the daily view from Thru Other Eyes

Prinsengracht Concert 2009

  Aug 22, 2009; Prinsengracht 315-331, Amsterdam @ 16.30 - 22.00

One of the highlights of the summer festival and cultural season in Amsterdam is the Grachtenfestival (Canal Festival), a week-long event with music performances of all kinds in varied city locations. The top point of the week is the unique Prinsengracht Concert. Staged on a podium built in front of the Pulitzer Hotel in the Prinsengracht, people start mooring their boats days before to get a good spot close to the podium.

The afternoon concert was a youth program, this year featuring the Dutch Youth Orchestra, three young virtuoso soloists and three top Dutch pop singers. The evening program was a classical program featuring Danielle de Niese, an Australian-American sorpano from mixed Dutch and Surniname heritage.

The afternoon concert is not so crowded as the evening event so I had a great place to stand  for the youth concert. By the time I returned for the evening program I couldn't get anywhere near the podium.

The weather was phenomenal drawing a huge crowd for the evening concert. People picnic on their boats, set tables up on the sidewalks, put blankets down on the edge of the street and then it's standing room only. As you can see from the pictures and videos, this is a very special annual event, perhaps one of a kind anywhere.

Complete picture album

Prinsengracht Concert 2009

Selected videos

De Magere Brug - The Skinny Bridge

 August 20, 2009; De Magere Brug (The Skinny Bridge), Amstel River, Amsterdam @ 16.00

It was a tropically hot summer day with temperatures close to 30C (86F) so I headed to one of my favorite areas to check out the action on the water around a beautiful drawbridge called De Magere Brug (The Skinny Bridge) on the Amstel River.

Although the city has about 1,280 bridges this is not only my favorite, but is the favorite of many people including tourists and is probably the most photographed bridge in the city.

On a nice summer day there are plenty of recreational boaters around. In addition, there is a lot of commercial river shipping that uses the Amstel River traversing through Amsterdam on their comings and goings so the bridge is sometimes opened every 20 - 30 minutes. In addition, the banks of the river have lots of houseboats and recreational boats moored by the houseboats.

The original Magere Brug was built in 1691. And as narrow as it is today, back then it really earned its name. It was so narrow that 2 pedestrians could hardly pass each other while crossing it. That original bridge lasted almost 200 years until it had to be replaced in 1871. That one only lasted about 60 years and was again replaced in 1934. The proposed design called for a steel and stone bridge but the city decided to build a wooden replica of the previous bridge, which was pretty much a wooden replica of the original although each bridge became successively wider.

The bridge was opened by hand for 300 years and finally in 1994 a motorized mechanism was installed to open and close it. The current bridge was closed to cars in 2003. 

I returned later that evening to get some pictures of the bridge at night when it is lit with about 1200 small lights.

If you want check out the entire album of pictures I made of life on and around De Magere Brug on the Amstel River. In some of the pictures you will see a similar bridge which is the next one ships have to pass on their way into Amsterdam.

A river freighter passing under De Magere Brug on its way out of Amsterdam


A river tanker passing under the next bridge after De Magere Brug on its way into Amsterdam. You see it has to make a 90 degree turn to continue on its way.

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.

Amsterdam Gay Pride 2009 - Canal Boat Parade

August 1, 2009; Prinsengracht, Amsterdam @ 14.00 - 17.30

(click on picture to access entire album)

This weekend is the annual Gay Pride festivities in Amsterdam. Today saw the weekend's headline event - the canal boat parade. As opposed to floats on the street, Amsterdam hosts the world's only water based boat parade with this year around 80 boats motoring the several kilometers long route along the Prinsengracht. Check out the then entire album to get an impression of what the event is all about.

Draaiorgel - or music to kill by

July 23, 2009; Kalverstraat, Amsterdam @ 12.45

Have you ever heard music so intrusive, so penetrating and shrill that you thought someone was drilling a huge hole right into your skull? Have you ever heard an incessant musical noise that was so irritating you thought you would commit murder to make it stop? 

