09 JUL - Trekkin' (Day 32)
Well, I'm back and with some pictures this time. Sorry about the last couple of posts. I just didn't really do anything exciting and I didn't take any photos.
Here is a picture of the square in front of my hotel. Bicycles are VERY big in Amsterdam. They even had their own roads.
Here is a picture of the same square from my room. This square is a natural gathering place for people watchers, students, street musicians and protesters. There always seems to be an interesting mix of these different type of people in the square and I mean ALWAYS. I can see why the management of the hotel provide ear plugs for their guests. It doesn't bother me though. The curtains work VERY well and I have slept very well here.
Today, I took a long walk to the Rijksmuseum (read rikes-museum). Along the way, I snagged a few shots that I think you will enjoy. I'm sorry for the impersonal nature of the photos but I thought you might enjoy them anyway.
I would be SO afraid to park my car this near to the canal without a guard rail. I used to be a pretty good at parallel parking but this would be a hard lesson to learn trial by fire.
I really liked the look of this beautiful canal with the standard tour boats. Canal boats are a big tourist business in A'dam. They sit low in the water, are about 45-50 feet long and have glass roofs.
In case you didn't know, most of A'dam is built on pylons. They reclaimed a lot of space from the sea but the ground isn't strong enough to hold the buildings so they use pylons. Overtime though the buildings start to sink. This one is a classic example. What I find interesting, is that the people accept the sinking and have custom windows made to match a home at a skewed angle.
I took a nice walk down to the National Museum. Once I came across the bridge, I was awed by the immensity of the building itself. It is currently undergoing renovation but the is still a very impressive building.
Since most of the building is under construction, they also have limited the number of exhibits. I will definitely have to come back in a few years and visit again. I seemed to be chasing a LARGE group of Asians through the museum. I tried to keep ahead of them so I could stand close to the paintings but they always seemed to catch up with me. Curses! I haven't ever really paid attention to art before. I was awe with the method by which most of the paintings in the museum were made, oil on panel. I could barely see any brush strokes. I can hardly imagine the amount of practice it would take to be able to paint the still lifes that I saw with such attention to detail.
Once I finished a nice tour through the museum, I took a few minutes in the park behind the museum. There are several art museums in the area in including the Van Gogh museum. I'm not a big fan of his work so I didn't go to that museum. Sorry to disappoint those art fans out there.
As I was sitting on a bench, I kept hearing these bing-bongs, kind of like church bells. Behind me was a small playground and one of the pieces of equipment was some kind of buried musical instrument. The kids would jump on a certain section of the square and a single note be struck. It is a really cool idea. I caught this kid in mid-song.
I also had a good time watching these kids and their dog play in the fountain. I am always amazed at a dog's tenacity. He might have been tired but he was magically impelled to continue chasing the ball into the middle of the fountain.
Willow trees always make me feel relaxed. They look so relaxed themselves and, in the fall, they always seem to have a hazy look due to the cotton balls that they release. This park across the canal looked like a nice play to relax away from the hustle and bustle of a typical day in the office.
The normal canal boats are nice but I was enticed by these bigger boats. They seemed more classic and old school.
Being a connoisseur of beer, I was obligated to take this picture since I was so close.
I so wish that I had had a partner in crime when I came across this sculpture. We could have had some real fun. My immediate impression was that it was a goalie jumping for a goal. It could also have been someone to spoon with. Alas, my picture buddies were thousands of miles away.
I really liked this little street. There seemed to be more foliage along this street than most others. I appreciate foliage. That's why I let my yard grow so tall at home.
After my little jaunt to the museum and back, I had a nice nap in preparation for tonight's BIG MATCH, France v Italy. I have been getting 8 - 9 hours of sleep a day so I don't understand why I needed a nap. I'm not going to argue though.
I thought it was an AWESOME game even though France lost. France controlled the ball a lot but they couldn't seem to put the ball in the net. I think the first mistake they made was taking Ribery out of the game and then taking Henry out of the game. Of course, the problems were exacerbated when Zizou was ejected although that was head-butt to the chest was INCREDIBLE! It's too bad that the line judge saw it. I was disheartened as I made my way back to the hotel.
Even though we were miles and miles away from any World Cup stadium or Italy, there were still Italian fans to celebrate the victory. I grabbed the camera and made my way into the square to see what was happening.
I really liked what the camera caught on this one. It shows the Italian fans in the background but a couple of French fans walked into the frame at the very end of the exposure time giving a ghost image of France fans over the Italian fans in the background.
Long exposure times are fun. Here is one. There were several scooters circling the Italian fans. You can only see their light trails though. I thought that was fab.
There weren't really that many but they could sure make a lot of noise.
Here is a picture of my hotel from the square at night. As you can see by looking at the monument in the middle, there are plenty of opportunities for fun photos here.
I'm going to sign-off for the night. I'm off on a tour of the country side tomorrow so I should have some nice landscape shots for you. Maybe I will find a photo buddy so I can provide those classic Knuckles' photos that you have come to expect. After the tour, I need to return the truck. It is just sitting in the garage racking up parking fees. I'll just take a taxi to the airport on Tuesday. Type at you tomorrow evening!
