Sharing some of the experiences encountered moving to and living in London … and then moving to Amsterdam! And then, moving to Austin, Texas where Adventure Cow has taken over this blog!
We had something of a list of places we wanted to visit while living in Europe; the usual places, London, Paris, Amsterdam; to which we added: whole countries like Spain, Portugal, Croatia. We were lucky, we got to live in two of the places on the list, both London and Amsterdam. And, Paris, dare we say: “we are good with Paris”, we have been so many times. It is truly good to be a Benjamin.
If you have read any of this blog, then you know we went a lot of places in our three years:
So, as we thought about one last trip, where would we go? Portugal, specifically a hiking holiday in the Algarve region has been on the list for a long time and the weather in November is quite nice; but we decided to let that trip go for the time being. Instead, we went to Finland. Yes, it was cold, but not terribly. (We went in November, not January) And, while Covid caboshed our planned stops in Estonia and Latvia, we were able to spend a good number of days in Helsinki and five days in Utsjoki. Utsjoki is so far north that you have to go south to visit Santa Claus’ village. But it is worth it. We stayed at Aurora Holidays. https://auroraholidays.net/about/ where we had our own cabin with wide open views of the northern skies. We saw the Northern Lights four of our five nights there – such a treat. During the day we hiked and visited reindeer and sled dogs and ate wonderful meals in the accompanying restaurant. Another trip of a lifetime to end our three-year adventure of a lifetime.
The view of the Tena river from our cabin at Aurora Holidays
Shall we begin looking at Finland, with a sunset in Helsinki?
Helsinki Library reflects their shipping historyA full service library: sewing, 3-D printing, video production; amazingAnd, books! and play areas! and coffee!Libraries in Finland are more like community centers. We saw several couples on dates there – which our tour guide said is quite common.
On to our cabin at Aurora Holidays. I woke up at 3:15 in the morning, and this is what I saw when I looked outside. We learned later that there had been exceptional solar activity reported from 3:15 – 4:15 am the night we arrived. This is the first of dozens of pictures taken.
But let me also show you the lovely restaurant and the breakfast included with our stay. (Remember, I was up most of the night, so a little tired looking)
Us under the Northern Lights, under the stars.
Just the lights and a few stars.
During the day we hiked up the hill behind us to take in the air and the view. The hut offers a warm place to stay for a bit with a fire pit in the center.
Inside the hut, the hut’s name is Steve by the way. On my left is Tiina, proprietor of Aurora Holidays.
We used Steve’s firepit to roast sausages and mulled cider.
Here we are again; the Big Dipper almost as prominent as the Northern Lights.
If you go this far north, you have to have a dog sled ride; but there was not enough snow for sleds – so it was more of a wagon ride. Still great fun and the dogs are just the best.
At the end of the sled/wagon ride, there is time to warm up with more mulled cider, cookies, and a chat with the dog musher.
Another pic of Lights at Night.
Back to the restaurant (all meals were included). This is the end of a berry nice dinner.
Meeting and feeding the reindeer during the day.
Our cabin under the Northern Lights
At the top of the world, almost; with Rayann our guide and photography expert.
One last picture of us, one last picture of the Northern Lights over the resort, our one last adventure comes to an end.
For eight days we walked our feet off, Aj and Aaron had finally come to Amsterdam. There were at least two trips worth of sightseeing, shopping, and eating to fit into the one trip that could be scheduled between Covid, weather, and work. The trip was twice delayed and once cancelled, but eventually the borders were opened and we were together again in Amsterdam.
Aj and Aaron: sunset at the Amsterdam Lookout.
With few exceptions, like the Shipping House, and De Dageraad, we went to places Andy and I have gone to before; The Rijksmuseum, The Moco, The Van Gogh, the bakery next door, the shops on the Kalverstraat, and even down to Leiden. The difference is that we could now see them through Aj and Aaron’s eyes. We have covered a lot of ground in our eighteen months, and yet much was new to us during their visit.
We began the week with a tour and high tea at The Shipping House or as it is now named, The Grand Hotel Amrath. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheepvaarthuis This began our official education in the Amsterdam School style of Architecture developed in the early twentieth century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_School And, gave us one more chance to have a High Tea while in Europe.
The Shipping House. Glass skylights over the central stairs.
