LUCIA~ Travel from Utrecht to Tilberg, museum visits

Today we left Utrecht, and took a train to Tilburg. It was a bit of a hectic ride for a few of us because we fell asleep on the way there and barely made it off the train in time. As soon as we got off the train, we did our usual count-off to see if everyone was there (like I like to call it, Vontrap family style), and made sure everyone was well and accounted for. Youssef's wife Raquel took her first day off from being a new mother and showed us around the city by taking us to three art galleries and museums. The first was a glass gallerie, which exhibited various beautiful pieces. Everyone, of course, was a bit fearful that Sophie would possibly knock something over, but she happily and thankfully proved everyone wrong. When we left the gallerie the owner gave us all little glass beads that had little intricate designs in them, which were nice little momentos of the experience.
After that, Raquel took us to a textile museum and working factory. It was kind of funny because some of us felt like we were a high school home-ec class that was interested in knitting and sewing. But all in all, it was very interesting because it was an interactive museum in the sense that we could touch all the pieces. We saw everything from carpets, curtains, and wallpaper, to how wool is converted into thread with huge machines that we got to see. It was an interesting experience, because I dont think any of us had thought much about textiles before this, and now we all thankfully know what a negative printing technique looks like on sheets and tablecloths, and can compliment our mothers on their excellent taste in textiles in our homes (and maybe look at sheep in a more appreciative manner as well).
Lastly, we went to an amazing modern art museum. A few of the displays were really striking, and we spent about 20 mins just looking at one that had boxes layed out all over the floor, depicting various fazes of life. Another display that a lot of people liked was a dark room, but unfortunately I can't describe that one too well because I fell asleep (I got very little sleep the night before).
We finally made it to Antererp, and after dragging our bags through streets that were undergoing major reconstruction (and strikingly resembled a war zone), we made it to the International Youth Hostel. After getting settled in, we went to dinner to a plaza a few blocks from our house. Some kids were playing soccer, so of course this tempted our boys to go get the infamous culturally connective ball, Optus. They played a friendly game while we waited for our dinner, and proudly defeated the five year olds. Good job guys.
After an extremely long day, it was nice to finally settle in for a coparatively extended period of time, and all be living together again after having lived in seperate homes in Amsterdam (and for some of us, Utrecht).

~Lucia