Juggle this

Its not Monday and 'baked' is something you do with 'potatoes' or 'bread'. 

Today we look at jugglers. By now I am sure you remember the weird specialty stores here in Amsterdam- the Cow Store/Museum, the Toothbrush Shop, the Duck Store, the Naked Butt Emporium (alright, just kidding). 

The Juggle Store caters to all the needs of jugglers here in Amsterdam, although I have never seen an actual juggler, not even in the Red Light district where you would assume they would be juggling. Never-the-less, all your juggling needs are supposedly inside the store. I can't recall ever having a juggling need. The flying bowling pins, flaming torches, and kittens all seem pretty dangerous to me.....

 

Shoulda' been smokin' weed

The evacuation of the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has been prompted by a homeless Polish citizen, who claimed to be a terrorist, Dutch military police said on Wednesday. Heavily armed military police had to evacuate and search through the commercial area of the Schiphol airport late on Tuesday, when the alarm was raised. They detained “a 25-year-old Polish man without fixed address... who told officers he was a terrorist.” Police claim the young man was “under the influence of alcohol.” His name was not disclosed. His two backpacks were searched, but no dangerous substances were found. The Dutch prosecutor's office is to decide what charges are to be brought against the unnamed perpetrator.

Lawn care!

Yes, they do have lawn care in Amsterdam even though as far as I can tell nobody has a lawn. Its not stopping these guys however.

I haven't seen any leaf-blowers yet. Surely Amsterdammers are too sophisticated for that.....here's a typical leaf-blower in America!

Leiden

Leiden is just down the road (or tracks) from Amsterdam, maybe 25 miles. Distances in the Netherlands seem weirdly expanded, or, my mind is compressed. Leiden feels like it is far away, kind of like the distance between Starkville and Birmingham, or Tampa and Miami.
  

The municipality of Leiden has a population of 122,565, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration with its suburbs, with around 190,000 inhabitants. Leiden is located on the Old Rhine. It is 12 miles from The Hague to its south. A university city since 1575, Leiden houses Leiden University, the oldest university of the Netherlands and Leiden University Medical Center.

Leiden actually has a castle built around 1150ad on top of an artificial hill. In the 1500's the  outer wall- its shape instantly recognizable- was constructed.  

The old town within the walls is much smaller than central Amsterdam and is less dense and has a slower pace. In other words, little danger from bikes, scooters, trams and buses. 

weather

Amsterdam weather continues to amaze and befuddle. Last Sunday was gorgeous; sunny, light breeze, 68 degrees. Everybody was out and about or parked in a south facing chair outside their apartment building (a common sight). Things were looking good. Birds were chirping. Buds were buddin'. Green stuff greening. One could have thought, "ah, at last Spring is here."

Wrong.

Back to cloudy, intermittent rain, 48 degrees, 30 mph wind.

Ukraine bad; Netherlands good

The majority of Dutch people who went to the polls in the Netherlands on Wednesday to express their opinion on the proposed association agreement between the EU and Kiev have rejected it, an exit poll has shown. Sixty-one percent voted against the Netherlands ratifying the treaty, which would strengthen economic and political ties between the 28-nation bloc and Kiev, an exit poll conducted by the Ipsos center shows. Some 38 percent of the voters supported the move, the exit poll has shown.
dutch-referendum 

Lets get Small

"I'm on drugs. I'm, uh, I mean, you know what it is. What's the deal, man? I like to get small. It's a wild, wild drug. Very dangerous for kids though, because they get really small. I know I shouldn't get small when I'm drivin', but, uh, I was drivin' around the other day, you know and a cop pulls me over. And he goes, 'Hey, are you small?' I said, 'No, I'm tall, I'm tall.' He said, 'Well, I'm gonna have to measure you.' They've got a little test they give you; it's a balloon, and if you can get inside of it, they know... you're small. And they can't put you in a regular cell either, because you walk right out."

   --Steve Martin 

HA HA, its really just a very large planter in front of the Jopen brewery (a former church, makes for a religious experience). Leslie and I went in for lunch and drinks, and I really did start to get small.