An afternoon was spent at the Rijksmuseum where we took in the current exhibit on the topic: “Remember Me”. (Selfies of the 13th – 19th century) https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/exhibitions/remember-me A walk through Vondelpark and it was time to find some dinner.
Forget me not, while KAWS exhibit is dismantledRyksmusuem library
Van Gogh is not the only colorful person at the Ryksmuseum
The New Church is not new to us anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuwe_Kerk,_Amsterdam But, it did have a new curated Amsterdam fashion exhibit; The City, Fashion, and Freedom, which was interesting to all of us. https://www.nieuwekerk.nl/tentoonstellingen/maison-amsterdam/
Amsterdam Fashion at the New Church
Aj in LeidenAndy & Aj at Naturalis Museum, LeidenCaught looking down the fortress well, LeidenAaron at Old ChurchAaron wins big at Holland CasinoLibrary at DeDageraadOutside the Museum of the Canals – Amsterdam
A quick photo on the walk home – I do not want to forget how beautiful it is here.
We knew the afternoon at the Resistance Museum would not be easy; but the history of World War II does not go away by just ignoring it. The Netherlands was neutral during WWI and most Dutch assumed they would stay neutral and avoid Hitler’s reach in the late 30’s. That did not happen. While not a large museum, it does an excellent job of detailing the ways that life changed for everyone, every day under the occupation by the Nazis. The Dutch are known for their organization and general willingness to follow the rules; Jewish families willing registered as they were told. Authorities documented where every Jewish family lived. The result; no country lost a bigger percentage of its Jewish population than the Netherlands. https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/netherlands-greatest-number-jewish-victims-western-europe/
It is haunting to think that tens of thousands of innocent victims walked the same streets we did.
I didn’t mean to stop writing; the blog just dropped a few notches on the “To Do” list, and the next thing I knew it has been almost two months.
The last posting in this blog was our hiking trip to Austria; still a top-ten thing to do in our minds. Activities, fresh air, beautiful scenery, and good food and drink. But, since that time, we have done and seen a lot more. We went to Brussels, Belgium for a weekend, to Maastricht, Netherlands for a weekend, spent a long (in many ways) weekend in Berlin, spent eight days with Aj and Aaron here in Amsterdam and Leiden (remember the Pilgrims; blog 46), and last week we wrapped up 10 fabulous days in Finland. Yes, Finland. It continues to be true: It is good to be a Benjamin!
With all that, it would just be too, too much to write about each experience, so what follows are a smattering of pictures with a few comments and links. Part 1 of 2 “catch up” postings.
We begin with Brussels:
Brussels, Belgium was home to the 1958 World’s Fair, or Expo 58. The Atomium was the symbol of a technological leap into the future.
The view from the top of the Atomium, looking down the fair’s main parkway entrance.
In Brussels, we spent 8 hours on a walking tour! We met at the city’s Market Square, beautiful by any standard or time period. We then started the tour with seven different chocolate shops – Belgian chocolate is deservedly world-famous and highly regulated to maintain the quality. Yum.
The tour, of course, included a visit to the Manneken Pis statue. What I had not known before is that one costume designer is responsible for outfits for the boy and that he may wear as many as 400 in a year. This was his second outfit for the day we were there.
After all the chocolate, it was time for beer tasting. Again, plenty of different bars/restaurants to learn all about Belgian beers – ending with the beer that has been proclaimed “The best beer in the world”. Westvleteren XII It is so good, it no longer enters the competition and is sold only by lottery which the monks run themselves.
We end the tour at the Galleries’ Royal, where we see only the Love side of a Love/Hate installation. The stop also included our final tasting – a true Belgian waffle.
A few weekends later we were off to Maastricht, Netherlands. Maastricht is a university town in the southernmost part of the Netherlands. It is in the region of Limberg; known for its cheese and for being fought over through the generations by the Belgians, French, Spanish and Germans. The food, the architecture and cobblestone streets reflect these multitudes of European cultures.
If you go far enough back in history, you find the Romans were here too. A waterportal remains from the times Roman ships docked on the Meuse river.
