning, and the statue of the Lion that crowns the summit of the hill was itself pretty dramatic; it weighs 28 tonnes and was cast in an iron foundry in Liège in several pieces, then assembled in place. The whole monument was built at the instruction of the King of the Netherlands, to commemorate the allied victory over Napolen, and the shape mimics that of a tumulus or burial mound of the Belgae, whom Julius Caesar praised as the most fierce of all the tribes he encountered during his campaign in Gaul.
Monday I headed off to Amsterdam at the invitation of a colleague, Piers Maxim, to attend the general rehearsal of Idomeneo at De Nederlandse Opera, for which he is the assistant conductor. It was really visually brilliant and quite exciting, with great singing all around. I was happy to finally see Michael Schade in a live performance in the title role, and had a chance to meet him and congratulate him at the intermission. John Nelson was conducting, and his orchestra brought out lovely textures in the score, which was new to me. I'm ashamed to say that I had never heard nor seen it before. There were however many melodies and tonalities that were familiar, ideas that reappear in Mozart's later operas, which is always an interesting thing to hear.
The next day I was up early and out the door, passing over the "Toronto bridge" on my way to the Rijksmuseum.
When Maggie and the boys and I visited Amsterdam back in April of last year, we never managed to get to the Rijksmuseum, but spent our time doing other things, including the Van Gogh museum and other activities, but this time I had a few hours before my afternoon train departed. The museum is still under extensive renovation, but I decided to see the temporary exhibit, which according to a friend, is "all the best bits in two hours".
It was really lovely, with lots and lots of Rembrandts, and many other beautiful paintings. My favorite of the days wasn't actually the "Night Watch", cool as it is, but one by Aert van der Neer, from 1650, called "River View by Moonlight", which had a wonderful atmospheric quality about it.
Outside the Rijksmuseum they were gardening... no those aren't potatoes in the sack pictured below, but fat tulip bulbs just waiting to get planted... I can imagine there is a lot of that going on at the moment all over northwestern europe, as the mild weather we have recently been enjoying is starting to change to colder, more seasonal temperatures.
Tuesday evening I had a staging rehearsal for Duchesse, which was a lot of fun! Looks like I will be dancing the large ensemble numbers with Joëlle Charlier, who is playing the Duchesse herself. I had better practice; she is very elegant, and from what I hear she's also quite a good dancer so I must try to be a fitting partner...
Maggie's mother Sheila has mentioned during this visit that this certainly is the "land of bread", in that it is so good, and so affordable... I was amused by my fellow passenger (pictured above) on the bus ride home, carrying what would most likely be the bread to accompany a later dinner, or perhaps something for tomorrow's sandwiches? She was very proud of her loaf of bread, and also very disciplined about not snacking on it, which one sees people frequently doing, especially with a fresh baguette, tearing off a little bit of the end, just to sample it on their way home. My father frequently remarked on how good the bread was here; as he walked home from work, he would frequently buy a small baguette and contemplatively eat it as he made his way back to the apartment my parents shared in Ixelles.
Speaking of Maggie's parents, we have had a really lovely time with them, and they've had a good opportunity to visit with both us and the boys. Thursday evening the four adults went out to a fine party at the embassy of the UK's permanent representative to Nato, ambassador Sir Kim Darroch and his wife Vanessa, who is a colleague of Maggie's. As always they were excellent hosts and we enjoyed a lovely time out, with lots of conversation with many different types of people.
Yesterday was an official holiday here in Belgium, so we all took it easy, having a luxurious breakfast and going shopping for the ingredients for a lamb dinner for Sheila, who was celebrating her birthday with us. Prior to dinner, I had a rehearsal with Peter of Carmina Burana in the late afternoon, which went quite well - it's a very unusual piece, but I'm really looking forward to it - and noticed that the little chalets are going up in Place St. Catherine in preparation for the Christmas market that opens in another couple of weeks.
Today has been busy; we had an early start, getting ready for the arrival of a worker who came to install of an kitchen fan duct that empties outside, and some additional cabinets. Maggie and the boys and her parents are off exploring the town of Leuven, and I've been assembling cabinets ahead of the installer, and helping out here and there, trying not to breathe too much dust.
Tonight will be our last chance to enjoy dinner and conversation with Maggie's parents for several months, before taking them out to the airport for their flight home... it's been great to have them here.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment