Movin' on Up

This has been a quiet week. Upon our return from Morocco we moved, by prior agreement to an apartment one flight up. This apartment is much more modern & does not have the funky character & charm of the one downstairs. It has a full sized refrigerator and a dishwasher. It also has a washer & dryer that work & work well! This was essential as all of our things smelled like smoke from the fireplace in Morocco.
The view from our window remains the same, overlooking the beautiful canal with the heron & boats in the foreground. Toward the street we see cars, bicycles & the trolley going by. Now, a new sight as the leaves on the trees are beginning to open. You can almost watch the spring colors popping up all over. There is a saucer magnolia (at least that’s what I think it is) around the corner from us. Didn’t know that’s what it was until one day I saw the flowers beginning to open. Beautiful! There is some kind of fair going on across the street & behind some apartments. For the last few days we’ve seen one of the rides, day & night, popping up over the building.
The week has gone by quickly with not a lot of activity. We spent Tuesday getting ourselves situated in the new apartment, doing laundry, grocery shopping.

The modern kitchen - complete with dishwasher & full sized refrigerator!

The bathroom even has a tub, along with the washer & dryer

Bedroom

Living room

Wednesday we didn’t venture out until late in the afternoon. The wind was very strong all day. Too strong to rain, we were told. We braved the elements (fortunately it wasn’t that cold….in the high 40’s) & went to the market. That was the big excitement for the day!

Thursday we took off for Delft. It is about an hour away by train. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague. Famous to being the home of Delft pottery ceramics, mostly blue and white hand painted pieces. There are stores that sell everything from very expensive original ceramics to souvenir shops selling the same items at a fraction of the cost.
In the main square, a market was in progress. We wandered through seeing everything from clothing to food. For lunch we found a restaurant with a good variety on the menu including panokoken. We opted to try the puffy miniature pancakes called poofertjes for dessert. They were delicious!

Wandering back through the market, we found a bargain we couldn’t resist. A duffel bag to add to the luggage we’ll be bringing

back home. Back to Amsterdam & the apartment by late afternoon.
Friday we walked out to street level & did something we had not done previously. We turned left! I had actually turned left once or twice but only to go the half block or so to the flower stand.
This adventure took us to Haarlemerstraat. The usual variety of bakeries, markets, restaurants & an Etos that I could not resist. Etos is a drug store and for whatever reason, every time we pass one, I feel the need to stop in for something. This time it was for shampoo & a new make up bag. The one I had with me smells like, you guessed it, smoke.

We made a circle, walking through the Dam Square & stopped at the Albert Heijn Food Plaza. Compared to the small neighborhood markets we’ve been shopping at in the Jordaan, this was like Central Market! The only problem, we were about a half hour from ‘home’ and did not really want to carry that much. I purchased a few ‘essentials’ and then stopped again at another market closer to the apartment. Dinner at home Friday night. Allan, the building manager popped by as we were finishing dinner. He stayed & had some stew….apparently enjoyed it as he asked for my recipe!

Saturday we wandered down to the open market to buy some bread. Stopped for milk on the way back & that was it for the day. We made brunch, read books, caught up on e-mails & even took a nap! It was a great lazy day!

As we wrap up our trip, there is so much to reflect on. We have met some really nice people. We have seen so much. Amsterdam is truly a lovely, comfortable city to spend an extended period of time.

The city of Berlin was so interesting. Such a contradiction to so much of Europe. It is so bright, shiny & new but with the ruins of the cathedral in the middle of the city – I am certainly glad we visited it.

The frenetic pace of Rome left me almost breathless. What an incredible place. The history, the buildings were almost too much to comprehend. I look forward to spending more time in the future in Italy.

And finally Morocco - what an experience. I don’t want to repeat what we’ve already written about. Suffice to say, it was unlike anything I have ever seen or done. A unique experience that almost defies description. And of course the added benefit of seeing and visiting with Kareem who helped make it an amazing adventure.

We have been fortunate to have so many visitors. Six weeks is a long time to be gone. To have a little bit of home every few weeks has just been wonderful. Thank you Frank, Jill, Ryan, Sean for taking the time to come visit us. We loved having you here.

The Road to Morocco

Thursday, March 6
We started off with an early 4AM start for our trip to Morocco. From Casablanca we followed Kareem’s instructions and found our way by train to Rabat, the capital. We had expected Morocco to be desert like and were surprised to see green fields with an abundance of wildflowers on the trip to Rabat.

Kareem had arrived a few minutes earlier from Oujda and met us as we arrived. It was great to see him!
A resident of this country for just eighteen months, Kareem seems to have embraced its people and culture. He is fluent in the language, knows the infrastructure, moving seemingly seamlessly throughout the country. He is able to use his genetic charm to his best advantage as he chats with people & barters his way through the day. He is charming, inquisitive & thoughtful of the people he encounters. It was a pleasure to observe him in his newly adopted country. The kid we have known and loved for so long seems to be truly in his element doing something he really enjoys. What an honor to spend time observing him & seeing this country he has such strong feelings for, from his perspective.

After checking into our hotel Kareem led us on a walk to the Medina, the old walled city with its myriad of stalls selling everything from clothes to carcasses to individual hooves hanging in the front of the butcher’s stall to vendors selling baked goods and just cooked hot garbanzo beans. There is a massive cemetery extending down the slope at the end of which is the Atlantic. We walked around a bit, took a taxi back to our hotel and called it a day after stopping for a light dinner at a local place where the personnel knew Kareem.

Friday morning we took a 4 hour bus ride to a place called Chefcaouen, a mountain town of 45,000 northeast of Rabat. The city’s name can also be spelled Chefchaouen. It is an incredibly beautiful step back into a much earlier time. The medina (old city) consists of plaster buildings going up the mountain side, however they are painted blue rather than the expected white plaster. The blue comes from the city’s large Jewish population and the city is also known for its distinctive blue doors. We walked though the alleys to get to our hotel. Kareem had booked the hotel taking into account our requirements of a western style toilet (in lieu of the local “turk”, a hole in the floor) and a shower in the room. The hotel, Dar Terrae, is owned by an Italian guy and access is simply a door in one of the alleys. It has 7-8 small rooms located on 3 floors, all opening to a courtyard in the middle. There are no other windows in the rooms other than on the courtyard as the only outside wall the hotel has is at the front door. The place was like walking into Disneyland, blue plaster walls with typical Moroccan doors and portals framed in yellow. The room was tiny at best, with a brick semi-circle serving as the bathroom and a brick fireplace. Truly unique, there cannot be another hotel like this.

Kareem led us down toward the old city square. The city consists of many narrow alleys, not large enough for cars. The alleys are lined with very small shops again selling anything. They sell the usual tourist trinkets, tajines (a ceramic cooking and eating dish with a ceramic top), wool, sacks of different brightly colored pigment, sacks of beans, rice and ginger root, foods, leather and rugs to name a few of things sold in the tiny stalls. Some of the stalls are workshops where men use looms to make woolen goods, some are barber shops. The alleys are full of brightly colored blankets, purses and other goods put out by the shop keepers. All on a backdrop of the blue doors and blue plaster walls. Hatman was the name on the outside of a very small shop (called the small shop) that may hold as many as 2 customers interested in woolen products. Hatman sits in the back corner of the shop knitting caps, leggings and gloves. We walk past hatman’s shop every time we go to and from the shop. Kareem stopped at hatman to see what he had in the way of knit caps and struck up a conversation with him in Arabic. Hatman’s English wasn’t bad. He wanted to know where we were from, to make sure we were happy (an often repeated question from many vendors) and let us know he had a democratic price. Democratic prices were mentioned by several vendors in Chefchaouen and Tangier. We’re not sure democratic pricing is. Hatman assured us he was happy, which he undoubtedly was. He lit a fresh incense stick as one walked into the shop to disguise the smoke from the locally grown products. He had an interesting outlook on the sale of a cap to Kareem, that being that one cap equals one tajine (dinner) to him.

The square is lined with cafes where you can get a meal or just a cup of coffee or tea. The local cafes almost seem to have a 100% patronage. Women were more prevalent in the tourist cafes that overlooked the Kasbah (fortress) on the square. The tourist cafes are complete with hawkers to draw you into their place. One guy claimed he was from Chicago then switched it to Boston to convince us he had the best café. We ordered some coffees and people watched. There was no shortage of people walking through the square. There were families in western attire, families where the mother wore a veil, other where the women were completely covered head to toe with the exception of their eyes. Many women wore kaftans, most with traditional hijab scarves and some without. Some women looked to me like they were out of the Andes rather than Morocco wearing brightly colored hats, they being wrapped in bright blankets. The men wore western attire, jeans and jelabas, a traditional Arab robe. Many, mostly older men, wore burnooses, a woolen hooded cloak. There was a cluster of the old guys with the burnooses sitting outside the Kasbah talking to each other. It looked like a small group of wizards got together to watch the afternoon together. Some got up and followed the call to prayer from the mosque next door, some stayed. While in the square we walked through the Kasbah which provided great views of the old and new cities, the surrounding mountains and the valley below the new city.
Back to the hotel for the night. Our hotel did not have heat or air conditioning so our host built us a fire. Although there is a chimney leading above the roof, the flue also seems to vent into the bathroom. The better the fire, the more smoke in the bathroom. Well, as the entire room was probably no more than 50sqft so the smoke was throughout.

