Bits and bobs 3 - Cool foldable table on wheels!!

So we were at the Kringwinkel (again) to look for a few more pieces of furniture and we found this one: all folded up it looks like some kind of hospital accessory...

Half opened it seems to be some kind of rollator with shelves...

But completely opened it's obvious it's actually our new printer table on wheels!

We also found a rather dainty hallway table where we can chuck our keys etc on when we come home. We hope it will help keep our dining table relatively clutter free. Let's see how long that lasts...

adventure in brussels!

So we took a day trip to Brussels [finally] to see what the capital of Belgium [and the capital of the EU as well] looks like...

they've got some cool graffiti [just chanced across this when walking around]...

and this is a pic of the famous grote markt [big market] in the old part of the city

and me taking a photo of myself..

and yes, they have wall-tributes to their comic favourites!  it is tintin [or kuifje in dutch] and captain haddock running down a flight of stairs!

and then we were in the area of the ....

the real-deal Manneken Pis!

and i have a small anecdote of this world famous sculpture; if any of you who are young enough, you will remember that Liang Court behind boat quay used to have a small fountain on the basement floor [right next to the burger king and long john silver's, and as a kid, i used to clap until my hands were numb because....there was  a replica Manneken Pis between the ground and basement floors pissing the day away...and it was sound activated, so the louder you clapped, the harder he pissed....[amazing how easy it was to keep me entertained!]

yah...this is just some dynamic lighting on what was actually quite a hot day - i think we had almost 24degrees! and bright sunny rays everywhere!

and this was our last stop for the day - we made it to the comic museum and it was in this art nouveau building by Horta and there was a museum shop that was....you've guessed it, A Comic Shop!!

[gotta brush up on my dutch asap so i can start augmenting my local comic knowledge!!]

so it was a great day for just jalan-ing around and getting to know the city!

architecture near the dageraadplaats

So the weather was superbly insanely good; and we decided to treat ourselves to a nice walk in a neighbourhood well known for its gezelligheid [dutch for good vibes] and amazing art nouveau architecture.. the dageraadplaats

this school [in brick] which is flanked by a church is actually a good 15 minute walk from our place, and about 5 mins to our destination...this photo is just to show how nice the sky was that day...

this is an under-a-bridge cafe which we came across and later, there would be salsa dancers sashaying and wiggling their sunny afternoon away..

we are on one of the streets where the amazing buildings are as you will see..

and for some reason, there were these vintage bi-planes flying overhead us all afternoon; this yellow one in particular kept going back and forth..

here is a detail of one of four tiled [or painted] illustrations for each of the cardinal directions of a 4 way intersection..

and here are the main houses on the big street...the kombi [loh tee chiah] was an incidental bonus that happened to be ambling along when we were there...

so it was an excellent primer for us to familiarize ourselves with our neighbourhood - we ended the excursion with a well deserved kriek beer and cola light - the best drinks to have on a sunny day like this!

machine food!

ok, so when i first made it to amsterdam some 3 years back, i was completely blown away by the in-wall snack bar windows - where you put in  your euro coins and turn the handle and you get your delicious deep fried snack like:-

a bami schijf, 

[a small fried portion of mee goreng, that's been deep fried in some batter]

a kroket 

[ragout in some batter thats also deep fried]

or even a frikandel!!

[they call it a sausage, but no one's really sure what goes into these]

but jos and i made it to one of the suburbs of Antwerp and found these mechanical marvels!

its a bread dispensing machine!!!

and your options are: [top to bottom] large white, large brown, large farmer white, large farmer wholemeal, large white, small wholemeal, small white and......egg sandwiches!!!

just next to this machine was an innocent looking vending machine, but when i looked closer..

they have your regular fizzy drinks, and beer!!

and as we wheeled round the corner, the coolest of the machines was there...

if you look carefully you might be able to make out that in the glass display, they have.....

dagschotels [daily platters] comprising of cheese, ham, lasagne, spaghetti or sausages!!!  its like a supermarket in a wall!!

Spring is in the air!

so were walking around the city a little bit, and we chanced upon the plantentuin [plant town; or more accurately, the city's horticultural park]...this is THE season to be taking pictures of these awesome sprays of colour!!

Laureline and Floris' wedding in Wijdenes!

So I'm actually a week late with posting this, but the good news is that we now have internet at home!  so the posts should be more regular[ish] from now on;

we made it to the tropical museum in Amterdam last friday to witness the civil ceremony of Laureline and Floris' wedding, and it was a really good day with bright sunny weather and lots of catching up with our various friends [and some new friends for me] from Holland

as before, I won't bore you with super lengthy descriptions - here is my super-patented 4 word descriptions of the day [must challenge myself a bit lah]

laureline and floris, vows

rings exchanged, happy happy

cafe for cake, drinks

great weather, chatting, chilling

checking map of Hoorn

[ok, at this point, need a bit of explanation, otherwise it might be a bit vague for you - for part 2 of the celebrations, we've had our wedding cake and drinks after the civil ceremony, and have hopped into our respective car pools - thank you roland and jeanette! - for a half hour drive to wijdenes where we continue our evening celebrations about 4 hours late; during which everyone pitches tents at the campsite nearby, drinks beer, etc....ok, i am getting ahead of myself...this picture shows us a bit lost in the town of Hoorn] - back to the pictures!

wijdenes coast, waaaaah, lekker!

getting tents ready, campsite

wijdenes flora, awesome weather

on our way, party-time!

makan time! cous cous!

dancing to the klezmer!

big big congratulations to the newly weds - and jos and I had an awesome time hanging out with friends and having a ball!

bits and bobs 2 - fish on our walls!

here's a much-too-late addition to our 'bits and bobs' collection - its our posters from China!

the short version of the story is - 

we went to beijing, hung out at the pan jia yuan flea market, and fell in love with the 1950s posters that an uncle sold us for approx 6 singapore dollars - of various animals, plants and science posters from what must have been a school !

we got a pair of sorta fitting frames, and well..here are the fish that are curently hanging on our walls!!

nice eh? we really like them...

ok..just 6 more days to go

hey everyone..

sorry for the blogging silence - we have just arranged all the remaining things for the apartment, so [hopefully] by next tuesday, you'll be getting a stream of regular updates..

the internet will be hooked up, and so will our tv and we can lead normal lives once again..

in case any of you are worried about our sleeping comfort, the bed arrived over the weekend and we have since been sleeping much more comfortably than on the inflatable mattress

we are also off to amsterdam tomorrow for the 2nd of the 3 weddings this spring, so i will try to post an amsterdam thing or two if time permits..but we are back in antwerp on sunday

can't wait to share all the cool things we have in store for you!