the daily view from Thru Other Eyes

The Hunt for Red October?

Sept 16, 2010; 15.30; outside the Ij Kantine, Amsterdam North

Had lunch today at a very nice place in Amsterdam North, right on the harbor, called the Ij Kantine. It's a very pleasant (and free) 15 minute ferry ride from Central Station. A lot of boats are docked and moored in front of the place but this is the most unusual. It's Russian submarine B80, a Foxtrot submarine in the Zulu class. It was built in Riga and launched in 1956. Some entrepreneurs purchased it and brought it to Amsterdam with all kinds of plans, none of which materialized. The Turkish company that now owns it would like to sell it as scrap metal but have been unable or unwilling to put down the €1,000,000 bond necessary to export it for salvage to ensure that it is taken apart according to EU environmental and safety regulations. In the meantime, here she lies, a fascinating reminder of the Cold War. I must one day get a dinghy, climb up there and see if it's possible to get inside. 

Grotere kaart weergeven

Thumbelina

Wednesday, January 6 @ 18.10; Rijnstraat, Amsterdam

Living in Thumbelina-land, this tiny Disneyland country we call Holland, swings between charming, sad, frustrating and downright comical. I am not sure which category this falls in to, perhaps all four at once, but look at the traffic chaos that 2 cm snow has caused this evening. The most major ringroad highway of the country, around Amsterdam, has come to a total standstill. And how about this: the country has run out of sand and rocksalt for the roads and can't get more for many days. And this will likely be something they end up talking about in the Parliament! Ah, you gotta love it and laugh or you're gonna hate it and cry. Oh wait, I do that also sometimes.

Elephant Parade Jackpot

 September 21, 2009; Museumplein, Amsterdam @ 15.45

As I was biking from the Leidseplein to the Albert Cuyp Market this afternoon I thought I would go via the Museumplein where one can always see lots of people hanging out, skateboarding in the half pipe, playing basketball and strolling. And all of a sudden I came across the single largest collection of elephant statues in the city's Elephant Parade. Without using the Elephant Parade map once, my meanderings have now brought me across almost 50 of the 100 elephant statues in the city-wide exhibit.

The Elephant Parade Continues

Again today in my urban wanderings I came across four more of the hundred elephants that currently adorn our city.  See 'Elephant Parade' for the backstory.

  The first I have seen in black and white. Well I saw it in color but it is designed in black and white.

 

Unfortunate timing here with snapping the picture of the orange elephant. That's the problem with using my mobile with its tiny screen and not wearing my glasses. I just kind of aim and shoot and see later what I caught.

By the way, this is one of my favorites so far as it is inspired by or dedicated to HRH Queen Beatrix.

I am sure this woman was going to sit down and was not about to pass wind or defecate on this elephant as some protest against the monarchy. Although here in Amsterdam anything's possible.

Nieuwe Vaart

 

 September 18, 2009; Overhaalsgang bridge, Nieuwe Vaart canal, Amsterdam @ 13.50

When we took the cats to the vets on Monday I forgot their vaccination books so I went back today to get them filled in. I took the scenic route with the bike which led me over the small bridge over an out-of-use lock on the Nieuwe Vaart Canal. In days of yore this canal used to be important in the city's waterways but no more. Now it is just a lovely wide canal with houseboats on one side, an old windmill dating from the 18th century in the distance and on the right side, the city's oldest ships wharf, 'T Kromhout.

The windmill, De Gooyer, was used as a grain milling windmill. During WWII the citys residents got it working again for milling purposes as there was hardly any electricty.

The ships wharf,

Today's elephant photo safari

 September 16, 2009; Westerkerk, Amsterdam @ 14.30 Today in the asphalt jungle of the big city I came across six more of the hundred elephants that currently adorn our city. Perhaps tomorrow I will come across some more. See 'Elephant Parade' for the backstory.

 

The Elephant Parade

 September 15, 2009; Amstelveld, Amsterdam @ 16.15

Elephant Parade

As I biked through the center of town today I saw a colorful elephant statue with a tourist map as a design on the back. "Nice idea," I thought. A few streets later I saw three more elephant statues and I thought, "There must be something going on with all these elephants."