Rockin' and rollin' all night
and partying every day!
Knuckles (woo-hoo!)
Here is a picture of the square in front of my hotel. Bicycles are VERY big in Amsterdam. They even had their own roads.
Here is a picture of the same square from my room. This square is a natural gathering place for people watchers, students, street musicians and protesters. There always seems to be an interesting mix of these different type of people in the square and I mean ALWAYS. I can see why the management of the hotel provide ear plugs for their guests. It doesn't bother me though. The curtains work VERY well and I have slept very well here.
Today, I took a long walk to the Rijksmuseum (read rikes-museum). Along the way, I snagged a few shots that I think you will enjoy. I'm sorry for the impersonal nature of the photos but I thought you might enjoy them anyway.
I would be SO afraid to park my car this near to the canal without a guard rail. I used to be a pretty good at parallel parking but this would be a hard lesson to learn trial by fire.
I really liked the look of this beautiful canal with the standard tour boats. Canal boats are a big tourist business in A'dam. They sit low in the water, are about 45-50 feet long and have glass roofs.
In case you didn't know, most of A'dam is built on pylons. They reclaimed a lot of space from the sea but the ground isn't strong enough to hold the buildings so they use pylons. Overtime though the buildings start to sink. This one is a classic example. What I find interesting, is that the people accept the sinking and have custom windows made to match a home at a skewed angle.
I took a nice walk down to the National Museum. Once I came across the bridge, I was awed by the immensity of the building itself. It is currently undergoing renovation but the is still a very impressive building.
Since most of the building is under construction, they also have limited the number of exhibits. I will definitely have to come back in a few years and visit again. I seemed to be chasing a LARGE group of Asians through the museum. I tried to keep ahead of them so I could stand close to the paintings but they always seemed to catch up with me. Curses! I haven't ever really paid attention to art before. I was awe with the method by which most of the paintings in the museum were made, oil on panel. I could barely see any brush strokes. I can hardly imagine the amount of practice it would take to be able to paint the still lifes that I saw with such attention to detail.
Once I finished a nice tour through the museum, I took a few minutes in the park behind the museum. There are several art museums in the area in including the Van Gogh museum. I'm not a big fan of his work so I didn't go to that museum. Sorry to disappoint those art fans out there.
As I was sitting on a bench, I kept hearing these bing-bongs, kind of like church bells. Behind me was a small playground and one of the pieces of equipment was some kind of buried musical instrument. The kids would jump on a certain section of the square and a single note be struck. It is a really cool idea. I caught this kid in mid-song.
I also had a good time watching these kids and their dog play in the fountain. I am always amazed at a dog's tenacity. He might have been tired but he was magically impelled to continue chasing the ball into the middle of the fountain.
Willow trees always make me feel relaxed. They look so relaxed themselves and, in the fall, they always seem to have a hazy look due to the cotton balls that they release. This park across the canal looked like a nice play to relax away from the hustle and bustle of a typical day in the office.
The normal canal boats are nice but I was enticed by these bigger boats. They seemed more classic and old school.
Being a connoisseur of beer, I was obligated to take this picture since I was so close.
I so wish that I had had a partner in crime when I came across this sculpture. We could have had some real fun. My immediate impression was that it was a goalie jumping for a goal. It could also have been someone to spoon with. Alas, my picture buddies were thousands of miles away.
I really liked this little street. There seemed to be more foliage along this street than most others. I appreciate foliage. That's why I let my yard grow so tall at home.
After my little jaunt to the museum and back, I had a nice nap in preparation for tonight's BIG MATCH, France v Italy. I have been getting 8 - 9 hours of sleep a day so I don't understand why I needed a nap. I'm not going to argue though.
I thought it was an AWESOME game even though France lost. France controlled the ball a lot but they couldn't seem to put the ball in the net. I think the first mistake they made was taking Ribery out of the game and then taking Henry out of the game. Of course, the problems were exacerbated when Zizou was ejected although that was head-butt to the chest was INCREDIBLE! It's too bad that the line judge saw it. I was disheartened as I made my way back to the hotel.
Even though we were miles and miles away from any World Cup stadium or Italy, there were still Italian fans to celebrate the victory. I grabbed the camera and made my way into the square to see what was happening.
I really liked what the camera caught on this one. It shows the Italian fans in the background but a couple of French fans walked into the frame at the very end of the exposure time giving a ghost image of France fans over the Italian fans in the background.
Long exposure times are fun. Here is one. There were several scooters circling the Italian fans. You can only see their light trails though. I thought that was fab.
There weren't really that many but they could sure make a lot of noise.
Here is a picture of my hotel from the square at night. As you can see by looking at the monument in the middle, there are plenty of opportunities for fun photos here.
I'm going to sign-off for the night. I'm off on a tour of the country side tomorrow so I should have some nice landscape shots for you. Maybe I will find a photo buddy so I can provide those classic Knuckles' photos that you have come to expect. After the tour, I need to return the truck. It is just sitting in the garage racking up parking fees. I'll just take a taxi to the airport on Tuesday. Type at you tomorrow evening!
Rockin' and rollin' all night
and partying every day!
Knuckles (woo-hoo!)
posted by jprg4evr at 5:58 PM
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