We stayed at the Kaboom hotel. A very convenient location, right across from Central Station. Unique in many ways; you can rent a stick insect terrarium to place in your room overnight if you want. We did not need insects; our room came with a mannequin in the large corner window, light at night for all passerby’s to see. (dark curtain on our side)
A thing to do in Maastricht is taking a tour of the caves. The caves are not true caves, they are tunnels created by hundreds of years of chalk and limestone mining. This is a picture taken in the tunnel which shows the maps of all tunnels. People have been known to get lost in here and die. Note: no cell service. It was also used as an art depository during WWII. Both sides honored the stash of art because both sides wanted the art in tact when they won the war.
In more recent times, early 1900’s, Maastricht developed into a European pottery making center. The huge Sphinx complex housed all phases of pottery making – dishes to the kitchen sink. This is the gate workers walked through as they entered the complex. It is now home to shops, theaters, hotel, and student housing.
We went into what we thought was one home furnishing store; candles, afghans, that kind of thing – it turns out it was an IKEA sized group of linked stores offering all manner of things for the home. We were trapped with no way out – still, a very cool space, that used to be the mold-making rooms.
There are very few Jews in Maastricht. Yet, there is a beautiful synagogue built in 1840 with funds supplied by the city.
We realized walking across the river to our hotel, that we never see a wide-screen sunset in Amsterdam; we are too close to the buildings here in city-center. That made this sunset in Maastricht extra special to us. This is not photo-enhanced. The sky was that orange.
We end part 1 of 2 with Berlin, Germany
When I realized it was only 6 hours by train from Amsterdam to Berlin, we had to go. I wanted to see the Brandenburg Gate. The Gate does not disappoint, and I guess as a tourist, I cannot complain that there were too many tourists there. And, look at that clear, blue sky!
Almost by accident, we also went by Checkpoint Charley. Andy was instructed to stand behind the sandbags for the requisite tourist picture. We both laughed as we crossed the street; not only were we leaving the previously cordoned off American Sector, we were also leaving the KFC!
We spent some of our time waiting in a “day of” ticket line to see the Reichstag that night. (If you did not order tickets months ahead online, this is the only option to go inside) 96 tickets are available each day at 1:00 pm at this booth across the street. However, if there are a lot of people in line, and there are always a lot of people in line, the tickets actually go on sale about noon. They are easily sold out by 1:00 pm. We were among the 96.
It is difficult to take a good picture from within the dome. The glass top opens directly over the Plenum meeting space so that all government laws will now be made in the open for all to see. The history is beyond difficult and while it is a light-filled space, even at night, it remains an oppressive sight.
We spent quite a bit of time at the Jewish Museum and wandering the Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe. Both remind us; do not become comfortable, do not forget. More time was spent at the Topography of Terror Museum. It is built on the remains of the SS and Gestapo headquarters. The lower wall you see on the right is the remains of the interrogation cells. The goal of the museum is to explain how systematically the Nazi’s took over every aspect of daily life – it truly did terrorize me.
Close up from the Topography of Terror – Brandenburg Gate right after the war’s end.
In 1866 a Jewish congregation built a new synagogue. Reflecting the Moorish style in vogue at the time, it was beautiful inside and out with tile, metal, and wood works. It was among the first buildings destroyed during Kristallnacht, November 9 – 10, 1938. The building façade has been restored to its former glory, but much of the inside is actually now outside as the restoration shows only the outline of the previous building and what remained of the entry.
Guards were aligned at the Gate for a protest. Perfectly aligned, as Andy captured a Heart of Berlin.
This is the end of part 1 of 2. Coming up next, 8 days in the Netherlands with Aj and Aaron.
But, it was not the movie that drew us to the area, it was the availability of a hiking holiday outside of Salzburg in the lake district of Austria; the Salzkammergut. https://www.salzkammergut.at/en/hiking-trails-in-the-salzkammergut.html A perfect Covid friendly vacation; Covid protocols, small hotels, and most activities outdoors. Time to pack those hiking poles!
Especially right now, few folks are able to quickly plan a trip to Austria, but if you could, or when you can, we would recommend it. What follows below are a few of our highlights from the 10 day trip. A few of our favorite things, if I may. And, while I don’t usually mention the places we stay or companies we use; this was our second hiking holiday put together by Inntravel out of the UK- we do recommend them.
We begin our holiday in Vienna with the best possible of omens; a rainbow over the river Danube. Do you see the shadow on the upper left? It’s actually a double rainbow; we are double lucky.
