It was a releatively sleepless flight across the Atlantic and we were sitting in the middle two seats of the big jet. The young woman sitting next to me was quiet and seemed to want her privacy, but we talked a bit in the morning before landing at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. She was on … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Home Exchange in Netherlands
Amsterdam
We landed at 5:30 a.m. and took the train to Amsterdam Central where Camiel met us and walked us to his apartment. We visited for a couple hours, then took a nap while Camiel left for the airport and our house. We woke around 3:00 p.m. And walked the city and got something to eat … Continue reading
Red Light, Green Light
Last night we walked around in the Red Light District. The red lights outside the storefronts signify that the location is a bordello, that is, prostitutes are for sale. This morning we had coffee at a sidewalk café and Dale noticed that across the street was a storefront that had green lights out front. Guess … Continue reading
Street Life
After breakfast, we spent the day walking the city. On one street there was amazing grafitti. There’s a tram service that runs all over the city. Public transit is so extensive here that Camiel and Layda don’t even need a car; neither do we. We had a nice Dutch lunch of pickled herring. And then … Continue reading
Koestraat
The apartment we’re living in is on Koestraat, which means “Cow Street.” Apparently, in the old days they walked the cows to market on this street. I bet they had a problem with defecation and it looks like they still need to give some folks a reminder that those days are gone. Next door to … Continue reading
A Day at the Zoo
It has been rainy pretty often since we got to Amsterdam, so when the sun poked through on Wednesday, we decided we would opt for something outdoors and the zoo looked interesting. Hurricane Andrew pretty much wiped out the zoo in Miami back in 1992 and we haven’t been back since, though we enjoyed taking … Continue reading
…On a Bicycle Built for…
…Four! Take a look at how this mom gets around town. It seems that everybody has a bike here and it’s the favorite way to get around, it appears. There aren’t that many cars and most of them are delivery vehicles or taxis. Anyway, here’s a collection of bicycles we’ve seen here in Amsterdam. First, … Continue reading
Evening prayers
After the zoo, it started getting cloudy, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in museums. First, we visited the Verzitsmuseum which is the one that tells the story of the Dutch Resistence during WWII. Then we went to the Amsterdam branch of The Hermitage, the famous Russian museum, where we saw an interesting … Continue reading
A Little History Lesson
It was a rainy day again, so we decided to stay closer to home today, inside museums while the weather was bad. The nearest museum is the Amsterdam Historical Museum, so we started there. The Amsterdams Historisch Museum has exhibits that trace the medieval development of the city, which was originally a walled city and … Continue reading
Dammit!
The Dam is now a large plaza and crossroads for the trams, although in the 1300s through the 1700s it was the trade and governmental center of the city. Even though it was a rainy day, there were still crowds of people milling about. The building in the background, above, is the Royal Palace where … Continue reading
Odd Place for a Fashion Show
When we visited the Nieuwe Kerk, we were surprised by this scene that confronted us as soon as we went through the front door: As I mentioned before, the New Church is no longer used for religious services. Instead, it is now the venue for some very peculiar things: at present, a fashion show! They … Continue reading
Liquid Amsterdam
I’m going to use the theme of this post to show you this picture: The structure above is an outdoor urinal. Really. You just go behind the screen and pee on the ground. And if that’s not bad enough, it’s right next to the Gay Monument, which they Dutch have unfortunately named the “Homomonument” as … Continue reading
Oh, Did I Mention Bikes?
I told you they like to ride bikes here. This is just outside the train station:
Hamming it up in Hamburg
It was an enjoyable six hour drive from Amsterdam to Hamburg, Germany. The countryside is reminiscent of the Carolina and Virginia Piedmont. We are staying at Hotel Wagner, right in the heart of Hamburg. It is a very nice hotel, but a little odd. The building is four floors and each floor is a different … Continue reading
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Today we visited Susanne, Frank and Lennart. We visited in their apartment and then, since the weather was so nice, we rented a canoe and padddled through the canals and lakes in the heart of Hamburg. We went under several bridges. And finally found our way to the lake, which was full of sailboats. We … Continue reading
Hotel Wagner
I already mentioned that the hotel we’re staying at in Hamburg shares the building with three other hotels, but there are a couple more unusual features. The hallways are designed to look like a street scene. And over our bed on the wall are lights designed to make it look like a starry night. But … Continue reading
Schade, Schlichting-Werft ist geschlossen
We drove from Hamburg to Travemünde today so that I could visit the place I lived for six weeks in 1980 when I was in Germany with the Stehlins, working on the canal boat they bought, before we made the trans-Atlantic crossing. The shipyard was called the Schlichting-Werft. We crossed the Trave River from Travemünde … Continue reading
Knista
After lunch, we walked along the waterfront and found the ice cream parlor I frequented back in 1980. Just down the road we saw a photo shop that had interesting postcards in the window, so we stopped and looked. One card had a picture of the old Schlichting-Werft. I commented to Dale that the canal … Continue reading
Fischergeist Brennende
We had a great fish dinner in Travemünde. Then we saw a sign on the wall about a special liquor that the restaurant was promoting. First, though, a beer to clear the palate. The liquor was called Fischergeist Brennende, which, I think means, “Fish Ghost Burning.” Dale loved it, as you can see:
You Little Devil
After visiting Travemünde, we drove to Lübeck, an old walled fortress city about 20 minutes up the Trave River. Today, Lübeck is a busy port. I visited Lübeck several times when I was here in 1980. the city has some amazing old churches and buildings, though, unfortunately, many of them were heavily damaged in the … Continue reading
Things Are Looking Up
The inside of St. Mary’s cathedral is beautiful. It was originally built in the early 1200s and was completed as it looks today around 1360. The ceiling in the main church is nearly 100 feet high. Although the church was heavily damaged in WWII, it was rebuilt in the 1950s, including the twin spires. When … Continue reading
Heinie of the Year
The weather was better than normal here in Amsterdam today, so we walked through a couple flea markets and around town. Dale liked these wooden shoes, but they were a little too big. We toured the Rijksmueum, which showcases paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer, but the building was being renovated on the outside and they … Continue reading
A Streetcar Named…
…number 5 – that was the line we look out of the City Center out to the Amsterdam suburbs, after boarding at the Dam. It was a sunny day (finally) and there were lots of people out in the square. The tram stations are like bus stops. The tram was crowded… …but Dale got a … Continue reading
Home Away From Home
We’ll be leaving tomorrow for our drive to the Schwabian part of Germany, just south of Stuttgart, where we’ll be visiting our Ulmer relatives in Schönaich. But we thought you’d like to see the apartment we’ve been living in while we’ve been here in Amsterdam. Here’s Dale reading in the living room (which also doubles … Continue reading
A Pleasant Surprise
We drove most of the day today and ended up stopping at an out-of-the-way little resort town called Bad Kreuznach. It turned out to be a wonderful and very scenic place. Here’s the view from our hotel balcony… After checking in, we took a little walk around town. Everything is so picturesque that I’m going … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 