Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Alabaster Coast with Mom, George and Libby
Mom, George and Libby visited me in May and what a great time we had! We first traveled along the Normandy coast, the white cliffs of the "côte d'albâtre," and went to my favorite place Veules-les-Roses- as well as Saint Valéry-en-Caux, Fécamp and Etretat.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Amsterdam By Night
It was so great to see Maaike! We've been fortunate enough to see each other 3 or 4 times since leaving Willamette... I'm hoping she'll get to the US next to see me!
Lovely Amsterdam and its canals by night:
As well as the famous red-light district:
Actually, the red-light district cracks me up. It's all regulated by the government and it's run like a business, which, I guess, it is. You stroll through (because, really, you've got to) and there's no shame and no hiding. Some of the ladies of the night are actively seeking clientele (a.k.a scantily clad products in large glass windows) while others are bored and are at work because they've got to show up (I know others in other industries who are similarly apathetic to their work) and sit nearly naked with their feet up knitting, chatting to others or are on their phones. Not sure how those dames make money... Anyway, worth a very short walk through but not much more.
Weekend in Amsterdam
I like Amsterdam, and it's not for that reason. I like the canals, I like the biking, I like the amazing English that the Dutch speak, I like looking like the people around me (so different from France!) and I like the relaxed culture. And I love the architecture:
The Anne Frank House (amazing museum, a must-do):
This place is amazing, not just to see historically but to feel and be in the actual place where people hid for over two years... it was going to be torn down and then American tourists, after having read Anne's diary and coming to Amsterdam and asking her father to see the house, gave Anne's father (the only surviving member of the Frank family) the idea to raise the money to buy the building and turn it into a museum/memorial. Amazing, powerful, haunting, beautiful.
See the house with the hook?
See the house with the hook?
So the houses in Holland have hooks because the stairs are too narrow to move furniture in and out of homes, so they put a rope on the hook and hoist up the furniture through windows. Brilliant! Most houses in Flanders (Dutch Belgium) and Holland have hooks like this. There is a certain row of houses in Amsterdam right on the canal called the "Dancing Houses," and they "dance" because the ground is, shall we say a bit unstable and they wiggle a bit. When folks use the hooks to move furniture in and out of these houses, well, you can imagine that the houses move a bit more...
This is the Westerkerk in Amsterdam (right next to the Anne Frank house) and it's important to my family history! Centuries ago (1632 to be precise), my great-great-great (x8 or 9 or 10) grandparents on my paternal grandmother's side got married here before taking the across the Atlantic to America. During the crossing they lived through some horrible storm and, upon arrival they had a child they named "Storm." Cool, huh? Anyway, it's the only European church I've been denied entry to because it was not "open to tourists," which is sad and a bit ironic, but at least I got to see the outside.
Okay, I fell for it, I took the ultimate touristy picture:
One last comment: While I was sad not to get to visit the Rijksmuseum (most of it is currently closed for renovation), I LOVED the Van Gogh (Fon HHHHoHHHHHH in Dutch) museum, even if it was 14 euros. Worth the line and the money. I really like museums dedicated to one artist, you learn so much more about his/her own life, formation and art. Van Gogh was mostly self-taught and only painted for 10 years!
The Anne Frank House (amazing museum, a must-do):
This place is amazing, not just to see historically but to feel and be in the actual place where people hid for over two years... it was going to be torn down and then American tourists, after having read Anne's diary and coming to Amsterdam and asking her father to see the house, gave Anne's father (the only surviving member of the Frank family) the idea to raise the money to buy the building and turn it into a museum/memorial. Amazing, powerful, haunting, beautiful.
See the house with the hook?
See the house with the hook?
So the houses in Holland have hooks because the stairs are too narrow to move furniture in and out of homes, so they put a rope on the hook and hoist up the furniture through windows. Brilliant! Most houses in Flanders (Dutch Belgium) and Holland have hooks like this. There is a certain row of houses in Amsterdam right on the canal called the "Dancing Houses," and they "dance" because the ground is, shall we say a bit unstable and they wiggle a bit. When folks use the hooks to move furniture in and out of these houses, well, you can imagine that the houses move a bit more...