Saturday morning we retired to the roof of the hotel for an outdoor breakfast brought to us by Fatima. We bid good morning to hatman and headed for the square where the wizards were in their usual place in front of the Kasbah. Kareem took us out of the Medina downhill to the new city with its own city square and park. We went back to the old city and out a gate on the high side of the city leading to the river. There were 2 covered areas below us that were used to wash clothes and rugs in the river. There were many women washing clothes and blankets in the river. The walls above the river were full brightly colored rugs drying in the sun. We stopped again at the tourist café and people watched followed by a very nice dinner at Ali Baba’s.

Sunday we bid goodbye to our hosts in Chefchaouan and took a cab to Tangier, about a 2 hour drive. The scenery was again beautiful, 6,000’ mountains, green fields and lots of wild flowers along the way. Tangier is a major port at the entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar connecting the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Kareem and our driver, Ottman, were involved in conversation most of the drive. It was fascinating to watch Kareem hold the conversation fluently in Arabic. In Tangier, we stayed at the Riad Tanja, a very nicer older hotel in the medina. We walked through the medina to the Mediterranean beach and up to the city square outside the medina. On one side of the square is St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, built in the late 19th century. We walked through the graveyard to the church and were soon met by the caretaker, Mustapha. Mustapha is very proud of his church, opening it up and showing us all around. He showed us the area behind the altar with the wall on which the Koran is written in Arabic in a Christian church and the rope he pulls to ring the church bells (he pulled it once for us and called it a small service). We asked if he would take a picture with us. Mustapha is a very friendly man with a lilting voice. He liked the picture idea, hugged us all and headed off to the cemetery. He returned with a small bouquet of flowers for Nancy for the picture taking session. He is a fascinating man. We wrapped up the day with a very nice and lengthy dinner at our hotel. A bottle of wine and excellent conversation were a nice close to a wonderful trip. It was great to see Kareem and enjoy the long conversations covering world hunger, politics or anything else that came up. Ramzi and Livia would be even prouder of him as they watch him interact with locals.

We saw a lot in Morocco. So we would not forget all that we saw, the three of us made a list of things to write about. Most are covered above, other observations are:
There is not much place in an Arab country for dogs, but cats are everywhere in Morocco. They’re on rooftops, under your feet at the café, saunter in shops and play with things in the alley. They can also on occasion get a bit pungent.
Smoking of tobacco and the locally grown alternative is widespread. Many vendors sell cigarettes individually.
A unique product we saw for sale was the Soft Acrylic Mink Blanket. An acrylic mink sounds interesting.
What looked to be a snail soup was sold by several street vendors. We opted not to try it out.
Most of the beggars are women.
We saw quite a few people on crutches, a lot of them looking like they had been struck by a disease like polio.

Sean's Visit

Friday morning we discovered Kalverstraat & Spui Centrum. We had briefly walked through this area when Ryan was here. The reason for our visit this time was to find bookstores. I was almost at the end of my final book and getting desperate. I was assured I could find anything I wanted at these stores. There were several stores to choose from, including the 3 story American Book Center. I saw Waterstone’s Book Center first & happily picked out several books. Wandering further into the area we found yet another Friday street market. This one, in the book store area was filled with stalls of books & pictures. Very cool. We didn’t have long to stay but it would definitely be worth a trip back at some point in the future. Looked like lots of neat children’s books to add to my collection!

Sean arrived mid afternoon. Shortly after we were back at the apartment, the rain arrived. And the wind. We read the winds were somewhere around 50mph overnight. At one point, one of our windows blew in (they open in) because it was not locked correctly. With it, rain & wind. It was a struggle to close it against the elements.

Saturday morning did not look too promising, weather wise. We headed out in tremendous wind to show Sean the sites. First stop, breakfast at Sara’s Pancakes. Then back out into the wind & cold. We stayed out about 3 hours but that was plenty. We did the usual walking tour of the canals, the Dam Square, the Red Light District & a few shops before giving up. On the way home we stopped by the Saturday street fair. There were not as many people out & a lot less vendors than normal. None of the booths had covers on them – too windy. We bought some focaccia bread to have with dinner & headed back. A few minutes after we were back, Sean gave up entirely & was dozing.

I headed out again to the grocery store for dinner ingredients. When I got back, Allen, the apartment manager from upstairs (around Sean’s age) was here visiting. His visit turned into dinner for the 4 of us. Late Saturday night, he & Sean went out to some of the local bars. I happily went to bed, around 1:00 a.m.

Sunday did not start early for any of us. Once we got up & going we walked toward the Leidseplein for the canal boat ride. We have been on this so many times, we could probably commandeer the boat & give the tour ourselves. But the canals are so important to Holland & the buildings you see are so beautiful that it’s a nice ride. The driver was very good. He did not leave the pre recorded commentary going as most of them do, preferring to add his own running comments. He was funny and added some facts that we had not heard previously. When he wasn’t speaking, he played a variety of music. From the canal boat to the Vlaamse Frites stand for the next obligatory stop on the tour. From there, we made our way back to the apartment & a very late dinner.



