Rotterdam

Went down to Rotterdam with Leslie's morphology class.....completely different than Amsterdam, due partly to WWII bombing and subsequent urban renewal I would guess.

Rotterdam is about 40 miles from Amsterdam, yet it seems farther away to me. Probably because I don't have a sense of the scale of the country yet. 

I do know that the "sprinter" train makes the return run from Rdam to Amdam faster than the 1hr:10 min trip down here. An as an added bonus and in spite of the fact we shouldn't even have been on the Sprinter, a bunch of Motorhead fans got on at the only stop, Schiphol airport. Heading in to the big city!

The Netherlands is not big, about the size of Maryland. The nation would easily fit into Mississippi, which would be a culture-shock of epic proportions.

Consider:  What if you shrunk America down to the area of the Netherlands? Birmingham to Atlanta would be 3/4 of a mile. Think about it.

They don't make this in Florida!

Stinging Nettle Cheese! When I first saw it my immediate gut reaction was fear, and an odd tingling in my mouth. Floridians (Richard, Ginny, Tom!) on this blog will no doubt have a similar reaction if you grew up with stinging nettles. Sandspurs were really bad but stinging nettles were a close second. There was nothing worse than being lashed on the arm or leg with either one of these deadly weeds.  

But the cheese was good. I guess Dutch stinging nettles are kind of wimpy.....

 

HandCam.....

....similar to ButtDial, only without the embarrassment, plus you may get an 'artistic shot'....

 

art culture on the skids

I haven't had a chance to go to any museums until Sunday. We went to the Stedelijk Museum over on the Museumplein (no surprise there). Leslie had already been as part of a class project. The museum has one of the best collections of modern art in the world, and a recent building addition (known around here as the bathtub) has enhanced its reputation. Looks a lot like a nice Kohler product doesn't it?

Inside we saw some 'normal' modern art like Picasso and Mondrian (yawn), and even some Rietveld [Google It!] furniture (would be a very difficult IKEA assembly).

However, in the basement gallery we saw the 'good' stuff- a curated exhibition of Seth Siegelaub, one of the key players of early conceptual art in NYC- who knew?. Now we are talking about some awesome art people.

Like: where's the pit?

and like:  the wall cast a shadow on the blank gallery wall; a hand cast a shadow of the hand on the blank gallery wall; where is a hand?

Awesome stuff to be sure, but wait, I forgot that there was more contemporary stuff on the 2nd Floor! Queen Nefertiti getting ready to do the lawn!

 
Leslie contemplates ears!

   

Dutch culture on the skids

On a recent field trip into the urban expanse of Amsterdam, we came upon this, less than a mile west from our place......

If you haven't guessed, yes, it is a trailer park, of sorts. Leslie dubbed it Carney Village due to the RV type vehicles......

Not far from Carney Village is an authentic windmill from the 17th century, probably...

and just down the canal from the windmill is, you guessed it again! Chickens! 

It is a fact that many young people in Amsterdam are clueless about chickens. Yet there the chickens are, on a canal....across some more canals....and a tram line....and a bus line....from the center of the urban experience of Amsterdam, minus the chickens.

Day 1- Find Beer

When you first roll in to a new town you are probably thinking about priorities. Finding beer is not one. It a basic survival skill that compels you to look for beer before you even think about priorities.

2013, Day 1- Starkville, MS
Went to the Piggly Wiggly. I was questioning a guy- who was hefting a 24 pack of BudLite but who seemed actually interested in beer selection possibilities, go figure-  where the best beer might be found in Starkville. Clueless me was getting "concerned" about said selection at the Pig; where the heck is a decent IPA? Coincidentally, and I did not know it at the time, the Pig had the best grocery store beer selection in town, which was not saying much.

But the BudLite guy clued me in to Brewski's. Brewski's had a decent selection that lowered my stress level considerably....kind of like yoga!

But again coincidentally (try typing that word real fast), or is it ironically or just moronically, the Piggly Wiggly was bought out by a small regional grocery chain headquartered just down the road in Louisville. They made some improvements, but nowhere more important than the beer section. Now, not only does the former Pig still have the best grocery store beer selection in town, they have one of the best overall selections in town, and by Starkville standards, it is very good.

NEXT POST:
2014, Day 1-Amsterdam

Gesundheit!

"Gesundheit", the German word for health, is a familiar response to somebody sneezing. Its probably the safest German word you can utter. I mean, you can say "Gesundheit" anytime you want in public, especially if there is an actual person sneezing. Try saying "Sieg Heil" the next time you hear somebody sneeze........

Not to be outdone by the Germans, the Dutch "Gezondheid" can be a response to a person who has sneezed three times....sort of the equivalent of 'Gesundheit' said 3 times in English (Yes! We stole it from the Germans, bwahahahahaha!) if the person has sneezed 3 times, enough with the sneezing already! 

Wikipedia tells me ......."(Three times) the weather will be nice tomorrow."

This German-Dutch rivalry has been going on for centuries. Suffice it to say that sneezing has played a major part. Witness below the up-and-running high-tech GezondheidsCentrum. This translates literally as "Sneezing Central", a state of the art research and development center that rivals anything the German's are doing. bwahahahahahahaha......

a research associate takes a sneeze break
 

Red Curtains

As you will notice in the photo of our building, we have red curtains (2nd floor of the grey building). The temporary AirBnB apartment we were in for our first week here had red curtains. The apartment in Paris in 2014 had pretty much red everything. 

Coincidence? I think not.....

 






I believe that there is an unwritten "rule" amongst the various players in the rental markets here on the Continent. And that rule is:  "make sure the apartment you rent to an American has red curtains. That way we will all know where they are and what they are up to."

Bridge

bridge goes up.........

......the ship goes thru.

.






that was a pretty large boat that is zipping past in the canal

Wall-O-Cheese

Its just another quaint little neighborhood shop on the corner (Kaasland!)......

........only it has a Wall of Cheese!