I had dinner Thursday with Dr. Courtney before I left and we experienced the new trend in "classy" pub grub - confit of pork belly on black pudding, roast potatoes, seared bok choy, and a pear poached in white wine.

On Friday, I slipped out early to pack and then walked a bit the other way from town into Chalfone St. Peters. I found a newer pub, the Three Pigeons, that carries the Marloy Rebellion ale - a locally brewed ale that is quite nice. No pigeon on the menu sadly. Then I met some ex-coworkers for Chinese food and beer. 

Above a public walkway... must of been a sheep path or something.

Saturday, I flew home and experienced the GOES Global Entry system for the first time. Wow - it was so easy. It 's worth every penny. Now back to work and normal life - including consulting on a certain turning project. Today it's Capstone project time.

Above, its coming alone...3 week left.

        

No pictures due to both weather and time constraints. I got into Gerrards Cross late Saturday, crashed Sunday, worked here Monday, flew to and back from Paris, and then today had meetings....

Whew. A slower pace would be nice.

        

I left Sittard at 6:30, 2 hours earlier than advised by the local office, and that was lucky. I figured I could settle at the Airport and work on stuff - bad idea.  The train trip took 3 hours, 4 changes and it snowed the whole time.

(Sorry about the reflections - shot thru the train window).

So I get to the airport 3 hours before the flight. The line at British Airlines is around the block, and when I ask at the counter, I am told to get it in. About 35 minutes in, I see the automatic check-in machine and get a boarding pass. The person behind me asks if we are suppose to do that and the line shuttles as about 25 people realize they never checked in. As I move closer, I see about 3/4 of the people are being checked in by the counter. No one gets up and yells like they do as SW to tell people what to do. The mess is helped by people who are yelling to friends to cut the line and join them. I get with three places of check in, after 1 hour and 45 minutes and it takes another 25 due to this. Most of the mess could have been handled by telling people to check in first and enforcing the queue.

After checking in, the mess is repeated at security where only two lines are open for about 300 people. After another hour there, I clear and wander to the plane. Thanks to the weather it hasn't taken off yet. Nothing there made up for the mess at check in. This was actually worse than Ryan Air, which I still have nightmares about. So if you are travelling over here, find a different airline. This one isn't worth it.

        

After work today, I walked over to the train station in the light rain thru the main shopping district for Sittard

and  jumped a train to Tilsbury to see Bert and visit his class on historical western fencing. It was already starting to snow when I reached Tilsburg and Bert was waiting. We went for coffee and talk before he had to open for the kids class, taught by his senior student, Esther.  Surprisingly, not only did I not want to sob but I was really impressed with how well the class was handled.



The kids line up and salute. Then they review the previous class with questions, and have what they will do tonight explained. Esther and Bert are holding two of the prettiest dusack repros I've seen. He sent us the measurements so i guess Ben and I have a nice project. The overall weapon quality was much better than I've in the US: the waster were solid and well balanced and the steel blades nicely made.



Esther stops and watches the boys working on a response to a strong bind.  Still holding that lovely dusack, I think I drooled on it too much.  Esther and Bert wander the class, tuning, correcting and making sure everyone has fun.



Bert explains the move to the two boys, explaining how you must make sure your lines are closed when you cut, and keep his open so he can't defend. I loved how seriously they listen. In the backin the picture is the only girl in this class, who told me, via one of the mothers,  very seriously that she wanted to be knight  'cause princess were wimps. The lady said the other class has more girls, some children of adult students and others who come on their own.

Afterward I took the adult class and not only found it fun, but found it very well done. The body motion is not bad arnis or kenjutsu, but has a western feel to it. Especially in moves from the Ox guard, the long rotation of the spine is very present. Afterward we visited some more and he showed me more of his manuscripts. Starting with a based from the folks in Leeds, Bert has a ton of German manuscripts that he has translated into Dutch and is working on English. What I found more impressive, because I know some people who work from these things who are so bad they make you stupid on contact, was that has developed a way of teaching it that actually works.  Classes flow as a whole on one theme, and there is pretty of supervised time to work on things.   Having the ability to actually read the version, handle the orginals, and not just guess from the pictures helps* but I think also Bert's attitude of this is fun and I want you to do it too works well. This was a very warm place, unlike most HWMA in the US. It may actually be the best I've seen.