Welcome to the wonderful and weird yet somehow interesting world of Dutch draaiorgel (pipe crank-organ) music.

(Think I am exaggerating how irritating these things can be? Click on the download link here and let this track of 'draaiorgel' music play while you are reading this post. Oh yeah, to mimic the effect in real life, put the volume all the way up. Download Boogschuttermars)

The street pipe organ in the form of the portable barrel organ was popular all over Europe from the 17th century mostly in proletarian  neighborhoods. Until around 1850 they were pretty small, with the organ grinder carrying it around on a strap and standing it on one leg when being played.

In the early to mid 1800s the Italian organ builder Giacomo Gavioli began building much larger organs. With up to 80 - 90 keys these organs had much greater musical flexibility and range. In the late 1800s a pianola type book began to replace the cylinders giving the continuously larger and more intricate organs even greater musical flexibility.

In 1875 a Dutch businessman, Leon Warnies, began to import these new and larger organs to the Netherlands. As the organ began to lose popularity in the rest of Europe in the early 1900s it only grew in popularity in the poor working class neighborhoods of the Netherlands. Leon Warnies developed a new business model allowing the street organ grinder to rent his high quality instruments.

The company Warnies started still exists today and bears the name of his partner G. Parlee who took over the business when Warnies dies in 1925. The organs this company produced were ornate and intricate creations. The company produces a small number of organs still in the old-fashion artisan way and runs a museum in Amsterdam's Jordaan neighborhood which was the very poor working class neighborhood that gave birth to much of Holland's organ music culture. The museum is located at Westerstraat 119 where the G Parlee company has been building organs since 1932.

Where there in the past perhaps dozens of these organs were on the streets of Amsterdam on any given day, there are now probably only three or four. But these instruments and their music were such an important part of Dutch street culture that there are many museums around the country dedicated to them. For example, The Pianola Museum in Amsterdam, The Mechanical Organ Museum in Haarlem and The National Museum from Musical Clock to Street Organ in Utrecht.

The famous G Parlee organ model 'De Arabier'

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?

The Night Watch Story

July 5, 2009; Doelen Hotel, Amsterdam @ 13.30

The Doelen Hotel itself is a nice hotel (4 stars) but that's not the interesting story here. The hotel gets its name from the Doelen Tower that was on this location. The Doelen Tower was built in 1481 as part of the city's defensive wall system. At the time, the city's defensive wall was primarily meant to defend the city against Utrecht, a city about 30 km to the south. It functioned in that role until 1600.

The most interesting bit of the story has to do with the municipal militia guard force called the Kloveniers-schutters (Kloveniers was a nearby street; schutters = shooters). Although the tower itself was surpassed by other defensive systems around 1600, the Kloveniers-schutters used the street where the tower was on (Nieuwe Doelenstraat) for their shooting practice from around 1550.

In the 1630s the militia guard unit wanted to fancy up their meeting room which was at the site of the current hotel. They commissioned Rembrandt to paint their group of merry men. The painting, finished in 1642, became one of the artist's most famous paintings - The Night Watch.

It hung in the militia's meeting room until 1715 when it was moved to Amsterdam's town hall (now the Palace on the Dam). Unfortunately it was too large to fit on the wall between two columns so it was cut on all four sides to make it smaller.

If you look at the photo, you can see two militia guard figures adorning the clock tower as homage to the hotel location's pedigree. The hotel was built in 1882 and since 2001 has the status as a national monumental building.

The Night Watch hangs now in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum (National Museum of Art) and is the museum's most popular resident.

Look at the figures in the painting with the realization that these were actual members of the militia unit, in their actual dress and with their actual arms. Pretty cool given that it is all from almost 400 years ago.

Life should be fair...

July 2, 2009; corner Lutmastraat and Van Woustraat, Amsterdam @ 16.50

Progressive left wing? As it should be? The end of the family? Sodom and Gomorrah or Paradise?