Nancy & Sean, Zaanse Schans, NL


Monday morning we headed out fairly early. The wind was strong, rain showers were threatening. As we headed out, both rain & ice pellets greeted us. We ran for the bus to Central Station.

By the time we got there it was windy & cold but the rain had stopped. Our destination on Monday was Zaanse Schans, a neighborhood about 20 minutes away by train. It has windmills, little wooden houses, shops, stores & a couple of restaurants. All set on the water with pretty gardens & fields that have goats & sheep. We wandered around the village & then stopped at the pannekoek restaurant for some breakfast. Savory cheese & bacon pancakes for Sean. Apple cinnamon for Bob & I. They tasted good but even better, we warmed up & were out of the wind!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaanse_Schans

After our fill of Zaanse Schans we headed back to Amsterdam Central & walked toward the Jordaan to the Delft shop. It closed at 6:00 & Sean wanted to get there before it closed. We walked back to Museumplein to visit the Van Gogh museum. We had not been there before & I enjoyed learning more about the artist and seeing some of his work.


Sean, enjoying Vlaamse Frites with mayo!

Another stop at Vlaamse Frites for a late afternoon snack & we were done for the day.
As we made our way back to the apartment, the light was perfect for some photo ops. Sean & Bob stopped to take their share.







We all agreed that we had walked a LOT on Monday! Back to the apartment for dinner, another visit from Allen & before we knew it, the evening had passed & it was 11:00 p.m.
We left the apartment before 5:00 a.m. on Monday to make the 5:30 a.m. train to Schiphol. Sean’s plane left for London Gatwick at 7:00 a.m. Fortunately, it was not raining when we walked to Central Station. Buses don’t even run that early & that had been a concern. Sean got checked in without incident & headed off. We loved having him here, the visit passed way too quickly. Our last visitor on this trip. Sean’s visit & our visit to Morocco were so far away a month ago when we got here. Now, this trip is winding down.


Aalsmeer Bloemenveiling



From the airport, we made our way (without incident this time….see blog re: Frank & Jill’s visit) to Aalsmeer.

We have been numerous times but the sheer enormity of the warehouse space & the number of flowers everywhere is just incredible. I never tire of visiting here. After leaving Aalsmeer, the next stop was Luchtvaart Hobby Shop for Bob. This is a hobby shop that I actually discovered for him several years ago as we were driving by it. He had just a few minutes in the shop before we had to catch our bus back to Central Station. From Central Station we headed to the apartment, doing a few errands on the way.


After straightening up the apartment & catching up on e-mail, nothing sounded better to me than a nap. The rain increased again in the afternoon, perfect time to read my book….uh, sleep. Bob went out & picked up dinner for us & by the time he got back, it was snowing. Nothing stuck but it was beautiful to watch the big white flakes come down in the late afternoon light.

This flowering tree is outside the window of our apartment. It & several like it span the bedroom & kitchen windows. When we arrived, a month ago, they were barely beginning to bud. Now, the flowers are all beginning to disappear as the leaves unfurl.

A few errands today as we prepare to make our way to Morocco & Kareem early tomorrow morning. This trip is winding down very quickly!

Roman Holiday

Coloseo, Roma

Written by Bob -

We had no problems getting on the almost full flight and arrived at out hotel in the early afternoon. I had stayed at the same hotel once before in 1964 with my parents and brother on my first trip to Europe. The hotel did not have a warrant out for my arrest for the ashtray I had determined was a souvenir on my first visit and still have at home someplace. The Mediterraneo was built in the mid-30’s and is still a nice hotel.
From the hotel we headed down the street to the Coliseum, about a 20 minute walk. A truly magnificent structure, we walked around inside and out looking for Russell Crowe. There were plenty of faux gladiators willing to pose for photos, but no Russell. From the Coliseum we went by the Arch of Constantine towards the forum and the Palatino. We got to the Forum just before closing time at 5:00 and took the slow road back to the hotel.
Tuesday was a long day. We ended up walking for over 6 hours and covered a lot of sights. We started at the Forum from the Coliseum end and ended up at the Vittorio Emanuele II monument. From the models at the tourist office, it looks as if relatively little of the Forum remains. However, there are arches, some in excellent condition, columns, broken columns laying on the ground along with large blocks of stone almost all with intricately carved flowers, animals and people. It is amazing that this work was done more than 2000 years ago. One wonders how they designed it all let alone how it was constructed and at what human price. It is an amazing sight to see.

The Forum

After the Forum was the Vittorio Emanuele II monument, a very large white stone monument I think was built in the late 1800s. The rear of the monument overlooks the Forum, the front Piazza Venezia. A lot of Victor was covered up in plastic, I believe because he was being sand blasted clean.