The following day we arrive in St. Agatha – this is what we see out our bedroom window
First morning in St. Agatha – Andy is ready to go!
First morning in St. Agatha – Linda is ready to go too! Sporting the latest in stylish rain gear.
Day 1 starts easy; follow the asphalt path toward the hills
Up the hill we go. On the way to Rathluckenhutte for lunch
Here is a sign for the hutte now. We are on the right path.
Time for a break as we go up the hill. Do you see the muddy pants? Yes, I did go the wrong way on a muddy hill – but just for a bit.
Andy is ready to keep climbing. Up we go.
We make it to the hutte. A cold beer, sausage, and potatoes; yum, German food. Oh, and cash only – very much in the Austrian tradition, no credit cards taken.
Andy surveys the Eternal Wall – a mountain of stone with two tunnels carved out for hiker access.
Looking back now at the Eternal Wall as we head for the inn and our pre-planned dinner.
A good walk, a rest, a shower, a clean set of clothes; plus wine and beer. Life is good.
We left St. Agatha the next morning. Time to hike over to Hallstatt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt Hallstatt has a history of salt mining going back to the Iron Age, or about 800 BC. The area was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. It has been called the most Instagramable town in the world.
We walk past the town limit sign of St. Agatha on our way to Hallstatt
Andy checks the directions again: go around the closed gate, following the path around Lake Hallstatt
It is a lovely walk. Mostly flat with views of the water and hills.
Are we there yet? Can we see Hallstatt in the distance?
Yes, there it is! We take a boat across the lake and land in Hallstatt. Yes, this is Instagram worthy.
As we check into our Hallstatt inn, we see that our room looks out over the Market Square with a view of the mountain and a waterfall. Easiest waterfall hunting ever!
Our first day of hiking from Hallstatt begins with taking the cable car at the edge of town. Up we go.
The cable car ends fairly close to a restaurant and the World’s oldest salt mine. We were ready to learn the story of Hallstatt’s salt.
First, you have to get suited up to go in the mine
Then you join the whole group and march right into the mine to begin the tour.
A salt mine is a difficult place to take a good picture – but, it was something to see – we learned a lot about salt. And, as we say about many places we go in Europe: ”You could never do this in the US; trip hazards, rough surfaces, uneven stairs, and poor lighting.”
After the salt mine and a bite of lunch, we are back on the trail to town. This route takes us past glacier fields and a waterfall.
Andy is coming back up the side trail after taking pictures of the Glacier Field
Here is one of his close-up pictures from the Glacier Field
From there it was off to the waterfall and back down the mountain into town.
The next day begins with a short trip to Obertraun and another cable car ride.
We are at the top of Krippenstein and walked over to the Five Fingers lookout. Hello clouds!
Andy takes in the view from the end of the middle finger.
This is what he sees.
As we walk along the ridge, the clouds lift and it is amazing.
The landscape on the back side of the mountain is completely different. Moonscape almost
“Candygram” For some reason, which we do not know, there is a land shark on our path.
There was some confusion regarding how exactly we were supposed to come down from Krippenstein, but we did figure it out, had a great day’s walk, and made it back to Hallstatt before the sun went down.
Yes, take care of what you love.
Our last morning in Hallstatt. The sun has come out and it is time for breakfast on the lakeside terrace.
A very easy start to the day; we take a taxi to the next town of Gosau. The driver drops us off at the head of lake Gosau for a day hike around the lake and up the hill to a hutte for lunch.
They said there would be waterfalls on this trail; there’s one now.
And another
We have climbed up from Lake Gosau to Hinterer Gosau – do you see the hutte across the lake? That’s our lunch and turn around spot.
A lovely day in a beautiful place.
The next day brings another cable car ride and more beautiful views await us.
The next two days have great weather. The rain from the past 5 days is over and temperatures are in the low 70’s. But, this weather conspired to challenge our last two hikes. Day 6 the trail is ruined by mud, and while the helpful folks at a hutte help us get on track -the cows came – to use the same trail. You can’t argue with a herd of cows.
There seems to be only one good way down this mountain – a ski slope that has been recently mowed.
Here we go! Just like skiing, we had to traverse side-to-side all the way down. Good thing we had our poles.
Our last hiking day begins with a riverside walk through town (Gosau) before we begin a climb around the three churches and into the woods on the hill.