It seems that these elephant statues are part of an awareness and fund-raising project called Elephant Parade for the near extinct Asian elephant.

From the organization's website:

"From September onwards, a hundred full size art elephants will swarm the streets of Amsterdam: together, they form a remarkable open-air exhibition, the Elephant Parade, that is dedicated to the Asian elephant. After the successful editions in Rotterdam and Antwerp, the exhibition in Amsterdam will be the largest so far.

"The Elephant Parade is founded by father and son Mike and Marc Spits. With their project, they aim to raise attention for the Asian elephant, that is threatened with extinction. Their project has proven to be successful: the first two editions of the Elephant Parade, held in Rotterdam and Antwerp, raised a total amount of over 700,000 euro. The benefits of the Elephant Parade are donated to the Elephant Family, the largest elephant charity in the world and was founded in 2002 by Mark Shand. He is a globetrotter, philantropist and writer and maker of the BBC documentary Queen of the Elephants."

 Many of the elephants have been designed by well-known Dutch designers and other celebrities. They are on display at various locations throughout Amsterdam's city center until October 31. Between November 1 and November 12 they will be auctioned off and all funds raised will go to help the Elephant Family charity.

I would like to find the time in the coming weeks before my vacation to follow the route and photograph as many of the 100 elephant statues that I can.

Oh My Gaudi!

September 3, 2009; Barcelona, Spain

Unbelievably beautiful city. Of course there are all the Gaudi buildings of which we only saw a few today in our neighborhood. But everywhere your eye turns or wanders you see the creativity that Gaudi's magic and spirit perhaps inspired or the creativity that inspired Gaudi. Who knows. There is so much beauty to behold: the architecture, the food, the guys and girls, the creativity on the street. Here's a sampler....

Click the photo to see the whole album!

Oh My Gaudi!

Pet peeves and anti-social behavior

 

  August 19, 2009; Cafe Zuid, Rijnstraat, Amsterdam @ 18.30

It doesn't happen very often but I had a terrible stressed day and by the evening was about to explode. So instead of taking it out on my better half I just went down to the small bar next to our apartment and had a few cold brews.

Maybe because I was a bit irritable, this fellow attracted my attention when he parked his car in exactly the right way, if you want to make sure no one else can use the space in front of you. See that 1.5 meter of unused space he is walking through? In a neighborhood with already big shortage of parking spaces, this is the kind of anti-social behavior that I can usually ignore but sometimes get peeved at. Not because I am losing a parking spot because I don't even own a car anymore. But there is something upsetting about this egoistic self-centered, what we call anti-social behavior in general that is penetrating our society. And not to generalize or jump to conclusions, but this guy kind of looked like the sort that just doesn't give a f*ck about anyone but himself and his fancy car.

After looking at the picture I thought I was making too much of it but then later that night while watching CNN's Situation Room, guess what Jack Cafferty's The Cafferty file was about: "Best way to put the brakes on bad driving?" which is of course another form of self-centered car-related anti-social behavior. So I figured I was not alone in this kind of thing being a pet peeve.

What's your pet peeves when it comes to car or road related anti-social behavior?

Hartjesdag Amsterdam 2009

  August 16, 2009; Zeedijk, Amsterdam @ 16.00 - 17.00

Today's 'photo of the day' merits an entire small album as it was 'Hartjesdag' (day of hearts) in Amsterdam which is kind of a carnival festival. The roots of this festival is unclear although most experts believe that it dates from the Middle Ages, perhaps as early as 1200 - 1300.

It may come from an old festival called 'hertjesdag' (day of the deer) which was the one day in the year that commoners were allowed to hunt, an activity traditionally reserved for royalty. On that day, people would gather in the woods hunting and holding a festival.

The other theory is that Hartjesdag was an annual costume party for commoners, also an activity traditionally only practiced by royalty. But because everyone was so poor and of course could not afford a costume, men would dress as women and women would dress as men.