Next on our tour was Piazza Navonna, a beautiful 17th century square with pastel colored buildings and two large fountains. The Fountain of Neptune was working, the other was covered up being renovated. The center of the Piazza has the fountains along with lots of “art/picture” vendors, Disneyland-esque caricature artists and vendors hawking everything from purses to magnets to bubble blowing toys. We had a nice lunch on the square serenaded by an excellent solo guitar rendition of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.
After lunch we stopped at the local gelato stand and walked to the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. The fountain was mobbed with tourists of course and was not quite what Nancy had expected. Audrey Hepburn was not there. It was getting late and we headed back to the hotel, stopping to pick up some snacks from a street vendor near the train station which is just down the street from the hotel.
We woke up to a light rain on Wednesday which was our day to go to Vatican City. The Vatican is also the furthest sightseeing point on our agenda. We decided to take the Metro. The Vatican was 5 stops away. A previous trip on the Metro about 9 years ago ended up being very expensive thanks to a group of gypsies. I guess they have moved on to bigger and better things, or institutions, as I did not see them this trip. Although I think I did have a small run-in with their older brothers on the return trip.

St. Peter's Basilica

Wednesday is Papal Audience day, a weekly 4 hour event. We did see him on the big screen TV in St. Peter’s Square but I am not sure where he was. He was not in the magnificent Basilica with the thousands of tourists. For reasons unknown the Cupola (dome) was closed and we opted not to stand in line to see the Sistine Chapel. We stopped for lunch and then took the Metro to the Piazza di Spagna which is where the Spanish Steps are located. They are just that, a lot of steps. Audrey was not here either so we headed back to the hotel. After the obligatory trip to the Hard Rock for yet another shirt, we called it a day.
Rome is very different than either Amsterdam or Berlin. Amsterdam is old, but nothing in comparison to Rome. Berlin is largely modern steel and glass. Rome, or at least the part we saw, has ruins and excavations scattered throughout, few of Berlin’s modern buildings and many stone and plaster buildings set in pastels and ochre. And yes, almost as many churches as Texas.
It also has:

3 people who do not smoke - the Surgeon General apparently not well known here
Legendary frenetic traffic
Vespas, in lieu of Amsterdam’s bicycles, are everywhere and come at you from every direction
More hawkers per square kilometer than any other place on the planet
More French teenage groups than Japanese tourists

It’s a great city. Tomorrow it’s back “home” to Amsterdam to get ready for Sean’s visit.

Ryan’s Week-End in Amsterdam – February 23-25

We got word through a reliable source (his Mom!) that Ryan was on his way – seat 6E. We headed out at 7:30 a.m.to Central Station to get the train to Schiphol to pick up our guest. He looked no worse for the wear, having survived his first trip overseas. Of note was that on board working business class was Delta’s senior most flight attendant. The tail winds were over 100 mph. Despite leaving Atlanta late, they arrived early.
We made our way back to the apartment, walking through the Noordemarkt for bread on the way home. Back in the apartment, we had bread, cheese, meat & fruit before heading out for the day.
Ryan forgot his camera at home so Bob handed his over & with little instruction, he was snapping away. We wandered back through the Noordemarkt & then headed to the Dam Square. From the Dam we walked to the Red Light District. There were plenty of windows open & people to observe. As always, interesting area to wander through.
From the Dam we walked toward the Leidseplein, stopping to walk through the floating flower market. We stopped at the English Bookstore to see if I could find more reading material. There were some possibilities but did not find anything worth buying. I did find a nice warm Amsterdam sweatshirt that I thought I had to have. The Leidseplein wasn’t as active as it usually is. Maybe it was too cold or we were too early. We took a canal boat ride that gave Ryan a little too much time to sit still. It was warm in the boat & the ride was over an hour long. I think he zoned out for much of the ride, needing just a little rest.
Ryan, outside the Hard Rock, Amsterdam

After the canal boat, we stopped at Hard Rock for some lunch. Ryan was disappointedthat they only had Amstel ‘light’. He came all this way for the ‘real thing’ and had to wait until we could get to the store. A couple of hamburgers later we were ready to walk again. We headed back to the apartment, diverting to the market for a few essentials, including the Amstel. Spent the evening looking at pictures and reading before he decided 9:00 was as long as he could stay awake.
Sunday was a little sunnier, a little warmer than Saturday. We started out by mid morning with the Van Gogh museum on our ‘to do’ list. As we headed toward Van Gogh, Ryan noticed the Rijksmuseum and opted to go there instead. It’s an interesting museum of Dutch history. The museum covers a small period of time – the 17th century, known as the Dutch Golden Age. After our fill of culture we walked to the Vlaamse Frittes stand where we take all of our guests. This stand sells a variety of things but its specialty is apparently the fries. They are good – and what better lunch than fries! After the fries it was back to the Red Light District. Intriguing place & Ryan seemed to think the souvenir shops there were worth going back to for a second look.
Sunday night we had dinner at home & were joined by Allen, one of the residents in the apartment building. He’s a couple of years older than Ryan & originally from South Africa. He is working here for a few years before finishing his education. He has been interesting to talk to & we thought he & Ryan might enjoy visiting. Allen was particularly pleased to be eating ‘an American dinner with an American family…..’ He mentioned that he wants to go to America so he can see ‘Hollywood’. Of course.
Monday morning all three of us were up and out early as we headed back to the airport. We finally found the infamous bus 18 that takes us to Central Station. It was so much nicer to jump on a bus at 7:30 in the morning & not lug all our bags through the streets. From Central Station, quick train ride to Schipol. We dropped Ryan at Delta after giving him instructions on how to get back to the apartment if his flight cancelled. He assured us he would be on the flight & indeed he was.
We made our way to Alitalia & jumped on our flight to Rome.

