Jazz, shopping, and some TEFAF

My week at work was very busy, so I was looking forward to all the fun things that were planned for the weekend. Jaap and I went to a Jazz Maastricht Masters concert at the Theater aan het Vrijthof on Friday night. Dianne Reeves was the headliner and she was amazing. The real deal. I got goosebumps. The opening act was a jazz trio with Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi. We weren't familiar with him, but we really enjoyed their set. 

Maastricht Conservatorium

Dianne Reeves

Theater in the background aan het Vrijthof

Saturday afternoon was spent with shopping with my friend Angela, enjoying lunch at the Derlon Hotel, and sipping some glasses of rosé wine at a very "Maastricht" bar on their small hidden terrace. Spring is officially here and everyone is flocking outside to enjoy the sunshine.

The perfect ending to a classy weekend ended with a trip to TEFAF, THE European Fine Art Fair. TEFAF calls itself "the world's leading art and antiquities fair". With the exception of André Rieu concerts, TEFAF is the biggest thing that happens in Maastricht. TEFAF is where museum curators, art collectors, and millionaires from all over the world come to purchase art, antiques, jewelry, rare books and manuscripts, paintings, fine jewels, etc. Collections of sketches and paintings by Picasso, Renoir, Chagall, and Klimt. The list goes on and on. It makes you think...Who is buying this stuff? It's really incredible. 

photo: Tefaf.com
Exhibitor: Daphne Alazraki

Opera glasses anyone?
photo: tefaf.com
Exhibitor: Wartski

By far, my favorite exhibitor was Graff. An exhibitor that had two of their own private security guards protecting their cases of diamonds and fine jewels. Their pieces were incredible. Collections and sets of jewelry with incredibly huge white and canary diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. It was so beautiful. My friends and I stood in amazement gawking at a 100 carat pear shaped diamond for about 5 minutes. What a sight!

R.I.P. Fiets

We've had a beautiful Sunday. A bike ride to nearby Eijsden, lunch with a river view on the Maas, and a viewing of an "antiques roadshow" with our friends. We stopped at one of my favorite little spots, Eijsden castle. I love this place. 

In bike related news, I got my new fiets (bike) today. It's been a sad few weeks without my bike that I liked so much. I stupidly left my key in my bike during Dutch class and my bike was stolen. An easy steal for a bike thief. Jaap says I'm becoming more and more Dutch because having your bike stolen is a part of Dutch life. Well, you live and learn! 

R.I.P. fiets...thanks for the good times

Alaaf til you drop: Part II in Maastricht

Carnaval in Maastricht was a blast, but I'm glad it's over! Day into night partying takes a lot out of you. Year 2 in Maastricht and I still love this lively celebration. The costumes, bad music, and happy people in the streets. It's all good fun. I can't believe how much time and effort people put into their costumes. Bright colors, huge hats, headpieces, face painting, costumes that light up or stand 5 feet in the air! It's always fun to see the creativity. 

Here is one of my favorites. I saw them last year, so it's gotta be an annual tradition. A group of people made costumes that replicate some "Carnaval" artwork that's publicly displayed in the Vrijthof. 

One of my favorite costumes

Actual artwork in the Vrijthof

Parade

The Mooswief

Despite the bad weather which included: snow, hail, and sunshine, we partied on!

It was pretty chilly so heading inside was a must. Here I am with my "gypsy sister" Angela.

Another one of my favorite costumes

What a great 5 days! Til next year Carnaval... Alaaf!

Alaaf til you drop 2012: Part I

My favorite thing about living in the southern part of the Netherlands has to be Carnaval. Hands down, it's the most exciting and unique thing about Maastricht. Brabant and Limburg come alive with costumes, parades, all day long partying, and bad Carnaval music. What's not to love?

Even though Maastricht is THE place to celebrate, I really enjoy celebrating in Jaap's hometown. We went to Oirschot on Friday night along with our American-Dutch group of friends from Maastricht. Seeing the Redtband is a great way to get the festivities started. Thank you to Trees & Jan who hosted us for the night. It was nice to spend time with you. And one of the best parts, we got to see Jaap's party band live. Always a good time!

Here's some footage of our Friday night with the Redtband. 

The Redtband

Jaap's parents met us out for a drink

Pete, Jacob, Arie & Jenny ready to party

Carnaval isn't over yet. We still have one more day of partying, drinks, and good times. I'm glad that I took today off to recover. I "alaaf-ed" til I dropped. But, the fun continues tomorrow for the closing night of this wonderful holiday!

One more day...

Carnaval 2011

It's almost time. Carnaval is right around the corner and the celebrations will commence tomorrow. We're spending our first night in Jaap's hometown with our Kolonisten (Settlers of Catan) gaming friends. (We've grown quite close to our American/Dutch crew of friends here). I'm excited they get to see Jaap's party band in action. So veel plezier to everyone in Brabant, Limburg and places in the northern parts of the Netherlands that wished they lived here this week. :) Alaaf!

The Mooswief: A Maastricht Carnaval icon

Jaap's party band in Oirschot, Carnaval 2011

Kolonisten gaming friends: Pete, Arie, Jenny & Jaap

Me, Pete & Jacob

Nijmegen, Simon, and the freezing cold

Last Sunday we spent a sunny and very cold day in Nijmegen. We caught up with one of Jaap's friend, Joost, from university and our new nephew Simon. We attempted to do some light sightseeing before catching up with Jaap's family, but it was freezing and we opted for hot tea in a café instead. We managed to catch a few shots of the the market square before heading indoors.

Market square

This is my favorite shot of Simon. I like how he's waving hello. Too cute. It was nice to catch up with Mieke and Willem. We're happy that Mom and baby are home from the hospital and doing well. Thanks for having us visit again. 

Best part of the day

Happy Mom & baby

Orkest Concert & the Jansen clan grows

We've had a busy week of music making. Several orchestra concerts and Jaap is busy with his party band for the upcoming Carnaval season. Last week we had a series of concerts with our community orkest at the university. These pictures were taken at our concert in Roermond, a city north of Maastricht. I love playing in such beautiful venues. 

Jaap and his French Horn buddy Pasqual

We had two other performances in Maastricht prior to this one. Our concert series for this semester was an 'all Dutch' program. Every piece we performed was written by Dutch composers with a few that lived and composed in Maastricht as well. We gave a performance at a well known bookstore in Maastricht called Selexyz accompanied by a lecture about the composer, Andrée Bonhomme. It was interesting to hear about her life as a composer in Limburg and her studies in Paris and learn a little bit about the music history of Maastricht. I think it brought more meaning to our performances.

My favorite piece was a cello concerto by Hendrik Andriessen. We played with a cellist, Doris Hoscheid. What a treat. Here's a clip of the concertino. Jaap filmed it from the back of the church.

We had nice music highlights last weekend, but the best part was meeting our new baby nephew Simon! Making his entrance into the world a somehwat earlier than expected, we are happy that baby Simon is doing well. What an amazing day. It puts life into perspective for you and helps you realize whats important. We are so happy for the new parents Mieke and Willem. Looking forward to seeing them again, hopefully very soon!

Proud Pop weighing Simon