It is just above the last church, the pink church, that we encounter a closed gate with this sign. No need checking our directions on this one – we are not going through the gate.
We decide to go up a small path to see if we can link up with the original trail on the other side of the target practice. It is there that we see this sign: Roughly translating to: Detour Herenweg trail Landslide. Uh oh. We try another trail.
The new trail dead ends so we turn around, walk back to town, take the bus back to the cable car and go back up the mountain.
We spend our last hiking afternoon walking around the top of the Dachstein mountain taking in views in all directions.
And while we did not stop for a drink here at one of the three main huttes, you have to admit this is one nice view to go with your coffee or beer.
We return to the inn as tired hikers one last time. The next morning we are off to Salzburg.
Mirabell Gardens with the city fortress in the background. We spent most of our time here going through the gardens, visiting the fortress, and then out to Hellbrun Palace and a visit to the Trick Fountains.
When you enter the Tricky Fountains area, they take your picture – we thought not too bad. 🙂 This picture has been linked to a ten minute video about Salzburg. You can fast-forward to 6:30 on the timeline to learn more about the fountains specifically. Yes, most visitors do get wet!
With this, our ten days were over. Time to head back to Amsterdam.
But I still have Do Ri Mi from The Sound of Music stuck in my head, and I found no place in this posting to use it – so I am ending this posting with it anyway. This is a video of a flash mob performing to the song at the beautiful Antwerp train station. I dare you not to at least smile if you watch it. Happy trails!
In 2008 the movie In Bruges was released. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Bruges It is a very dark comedy about criminals and the crimes they commit. At the time I was indifferent to this film; the jokes were too British, the violence too real. Fast forward 10 years and we were living in London; we were now four hours away from Bruges, we watched the film again.
Such a dark film; it is actually black. It was however, filmed almost entirely on location in Bruges, Belgium. The best part of the movie was the city. We put it on the list; the ‘maybe we should go there while we are living in Europe’ list. We were not enthusiastic about visiting. Some online reviewers said there is not much to do there, that there is no night-life. But, we wanted to do a test run of going to Belgium on the train and we only wanted to use a weekend; so [boring] Bruges it was. We are not looking for night-life anyway.
Visitors to Bruges can focus their time by museums, churches, gardens, shopping, architecture, https://www.visitbruges.be/visit or even major sites from the movie. https://www.discoveringbelgium.com/bruges-walking-tour/ We organized our time by food and drink. We would use some time to scout out inviting restaurants; those with outdoor seating, umbrellas, and, of course, patio string lights. We set aside times by making reservations for a chocolate museum https://choco-story-brugge.be/nl/ and a brewery tour. https://www.halvemaan.be/nl/brouwerijbezoek And we would use some time to climb the Brugge Belfry. https://www.visitbruges.be/en/belfort-belfry It is our sightseeing tradition to see if there is a tall structure in a town, and then climb it. As we made our way to our pre-selected points we visited churches, walked through gardens, did a little shopping, admired the architecture of countless buildings, and even hit a few sites from the movie – including all 366 steps of the Belfry.
We walked through multiple parks; these are Koning Albert park and Astrid park (film loc 16)
De Halve Maan Brewery (The Half Moon)
We are inside the Brewery courtyard, but which way to start the tour?
Quite the tour; many steps, many steep stairs and even stairs that could well be ladders
But the tour and the view from the top were well worth it!
By the time folks have finished the tour and tasted all the beer; a good time is had by all
The Choco museum was not as much fun as the brewery tour – but they did give us chocolate – so there’s that
As Andy’s pictures show, the architecture is facinating. Many buildings are similar to the Dutch (Belgium was part of the Netherlands at one time), but also beautiful in their own right.
Andy’s favorite building picture from Bruges
And, so many arches and gateways too
Not just the buildings; the buildings plus the water is something to see too
Sunday morning we were at Market Square (film loc #6) to see the horses getting ready to pull their carriages filled with tourists around the town
On the other side of the Square, it was time for us to make our climb to the top of the Belfry (film location #7) (Another picture taken by Andy)
As we start the climb, the view of Market Square is still quite clear
From the top, the individual details of the Square are no longer visable
This view made me think that I could see from the past below to the future in the distance
In the other direction, we could see forever
Unlike the movie though; you can see that we were never in any danger of falling out of the building.