This is the Westerkerk in Amsterdam (right next to the Anne Frank house) and it's important to my family history! Centuries ago (1632 to be precise), my great-great-great (x8 or 9 or 10) grandparents on my paternal grandmother's side got married here before taking the across the Atlantic to America. During the crossing they lived through some horrible storm and, upon arrival they had a child they named "Storm." Cool, huh? Anyway, it's the only European church I've been denied entry to because it was not "open to tourists," which is sad and a bit ironic, but at least I got to see the outside.
Okay, I fell for it, I took the ultimate touristy picture:
One last comment: While I was sad not to get to visit the Rijksmuseum (most of it is currently closed for renovation), I LOVED the Van Gogh (Fon HHHHoHHHHHH in Dutch) museum, even if it was 14 euros. Worth the line and the money. I really like museums dedicated to one artist, you learn so much more about his/her own life, formation and art. Van Gogh was mostly self-taught and only painted for 10 years!
Lille
Lille is a nice town in the north of France, and this was my first visit. There's a really neat old cloister that is now a used book fair, lots of nice buildings with the Flanders-influenced architecture, as well as the small winding French streets. We stayed with some friends of Gildas' and had a really nice time-- he has the greatest friends. Lots of good food and good conversation. The northern French accent is quite special... anyone seen the movie "Les ch'tis?"
Delft Porcelaine
Delft is a city in southern Holland known for its typically white and blue pottery. Collectors can find original tiles, vases and serving dishes from the 17th century (super expensive!) or more reasonable (though not cheap) and more recent pieces. Some of these small wall tiles from two or three centuries ago sell for 100 euros each!
Ghent, Belgium
There is quite a rivalry between Ghent and Bruges, but in my opinion Bruges wins the "charming" prize hands down. Ghent is known for treaties, its Flemish architecture and a cute little castle on a canal in the center of town. Worth an afternoon's visit, but for me, not much more. There's a nice plaza in town where you can have a coffee and admire the buildings (and the construction...).
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Windsor Castle
Who got stopped by police at Windsor Castle for having contraband (pepper spray, illegal in the UK... who knew?)? Who had to wait nearly an hour and then who got to be interrogated by police? Who lost her group of students and teacher in Windsor Castle? Whose name is sure to be on some list somewhere? Yup.
Despite its rough start, our visit of Windsor Castle was lovely. Great and famous paintings, an impressive collection of weaponry and the most amazing dollhouse on the planet (Queen Mary's Dollhouse, worth the visit just to see it) complete with electricity and silver dinner plates. See links below for photos. I didn't take any because you can't (well, aren't supposed to) take any photos of it.
When the queen is present at Windsor Castle, her flag (The Royal Standard) flies on the mast. When she leaves they put up the Union Jack. Queenie was home that day, and for some reason our students got it in their heads that they were going to meet her. They kept asking when we were finally going to meet the queen... the little darlings.
Wonder why it's called "The Long Walk?"
The last time I was here with Mary Patton we did the entire long walk. Guess what? We were tired by the end, haha.
To see Queen Mary's Dollhouse, click the following links:
http://www.victorianstation.com/interior.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Mary%27s_doll_house_at_Windsor_Castle.jpg
http://www.nsrider.com/gallerymain/England/dollhouse.jpg
Despite its rough start, our visit of Windsor Castle was lovely. Great and famous paintings, an impressive collection of weaponry and the most amazing dollhouse on the planet (Queen Mary's Dollhouse, worth the visit just to see it) complete with electricity and silver dinner plates. See links below for photos. I didn't take any because you can't (well, aren't supposed to) take any photos of it.
When the queen is present at Windsor Castle, her flag (The Royal Standard) flies on the mast. When she leaves they put up the Union Jack. Queenie was home that day, and for some reason our students got it in their heads that they were going to meet her. They kept asking when we were finally going to meet the queen... the little darlings.
Wonder why it's called "The Long Walk?"
The last time I was here with Mary Patton we did the entire long walk. Guess what? We were tired by the end, haha.