It is this dress-up version of the festival that has been practiced for a couple of hundred years. Today most people think that it is just a sort of after-party for Gay Pride which is always held two weeks earlier. The festival was outlawed by the Germans in 1943 and it took until 1997 to be re-established as an initiative to rejuvenate the entertainment area of the Zeedijk in Amsterdam's Chinatown area.

See the entire album here.

The varying faces of Amsterdam's tourists

  

 August 13, 2009; The National Monument, Dam Square, Amsterdam @ 15.45

May, June and July seemed to have been quiet months this year in the city in terms of the numbers of tourists. But all of a sudden there seems to be an explosion of tourists in the city from all over West and East Europe. My good friend who works at a currency exchange says business is all of a sudden booming.

I happened to be in the center today to hook up with my currency exchange friend. While I was waiting I went to the nearby National Monument at Dam Square to see the crowds of tourists. This is one of the favorite hang-outs for tourists so I thought I would make some pictures of tourists hanging out there and on the nearby canals.

Let's literally and figuratively zoom in to see who's in the crowd? What may they be up to? What might they be thinking or saying?

(click on images to enlarge if you want)

These two were later seen involved in some heavy French kissing. That was even a bit too voyeuristic for me to take their photo then. Ah, who am I kidding, I was just too slow pulling my cam out of my bag to get a good shot of their public romantic antics.

"Yeah, I've had enough of him also. Can't we dump him or send him back home?"

Bikes of Amsterdam

  August 9, 2009; Reguliersdwarsstraat 57, Amsterdam @ 16.50

Everyone knows that Amsterdam is a city with a rich and varied bicycle pedigree. These two caught my eye today. The one is decorated in color coordinated fashion and the othe is kitted out so the owner can go biking with his cats. You gotta love it!

Oh, by the way, the bikes are parked in front of a very nice store, interesting in its own right, called Bed Habits.

Lennybruce's Reality... TV: Biking Home

In this first video I am riding from the city center more or less, from the beginning of the Vijzelgracht to the Stadshouderkade. (from A to B on Google map link). The fence on the right hand side is where half the street is closed for a 15 yr construction project building a new underground metro line. The bike path here is very narrow and cars and trolley cars go zooming by so you need to concentrate. One hand on the handlebars and one holding the phone to make the video probably isn't so smart here. At the red light you will notice many cyclists just riding through red. Quite common yet quite illegal. I don't do it anymore since I got several tickets at € 40 each. And I figure life is much simpler if I don't have to watch out for cops, cross traffic, pedestrians and young impressionable children before running a red light. I use it as a moment of Zen: breathe in, breathe out. It's a very good exercise in patience.

  In this second video I continue my journey from the Stadhouderskade (point B on Google map) via a few waypoints (C & D) to meet Amie after his work (E). Saw some people partying in the Sarphatipark so I made a detour to see what was going on there.

You know that burning feeling?

  July 19, 2009, Regulierdwarsstraat 44, Amsterdam @ 17.30

You never know in this city what you're going to see or where. How about this fire eater, or more accurately said, fire breather. I am not sure what the liquid is that these guys take in their mouths to spit out at the flaming baton but it sure is flammable. I once swallowed some gasoline while trying to siphon some out of a tank and it sure tastes like sh*t.

I took quite a few pictures of this guy but the shutter on the phone cam reacts slowly so I usually missed the big part of the flame. On this shot I really got the fireball at its biggest, so much so that it looks like the guy is being consumed by the fireball. But he was okay.

The family that bikes together....

July 17, 2009; Van Woustraat, Amsterdam @ 16.45

As I was biking home I got behind these two bikes with Mom, baby and young son. It wasn't a very easy place to pass because the tram track on the left is sometimes difficult to maneuver especially with cars (or trams) coming by. And I didn't want to pass the little kid on the right cuz I didn't want to spook him. After the Vovlo that was parked up ahead there was plenty of room.

I think my American friends will be the most shocked to see this mother carrying a baby and letting her young son ride alongside all without any kind of protective gear. Is that irresponsible or have we become too overprotective and fearful of all the terrible things that could possibly maybe one day somehow happen?