Updates....at last!

Berlin - February 13, 2007

On Wednesday morning we took the train to Berlin, a 6 hour ride through Holland to Hannover, Germany and then to Berlin. We stayed at the Steigenberger Hotel in the center of the city. We arrived at the hotel just as it was getting dark. The train was a nice way to travel and probably didn’t take much longer than it would have to fly by the time you add getting to and from the airport and check-in and security waits. The Berlin Hauptbahnof (main station) is a very modern multi-story glass structure which we found out later was recently completed and is in the part of town that used to be part of no-man’s land between East and West Berlin. Our hotel was around the corner from the Ku’damm (Kurfuerstendamm), the main shopping street in Berlin (surprise). The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is located on the Ku’Damm. It was completed in the 1890s and was bombed by the British in November 1943. A good portion of the church including the steeple is missing. Part of the original church and its intricate mosaic ceiling have been restored. The church’s primary purpose though is to remember. A part of Coventry Cathedral in England, which the Germans had bombed, is present in this church and vv.
Thursday morning we started out at Starbucks for coffee & then started walking. From The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church we walked alongside the zoo and through the Tiergarten, a large park. Some very early Lilies of the Valley coming up through the leaves.

At the end of the Tiergarten we arrived at Brandenburg Gate, where Reagan told Gorbachev to tear down the wall.

From there we walked through Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial,
a haunting park of stone blocks of varying heights in long rows.

The architecture was meant to imply isolation we learned later.

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

Next we walked to the Potsdamer Platz, an area of town that was also in no-man’s land and is all new.
That evening we had a very nice dinner put on by friends of Karen and Bob, Malte and Tatjana Zeeck. Tatjana met us at our hotel and escorted us to their home. We had an excellent turkey dinner, good wine and great conversations about politics, WWII and other topics. Malte discussed the process of reuniting people with old family property. His family had come from what became East Germany, fleeing west at the end of WWII. After German reunification and a 10 year battle he was able to reclaim part of his family’s property, over 50 years since they had left it. He mentioned that Jews and their descendants who have claims on property that they were forced to leave have priority claims on that property. A complicated method of determining when they left, why they left and what, if any, compensation they were given for that property is taken into account.
Tatjana took us back to the bus and got us on the train back to the city. Friday we headed back to Amsterdam.

Company comes to call – Saturday & Sunday, February 15 & 16

We got back from Berlin on Friday evening. After a quick stop at the market, we got home, unpacked, started laundry & had a light dinner.
Up & out on Saturday morning to the local bakery for some fresh bread & another stop at the flower stall for fresh tulips. What an incredible luxury – having fresh tulips in the apartment. They are about 2 EUR per bunch – about $3.00. We bought a bunch of yellow & another of red. They are gorgeous.

Nancy & Jill - Amsterdam, February 2008

Back to the apartment & within 10 minutes there was a knock at the door. Frank & Jill arrived in Amsterdam on time. They made their way from the airport to the Central Station via train. From the Central Station we are about a 30 minute walk although we’re getting a little faster now, I think. We had coffee, fruit, bread & cheese & visited before heading out. The goal for Saturday was to keep them awake long enough during the day so they could go to bed at a normal time & awake on Sunday adjusted to the time difference.
Saturday the weather was much colder than during the week. There was a cold bite to the wind. Fortunately it did not rain & that’s about the only thing that would prevent us from going out. We walked for about 5 hours on Saturday.

We started out at the Noordkerk Market open air market walking among the stalls. There is anything & everything you might ever want or need at this market. It is set up early Saturday mornings – around 7:30 as best we can tell. It is all packed up & gone by later in the evening. On Mondays the same area is another market this time specializing in textiles. At the Saturday market there are flowers, fresh bread, clothing, toiletries, fresh fish, fruits & vegetables, pottery and LOTS of people! The stop we could not resist was the stall selling crepes. We devoured fresh crepes with lemon & sugar. MMMM! !!

