April 24, 2016
We were on a river cruise from Amsterdam - in Belgium for just one day.
For Antwerp I picked the Rubens' house tour because I had photos of Daddy's from there
Stained glass detail from 1950
and I wanted to see the zoo and the Central RR station, because I had photos from those to places also. I had wanted to shop, but of course it was Sunday and the shops were not open.
It was rainy and cold, and I was warned about cobblestones, but we put on our coats and I put on my raincoat and we ventured forth.
Crossing from one boat to another
We met the guide and it started to rain. Bob had a poncho and he put it on. Then it started to sleet or hail. I got off the scooter and went under the roof of the parking shed that was there but there was a 2.5 foot high barrier to get the scooter over so Bob sat on the scooter with his poncho spread over it for awhile and finally gave in and lifted the scooter to where it was more sheltered. It was both wet and cold. I had not realized that we would walk the distance to Ruben's house. The streets were OK for the scooter but it was raining and very windy (some people's umbrellas were turned inside out) and I was afraid to take my camera out. I tried taking photos with my cell phone but it was hard to manage both the scooter and the cell phone
Accidental selfie in the rain
because there is no handle on the cell phone and I have to hold it in my hand instead of hanging it around my neck
Guide in the rain
Antwerp street in the driving rain
We got to Rubens' house and everyone had to put all purses into lockers.
lockers at Rubens' house
The guide said that I could take the scooter in to the studio part (which was very big - they had the big pictures there and could take them out with a crane) and into the garden but I could not take it into the house itself. This was not a surprise so I was not unbearably disappointed. So we went into the studio. There was a ramp into the studio and I went down faster than either of us would have thought was reasonable (it was steep and the scooter has no brakes, so I basically slid down almost into the wall at the end). By this time my back was painful and I felt a bit nauseated. We sat on benches while the guide explained Rubens' paintings.
The Bear Hunt
I do not remember why this one is called the Bear Hunt when the hunter obviously has a deer. The guide explained how the apprentice system worked. Rubens was a rich man - he had a house and a studio in town and a couple of big country places. He would do the sketches of the paintings and then the apprentices would fill in the blanks. If you wanted him to paint it himself, you paid him extra.
Adam and Eve
In Rubens' day, being fat meant that you were rich, and being pale meant that you didn't have to work out in the sun.
Rubens self portrait
A Lady at the Fish Market
And explained that each painting was like a movie - each part of the painting had a meaning. For instance in this picture, the fact that there are apples at a fish market has a meaning (I remember it being something about showing that the lady is having an affair)
We were on a river cruise from Amsterdam - in Belgium for just one day.
For Antwerp I picked the Rubens' house tour because I had photos of Daddy's from there
Stained glass detail from 1950
and I wanted to see the zoo and the Central RR station, because I had photos from those to places also. I had wanted to shop, but of course it was Sunday and the shops were not open.
It was rainy and cold, and I was warned about cobblestones, but we put on our coats and I put on my raincoat and we ventured forth.
Crossing from one boat to another
We met the guide and it started to rain. Bob had a poncho and he put it on. Then it started to sleet or hail. I got off the scooter and went under the roof of the parking shed that was there but there was a 2.5 foot high barrier to get the scooter over so Bob sat on the scooter with his poncho spread over it for awhile and finally gave in and lifted the scooter to where it was more sheltered. It was both wet and cold. I had not realized that we would walk the distance to Ruben's house. The streets were OK for the scooter but it was raining and very windy (some people's umbrellas were turned inside out) and I was afraid to take my camera out. I tried taking photos with my cell phone but it was hard to manage both the scooter and the cell phone
Accidental selfie in the rain
because there is no handle on the cell phone and I have to hold it in my hand instead of hanging it around my neck
Guide in the rain
Antwerp street in the driving rain
We got to Rubens' house and everyone had to put all purses into lockers.
lockers at Rubens' house
The guide said that I could take the scooter in to the studio part (which was very big - they had the big pictures there and could take them out with a crane) and into the garden but I could not take it into the house itself. This was not a surprise so I was not unbearably disappointed. So we went into the studio. There was a ramp into the studio and I went down faster than either of us would have thought was reasonable (it was steep and the scooter has no brakes, so I basically slid down almost into the wall at the end). By this time my back was painful and I felt a bit nauseated. We sat on benches while the guide explained Rubens' paintings.
The Bear Hunt
I do not remember why this one is called the Bear Hunt when the hunter obviously has a deer. The guide explained how the apprentice system worked. Rubens was a rich man - he had a house and a studio in town and a couple of big country places. He would do the sketches of the paintings and then the apprentices would fill in the blanks. If you wanted him to paint it himself, you paid him extra.
Adam and Eve
In Rubens' day, being fat meant that you were rich, and being pale meant that you didn't have to work out in the sun.
Rubens self portrait
A Lady at the Fish Market
And explained that each painting was like a movie - each part of the painting had a meaning. For instance in this picture, the fact that there are apples at a fish market has a meaning (I remember it being something about showing that the lady is having an affair)
- Next entry in the series 'Two Visits to Belgium': Rubens' Garden in 2016
- Previous entry in the series 'Two Visits to Belgium': First Daytrip to Antwerp -1950