To see Queen Mary's Dollhouse, click the following links:
http://www.victorianstation.com/interior.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Mary%27s_doll_house_at_Windsor_Castle.jpg
http://www.nsrider.com/gallerymain/England/dollhouse.jpg
STONEHENGE!
Still standing after all these years...
I was really excited to finally visit Stonehenge, though for me even though it was impressive it was a little disappointing-- it's right on the side of the motorway which detracts a little from its mystical nature. And you can't get too close because other naughty tourists have messed up the site by carving out "souvenirs." There are four concentric circles of stones, two of the large dolmens and two circles of smaller stones. What's really impressive about this site, thought to be an altar to a sun god as well as a calendar, is the fact that the large stones come from about 25 miles away in Marlborough Downs and the smaller blue-ish stones from Wales, nearly 240 miles away!
The creators of this marvel hauled the rocks for miles, dug holes and placed (haha, delicately placed) the stones in to keep them steady. For the triliths (2 vertical, 1 horizontally on top), they used stones to carve bumps and wells to make the stones fit together and not to move.
The stone's arrangement is such that at the summer solstice the sun sets directly behind the opening of one of the triliths. Directly across from this about a hundred meters away is the "heel stone," (hence me pointing to my heel) and at the winter solstice the sun sets directly behind that, creating a long shadow.
No Clark Griswold around to knock down the stones...
I was really excited to finally visit Stonehenge, though for me even though it was impressive it was a little disappointing-- it's right on the side of the motorway which detracts a little from its mystical nature. And you can't get too close because other naughty tourists have messed up the site by carving out "souvenirs." There are four concentric circles of stones, two of the large dolmens and two circles of smaller stones. What's really impressive about this site, thought to be an altar to a sun god as well as a calendar, is the fact that the large stones come from about 25 miles away in Marlborough Downs and the smaller blue-ish stones from Wales, nearly 240 miles away!
The creators of this marvel hauled the rocks for miles, dug holes and placed (haha, delicately placed) the stones in to keep them steady. For the triliths (2 vertical, 1 horizontally on top), they used stones to carve bumps and wells to make the stones fit together and not to move.
The stone's arrangement is such that at the summer solstice the sun sets directly behind the opening of one of the triliths. Directly across from this about a hundred meters away is the "heel stone," (hence me pointing to my heel) and at the winter solstice the sun sets directly behind that, creating a long shadow.
No Clark Griswold around to knock down the stones...
Winchester and Arthur's Round Table
We had a great day in Winchester visiting the Great Hall and the Round Table, the West Gate Museum and the Winchester City Museum. Winchester is a good place to take kids for hands-on activities that gets them interested in the history of the place such as dressing up in costumes and doing brass rubbings.
West Gate Museum
Everybody got to dress up in costumes, including Miss Myers!
The West Gate was used as a prison for several centures then closed off. Here you see etchings by prisoners that have been perfectly preserved. This wall has not been cleaned or restored!
Ceiling in West Gate Museum
Winchester City Museum
Winchester Castle dates from William the Conquerer (1066-1077). The Great hall (late 1200s) and Round Table (also about 1270 but repainted in the early 1500s under orders of Henry VIII, hence the Tudor rose) were neat to see- 24 names for Arthur's 24 knights on a round table symbolizing equality. In the back of the Great Hall, which is was where the first court of justice in the UK was held, are all the names of the justices throughout the centures. Beautiful.
King Alfred
West Gate Museum
Everybody got to dress up in costumes, including Miss Myers!
The West Gate was used as a prison for several centures then closed off. Here you see etchings by prisoners that have been perfectly preserved. This wall has not been cleaned or restored!
Ceiling in West Gate Museum
Winchester City Museum
Winchester Castle dates from William the Conquerer (1066-1077). The Great hall (late 1200s) and Round Table (also about 1270 but repainted in the early 1500s under orders of Henry VIII, hence the Tudor rose) were neat to see- 24 names for Arthur's 24 knights on a round table symbolizing equality. In the back of the Great Hall, which is was where the first court of justice in the UK was held, are all the names of the justices throughout the centures. Beautiful.
King Alfred
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