I was going to take pictures of the advanced class but I had too much fun working with Henk and Sarah.  I did get challenged to a friendly duel next time I come by Leslie, and Bert says they don't frisk you before sparring either. Anyway, it was a fun evening even with the damned snow, even if I did crawl back to hotel at one.



I've never actually seen this place in daylight with the short winter days. One forgets how far north this is.

* it may have improved since I last did saw the recreations of western historic martial arts in the US but I tend to not be hopeful.  Way too much ego on our side of the great pond and way too much of the tai chi syndrome. ("Americans do not want to learn taichi; they only want to teach taichi.") I have to admit if Bert moved to Denton, I'd be taking his class. My own worry is that it would not extraplote well to the US because of the cultural differences in the US and the Netherlands.  See Sarah Hoyt's little rant. I've ranted myself on the assumptions that culture is unimportant and everyone is the same deep down.

UPDATE 1/31/10: Add a link to Bert's site and expanded some topics

        

This morning, my ride was coming late and so I re-walked my route from last night. The shot of the church tower wrapped in plastic was taken inside this old gateway to St. Jan's Hospital.

The pond by the nunnery is as pretty in the day,



and inside it is a pool of calm in the hustle of this tourust town.



The church was open and nuns were leaving when I arrived.



Walking back up to town, I passed the larger church comlex, with its docks on the side from when the canals were more than decorative.



Inside here is much more elaborate. ( I didn't get any shots from the Cathedral as everything there was covered as the renovations continue.)  St.. Donatora's also had tombed opened for viewing and the bell tower, which I skipped climbing.



After Danny picked me up, we stopped at the spot the postcards show of Brugge, which is another angle on the merchant houese I shot above. We then drove to his office in Ghent.



After business, we went to old part of Ghent, where you see the skyline.



The oldest remaining homes are on the canal and one dates from the 1400s.



We walked past the old meat market which still had hams hanging in it,



and past the fortess.



looping back to the other side of the canal. This is shot from outside the 1600s vintage favulty club of the University of Ghent.



I then took the train to Brussels, changed for Leige, then for Maastrickt, and then for Sittard. My instructions were for taking the first exit for Sittard, but it turned out to be Esloo. This is a little country stop with no staff, and I was just about to head for the lights of the nearest building when a bus came by with Sittard on the front.  I took that, and ended up here an hour and a half late.  A quick cab ride from the station got me safely to the hotel.  The window isn't bad again but the bells were loud.

 
(better photo coming...this got weird on uploading)

Dinner was Chinese with a Indoneasian flair - a fried rice served with a side dish of three meats (one with saurkraut!) that you mixed in like with Chicken rice. Served with a nice dark beer. Then I posted this and crashed.

        

It was dusk by the time we got out and a wrong turn lead to a bit of a scenic route, where we passed this. No idea what it is but it's really quite masonic looking.

It's even colder tonight after the seminar and the fountain more frozen. The cold plus the rain is making the cobblestone streets interesting, I wonder how the young ladies in the currently fashionable high heeled boots manage.



I walked down and cut across the site of the old hospital, now just ruined walls and a open park. The large church in town, which is being cleaned, is visible in its plastic coat:



Most of the business in this area were closed and it was near the nunnery that I found one open cafe, Maxamillan Von Osteberg.  It's close to the Beguin and after the taking a few low light shots, which is not fun with this pocket camera, I came back for dinner.  The shot below of the entry way shows the bridge where I have an old shot of the goddess, Luc, and his wife from my Fina days.



Next,  the side of the buidling against the canal:



The cafe's owner was kind enough to sit me by the fire. I had the home pate, which was good and came with the greatest pickles I've ever had, eel in green (below) for Ben, and the cheese plate with pommade for Noah. I then walked back to the Hotel t'putje, where I openned the box of chocolate's Kurt gave me and had them with mulled wine by the fire - discussing Obama  and US politics with a couple Irish guys from Clark College.

