Highgate Cemetery, London (3-10-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

The best known cemetery in London!

The western cemetery was openend in 1838 and the eastern extension added in 1854. This is a private cemetery (Kensal Green is a public one!). The western part hasn't been used for burials since 1975.
Highgate is famous among every-one interested in the Victorian age and (neo)-Gothicism and even has it's own vampire-myth! The famous Pre-Raphaelite model Elizabeth Siddal, wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, is buried in the western cemetery.

The western part is now sadly only open in weekends so as it's monday we have to settle for just visiting the eastern cemetery. You have to pay to get in and extra for a guide. Buy the guide because you will need it! It's not always easy to find your way here and with the guide you at least have a clue ;-)

Marx is buried in the eastern cemetery so we set out to visit him. He is near the back so we stroll along the winding paths ending up in what looks and smells like a forest. Except gravestones grow here...
According to the site there are a lot of animals living here too including foxes! And there's lots of interesting flowers and trees too.

It's a really exciting and eerie place to be! There's ivy and brambles and tree roots growing everywhere under and over graves. One grave is covered in mushrooms. Angels and crosses appear behind bushes and trees. Finally we end up near the gates so we now know where we are and can find the bigger lane towards Marx grave.

After making a pic of Marx extremely big head (on his grave) and trying to remember the words to "The Internationale" (see http://home.planet.nl/~elder180/internationale/) we set out to get back to the entrance because it's almost closing time and we choose to not be locked in here today (not enough food ;-p).
We make it out in time and sit some more in the nearby Waterlow Park, watching the big black crows that forage here.

Next time we'll surely visit the other part! For more info on Highgate Cemetery: http://www.highgate-cemetery.org/

Kensal Green Cemetery, London (3-10-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

This great London cemetery was established in the second quarter of the 19th century and was the first one outside the city limits. It was founded by the barrister George Frederick Carden after he saw Père-Lachaise in Paris. Kensal Green is London's oldest public burial ground.
The cemetery is a perfect representation of Victorian values, tastes, ideals and beliefs. It was a highly fashionable burialground, especially after two of George the IIIrd's children were buried here. And it was also fashionable to visit this cemetery in that age and walk it's beautiful lanes.


So totally in accordance to Victorian fashion we walk the lanes and see the superb collection of monuments varying from neo-Greek to neo-Gothic to modern 21st century graves.
Yes, this grand place is still in use today! Between half sunken Victorian stones and angels are modern graves with little colored glass stones on them (green, blue, purplish even!), there are memorial benches, football flags and even a grave with birthday balloons!

Eventhough it's still being used the cemetery is a tranquil and eerie place. Behind trees sepulchres loom which you cannot reach. The ground is covered with ivy on some places and feels soft. Several parts look as if at any moment zombies or vampires may appear. And it's a sunny day today!

Not many of the names on the graves will ring a bell so it's recommendable to buy a guide. In this guide you can read about the notable monuments here and their inhabitants. Not many of them are very famous but there's Byron's first wife Anne Isabella Milbanke, a famous tightrope walker called Blondin who crossed the Niagara Falls in 1860 on a rope and several other interesting but not very well known nowadays people.

If you are in London you must certainly visit this cemetery because it's a perfect place to have a nice and quiet stroll. It's very easy to reach too: just take the Bakerloo line to Kensal Green and you are already there! For more info: http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/

See you there next time! -makes suave bow-

Huis van Alijn, Gent (21-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

If you ever have the pleasure of visiting Gent you must surely visit this small museum! Almost every object shown in this museum I wanted to take home with me straight away ;-)

The museum shows objects concerning life and death in Belgium (especially Gent ofcourse) in the early 20th century. Objects range from furniture to obituaries, from jewellery to school equipment.
It's not a big museum but it gives a nice impression of life in that time and age.
The museum itself is located in some old houses that used to belong to the order of the Carmelites. There's an old church on the premises too in which devotional pictures and objects are shown. And a very impressive scale-model of a church; complete with altars and benches and lights inside!

For more info see the site: www.huisvanalijn.be (Dutch only but nice pics)

Miat (museum for industrial archeology and textiles), Gent (21-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

Another fun museum to visit! The building itself is very nice already (and very big) and there's a lot to see and learn there if you like old machines and history.
One of the highlights is an original and very small movie theatre where they sometimes even show movies.

The special exhibit about the cook Cauderlier is very nice too. Lot's of interesting recipes, cookbooks, silverwear and invitations to watch ;-) This exhibit is still running untill January 8th by the way.

For more info the site: http://www.miat.gent.be/ (in dutch only!)

Zimmertower & Zimmerpavilion Lier (23-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

If you want to experience what Belgium really is like there are a few things you must visit to really feel it. One of these 'objects' is the Atomium in Brussels; a trip into 60's futurism and Belgian absurdism. Another 'object' I would suggest is the Zimmertower in Lier. Why? Well, read the story!