Back down the steps, for a view of the Belfry from the inner courtyard
By taking a look down an alley …
we discover the cutest cafe; and a true Belgian waffle – yum!
Soon it is time to take the train back to Amsterdam. We changed trains in Antwerpen; a treasure of a station from the early 1900″s. Modernization was accomplished by going down three more levels, allowing the original building to remain intact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerpen-Centraal_railway_station
We loved Bruges! It is easily walkable, has tons of character, great waterways; and it’s known for chocolate, beer, waffles, frites (‘French fries’), lace and tapestries. All wrapped up in some beautifully picturesque locations that are all movie worthy, whether they were In Bruges, or not.
And then we were back to Amsterdam. Sunset on the Brouwersgracht
And it is beautiful … I have probably written that several times in this very blog. But, as we spend more time here, I find so many little things that make me smile; and I may or may not find these things in other cities; so, it is time to start documenting them here:
We always smile when we have dinner at a canal-side restaurant. This is a favorite; Cafe George on the Liedesgracht. View, food, and service.
My side of the table at Cafe George. The view here includes plenty of canal cruisers out and about on the water.
The allotments of Westerpark always make me smile – even more so now that they are decorated to celebrate their 85th birthday. If you are Dutch, and its your birthday, there must be “slingers”. (paper pennant strings)
On any given day, I cross over a dozen canal bridges; the water, the boats, the trees, always make me smile.
This is one example of a cobblestoned walkway, much of central Amsterdam still consists of cobblestone paths. A challenge in many ways and possibly why the shoes of choice in the city are trainers or Doc Martens – high heels do not work here.
The Dutch understand that kids and grownups need opportunities for fresh air. Even if there is no land – you can float a playground and benches to provide this option. One of many, this picure was taken at Westerdoc.
Houseboats at the Westerdoc make me smile
Houseboats on the Brouwersgracht make me smile too.
The front fountains at the Cafe Americain makes me smile. On hot days, which this day was not, the fountain is crowded with young and old alike taking a splash.
On the Haarlemerstraat a street level fountain entices kids on all sunny days.
I call this the happy Lego, but in reality it is a gas access in a sidewalk across from the Melkweg. Access covers dot most sidewalks, but this is the only one that looks like a happy Lego to me.
There are plenty of very good restaurants in Amsterdam, we’ve had some great meals here. But, sometimes the translations seem a bit off – this was a better meal than ‘Homemade Stuff’ might have you think.
Another restaurant that makes me smile is The New Dutch on Prinsengracht. They pay attention to every detail of everything they serve. A great place to order an iced cappuccino; assemble it yourself, to your taste.
It makes me smile to see tourists taking pictures in a place we have been lucky enough to call home for over a year. And, yes, they are in front of a Flower bike. (Rijksmuseum in background)
Sunday morning walks. I Love seeing a single kayak on a canal. This is Bloemengraht canal; houseboats on the left, apartments on the right.
I smile at the single standup paddleboarder on the Prinsengracht too.
It is hard to see in the picture, but it always makes me smile to see the bubble-blowing bear outside the Tinkerbell toy shop on Spiegelgracht.
After over a year’s worth of construction work, a new underground bike parking lot has opened at the edge of the Leidesplein. The street levle area on top consists of concrete pavers, which mainly serve as ourdoor restaurant seating and a small park area covered with whatever these are. They are 5 to 6 feel long made of aged brass. I have to smile at this, even if I don’t know what I am looking at.
On the backside of the Leidesplein is the large Holland Casino; it too is on a canal.
Many buildings in central Amserdam served as warehouses back in the 17th century. This stretch of the Brouwersgracht canal is home to a particularly pretty section of buildings that have maintained their brightly painted shutters.
How do you know it is going to rain in Amsterdam? Are the streets crowded with bikes? Then the weather is not too bad, but if no bikes are out – you need to get moving, it is going to pour very soon.
Any book lover would smile at this; De Boekenmarkt op het Spui has been happening for over 20 years. Used books in multiple languages are sold in addition to maps and other papergoods such as postcards. Fridays about 10 – 4 pm. https://www.amsterdamsights.com/shopping/spui-book-market.html
Lest I forget where I am – sometimes I just look up and there is a windmill across the street.