        

My plans of an early arrival in Beligium were changed by the flight delays due to weather in Chicago. Instead of kicking around Brussels for the morning, I headed directly out to Brugge by Intercity train. So my view of Brussels was:

Ghent was not any better:



I arrived in Brugge and found that my hotel was a block away. Walking past the New Market Square, I noticed the weather was interesting as seen in this closeup of the fountain. (Someone must have stole the Gulf Stream.)



My hotel is a ramshackaled place off the main drag, and my room look more like a converted attic or artist's garret than a hotel. The view is much better than normal, if I don't mind sitting on the floor to look out the window.



Seriously, it is a very nice place and the food is very regional: last night I had the eel stew with leeks and bacon (just for Ben). After checking into the conference, I walked around a bit to see if the street foods of frites, waffels, and chocolate had degraded at all (Nope. Still great).  Brugge was an important city in Flanders:


and it still is very much a Flemish town. I don't think I will have time to visit the battlefield this trip but I have my poppy pin on. Iwalked down to the town center - aim for the clock town:

   

Passing the Catherdal of St. Salvatore on the way. (The lerger church nearby is being reworked and the tower covered in plastic wrap).   The outside is nice here but everything inside is covered up.



The center of town still has farmer markets on Saturday and



is the site of both a monument to old heros and the town hall. It's surrounded by shops, cafes, and bars. I found the Druid's Den, an Irish pub in the basement under a Chinese resturant. When I went in to grab a beer and warm up, the only other customer was from Colleyville, Texas. <sings> "It's a small world after all."



Heading to the old section of the city,



you see why Brugge is sometimes called the Venice of the North. The city is riddled with canals like the one outside my window. I headed down to the museum past the old merchant's quarter,



Over  bridges like this one.



In the old city, I found a place I took the goddess's picture years ago when we were here:



From the bridge, looking back at where I shot from, you can see the house spans the canal. All the boats I saw this trip were covered up now.



The bridge leads to a small vineyard against the catherdral. It was getting dark and colder so I headed back to the hotel, had a croque monsieur and hot chocolate by the fire in memory of old times, then showered to get warm and crashed.

Today, I spend the morning talking to people about my poster and attending sessions. The confernece is heavily GC so I am out of my element but its interesting. (I'm typing this at lunch - sandwiches of beef americain and fresh goat cheese.) Hopefully I can get out some tonight and maybe find a chocolate store.

UPDATE 1/28/10: Corrected mistakes on what buildings were.

        

Well, Ben and I went to the weekly forging night in Princeton and I made a feather, just in case I can use my own for the judgment. Ben found out what happens when your knife blade sparkles - it's not a good thing. He won't let me take a photo.  At least railroad spikes are cheap.

The feather is from 3/4 angle iron so its about 1.75" wide by 6 inches long. I plan to bronze it later.

Noah, meanwhile, is laminating a urn for TAPS competition.  That's the second of his "craft" entries. He starts on etchings and prints next. ( I worry about that boy; he's not asking female classmates to pose.) His pen and ink are coming along nicely.

It's about 18" tall, of black sassafras and bois de rose. The ring is an 8 piece laminate.

        

for TAPS competition....

        

We had an early dinner tonight and made tourtierre for midnight as well as cinnamon rolls for tomorrow.  The tourtierre, made with a mix of buffalo and venison came out great and we served it with a bottle of pommade I bought back from Normandy this past spring. As Noah said, it tastes as good as we remember...

1 pound buffalo
1 pound venison
2 medium potatoes, shredded
1 finely minced onion
1 minced shallot
4 tbsp butter
1/2 pound morels
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp savory
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/8 tsp paprika
salt to taste

2 frozen pie crusts

Mix everything together and fry with 3 tbsp butter until meat is gray. I cheated and used two frozen pie crusts rather than making recipe Mother uses.  Let meat cool and line a glass pie plate with one crust. Melt remaining butter and brush bottom crust. Add meat filing. Cover with second crust and brush remaining butter on top.  Cook in a 350 F oven for 45 minutes until top is golden.

Let cool and serve slices with Pommade. It's really best after it sits overnight so the meat filling sets up.