You can't do that in America- 4

Amsterdam is a city of windows. Big windows. From the Red light district to the Jordaan, we got big windows. The windows in our apartment encompass the entire front wall- great canal view, street view, people view. The apartments across the canal all have big windows too.

This morning, I get up at my usual Amsterdam time, 9am. Leslie has been up since like 6:30 'cause she has school work to do and her brain turns on that early. Anyway, I am not fully awake sitting on the couch, and I hear Leslie say, "there's nakedness across the way".  

Huh? Its too early for nakedness isn't it? Apparently not. I look across the canal to the second floor of an apartment with the aforementioned big windows and I see a guy in shorts. He's not naked. Then I see a naked women kind of drift slowly by the window. Huh. Then she drifts by the other way. Then she stands at the window for about 3 minutes just looking out. Then she wanders off again. 

It strikes me that this is kind of normal for Amsterdam. I go and get some more coffee......

flies

I did a review of The Dissident, the 2020 documentary that provides an insider’s look at the targeting and death of Jamal Khoshoggi. The review is titled “MBS: Lord of the Flies,” because, according to director Brian Fogle, that is what MBS sets up — a dark room full of dishdashed men spend all their hours attacking a target online, unleashing insults and promising death. Khashoggi, who had crossed the line from being a columnist at WaPo, to a dissident (illegal in the Kingdom, according to Saudi sources in the film), was targeted by these so-called Flies, who swarmed him before he was “taken” at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. Check it out.

-- John Kendall Hawkins

lord of the flies

1.6 miles

Lets go Map Crazy! What would a 1.6 mile walk, or there near-abouts, look like in Amsterdam? What would it look like in your town?

Click the appropriate link to compare your location to Amsterdam!

AMSTERDAM CENTRUM
https://indd.adobe.com/view/7c5030e5-6718-4bd5-8217-1b9ee608aa7d 

STARKVILLE
https://indd.adobe.com/view/efebf203-b104-4a6b-86ec-566395993a06 

BATAVIA 
https://indd.adobe.com/view/8bec2a71-e495-47cc-97df-994c1e5d2632

No to Followers

eurogeezer, the blog that does nothing and asks nothing

no money down 

no advertising 

no income 

no followers 

no advertising 

no store 

just taking up bandwidth 

perfect

our theme

5 Guys

A prominent demographic in Amsterdam is Five Guys. If one undertook a comprehensive survey of the central city, patterns of this unique group would begin to emerge.

Five Guys are, obviously, 5 individual guys, but for the purposes of this critical analysis they will primarily be considered in the collective while individual traits and character will be secondary. Initial observations from random encounters with Five Guys reveal the following:

• They are typically young EU white guys (Note: groups of 3, or 4 guys can sometimes be mistaken for Five Guys if one is observing in fast moving crowds). There are also other types of groups with 5 members (such as the 5 guys on rental bikes, below) but these are easily distinguishable from Five Guys 

• Five Guys are most often observed on busy streets (such as Haarlemmerstraat, or in the Red Light district)  
• They steadfastly remain a cohesive unit in crowded, chaotic conditions.
• They are focused and seemingly on a mission. They can be observed vectoring in on a red lit storefront window, or abruptly changing direction when upwind in the vicinity of a coffeeshop such as Barney's Farm on Haarlemmerstraat.

 

• It is difficult to determine their mission, but once obtained, the unit breaks down. It is unclear if Five Guys re-constitutes itself for another mission.

 

bye bye Amsterdam

What? We left Amsterdam 6, 7 weeks ago? gaaaaaaaaaaa!
Here are some final views from the continent:
 

Last days- Leiden

A last trip to Leiden and a visit to the Hortus Botanicus, the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, dating back to 1590.
hortus botanicus

Last days- Kröller-Müller Museum

The Kröller-Müller Museum is an art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park near Arnhem (Its in the middle of a forest). The museum was founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller and opened in 1938. It has the second-largest collection of paintings in the world by Vincent van Gogh. 

krollermuller

Alcazaba

In Malaga, June 18......climbed the big hill to the top of the Alcazaba which is a palatial fortification in Málaga. It was built by the Hammudid dynasty in the early 11th century. This is the best-preserved alcazaba (from the Arabic al-qasbah, meaning "citadel") in Spain. Adjacent to the entrance of the Alcazaba are remnants of a Roman theater dating to the 1st century BC, which are undergoing restoration. Some of the Roman-era materials were reused in the Moorish construction of the Alcazaba.