Adventures with Becky and Raoul in Holland and Beyond

Holland: The Hague's Binnenhof

Beyond: Antwerp's Grote Markt

Little Holland

Sean suggested a scenic bike riding itinerary “And along Scheveningsweg, past Madurodam, and then...” 

“What’s Madurodam? Can I buy boots there?” asked Becky

“It’s a miniature city with tiny replica of Holland’s famous buildings” I said, “Like Cockington Green”

“I’ve always loved Cockington Green” said Becky

“Yeah, lets go there!!” said Raoul

So we took the youngsters by bike to Madurodam to see the highlights of The Netherlands on a 1:25  scale, making us giants in a mini-land. Our fingers and toes burned with cold as we speedily crisscrossed the entire country in 45 minutes. Raoul, however lingered, crosschecking everything he saw with the guide book. We walked around the famous buildings in miniature from The Hague such as Het Binnenhof (the parliament buildings), the Mauritshuis, the Peace Palace and the Sting building. We saw other little versions of places outside The Hague that we had all previously set foot in (in real life) like the Rijksmuseum and Schiphol airport. However I started to realise there are many towns in The Netherlands I have not yet visited like Groningen, Dordrecht, Gouda, Alkmaar, Tilburg...And many more that are deserving of a repeat visit like Utrecht.

Utrecht: The Red and Blue Chair and Miffy

In Utrecht is the Centraal Museum. It has the largest collection of Rietveld in the world plus a special exhibition at the moment called Rietveld’s Universe. Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964) was a Dutch furniture designer and architect famous for his classic Red and Blue Chair (1917) and for the Rietveld Schröder House (1924), a  UNESCO World Heritage Site in Utrecht.  Rietveld was part of the design movement known as De Stijl (The Style)  a group of Dutch artists and designers including Piet Mondrian whose members favoured pure abstraction, horizontal and vertical lines, primary colours and black and white. These rather simple concepts are enduring. Rietveld’s designs look ultra modern today despite being nearly 100 years old.  

Again, in Centraal Museum, I found Raoul lingering amongst these timeless Rietveld architectural scale models. Finally he reveals sheepishly that like George Costanza  he had always wanted to be an architect. Lucky for him the staff at the museum want all the visitors to have a go at architecture and design. We were ushered into a workshop where we were provided with blueprints, tools and materials to construct a Rietveld Schröder House, Rietveld chair or our own design. We all go for the chair (evidently we are not that creative or ambitious) and join twenty or so adults wearing dark blue work coats intensely concentrating with glue guns and rulers. Plenty of frustration, sweat, one glue burn later and we had three Rietveld chairs, a bit rickety and unpainted but demonstrative of our raw genius. My chair was judged the best of the three in a blind evaluation by Sean when we arrived home. Is it childish to brag?

Well, In Utrecht one needs to have a childish perspective. Utrecht is where Miffy the 2D girl rabbit of our favourite childhood learning-to-read-books was born. We visited Dick Bruna Huis, where Miffy's creator Bruna has much of his work displayed. Becky stocked up on a plush Miffy and various Miffy accessories. She is such an excellent shopper and of course she has not travelled to Europe without a shopping goal. Her mission is to acquire the perfect pair of wool lined boots on this sojourn. It's of no concern that it’s summer back in Australia. 

Delft: shopping and Vermeer

Of course any shopping is good shopping and fortunately for Becky the charming little town of Delft has shops galore, mostly peddling blue and white Delftware and other touristic essentials. Becky did find some boots however they were on somebody else's feet and ”vintage” so she was no closer to her goal. Meanwhile I got some unique footwear.  At an antique shop I picked up a pair of Dutch iceskates dated from around 1880. I regard this as super vintage. They are not too rusty however I will keep them for display purposes only. Becky and Raoul buy some Delftware and  Jan Vermeer reproductions for the office. 

Vermeer (1632-1675), the Dutch Golden Age painter was born in and spent his whole life in Delft. Only a paltry 37 of his paintings have survived, he wasn’t terrifically prolific, and there are no Vermeer paintings in Delft. Yet the Vermeer Centre housed on the historic site of the former St. Lucas Guild, was worth the visit. Viewing images of  Vermeer’s entire oeuvre together gives a different perspective of his work and his understanding of and affection for women, always the main subjects in his paintings. The centre also provides the opportunity for a Vermeer studio style photograph.

Antwerp: Rubens and hats

Image by Martin Beek via Flickr

Vermeer is Delft, Rubens is Antwerp. Sean took a day off so we caught a train down to Antwerp in Belgium where we viewed the great Peter Paul Rubens' (1577-1640) paintings inside the enormous Cathedral of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal). My favourite is The Descent from the Cross (1614) a stirring and dramatic triptych, a great masterpiece from the artist. 

The next artist whose work we explored is still alive and has an exhibition at the MoMu-Mode Museum of Fashion in Antwerp. The madhatter Stephen Jones has dressed the heads of Boy George, Princess Diana, Kylie, Madonna, Dita Von Teese etc etc from 1980 to today. According to milliner Stephen Jones you can put anything on your head and call it a hat. A stuffed parrot, a kewpie doll and a shoe for example are all suitable to place on top of your head.

But alas, Becky wants to buy boots and not a hat and as she cannot find them in Amsterdam, in The Hague, or even in fashionable Antwerp, the only option is to get herself to Paris. If the world fashion capital cannot sell Becky boots no place can. Bon voyage!