Open Castle

This is the second day of Open Monuments and, again, instead of searching far and wide, I finally grabbed the chance to enter Bouvigne Castle.  This was taken while the sun was out.  The extra shows how grey it became outside, after about half an hour.

It's easy these days to look up historical facts but nothing beats going to the place and seeing things for yourself, no matter how small it is.  Bouvigne is a 'cutesy' castle and you're done in the blink of an eye if you're in a hurry.  Another extra shows one of the rooms.  It used to be owned by some knights (not all at the same time, of course), having been built some time after the Crusades.  At one point, Philip Willem, the eldest child of William of Orange, bought it but he died a few years after and so it passed on to his half-brother Maurits.  It turns out that neither of them ever slept here.  Today, it houses the offices of the Brabant Hoogheemraadschap, or Brabant chapter of the government's water management department, and there's a more modern building a little further on the estate, so, normally, the castle is off limits.  The garden, though, is an entirely different matter.  It's open all year round but is supposed to be especially lovely in the spring.  I'll be sure to drop by then.

The rest of the day?  Some laundry and ironing, some putting away.  Also did some administrative work as well as finished the MOOC's week assignments.  It's becoming rather technical but I will persevere.  Various other MOOCs are scheduled to begin at various times this coming (school)year, for instance tomorrow -- Foundation of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China.  Wonder what that's all about.