One of the oldest sections of this old city is the Red Light District. It is known for sex workers in the windows and droves of drunken tourists looking at the windows; but it is so much more – a beautiful part of a beautiful city.
We will end this posting where we began; eating along the canal. Location is the Avocado Show on Keizergracht. Highly recommended for breakfast and brunch. It always makes me (and Andy too) smile.
Blog 62 looked at Bike Fishing in Amsterdam; both the government office with its large barges and claw hooks and duos who work in tandem with grapple hooks on a plastic rope. But there is another kind of fishing here that you may not be familiar with – Fishing for Plastic.
Yesterday, as I walked down the canal, I saw a boat that looked like this:
So while I did not get the picture myself, seeing the boat and learning about Plastic Whale is very close to the top of the “things that make me smile about Amsterdam” list.
With the sun out, I’ve been taking pictures on the themes of “things that make me smile” and “things that make me sad” about Amsterdam. But one of them became their own subset: Fishing.
Canals are pretty, beautiful really; but the water is fairly disgusting. Too many boats, too many partiers, too many times used as a trash can. We cannot imagine eating fish caught in the canals. Not everyone feels the same. Read all about it: https://amsterdamhangout.com/are-there-fish-in-amsterdam-canals/
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Wildlife are not the only things lurking in the water. Amsterdam is the city of bikes. There are more bikes than people. They say every household has at least one, if not ten. It is true we have one too.
As we see here though, you don’t need a giant claw to go Bike Fishing. If you work in teams you can use a plastic rope with a grapple hook on the end. I suspect you don’t even need a permit, like you do for fish.
We watched this father and son duo pull out 3 bikes in about 5 – 7 minutes. We don’t know why they did it, but we did laugh. Making this picture the current top of the “things that make me smile in Amsterdam” list.
Goedemorgen, iedereen. Het gaat nog steeds een beetje traag rond Amsterdam. Nog geen reis, maar we kunnen nu naar een buitenrestaurant gaan en tot 20:00 uur blijven. De vaccinaties zijn gestegen en de ziekenhuisopnames zijn gedaald, dus we zijn optimistisch over de verdere opheffing van de beperkingen binnenkort.
Or, in English:
Good morning, everyone. Things are still a little slow around Amsterdam. No travel yet, but we can now go to an outside restaurant and stay until 8:00 pm. Vaccinations are up and hospitalisations are down, so we are optimistic for the further lifting of restrictions soon.
After six months of Dutch lessons I wish I could say that I wrote that first paragraph all by myself – but, I did not. In fact, I wrote the English first and then had Word translate it. I can read the translation, which I consider a major accomplishment on my part, but I could not write it correctly; and my pronunciation is sorely lacking. Which begs the question: What little bit of Dutch might I share with you that will be of potential use?
You may want to know the most common phrases, such as:
Hallo! Hallo! (hah-low)
Hi! Hoi! (hoy) / Hi! (hay)
Good morning! Goedemorgen! (khoo-der-mor-khern)
Good afternoon! Goedemiddag!(khoo-der-mi-dakh)
Good evening! Goedenavond!(khoo-der-aa-font)
See you later! Bye! Tot ziens! (toat seens) / Dag! (dakh) Hoi! (hoai)
Here you are! Alstublieft (als-stuw-bleeft)
Please? Alsjeblieft? (als-yer-bleeft)
Thanks! Bedankt! (ber-dahnkt)
I am sorry! Neem me niet kwalijk(naym mer neet kvoa-lerk) /sorry!(sor-ree)
Or, possibly, you would like to learn some idioms that our tutor shared with us not long ago:
Brood op de plank hebben (Have bread on the shelf) which means they have just enough money.
Hij heft pijn in zijn haar (He’s got pain in his hair) which means he has a hangover.
Huilen met de pet op (Crying with the hat on) which means they still have dignity (hat) but outcome was sad.
Een sloddervos zijn (Being a slob) which means, being messy.
Het oog is groter dan de maag (The eye is larger than the stomach) which means taking on too much
Uit de doppen (ogen) kijken (Looking out of the eyes) which means Watch out!
Ieder huisje heft zijn eigen kruisje (Each house raises its own cross) which means each house has its own cross (issues) to bear.
