Bike/Barge part one

Anne and I walked our luggage over to the barge yesterday to drop it off and then spend a few hours of down time in the Amsterdam library that is on the wharf. It is a beautiful, modern library with a nice café (at which I got two latte macchiatos). Anne took a great shot of the Amsterdam harbor from the steps of the library. We took a ride with our new tour to get acquainted with our bikes and bicycling tour protocol. We have fourteen people in the group, three of whom are primarily French-speaking; the rest are English-speaking. Our guide, Jacob, grew up in Holland and knows a little bit of lots of languages. Everyone has done a good job of trying to help Jacob, and each other, with the communications. The other pictures I have are of: our barge with the bicycles on the adjoining ramp, our bicycle ride to our current location (Volendam) and me trying strike up a conversation with some lambs (I was unsuccessful). FYI, one of my readers asked for the price in Holland. It is the equivalent of $10.00 a gallon. So, no whining, you Americans!

Amsterdam, part four

This is our last full day in Amsterdam. Anne and went to the Van Gogh museum in the morning to try and get the jump on the crowds. We rented the audio tour devices and I am especially glad we did because there there has been a fairly recent examination of letters written by van Gogh to relatives and friends that shed a lot more light on his thoughts about his art and his general state of mind throughout his artistic career. Van Gogh was much more than a "crazy artist that committed suicide". He often described many of his paintings in progress in letters to his brother, as it was his brother that financially supported him and marketed his paintings. He also seemed to have a good understanding of his mood swings and found some ways to manage them. This made the art much more enjoyable for me, as I not necessarily a big fan of his style.
After the museum tour, Anne and I picked up some souvenirs and took a leisurely walk back to the hotel. We spotted some sculpted iguanas in one of the parks and Anne took a picture of me getting to know one of them. We also saw a large size chess game going on in one of the squares, so that is another picture. A third is of a "floating garden" that we saw on one of the canals. Lastly, one is of Anne's dinner last night: "wilde Zeebaars". See if you can figure that one out! We are probably going to have to get better at our Dutch in the next week because we will be biking out in the more rural areas.

Amsterdam, part three

The Ritjkmuseum had several Vermeers and Rembrandts and was not so crowded that we were not able to get up close and personal. There were also many other Dutch artists of the same time period that I never heard of that had a wide variety of styles. I especially enjoyed the home life scenes of children being deloused, fighting among themselves or trying to get the cat to dance on its hind legs while the cat was yowling its head off, which caused the dog to bark and an adult to start shushing them. Sorry, no pics (per usual). We went to the Dutch Resistance museum in the afternoon, which reviewed creative ways that Dutch people frustrated their German occupiers from completely taking over Amsterdam and making use of their labor and resources to further their cause during WW II. There were also many thought-provoking questions asked about what caused some people to resist and many to not do so. On a lighter note, there were some very technologically advanced bathrooms at the museum that had all clear, glass stall walls--until you stepped into them and locked the door. Then, the walls would turn opaque. I am posting more beautiful flower garden and canal pictures provided by Anne today, since the museums were so stingy about allowing photos.

Amsterdam, part two

We got up brought and early to take a tour bus to Keukenhof flowerfields, where you can see fields of tulips and many other spring flowers in bloom. They also ship seeds and bulbs all over the world. The gardens are designed to accommodate and entertain large numbers of tourists. Anne and I got on the English speaking bus, which was one of several other buses of different tongues with the same destination. Most of the tulips were already gone from the surrounding fields, but they were still beautiful and brilliant in the garden, along with many other flowers. The grounds were well designed, with fountains, streams, art work and petting zoos. There was also a pipe organ playing peppy polka tunes that got our toes a tappin'. My pictures (except for one) are focused on art work in the gardens. After we returned to Amsterdam, we went to the Hendrikje Museum of Bags and Purses. This was my choice but Anne also enjoyed the visit. It was a historical review of the development of "reticules" from the 1600s to present time. Later on, we had dinner and then went to a ceremony in the square by the Queen's Palace to honor the military fallen for Remembrance Day. The church bells rang at 8:00 pm and all Dutch residents paused in whatever they were doing for two minutes of silence to pay their respects. It was quite moving. Tomorrow, the partying will begin with Liberation Day. Anne and I will be off to the Rijksmuseum to see art work by Vermeer and other Dutch greats.

Amsterdam, part one

When Anne and I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday we were overwhelmed with the transition from a small, quiet town to a big city. We bravely started our Rick Steve's walking tour, then gave up and retreated to our hotel room after dinner. Today we started out with a tour of Anne Frank's house and had a marvelous time. The tours takes you through the whole house, with video recordings, written materials and displays of the setup of the house throughout the tour. There were also quotes from her diary throughout the tour that greatly enhanced the experience. Anne and I were both crying by the end of it because it was so touching. I have a picture of one of the postcards that we purchased from the museum store. Then we had a fine lunch and went on a cruise of the canals. There are nine canals in widening concentric circles (actually more pentagonish) that make up the structure of the city. During the cruise, weended up sitting next to the only Dutch people on the boat. We had a nice discussion with father of this family about water management in Holland, as his wife is an engineer who specializes in water management. I also asked them, and the later the hotel manager, about the wooden shoes. I did not see anyone wearing them--they were only sold as souvenirs. I was informed that the wooden shoes were originally worn as mud shoes because nothing was paved so the Dutch had to constantly walk through mud. These days,some of the farmers still wear them but Anyway, I am including a picture of the canal, a large bike storage area that sits near the train station, and a picture of a crowd at a square listening to a wonderful singer (notice the cute child in the foreground in the bicycle cart, dressed in a ladybug coat).

Bruges, last day

Anne and I started the day by going to the Groeninge Museum to look at some fine art by primitive Flemish artists (meaning, ones of the fourteenth century that were in process of developing three-dimensional perspective). I love Flemish/Dutch art from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century because of its rich detail and presentation of ordinary people as just as interesting as wealthy, politically powerful people. I am looking forward to seeing more in Amsterdam. Bruges was celebrating Labor Day today by having many marching bands and lots of beer drinking. Anne and I layed low and went for a quiet dinner at an Italian restaurant. The pictures today are of the ever beautiful canal, plus one of bicycle art--I just can't help myself!

Bruges, Flanders Field tour

Thanks to all who responded to my desperate cry for readers. Also, my excuse for faulty spelling right now is the foreign keyboard and no spell check. Anyway, enough about me and on to Flanders Field. Took a tour with a local, Nathan, at www.visit.bruges.org. I knew little to nothing about the military battles that occured here during WWI but I learned a lot today. Millions of lives were lost over a very short period of time in the battle between the Germans and the Allies. This was partially related to poor strategies (thousands of German students with no training who thought they were too smart and superior to lose were all killed in a matter of hours)and partially to changing technologies. An is example is chemical gases were used for the first time, so 8,000-10,000 troops were damaged beyond repair within minutes until gas masks started being used en masse. Currently,there are many trenches and bunkers still in good shape. Also, unexploded munitions are plowed up by the farmers on a daily basis and put by the side of the road for pick-up by the local bomb squad. Of course, human remains are also frequently found and delivered to the proper authorities. Just driving through the area, you would never know it was a moonscape of total destruction for several years: what shows now is beautiful green farmlands and sparkling blue lakes and canals. "Sigh"--we humans are capable of so many things. Anyway, included pics are of trenches, rusty live munitions and a shot of a Canadian flag at one of the cemeteries--just because I liked the look of it!