Holland November 2001

Set the scene - around noon on a lazy Sunday, I told Kim that we had to tidy the place up. Kim asked why. I said, oh, there's someone coming over. Kim asked why. I had no plausable explanation. Kim began to get nervous and started to sweat (figuratively of course). I just hummed and hawed and said, oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it. Then she began to get really nervous. Well, I had to tell her - Monday morning, we were to be wisked away to Holland for a week. I'd made all the arrangements, asked her boss if she could have the time off, and in an hour the kitty sitter would be around to check out the house and meet the moggies. When I regained concenciness, we began packing.

Amsterdam

This building is where Anne Frank and her family spent most of the war. They had the top story of the building where 7 people spent several years avoiding the Germans. They were hiding a couple of years, and were ratted out and taken into the concentration camps. Anne Frank actually died 6 months before the camp was liberated.

The two buildings were joined and served as a food processing factory. It's hard to imagine how Anne Frank and her family were able to survive without anyone knowing. There was Anne's father who worked in the factory, and one other person that helped to smuggle food to the family.

This steeple was about 2 or three blocks from Anne Frank's house.

Since Holland is a fairly flat country, it is an exceptional place to ride a bike. So, since not very many in the city own cars, pedal bikes are the best mode of transportation. Instead of massive car parks, they have bike parks. The problem is, these are more congested than car parks. And, most of the bikes are old black repainted relics from when bikes were invented. These bikes are often altered to add a second, or even a third seat for the wife or child. Not very sporty if you ask me.

Did I mention that they have bike parks?

Did I mention that they are usually full?

Here's Kim eyeing a row of bikes... Humm... someone forgot to lock one. Too bad the bike is older than I am. Behind Kim is the Heinekin factory. After this picture, I don't remember much...

Amsterdam is unlike any city I have ever been to (not that I've been to many). In the city center is the train station. One of the main canals from here goes out to the ocean, and the canals go out every second street in a semi-circle.

This is one of the many canals and the row upon row of flats. You'll notice infront of the parked cars is a little railing - this is to stop them from driving into the canal. Even with these expensive little speed bumps, there's at least one car a week that tries to park too close, and gets a free car wash.

We took a canal tour, and the next several pics are from the boat trip.

This is one of the wider canals that lead to the ocean.

Although this looks like a dup of the above picture, I was actually trying to get a better shot of the opening bridge.

And a little closer look at the opening bridge.

Although the city has a lot of canals, there doesn't seem to be many power boats. There are many houseboats moored along the banks, but the city is issuing fewer and fewer permits, so the houseboats are having to move out of the city.

This is the only place in Amsterdam where you can look through 7 bridges.

And, a little better shot of the 7 bridges - just a little more in focus. It wasn't my fault that it was out of focus - we were buzzing along the canal and the tour guide in his broken english (although quite good) pointed and said "picture", so, who am I to argue.

On the boat trip, we we told about this church, but unfortuantely I can't remember much about it now. I believe it was built over 500 years ago. Looks pretty good, doncha think?

Another shot of the church.

On such a place so flat, you think you could walk for hours. Well, we did. And, it wa such a treat to find this park (actually we went looking for it). We took a moment and relaxed while the hectic hustle and bustle of Amsterdam went on past. Well, it's not really that hectic, but it adds drama.

This is another bit of the park. We were there in November, so all the trees were just loosing their leaves. Quite pretty really.

This is the Royal Place. We toured the building, and it wasn't as impressive as we had originally expected. From the outside, it looks massive, but on the inside it was just OK. Also in the front, is Kim casually strolling thru the picture.

Here's another picture showing the clock tower.

This picture is taken by the palace in the centre of town. This little car intreguided me. Believe it or not (NOT!) it's actually a 2 seater. I think you'd have to get real friendly with 2 in that car. Maybe it only seats 2 in the red light district.

This is one of the main streets in Amsterdam. In the centre is for the trams, on either side is for bikes, and then on either side you will have the sidewalks. In some parts of the town, the trams get their own lanes, sometimes they will share it with normal traffic. And beware - the bikes will run you down just as quickly as a bus. The bikes usually have these really silly little bells, and then they yell out "look out" or something that I didn't understand (or probably want to understand).

This monument lays just outside the palace, across the street (my back is to the palace). If I remember correctly, this was dedicated to working people, but now as I type it, that sounds wrong. It looks like Jesus is in the lower section of the monument, but not at the top where you might expect him.