Water bij de wijn doen (Do water with the wine) which means: Compromise.
And, my personal favorite:
Het is kermis in de hel (It’s a fairground in hell) The tutor says to translate hell loosely. It is a phrase that covers when bad things can lead to good outcomes. The rain may keep you at the bar, but you are having a good time with your friends; or as I see it, a pandemic lockdown may keep you in a foreign country, but it is beautiful and charming and giving you plenty of time to work on your language skills, and then on your blog.
Here is a video with 10 more phrases, and how to pronounce them. https://youtu.be/RLM76QzW_78 The Dutch do have a way with words.
The pictures for this posting are Amsterdam; slowly coming out of lockdown, spring 2021:
If the sun is out, the Dutch are out; walking, biking, shopping, eating, and of course, drinking.
I call this picture ”A day in the Dutch life”
Remember the allotments at Westerpark? Another pic, taken a few weeks later.
There are whole books on the Bridges of the Netherlands,; what’s new are the outdoor restaurants popping up on barges along the canals. (No intdoor eating is allowed)
Another bridge, this is one over the Amstel River, not far from the National Opera House
A lot of interesting things go by on the canals – even dogs out for a paddle ride on a sunny afternoon
Nothing beats the sight of red umbrellas indicating the outdoor dining is open.
This Michelin starred restaraunt does not have umbrellas. They have taken over half of the sidewalk with their tent and chandeliers.
No umbrellas or tents here. This is serious socially distanced seating – everyone gets their own greenhouse.
Red Light District. Phases 3 of the lockdown easing will allow sex workers to return. In the meantime it is a beautiful part of the city. Next week, many of those windows will have workers in them hoping to begin making money again. And, the streets will be filled with gawkers, again.
Zuidekerk (South Church)
One last picture of a canal. I call this one “houses and house boats”.
Is that you can make plans at the very last minute.
It is not news that the Netherlands has been in lockdown for months, and its not news that residents are getting tired of it. But, what to do? In response to these questions, the Dutch government decided to see if its possible to have “Covid-free” events. https://dutchreview.com/news/visitors-allowed-keukenhof-large-scale-events-netherlands/ We decided to participate.
News that Keukenhof Gardens would be part of the pilot program came out the evening of Wednesday, April 7, 2021. By 11:00 pm we had secured two of the only 5,000 tickets for Sunday, the 11th; plans were made, suitcases dusted off, Covid tests were scheduled, taken, and uploaded to the required app.
Even though Keukenhof (https://keukenhof.nl/en/) is about 45 minutes outside Amsterdam, and even though it is only open eight weeks a year; it is still on every “things to do in Amsterdam” list. If you like flowers, or gardens, or walking, or even just eating and people-watching, this is a place to go. We had been before, see https://lindasjourney.net/blog-11-mokum/ , but had always hoped to return. The Dutch Covid pilot test was our opportunity. Yikes! I forgot to include a like to one of Keukenhof’s weekly videos: https://youtu.be/njfAd3SMGGA
A fellow visitor to Keukenhof took this picture of Andy; Andy taking pictures.
The Bed and Breakfast in Lisse, was over the best bakery in town. Just our luck, yummy.
The winter has been cold, so there are still plenty of daffodils in the fields and gardens.
Even I was in the fields
Keukenhof Castle in the Keukenhof Forest. The gardens were originally the kitchen garden for the castle. It was not open for touring, but the grounds were open and beautiful to walk around.
The LAM Museum is a modern art musuem on the castle grounds. You can walk through the middle and look through the glass walls. Close enough to modern art for me – it did not need to be open.
Inside the Keukenhof Gardens. The tulips were just coming up, but we had plenty of daffodils and hyacynths – it smelled wonderful.
And, we had flowering trees and lots of water features too.
Andy on the (wooden) lilly pads
Flower Power was the theme in 2019, the last time the garden was open. Flowers are still the power.
Hyacynths and tulips
Keukenhof Gardens also has multiple pavilions and centers. Because of Covid, only one pavilion was open the day we visited. It is almost impossible to take a picture of this display. It is at least the size of a football field with row after row of meter square example tulips.
One of the most photgraphed windmills in Holland, right here in the garden
After the Gardens, we rented a twizzy to go around more of the flower fields – yes, it is as uncomfortable as it looks. 🙂