What does it say about a country if the government spends money to protect the rights of and in fact directly promote the acceptance of a gay /lesbian lifestyle? As I was biking home after enjoying a delicious and cold ice frapacinno at one of our ubiquitous the Coffee Company spots (our version of Starbucks) I saw this tram-stop poster for a new anti-discrimination campaign. The text reads: "Do you have to leave yourself at home when you leave the house?

There are several versions, covering each aspect covered by our anti-discrimination laws. This one, obviously, is directed at discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In addition to sexual orientation, there are posters addressing several of the other things covered in the law. In the Netherlands, the law protects protects people from discrimination due to age, gender, religion, nationality, handicap, political affiliation, marital or partner status, type of employment contract or employment seniority.

The campaign is an initiative of the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations and is financed with public money.

In the case of sexual orientation, I can imagine how reassuring it could feel for example for a sexually confused teenager to see such posters hanging around the country. I can also imagine how it feels if that was the one thing left off the list or if it was deemed not fit for a government-financed public service campaign.

Hup hup hoera!

June 18, 2009; Eerste Jan Steenstraat 92, Amsterdam @ 18.15

Congratulations! You've passed your final exams! Yesterday and today 200,000 high school students have been receiving the results of their obligatory final state exams. It is an uniquely Dutch tradition that students who pass, or their proud parents, put out a Dutch flag with a school bag hanging on it to signal that the student living here has passed!

The tradition of hanging the flag and bag (vlag en tas uithangen) started in the 1960s. That was the first generation of children, children of the WWII generation, who massively went to high school. Parents were so proud to have children graduating high school that they began to hang their children's school bag out the window, as to say, "My child has graduated high school and may even continue his studies!" A few years later the flag was added in a touch of national pride.

In remembrance of Han Hollander

May 29, 2009; Amstelkade 118, Amsterdam @ 12.50

Today's photo of the day is brought to you by my cousin Mark S. who tipped me to this. Thanks Mark! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Not so far our apartment are these two sidewalk memorial tiles in memory of Han Hollander and his wife Leentje. These two Jewish residents of Amsterdam were deported and finally executed in the Sobibor concentration camp on July 9, 1943 after Leentje dared to start an argument with a camp guard. Their daughter Froukje died a half year earlier in Auschwitz where her husband most likely also died although there is no information about him to confirm that.

Han Hollander was one of the Netherlands most well-loved, most celebrated and most accomplished sports broadcasters. In fact, when he did the radio commentary for a Belgium-Nederland inter land football match on March 11, 1928, he became the country's first live sports broadcaster as this was the country's first live sports broadcast. His ability to bring the game to life for distant listeners was the source of his popularity.

He always loved sports apparently. At the age of 16, he and his brother played a major role in establishing the football club Go Ahead Eagles (the name was thought up by Han) in their hometown of Deventer in the east of the Netherlands. It is one of the country's oldest still operating football teams alternating between the premier league and the first division.

After completing his compulsory military service, Han began his career working for the railroad company. In 1921, at the age of 35 he decided to make his hobby his work and went to work as a sports reporter for the national daily newspaper De Telegraaf.

Several years later, the AVRO broadcast network was looking for a radio reporter for that historic first live broadcast of the Belgium-Nederland inter land. The director of the AVRO recalled his army buddy Han Hollander who could always keep people on the edge of their seats with his sports stories. He asked Han to do the broadcast and so began his career as a live radio sports broadcaster.

Han Hollander also reported live from the (in)famous German Olympics in 1936, receiving an award of recognition signed by the Fuhrer himself, Adolf Hitler. This certificate was to indirectly contribute to his death several years later.

When the Germans occupied the Netherlands, introduced their anti-Jewish laws and began rounding up Jews for deportation, Han Hollander did not go into hiding believing he would be spared by that certificate of recognition with Hitler's own signature on it. Sadly, that was a fatal error.

