January blues

Not everybody has removed their Christmas decorations. I was happy to see this on my Sunday walk through the Vleeschhouwersstraat (the Butchers'street, this name will not surprise you!)

January just isn't my favorite month. I hate to complain, but I started this month on penicillin against an inflammation of my tonsils and now I'm having a sore throat again. Well that's said. I'm sure that you guys really have something better to do than to listen to my moaning. I'll just show you what I did last week. Last week started cold and I think all Dutch bloggers showed some photos of their beautiful surroundings. I'll do that too, here is my street:


It was my daughters idea to walk to the park around the corner for some photos. I loved that idea.



Another 19th century town house. Here the new riches started to settle in the late 19th early 20th century. As Dordrecht is a medieval town, it is built like a circle. The 19th century part is like a peel around an orange around that medieval circle. Hence this part of town where I live is called 'the 19th century peel' or in Dutch 'de 19de eeuwse schil'.

When my kids were small we went to this park everyday. To play and to feed the ducks and deer.

As some ladies and their kids were doing in 1906 too!
This park Merwestein was already there in 1786 and it's a public park since 1885.

Last Saturday we went to Utrecht:

Another beautiful city in the center of our country. In the background you can see the famous Dom tower.
Utrecht is also known for it's lovely antique shops:

I would love to have this big tin to put in my most precious vintage Christmas ornaments, but the price tag said 56 euros (74 usd). I thought it was way too expensive, what do you think?

In most shops everything is locked away in showcases. I can understand that, especially here in the Pijpenla, where a lot of stuff is kept in the basement. What I don't understand is why they put the price tags upside down. So you have to get somebody upstairs, let them unlock one showcase, ask: 'What does that cost, and that and that?' and then move on to the next show case. Well, to tell you the truth the few price tags that were visible kept me from doing that. Like that card in the background in a quite common frame had a visible tag; 35 euros ( 46 dollars). I would sell all my cards in frames like that, if somebody would buy at that price. Interested? Just shoot me an email!