so the weather's been pretty good

some pics of antwerp

oostende!

And today, we took the early morning [well....830am] train to Oostende which took about an hour and forty minutes for a day by the beach!!

the skies were amazing, the sun was intermittently shining which made it for an excellent day for just ambling around...

ok, we were also there for a pasar malam styled open market where everyone in town basically put out all of their barang barang  and sell them for as much as people are willing to pay - we, of course, couldn't find anything because it was the 2nd of 2 days, so unfortunately no pics of our spoils from this...

but we did make it to the therma palace which is a big hotel which doubles as a spa resort by the sea...

but the big [and unexpected] highlight of the trip was this long walk along the 'vismine'...or fish mine, where the stocks of fish are offloaded at the docks of oostende

and integrated with these actual working dock spaces, was a large format photo exhibition at the beams of the vis mine...
it was a really unbelievable experience - the smell of the sea and the hint of fish, along side the sounds of the lapping waves at the docks and the idea that these are the actual working spaces of the fish mine was really amazing..

and whilst we were there, there were even people driving through the exhibition!! how democratic is that? that you have an insightful and inspiring exhibition that you can drive through!!!

so it was a really big day for us, exploring the coastal town of oostende and discovering a super cool exhibition all in the same day!!

when onions ruled the earth..

Dear everyone,  please have a look at this monster underground bulb I found at our neighbourhood greengrocer's today - it is a MONSTER!

and also, the humble brinjal is dubbed 'aubergine' but more importantly, looks like some alien fruit....or something obscenely overpriced you would only find in a jason's marketplace..

no no....we don't eat the onions raw here..

but you can have fun arranging your assorted fruit and vegetables in a colourful display!
and just one more pic to show how insanely large this onion is...

day at the sculpture park_middelheim museum

So....yes, its been a bit too long since my last entry...i was busy the past (almost) 2 weeks assisting with yet another exhibition - this time in Hasselt, Belgium...more information on that here..

as for today's entry, Jos and I took a much needed cycling trip to the middelheim museum about 20mins cycling from our place [much needed because today's weather was projected at 27 degrees, as well as that I really need to get used to cycling in the city]

as you can see from the photo, got my sunnies on, bike in the background, awesome blus skies, the weather is super nice..

The middelheim museum is a unique exhibition space because it is in the middle of a park!!  Amidst the trees and small streams, you'll encounter classic bronze figurative sculptures..

or a girl running in between the trees

or even a rotunda of speakerboxes serenading a rose bush!!

This was one of our particular faves...its a series of curved glass pieces - but in the picture, it looks like some kind of optical illusion!
so after almost 3 hours of walking in and around the park, we headed back home for the 20 minute cycle trip where i even negotiated the tramlines ok [if anyone has ever ridden alongside the tram lines, cars whizzing past, and the thin line between tram line and drain, you know how difficult that can be]