The first thing you will notice is obviously the tower which looks medieval. On one side you'll notice a sort of astronomical clock which reminds of the one in Prague but looks a lot more recent.
There's a sign near it which tells you the opening hours so ofcourse you'll go in because it's not expensive and you are dying to know more about this interesting tower ;-)

Inside you'll pay for your visit and will be let into a room (the pavilion) dominated by a very large clock with 93(!) dials. Luckily there's an info button (in 4 languages!) so you sit on a chair and listen to the story.

It's the story of Louis Zimmer, born on september 8th 1888 in Lier who invented these magnificent clocks. He made all the devices by hand which is quite impressive already!
The big clock you are watching is the Astronomical Wonderclock (I so much love this name!) and it measures time, tides, star-time, months, distance of the earth to the sun, the orbit of planets and meteors, and things I'm not even sure of...
One of these clocks is even measuring the changes in the elliptical orbit of the earth: it changes a little every year, so little that this clock is one of the slowest devices ever made!
This absurdly magical device Zimmer made in the 1930's and it was exhibited in Brussels and New York.
Beneath the 93 dials are three mechanical devices which will start working on each hour. In the far right one a few metal guys chime the time. In the middle ballerinas are twirling on the planets of our solar system, each making a leap and showing how high they would leap on each planet (they are the same weight ofcourse). On the far left a metal footballplayer with 1930's outfit stands on some scales showing his weight on each planet...
Luckily we were there at 17h so we did get to see this magical mechanical show ;-)

In this small pavilion you can also see some other interesting clocks, the medals Louis Zimmer got and an impression of his studio (exactly as it was left the day he died, december 12th 1970).

And now you can visit the tower which got your attention first. Inside this truly medieval (but renovated) tower is an astronomical studio. It features much of the clocks you could see on the Astronomical Wonderclock but bigger. And you can hear an explanation of these in 4 languages again ;-)
All these devices look extremely nice, quite quaint actually and it truly feels as if you are let into some wonderous new world.

In the last room of the tower you can hear the story of the clock you saw outside on the tower. This is the Jubilee-clock Zimmer made in 1930 as a gift to the city of Lier, celebrating 100 years of Belgian independence. It has 13 dials measuring several kinds of things like the earth rotation, the days of the week, the zodiac signs, the months, moonphases,... and ofcourse regular time ;-)
On one side of the tower there are also mechanical man chiming the time and at noon you can see the revolving pictures of Belgian kings and majors of Lier.

And then you descend into the other world again, the one were clocks aren't magical but just measure time...

Lier (a city in Belgium)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Yesterday we made a little trip to Lier to visit a museum (for free because of our Werchter wristband). Lier isn't very far from Mechelen (or Antwerp for that matter) so we went by car. We parked on a parking lot on the bank of the river Nete which has quite a strong current as we could see when we crossed it.

We could see a big church tower and some smaller towers rising above the city so we walked that way. First we walked past the Zimmertower (see review) and then past the great market to the small city museum we where going to visit. This walk already showed us some pretty medieval city sights so we were enjoying ourselves quite a lot ;-)

The Museum Wuyts-Van Campen & Baron Caroly only has about 4 rooms but is still very nice (and quite cheap if you have to pay). It's cool, quiet and you can photograph the art (as long as it's not for publication)! Ofcourse they don't have many objects or paintings but some of them are definite treasures!
They have a Bruegel painting with Flemish proverbs (this is one painted by the son, the one painted by the father is in Germany). And some extremely intense symbolist paintings by local artist Raymond de la Haye, who died in WWI after only two days at the front...
Because of our Werchter wristband we also got a Lier promotion bag with a pen, a lanyard and some leaflets with info in it, which made us even happier ;-D

By now I needed a new film so we searched for a (photo)shop near the great market which we found behind the town hall (which looks very nice by the way). There was also a little church in that street so we went in to have a look at it. It was very empty looking and very small but still nice.

We could still see the big church tower so we decided to visit that one too. It turned out to be the st-Gommarus church, an example of Brabantine Gothic style. The outside isn't very elaborate nor is the inside but it has several extremely elaborate altars! The oldest parts are from 1378 (the tower) and the whole church was finished by the 16th century. The stained glass windows from the 15/16th century are very nice and well preserved. So this church is definitely worth a visit too ;-)

After the church we went to the Zimmertower (see special review) which is very very much worth a visit ;-)
In short: we're lyrical about Lier!
For English info visit: http://www.trabel.com/lier/lier.htm (for Dutch info you can also visit www.lier.be)

Mechelen 2005: city in female hands

http://www.mechelen2005.be/
Visit Mechelen! Check the site for all the events taking place this year! And yes, it's totally safe for males to visit the cultural events ;-)

Especially visit the exhibition Women of distinction / Dames met klasse (see calender) because the objects and the info are totally worth it (and not just because I work there ;-p)!