The text on the tiles reads: "Here lived Hartog 'Han' Hollander (right tile: Leentje Hollander-Smeer); born 1886; deported 1942 from Westerbork; murdered 9-7-1943; Sobibor"

Play safe

May 25, 2009; Warmoesstraat 141, Amsterdam @ 12.45

One of the city's popular stores amongst tourists is the "Condomerie - The Golden Membrane." Opened in 1987, this was probably the world's first store exclusively dedicated to selling condoms and lubricants and educating people about their proper use. The store was launched in an area of the city that was home to many gay bars in the early years of the battle against AIDS. Recall, it was 1987 when Princess Diana made international headlines with her 'unprotected' shaking hands and hugging of AIDS patients at the opening of a new AIDS ward in London's Middlesex Hospital. Back then it was still a widely held fear that one could catch AIDS through normal contact.

The store has a huge selection of brands and types of condoms as well as an even greater selection of novelty condoms that seem to be the big tourist draw.

The Queen

May 13, 2009; Dam Square, Amsterdam @ 15.30

When they do construction or renovations on a building in the center they cover the scaffolding with a huge thing where usually in the past huge advertising used to be printed. Now I notice that the cover is more often made to actually look like a building front. This one has the nice added touch of a huge portrait of the Queen.

De Dampkring

May 6, 2009; Handboogstraat 29, Amsterdam @ 12.20

This is the exterior of one of Amsterdam's premier and most funky coffeshops De Dampkring (The Atmosphere). And by coffeshop I mean a soft drugs cafe not a Starbucks kind of place. This is where the 'Lost in Translation' scene from Ocean's Twelve was filmed.

See those suitcases by the entrance? Not surprisingly the city's coffeshops are often either the first or last place tourists go when visiting. For some the coffeshop becomes like Hotel California - a place you can check in to but never leave.

Wanna feel really really big?

April 19, 2009; Madurodam (Holland in miniature) in The Hague @ 15.30

This is one of the photos from the new album I just added from our visit to Madurodam. I chose this replica of the old Rotterdam world headquarters of the famous Holland-America shipping lines which is now the lovely Hotel New York. Why? Because my paternal grandfather, Benjamin Novick, emigrated from Russia to the USA around 1914 or 1918 making his Atlantic crossing from Rotterdam to Boston, MA on a ship from the Holland America line.

Madurodam is the smallest town in the Netherlands. In fact it is 1/25 the size of everything else. Huh?

"In miniature city Madurodam you will see the well-known buildings and scenes in The Netherlands replicated on a scale 1:25. The Parliament buildings of The Hague, the canal houses of Amsterdam, the Alkmaar cheese market and little trees and gardens, all replicated in minute detail. Windmills turn, ships sail and modern trains are tracersing the city on the world's largest miniature railway." - http://madurodam.nl

Some fun facts about Madurodam
- covers 18,000 sq meters (194,000 sq feet)
- 'Inhabitants' (yeah those small figures): 66,000
- rail and tram tracks: 4,250 meters
- miniature trees: 5,236
- lights in the miniature towns and buildings: 50,000

The Keukenhof

April 18, 2009; Keukenhof in Lisse, the Netherlands @ 14.15

Today we rented a car and headed for our almost annual visit to Keukenhof where they hold in a huge park the most incredible flower exhibition mostly outdoors but also some indoors bits.

Keukenhof is the world's largest outdoor flower park. Each year it is planted with about 7 million bulbs and plants including tulips of course and crocuses, hyacinth, lilies and others. It receives about 800,000 visitors from all over the world each year. One of our favorite exhibits is the large indoor pavilion with orchids. I have also just made an entire photo album with some of the pictures from today for those who are interested.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the annual exhibition and for those who are into poster and graphic design you can see 60 years of Keukenhof posters here. When I look at the 1955 poster (my birth year) I can't believe that was a graphic style in my lifetime. It looks so so outdated! I guess because it is, in terms of graphic design but it of course begs the question: "Am I also so outdated?" Hahaha...