Tuesday Field trip

Danny has a day off today(Tuesday) and I decide we need to do something cultural. I let Danny pick and he chooses MIM.

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) is a music museum in central Brussels.  It is part of the Royal Museums for Art and History and internationally renowned for its collection of over 8,000 instruments.

Originally attached to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with the purpose of demonstrating early instruments to students, the MIM collection was created in 1877 with a collection of a hundred Indian instruments given to Belgian King Leopold II by Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore in 1876 and the collection of the celebrated Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis, purchased by the Belgian government in 1872 and put on deposit in the Conservatory, where Fétis was the first director.

Its first curator, Victor-Charles Mahillon, greatly expanded the already impressive collection so that, by the time of his death in 1924, the MIM consisted of some 3,666 articles, among which 3,177 were original musical instruments. He was noted of his astute judgments in obtaining these large augmentations by calling on philanthropists, mixing with erudite amateurs who sometimes became generous donors, and through friendly relations with Belgian diplomats in foreign posts, who sometimes brought back instruments from beyond Europe.

Among the notable pieces of the collection are the famous Rottenburgh Alto recorder, instruments invented by Adolphe Sax, a unique set of giant Chinese stone chimes, and the only existing copy of the luthéal, an instrument used by Ravel.

That is the basic description. We enjoyed the audio guide, which consisted only of music. You hang it around your neck and it picks up its cue from the floor in front of the display case. As you approach, music which features the instruments on display begins to play! It is really neat and enhances the experience greatly. 

The building itself is a work of art. The museum's current location, as of 2000, is in the former Old England department store, built in 1899 by Paul Saintenoy out of girded steel and glass in the art nouveau style as well as an 18th-century neo-classic building designed by Barnabé Guimard. The interior is all exposed steel girders, a cool cage elevator and beautiful wood. 

The temps outside and a slightly aggravated knee from a long run yesterday prevent   further Brussels exploration today, but spring is coming! At home we enjoy a tasty lunch and a relaxing afternoon filled with No School!

And Cake!!

Brussels, Belgium The Adventure Begins

Update from Brussels--

Finally sitting in my hotel room, a full 28 hours since we left Michigan! 

LONG DAY! But good! We landed on time and were in the rental car and on our way to International school of Brussels by 8:30 am.

The main is office is in a chateau, and the old parquet floors and painted ceilings were gorgeous. The guy that we met with was very nice and informative. We  toured the school, met with the assistant head of the middle school(which is 7,8,9)saw the sports fields, met the band director, math teacher, etc It is a very nice school, grounds very tidy. The school seems to be quite academic and you can even take classes like science and history in French if you want.

We then headed south of Brussels to Waterloo. We got there quite early, so we grabbed a coffee and walked around the area near the school to get a feel for the neighborhood. We went in around 1pm and met the admissions head, Caroline, whom jer had met with a few weeks ago. She was thrilled to see jerry again and happy to meet me. We sat in a nice conference room and she went over some details about the school and let us ask questions. The middle school principal came in, Dave, and sat with us for about a half hour. I was able to ask about math classes,etc. Danny would take a placement test at both schools for French, math and English. Then the music teacher came in and joined us, it is crazy how much time they all give you and how friendly everyone is! We then headed out to the music area with that teacher and saw the facilities. They have a band and also do solo and ensemble.  She has about 6 different music events during the year, with choirs and bands. In two weeks they are putting on Joseph and the amazing...

We then toured the rest of the school, Caroline kept poking her head into classrooms and introducing us to the teachers, physics, science, math,etc. everyone was so friendly!

The fall sports teams were getting ready to go to their fall finals and so they were having a pep rally at 3 pm. She took us to the gym and we saw the teams run in, all the kids cheering, met more staff...and so forth. Then back to the conference room, after a swing through the two libraries, the cafeteria, the high school wing...I could hardly keep it all in my head. She reviewed the application procedure, I asked if Danny could do exams early and still go to Philmont with boyscouts( looks like a yes!) we then got brochures and a mini stuffed mascot and were on our way.When we got outside Jerry asked what I thought and I said I couldn't get over the warm and friendly feeling there. That is what he felt too, from the first time he visited, but he wanted to gauge my feeling before sharing that. We then talked pros and cons and decided to go for St. John's! 

We canceled our plans to visit the Antwerp school tomorrow, and emailed the relocation but to concentrate on the Waterloo area. Steve had already sent us lists of houses, so we plugged a few into the GPS to see where they were compared to the school. We looked at a couple, then tracked down one that was 1750€ which is the least expensive of the group. We pulled up in front and it looked fine, small and tidy. I could see it was empty and as we prepared to get out to go creep around, over the hill toward us came a running team! We had of course been talking about whether it would be safe for the girls to run...and here came these kids. We had come a back way and weren't quite sure where the school was, but as the team got closer, we could see it was Saint John's kids! Was this a sign?!  We shall see!

We received an email from Steve just a bit ago, there is a strike planned for Brussels on Thursday, our house touring day...yikes! We said we were ready to go for tomorrow if he can make it happen, I will keep you posted.

Jerry and I came to the hotel around five and than set out walking. We explored the town, found a Turkish place and ate, I had lentil soup, hummus and pita, Jerry had a falafel sandwich and frittes! Then we walked some more. We visited a beautiful church that had a When we got outside Jerry asked what I thought and I said I couldn't get over the warm and friendly feeling there. That is what he felt too, from the first time he visited, but he wanted to gauge my feeling before sharing that. We then talked pros and cons and decided to go for St. John's!  We canceled our plans to visit the Antwerp school tomorrow, and emailed the relocation but to concentrate on the Waterloo area. Steve had already sent us lists of houses, so we plugged a few into the GPS to see where they were compared to the school. We looked at a couple, then tracked down one that was 1750€ which is the least expensive of the group. We pulled up in front and it looked fine, small and tidy. I could see it was empty and as we prepared to get out to go creep around, over the hill toward us came a running team! We had of course been talking about whether it would be safe for the girls to run...and here came these kids. We had come a back way and weren't quite sure where the school was, but as the team got closer, we could see it was Saint Johns kids! Was this a sign?! I told Jerry that I would rather be at the bottom of our budget and have room to spend money on traveling around while we are there. It will be interesting to see the inside, but it may be the place!

We received an email from Steve just a bit ago, there is a strike planned for Brussels on Thursday, our house touring day...yikes. We said we were ready to go for tomorrow if he can make it happen, so we shall see. 

Jerry and I came to the hotel around five and than set out walking. We explored the town, found a Turkish place and ate, I had lentil soup, hummus and pita, Jerry had a falafel sandwich and frittes! Then we walked some more. We visited a beautiful church that had a mass going on in French in a side chapel. Then we came back here to crash. I had a nice decaf cappuccino and a chocolate croissant, YUM!