OIDFA Trip Day 15-19 Groningen: the Congress The morning was spent traveling from Koln to Groningen. I caught the train that went north to Leer, then changed trains into Groningen. Because it was so hot, I took a taxi to the hotel. The taxi driver questioned that I wanted to ride that short distance. It took him only 4-5 minutes to get there but it was much nicer than walking. He pointed out which building was the Oosterpoort so that was helpful. And he showed me the foot bridge across the canal that would be a short cut. With the footbridge, which did not show in the maps I looked at, the hotel was only two short blocks from the door of the Oosterpoort.
The canal was a busy, working canal so all the bridges had to be able to open for tall ships. I saw several bridge lifts during the days in Groningen. This is a daily occurrence in this canal country. There was a church a block from my hotel that I visited. It was built of, or finished with, bricks of different colors both outside and inside. This made a very pretty church. The ceilings had decorative paintings on them. It was a definite change from all the churches I'd seen that were made of stone. In my hotel, I could hear hourly chimes from three different churches. Day 16 was registration and set up day for OIDFA but it didn't start until 1:00. I had a roommate, Lindy Taylor from Ireland, join me in Groningen and we had the morning to walk around the center of town. We had breakfast at a small bakery, visited part of a street market that was being set up, shopped the yarn/craft store, had ice cream cones, tried to get in a church but it was locked, and generally had a pleasant morning. In the afternoon we registered, then I assisted in setting up the USA Stand. I had carried a package of lace from several people in my backpack all through Europe just for this display. In the middle of the work, I looked outdoors and it was raining hard. I hoped it would stop so just continued what I was doing. Three hours later, it was still raining, so I knew I would get wet. I had my umbrella but not my raincoat, and I just had sandles on my feet. It was only two blocks, but my feet were soaked and my clothes damp by the time I reached the hotel. The weather continued to be cloudy with some showers during the whole Congress and the week of Tours. Friday was the first day of the Congress, and shopping started at 9. The last of the exhibits had to be finished by then, so we were at the building when it opened at 8. I checked the USA Stand, then looked around. Lindy worked on the Irish Stand. I attended the General Meeting, and the Opening Ceremonies. Shopping was then the main activity until the Arachne luncheon and the lecture in the afternoon. I believe about 625 people were registered for the Congress but there were many more people who came in just for a day. Vendors were scattered all over the building on two floors. One area had the Bag Contest entries. We were given a voting paper for the most popular bag. Horrors!! We had to choose ONE bag out of 225!!!!! In the front of the building, there was a room with 's-Gravenmoerse lace display (including a set of red undergarments) and demo pillows. In the hall outside there were modern lace items displayed. There were some items displayed at various places throughout the building, and a major display of Withof in a room in the back. There was a separate lace exhibit in the next building. The country Stands had a wide variety of laces displayed. The Stand awards went to Spain (first) and UK (second). It was announced that there was only one vote difference between the two. People in the UK had made little purses of black, white and silver. There were a lot of them, and displayed in two glass cabinets. The divider panels in the back of the booth had black and white wallpaper strips on them which set off the display. Spain had filled their booth with a 3-D lighted display box that they built. It had multiple wires crisscrossing the top third with 3-D gold ornaments hanging from the wires. Congratulations UK and Spain! The Saturday evening banquet was held in the Martini Church. My guess for attendance is about 500. There was an organ concert throughout most of the evening. Some modern laces were displayed in the Martini Church. Details of the Congress activities can be found on their webpage. Search OIDFA 2008 to find it. The day trips, city walks, and lectures are listed there. I chose to attend all the lectures. They were very interesting. I got a seat in the front row for the Costume lecture. Reproduction costumes of northern Netherlands for different periods in history were shown and explained. The Congress was sort of a 3-day Lace Day but the participants did not bring lace pillows to work on. Shopping was the main activity. The Congress closed at 5:00 but reopened Friday night for the Volendam Choir concert. Saturday night was the banquet, mentioned already. Sunday, it ended at 4:00. After the lace from the USA Stand was retrieved, I transferred to a hotel at the edge of town for the week of Tours. Days 15-19 Lace exhibits numbers 7-11. Church numbers 8 and 9. Alice in Oregon - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
