Monday, July 6, 2026
We slept well and met up with all the new arrivals this morning. We met Rob, our tour guide, who seems like a really good guy. We bussed to Delft and walked around for a couple of hours. Delft is of course famous for its pottery, so blue and white was everywhere. It is also the home of Vermeer. There are no Vermeer paintings around, because he only painted 32 and they are all somewhere where more people will see them.
I saw ducks. (Hi Benjin!)
I saw this very narrow car.
I saw this art lady in the yard of a church (neither the new nor the old church) The new church was built in the 1400s.
The old church was built before that. Johannes Vermeer is buried inside.
Vermeer was born in this house. I am unsure whether the shop was downstairs at the time.
Taking pictures of buildings lining canals has begun.
Taking pictures of buildings regardless of canal status has begun.
I was walking across the central square when I saw Sally and Becky slowly circling. Sally was narrating a video of the 360° of the square and Becky was staying out of the movie. Then they saw me! 🙂
We had a fabulous lunch!! Keith had an oriental chicken salad sandwich and I ate everything that fell off the bread and became a salad. Jenny had a vegetarian sandwich which brilliantly demonstrated you can have a delicious, spicy sandwich without meat.
Jenny and I enjoyed our moment in the art.
We bussed on to Belgium and Bruges. We were at a stop light while a bridge was spinning around in the river, remaking the waterway into a passable road. It was very cool.
Our room is very nice, again. The sitting rooms off the lobby don’t suck either.
As we were walking to our group dinner, I was telling Stacy about the movie In Bruges. I said there were two assassins who missed their mark hiding in the fairy tale town of Bruges. It’s a very dark comedy – a lot of violence, a lot of swearing, a lot of funny lines. I continued, “so all this shit is happening,” and one of our group, Jackie, a sweet looking older lady (like all of us sweet looking older ladies) turned and asked, “What shit is happening?” I told her I was telling Stacy about In Bruges and without a second’s hesitation she responded, “Fucking Bruges.” She’s seen it! (That phrase comes up 80 or 90 times.)
I waved Keith off as we all found somewhere to sit for dinner. Everyone always sits with their person/people and I want to try to mix it up for myself. I am quite sure I will have time to talk to Keith. I walked all the way to the back of the seating area and sat with Scott, the new guy. One of the band members had to pull out of the trip because he had eye surgery and the bubble in his eye was not disappearing and he could not fly. Scott took his spot. Jan and Kurt joined us. I enjoyed spending time with new people!
There was plenty of opportunity for more canal pictures and building pictures!
The world cup game US v Belgium starts at 2am, but I am not going to make it. I am soooo sleepy and it is only just after 11.