From Noordkerk we walked to the Leidseplein & the floating flower market. The flowers are incredible. The people watching not bad either. There are always interesting characters at the Leidseplein. We stopped at our favorite French fry ‘restaurant’ for a quick snack. After our snack we headed wandered toward Vondel Park via the Zuiderbad Park in front of the Rijks Museum, opting to stop at the museum shop rather than the museum itself. Nearby was a man made ice skating rink with several families out enjoying the cold afternoon. A quick stop at another bakery for hot chocolate (for me) & we were on our way again. After Vondel Park we headed back to the apartment. We rested, regrouped & headed to the market for dinner ingredients. We had a good pasta dinner, some nice wine & everyone was in bed early having spent a full day in the fresh air.

Sunday morning we headed out once again. We headed a different direction this time as we went to the Dam Square. At the Dam we saw horse drawn carriages, bag pipe players & human statues as well as the obligatory tourists. From there we ventured to the unique Red Light District where the windows were active & the girls on display. An interesting & a sad place.
We found a Chinese restaurant & stopped in for an early dinner. The food was so so but a couple of interesting things happened. The first, as Bob was eating his hot & sour soup, Jill looked at hers & told him to stop eating….she had found shrimp in her soup. Bob is highly allergic to sea food. I (not so) kiddingly told Bob he was beholden to his little sister in law for saving his life & owed his life to her.

Nieuwmarkt. near the Red Light District

There was a large group of people eating in an adjoining room when we sat down. Frank noticed they were loudly discussing their bill. The discussion got louder & louder with more & more employees joining in. Finally two police officers showed up & broke it up. Not sure what happened but kind of a side show to our meal.

Sunday night found us back at the apartment with some bread, cheese & wine to have as a light dinner. When we realized Frank had not seen our New Zealand/Fiji pictures we had found another sucker….uh, person to show them to. He was a good sport about them, start to finish. I’m sure the wine he was drinking helped him endure all 2000 plus pictures!

A Day of Good Intentions -February 18, 2007

Monday morning the 4 of us were out the door at 7:30 a.m. headed for Central Station. The cobble stones & bridge overpasses were slippery with ice. That should have been our first warning……..

We got to Central Station & headed out on the train to the airport where we would pick up a bus to take us to Aalsmeer Flower Auction. We’ve been there numerous times & it was on Frank & Jill’s ‘to do’ list. Our bus diverted at the end of the airport. When we got off, another passenger translated what the bus driver had told everyone. There had been an accident on the icy roads earlier in the morning. Roads were a mess and buses off schedule. We continued on, taking a bus that we thought would take us to Aalsmeer and the flower auction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aalsmeer_Flower_Auction

Once there we stopped again. No driver for the bus. The auction house closes at 11:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m., we asked about walking & were told it was at least a ½ hour. At 10:10 we made the decision to forego the flower market & head back to the Central Station. The 2nd part of our day was to go to Delft. We waited for what seemed like hours (probably a half hour) in the cold.

Eventually a bus came that was headed to Amsterdam & we grabbed it. It turned out to be one of our original bus drivers. A half hour into our journey (stopping every 2 minutes) Bob & I recognized the area we were in as where we usually stay. We jumped off the bus to try to regroup & go with plan ‘C’ which essentially was very simple……find a bathroom at any cost. We walked to the Hilton where we usually stay – walked in like we owned the place & for the first time all morning, something went right. We found bathrooms!! We got a map from the concierge & were on our way again. This time we wandered toward Albert Cuyp Market. http://www.amsterdam.info/shopping/albert_cuypmarkt/
It really is just another flea market but we were in the area so figured why not. The buildings on our walk were very pretty & the scenery was enjoyable. The air had warmed up a little so the walk was pleasant.

After our fill at the market & trying unsuccessfully to find lunch we decided to head back to the apartment. Frank saved the day by finding a pancake house (traditional Dutch, we’re told). We stopped there for a wonderful first meal of the day at 1:30 in the afternoon. The pancakes were filling & hit the spot – enjoyed by all. After food & drink we headed for the apartment. Naps reinvigorated all of us & then we thought about dinner.

Frank found what looked like a good place to eat – by Central Station. It had been recommended by Bruce, the owner of the apartment so we figured why not. We sent them an e-mail asking for a reservation & enthusiastically looked through the menu online. We set off at 6:30 for the ½ hour walk to Central Station only to be met by a closed restaurant! It was an appropriate end to our not so perfect day!

Back to the apartment, with a quick stop at the market. We picked up some wine, some sauce to enhance the leftover pasta, some just from the oven bread and a few other essentials. Came back & had a feast. Why didn’t we think of that to begin with? Guess we needed that extra walk last night.

Housekeeping - February 19, 20 & 21

The wakeup call was way too early for our company Tuesday morning. Reality kicked in for them as they left the apartment at 6:30 a.m. to head back to the train station, on to the airport & back to Atlanta. As I write this, their plane has just landed. Ryan tells me they were seated in business class so hopefully they had an enjoyable flight.

