Museé Hergé

Going to the Museé Hergé was almost a bit like a pilgrimage and it was nice to go with my sister who is just as excited as me. I've loved Tintin ever since I was a child passed down from my dad. The museum itself is so well put together. The collection not just based around his art but lots or artefacts from his personal and professional life and that of Studio Hergé. 

It gave me deeper sense of appreciation of the research that her out into each booker after The Blue Lotus from the influence of his Chinese friend Zhang Chongren. It great to see direct links from Hergé's world and life that went directly in the Tintin books. His father and his twin brother who dressed alike being the basis for Thomson and Thompson. Or the relics from The Seven Crystal Balls or the Broken Ear that Hergé drew from museum exhibits  in Brussels.  It was lovely to see the sketches and the different stages in his work not just Tintin but Quick & Flupke and The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko. 

The Museé Hergé was definitely the highlight of our Brussels trip something my sister and jointly enjoyed. The staff were lovely too and the shop had many great items. My favourite place in Belgium. 

Brussels & Amsterdam

Last week I took a long overdue break and went on holiday with my sister to Brussels and Amsterdam. It was my first time in Belgium and the Netherlands and also my first time using Airbnb. The Airbnb was a fun experience and I was really pleased with the place that I found in Brussels. Similar places in Amsterdam were way out of budget, I'm glad I went to the hostel that I found instead. The Brussels hosts were really lovely and relaxed the dates that we booked meant though actually in residence I thought it be a little awkward saying somebody's home but it worked out fine. 

I did enjoy Brussels the highlight was the Museé Hergé as I'm a big fan of Tintin but I have to say overall I'm not that taken with Brussels. On the other hand I completely fell in love Amsterdam, unlike Brussels I will definitely return to Amsterdam. I had the same feeling that I got when I was in Japan that I could easily live here but I'm sure lots of people leave that thinking the same thing. 

In Amsterdam I went to the Van Gogh Museum I wish I had time to go to the Rijksmuseum but travelling with my sister she's not as interested in arts and culture as me we had to make some compromises on this trip. Being in Amsterdam also give me the opportunity to meet my long time pen pal Chanou or @gnoe as she is on Instagram. We hit it off straight away as I've mentioned before I've been really lucky with meeting up with people from Instagram in real-life everybody's been fantastic. 

It was great spending time with Chanou and my sister we had a great first day in Amsterdam together. The stuff that we got up to was really fun we started at a cat cafe Kopjes and then to the Miscellaneous stationery shop followed by walking to central and then dinner. I've written about Kopjes and Miscellaneous in separate posts. What I loved about Amsterdam is that it had all the feel of somewhere like Shoreditch  but without being over priced and the pretentious. I will definitely be making a future trip it as probably the best place I could've gone to for a break. 

Tabi-ya

Out and about in Tokyo once again, meant I could stick my head in at Tabi-ya. My favourite stationery shop. I am sure once I have the budget and time I will find equally great delights elsewhere. But for now Tabi-ya is my one true love.

Tabi-ya also stocks a lot of Traveler's Notebook (TN) stuff which will be great for future trips. I bought a TN last month and have yet to blog about it, I will remedy this soon. I didn't buy much for my TN, just some rubber bands for the extra inserts and I took a copy of the Travelers Times (for new potential mail art). But I indulged in two of my favourite M's Moleskine and Midori, no Mountblanc unfortunately.

I also bought some amazing airmail stickers. I don't know why I didn't buy them on my first trip. I can only image that was because they didn't have them before. I love love LOVE them, is really sad that I get this excited over stickers?!?! I will be using and sharing them of course. There are over 100 in the time, but I'm sure it will be easy to use them up.

I have a new thing for mini envelopes and paper bags. The clear front paper bags will great for Christmas and mail swaps. In the new year I make try and make something similar with heavy tracing paper and washi. As for the raffle tickets I bought I'm considering doing some kind of real raffle with my pen friends. I will need to think about how it will work but though it'd be fun. Love the stamps another a little something for my mum..... maybe.

From Tabi-ya facebook page