Amsterdam Pocket Atlas

More than you need to know about Amsterdam, but- ooooooohhhh- just look at the maps and pretty colors!  thanks to L. Moma for the link

poppin' out- trees and maps

So I was wondering what the tree on the canal was outside our apartment, the one that has green stuff poppin' out all over. There's an app for that! More specifically, a City of Amsterdam Elm map. Lo and behold, our tree is an elm, ulmus minor. 

elms-amsterdam
amsterdam maps

Windmills

Holland means windmills; also those weird wooden shoes, of which I have seen exactly zero. But we have seen windmills and toured one recently in Haarlem.

In the Netherlands, and many other countries around the world, wind power was the major 'industrial' technology, equivalent to steam power which arose in the 19th century and brought on the demise of the windmill. To give you a sense of the importance and scale of this technology, at their peak in the 19th century, there were an estimated 9000 working windmills in the Netherlands (wind-powered mills in Europe is estimated to have been around 200,000) performing many industrial functions; pumping water, hulling barley and rice, grinding grains, pressing olives to olive oil, pressing linseed, rapeseed and hempseed for cooking and lighting. There were also cocoa mills, mustard mills, pepper mills, spice mills, tobacco mills, snuff mills, paper mills, paint pigment mills, and sawmills. 
history-of-industrial-windmills

The functioning windmill (and museum) in Haarlem dates to 1779. In 1932 it burned but was meticulously rebuilt in 2002. By meticulous I mean the wooden structure, gears, wheels, etc. were custom manufactured similar to the original. The structural components don't have any nails or screws, and few steel connectors. There are also these amazing scale wooden models of windmills on display. The tour guide was from England but has lived in the Netherlands for the past 30 years. He was totally into windmills.

e energy generated by wind and watermills was used to turn any raw material that needed pounding, mauling, shredding, hacking or mixing into a tradeable product. The Zaanstreek paper mills, for instance, were renowned throughout the world for their good quality paper. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was printed on sheets produced there. There were mustard mills, hemp mills, grain mills, snuff mills, cocoa mills, oil mills, chalk mills, paint mills and saw mills.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: 10 things you should know about Dutch windmills http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/10-things-you-should-know-about-dutch-windmills/

e energy generated by wind and watermills was used to turn any raw material that needed pounding, mauling, shredding, hacking or mixing into a tradeable product. The Zaanstreek paper mills, for instance, were renowned throughout the world for their good quality paper. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was printed on sheets produced there. There were mustard mills, hemp mills, grain mills, snuff mills, cocoa mills, oil mills, chalk mills, paint mills and saw mills.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: 10 things you should know about Dutch windmills http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/10-things-you-should-know-about-dutch-windmills/

e energy generated by wind and watermills was used to turn any raw material that needed pounding, mauling, shredding, hacking or mixing into a tradeable product. The Zaanstreek paper mills, for instance, were renowned throughout the world for their good quality paper. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was printed on sheets produced there. There were mustard mills, hemp mills, grain mills, snuff mills, cocoa mills, oil mills, chalk mills, paint mills and saw mills.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: 10 things you should know about Dutch windmills http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/10-things-you-should-know-about-dutch-windmills/

The energy generated by wind and watermills was used to turn any raw material that needed pounding, mauling, shredding, hacking or mixing into a tradeable product. The Zaanstreek paper mills, for instance, were renowned throughout the world for their good quality paper. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was printed on sheets produced there. There were mustard mills, hemp mills, grain mills, snuff mills, cocoa mills, oil mills, chalk mills, paint mills and saw mills.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: 10 things you should know about Dutch windmills http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/10-things-you-should-know-about-dutch-windmills/

The energy generated by wind and watermills was used to turn any raw material that needed pounding, mauling, shredding, hacking or mixing into a tradeable product. The Zaanstreek paper mills, for instance, were renowned throughout the world for their good quality paper. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was printed on sheets produced there. There were mustard mills, hemp mills, grain mills, snuff mills, cocoa mills, oil mills, chalk mills, paint mills and saw mills.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: 10 things you should know about Dutch windmills http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/10-things-you-should-know-about-dutch-windmills/

The energy generated by wind and watermills was used to turn any raw material that needed pounding, mauling, shredding, hacking or mixing into a tradeable product. The Zaanstreek paper mills, for instance, were renowned throughout the world for their good quality paper. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was printed on sheets produced there. There were mustard mills, hemp mills, grain mills, snuff mills, cocoa mills, oil mills, chalk mills, paint mills and saw mills.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: 10 things you should know about Dutch windmills http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/10-things-you-should-know-about-dutch-windmills/