After Frank & Jill left we had a stay at home, catch up on everything kind of day that included catching up on sleep, reading, email, laundry & housecleaning. It was a quiet day & the kind we really have come to enjoy during our stay here. We can look out the window at the canal. Watch the heron & ducks & the canal boats that come by occasionally. We ventured out for a walk to the market & that was about it for the day. Came home & cooked dinner a fairly decent chicken cordon bleu on top of the stove for dinner!

Dinner is served!

Wednesday we went looking for Magna Plaza – a shopping center we had passed a few times previously. It is a shopping center inside a building built in 1899 that originally housed the central post office. The architecture is gorgeous, the shops high end. We found a belt for Bob but nothing else of much interest. Walking back out in the street toward Central Station, I found several stores worth looking into. After several stops, I found the travel purse of my dreams. It is big – can hold hardback books, umbrellas, Ipods & all those other necessary purse things. It is awesome. I’ve even included a picture so you can admire! Back to the market for some bread, cheese & dinner ingredients. The menu for the evening was roasted garlic, cheese, salad & homemade potato soup with ham & cheese. It turned out pretty well considering I have to improvise, make up for lack of ingredients & either use the stovetop or microwave for everything I do!

Yes, you may admire...it is the travel purse of my dreams. LOVE it!

Brugges, February 22, 2008

Thursday this week was train day and we were off to Brugge in Belgium. This was our third visit to Brugge, a beautiful medieval city full of old buildings, canals and horse drawn carriages. A tourist trap no doubt, but a beautiful one. We changed trains in Brussels and 4 hours later arrived in Brugge. We walked from the station to Minnewater area of Brugge, which has small lakes complete with swans, an old nunnery (the Beguin), cobblestone streets and lots of old buildings and houses.

Minnewater, Brugge

Speaking of cobblestone streets, every street and sidewalk in Amsterdam seems to be cobblestone or similar. Looks great, doesn’t feel great after several hours of walking. The Minnewater area is also one of the starting points for the horse drawn carriage rides. A horse fountain is appropriately located in the square.

A nice fondue restaurant, closed at this time of day, is located on the far side of the square. We took Sean & Brian to this fondue restaurant many years ago. They may have memories of it.......enough said!

From Minnewater we headed toward the town square. Fairly easy to do, just follow the church spire and the familiar Belfort clock tower. The weather had been warmer on previous trips and the square was full of open air restaurants and lots of tourists. Not as many tourists this trip and eating has moved indoors. We stopped for lunch and made our way back toward the train station. Brugge is very much a tourist town and streets are full of chocolatiers and lace shops. We indulged in both and headed back to Brussels and Amsterdam. A good 4 hours to read my book, “World Without End”, which is about England in the 1300s. Complete with references to the wool merchants from Brugge.

February 22, 2008 -TGIF

Walking home from the station last night there was high wind & had been raining. This morning we woke up to mild temperatures, high wind and rain. We made our way to the market & I have a version of stew on the stove cooking away while I catch up on some writing. We’ve had a visitor this afternoon. Allen is South African, living on a work visa in Amsterdam. He manages the apartment building. I think his intent for visiting this afternoon was to inform us a workman would be in the apartment later today. He and Bob (& I to a lesser extent) have been visiting for the last couple of hours. He’s a fascinating person with an interesting perspective on life. We think we’re going to have a party this week-end and maybe next and have invited some of the people who live in the building. I think Sean (next week-end) and Ryan (tomorrow) would find them very interesting as well.

Busy week-end with Ryan here. He leaves on Monday. We head to Rome, back Thursday.

Playing House

This apartment is so much fun. It is fairly small (& I suspect will shrink even more with all the upcoming visitors) and reminds me of a dollhouse - playing house, something I loved when I was a kid.

This bouquet of tulips greeted us on arrival

We have managed to conquer the combination washer/dryer. When all else fails, read the directions. They were actually quite well written. All laundry is washed & dried. I am attempting towels tonight. Washed this morning - so far the dryer has taken over an hour to dry them.

The combination washer/dryer that caused so much angst!

Yesterday our trip to the market included ingredients for dinner. It was a little bit of a challenge to figure out what to cook for our 3rd meal 'at home'. I have not yet mastered the oven. That meant cooking food on top of the stove or in the microwave. We ended up with a good dinner. I had 1 pot & 1 pan to use so had to figure out the order to cook things but in the end it worked fine. It really was fun - like playing house!

The kitchen sink & counter - to the right of the counter is the stove top/oven/dishwasher combinaton unit....further right, the bathroom!

I've included a tour of the apartment in pictures. Tried to show the stairs - the first staircase goes straight up, the 2nd is winding & a little more challenging....especially with bags in hand.

The two flights of stairs to the apartment

Off to Berlin tomorrow, back here early evening on Friday.

Looking forward to the week-end when Frank & Jill arrive.

Living room sofa / pull out bed
Entertainment center!

Bathroom sink Shower

Dining room table with view of the canal & 5 herons who live in and around it - great spot for watching the world go by.