Trip to Heidelberg!

Hello dear readers! It's been a while (again) since I've written, but to make it up, I've got a big, photo-filled post about my latest holiday from two weeks ago. This time I got on a train to go to Heidelberg, which is in the south of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Television review: 24 Hours in the Past

In 24 Hours in the Past, six British celebrities go back to the 19th century to live the life of the Victorian working class. They will live and work at four different places: the dust yard, the coaching inn, the potteries and end up in the worst place of all: the workhouse!

8 (Bookish and) Not-So-Bookish thoughts (10)

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. sharing exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they've encountered during the week etc.)

1. Hello everyone, I hope you´re all doing well and enjoying autumn! My life is rather busy and stressfull at the moment (see 2), but here and there I've been finding time to enjoy the beauty of this season, if only during my commute to and from work! Here, have a picture of the view from my livingroom window, it's quite nice if I say so myself!

Trip to York(shire)!

As you might (or might not) recall from a previous post, I actually took a trip to England two weeks ago. And since I've been back I've been so busy I haven't even had time to do my 'customary' picture post here! Let's quickly remedy that!

Television review: Secrets of the castle

After a series of 'adventures', the living-history team of the BBC: historian Ruth Goodman and archeologists Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold have arrived in the Middle Ages. At Guédelon in France they uncover the long-forgotten art of building a castle and of the everyday live of the Medieval people involved.

If you've read my blog for a while (that is, before I started on Blogger, sorry...) you know that I'm a huge fan of the living-history series from the BBC. It all started in 2005, with Tales from the Green Valley, in which a group of enthusiastic historians and archeologists actually recreated the life on a farm in the 17th century. I was enchanted; this was an amazing way to learn about history and most of all, about forgotten, everyday history! After that, a part of the team went on to produce the hugely succesful 'Farm' series: Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm and Tudor Monastery Farm. I loved them all! So I was really pleased to hear that another series was being made, this time in the Middle Ages, a time period I'm really interested in, with my swordfighting hobby. 

8 Bookish or Not-So-Bookish Thoughts (7)

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. sharing exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they've encountered during the week etc.)

Hello everyone *waves*, here are a few things which have been keeping me busy for the last few weeks. Apart from work ofcourse, ugh (last half-year of my PhD, let's-not-talk-about-it)

1. Don't you just love this part of the year? Well, it depends on where you live ofcourse, but here in The Netherlands, May and June are the best. So many trees and flowers are blossoming, baby birds can be seen everywhere. There are lot's of great events to be visited and you can sleep with your windows open (I love that!). But the thing I look forward to every year is the fresh food: spinach fresh from the land, the first new potatoes, strawberries and peaches, yummy! What's your favourite thing to eat this time of the year (apart from ice cream, that's self-evident ;-) )

Trip to Tuscany

Last week I was in Italy, in Tuscany to be precise for a conference and a short holiday. Here are some pictures I wanted to share with you.

8 Bookish and Not-So-Bookish thoughts (2)

                Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows

book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. sharing
exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they've encountered during the week etc.)

1.Next weekend, one of my best friends is getting married and so I needed some festive clothes. Now I really, really don't like clothes shopping and I haven't had to buy special/festive clothes for years, so I was dreading this a bit. Luckily, a sweet friend of mine went along and I bought a lovely dress. Mission accomplished, now I can just look forward to the wedding day!

2.It's been so warm here in The Netherlands the last weeks. I was walking around in summer clothes mid-September and even bought a icecream at a stall this very weekend! The next week looks to be a bit more autumn-like and I must say I don't mind at all, it's just time for cosy afternoons with hot chocolate and scarfs etc.

3. At my mother´s birthday party this weekend, I was talking with one of my uncle´s (from the in-law side). He told me about his family history and how his grandfather (his grandparents where Germans) had been fighting in the trenches in WWI and had been wounded there. It was so interesting to hear about this as I never before talked to someone who had a direct connection to WWI, being that The Netherlands was neutral during this war. 

4. I've been reading quite a lot about WWI recently, last month The War Horses by Simon Butler about the horses who were used in the (British) army in WWI and am currently reading a book about Dutch people who volunteered to fight with either the Allied or the German armies during this war. There is also an exhibition going on at a museum close to where I live about the Belgian refugees who came to The Netherlands in large numbers in 1914 which I hope to visit sometime soon.

5. I've been enjoying the return of Downton Abbey very much! It almost feels like returning to a group of well-known friends after a long absence! It's such fun seeing the Dowager at her scheming again and hearing Mrs. Hughes down-to-earth wisdom.SPOILER

I'm really glad to see Daisy developing herself, but I'm not to keen on the developments with Miss Bunting and Tom and also Mary and Tony Gillingham.

END SPOILER6. I went to see the new Woody Allen movie Magic in the Moonlight in the cinema last week which was okaish (I'm not a big fan of Woody Allen movies, but I just love this particular old-fashioned cinema and like to go there now and then, even if the movie is not super interesting). But the fun thing was, a few days later I was having a conversation with my boss about movies and we discovered he has also been to that movie AT THE SAME TIME AND PLACE! And we hadn't seen each other!

7. Work-wise, it's only a few weeks until I officially enter the last year of my PhD and with that, the last year of my contract at the University. I'm starting to stress a little bit about finishing up my research and writing my thesis, but on the other hand, I've learned in the past three years that you can't really rush research, it goes as fast as it goes. So I just keep doing my best and hoping it will be alright
:-S

That's about all I've got to talk about this time! I hope you're all having a nice weekend and enjoying autumn.

Sword-fighting

Last week in my '8 Bookish or Not-So-Bookish Thoughts' post, I mentioned my sword-fighting classes had started again. In the comments I got a lot of questions about that hobby of mine, so I thought I'd make a post about it.

Sword-fighting classes? What do you do there exactly? 
So yes, I take sword-fighting classes or training. I started in January and I really enjoy it every week. Many people think I do fencing, but no, this is really different. The correct term is probably Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), a modern sport which recreates combat techniques from the Medieval and Early Modern Period. In the group where I train, we focus on late Medieval swordfighting techniques. While more 'official' HEMA schools often have 'winning matches' as a goal, my trainer is really focused on recreating techniques and fighting as 'pretty' as possible. We also don't do full contact fights, but check ourselves and point towards openings in the oponent's defense. 

Trip to Toronto and Ottawa

It's been some time since I posted, I have been on holiday and after that, recovering from my holiday ;-)
As you might expect from me, first things first: my holiday pictures!!

This year, I went outside of Europe for the first time! I went to Canada, first four days to a scientific conference in Guelph, followed by a holiday in Toronto and Ottawa.

Trip to Brussels

Two weeks ago, I went for a short trip to the Belgian capital of Brussels. Even though it's quite close to home (less than 3 hours by train), it was still very different (language, architecture, culture etc), so I really felt like I was away from everyday life and I totally enjoyed it!

Trip to Salzburg and Munich

Last week, I went on holiday. First, I visited the Austrian city of Salzburg, for the second half I went to Munich in Germany. Here I met up with a friend of mine who lives there. I had a really lovely time with lots of history, culture and beautiful nature and it was really nice to spend time with my friend.I want to share with you some of the best sites I saw, I hope you enjoy it!