And, this is the picture that you've all been waiting for, now isn't it? This is of the infamous Red Light District. Say no more, say no more. We went there just as it was starting to get dark, so this picture isn't particullary clear or detailed.

This is of the Reich Museum. It was just massive. Unfortunately we only had 3 days in Amsterdam, and we could have easily spent all of them there. We were lucky enough to spend half a day there. In that museum is "The Last Supper". It's not Michangelo's Last Supper, but another last supper. It's also quite famous, but I can't remember who painted it.

This is a beautiful row of flats. On the right just behind the parked cars is another circular canal. On the top of the flats is a bit of wood that hangs out. You'd never really notice if someone didn't point it out. These are used to bring the furniture in and out of the flats - so, when you're moving that grand panio or even your bed, it goes out the window via a pully, down the outside of the building onto the sidewalk. Honest. The reason this is done, is because the staircases are so narrow, that normal furnature can't fit thru the door. I guess that's how IKEA was invented. Have folding, put it together furnature, so you can carry it up the stairs.

Delft

Delft is a little town where they make the Delft Blue pottery. The most common examples are the white plates with blue ships. Very posh. Like Amsterdam, Delft also has quite a few canals running thru it.

When we were unleashed upon Delft, we were dropped off in the center of town. This church is bordering a square, where they just happened to have an open market. On the other side of the square is the city hall.

A little closer view of the steeple and it's clock. Don't worry - the big light spot isn't a sunspot, but only a drop on the camera. Most of the weather that we had in Holland was quite pleasant, however, on this day, the rain / wind / storms had more than made up for it. The bad weather that we had in Delft was only a sampler of what was to come when we got onto the ferry / cruise ship. You'd really think that a boat that big wouldn't be affected by 20-30 foot waves, but ... it was... I don't think the boat was as affected as the passengers tho.

This is the back and side of the church. It appears that this was a later addon, as the rest of the church is quite a bit older. Home DYI even applies to churches.

On the city square every weekend, the town holds a market. Unfortunately, we only had about 20 minutes to view around the stalls before the sky opened up. On the far end of the square is the city hall.

This canal and street were just behind the square. The restaurants taunt the canal by leaning over them, in an attempt to gain every last bit of real estate possible. On the canals are quite a few ducks and swans (although they seem to have avoided the camera this time.)

On the side of this old building is the coat of arms for the history of the family. I'm not sure who stays there now, but I'm sure it's not someone's poor relatives!

One of the churches that we visited was this little church. I believe it was started around 1300, and is one of the oldest around. The church was in need of repair, and I believe they cleaned it up for the 2000 celebrations. I am not sure if it is just the picture or my imagination, but is the steeple leaning a little?

The old church above was partically joined to this church to make an old and new church. Very interesting. This one also had a double steeple, which is quite uncommon.

One problem with stained glass, is that when you are taking the picture, there appears to be loads of light, however, when you get it developed, then it sometimes appears grainy. What can you do?

This one is of the King and Queen, and all their loyal servants. Notice how the King and Queen have much more colorful clothing, especially to the people on the right side, where they only get grey clothing.

Another shot, of the above, just a wee bit better.

Another beautiful example of stained glass.

The picture doesn't really do this stained glass justice. I'm not sure what would, other than actually looking at it in person. On the top is heaven, God, all that is beautiful. On the second layer you have Jesus, the Virgin Mary. On the third layer in the middle you have the Virgin Mary and child. I am not sure who else is also depicted. Next layer you have the angels, and they are fighting the dragons in hell, keeping them down. And under that, you have texts of the Bible. Very inspiring.

This is the crypt of one of the Kings, but I cannie remember now. One of those moments that you should have written it down, but alas.

Our old Pentax camera has been a good little camera. We bought it used about 5 years ago, and I guess it really doesn't owe us anything. The one teeny little problem we now have with it (other than the now trashed zoom lens from our Cyprus trip) is now the shutter is sticking on speeds 1/60th and slower. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, as usually you are taking pictures outside or where there is a lot of light. Not so, if you are in a church when you aren't allowed to use your flash. So, rather than throw these jems away, I thought for the "artist" value, I would leave them in. Yes, I really ment to create these.

This one, I call "Sparkly Christmas Tree"

If you've seen "Poltergeist" (from around 1983ish), then you will know what this ray of light is. Scary, isn't it?

This is the King's crypt. Looks a little different when it's not in focus, doesn't it?

This one I call "Camera Shake" - woah baby!

This one I call "Stained Glass Sneeze".

This sleepy square about a 5 minute walk from the main square where we started. The aftermath after the torrential rains just 30 minutes ago.