Traditional Dutch

Today we went to Zaanse Schans, which is where a lot of old dutch buildings were moved to perserve them. The first building we went in to had a wooden clog display, showing how they changed over the years.Then we saw a demonstration on how they make clogs, they use really wet wood when they are carving and after it dries out the shoes become very light. They can now make the clogs in about 5 minutes with a machine, whereas handmade clogs used to take 2-3 hours. After the clog building we moved on to the cheese building, where there were some delicious samples of dutch cheese.

Then it was on to the old windmill. It was cool to see the mechanisms inside and you could go almost to the top. It was a bit harrowing at first because the stairs were basically a ladder. But I got used to them, and made it up as far as we were allowed to go.


After that we drove to some older dutch towns, one of which was Edam, known for its cheese. We went to a museum there, which was an old dutch home. The basement was made so that it floated on the water, so when you stepped down into it, you felt as if you were on a boat. Apparently it was made that way to accommodate rising and falling water levels. Because the cellar could move up and down, minimal damage would be down to the home. We also went to Volendam where I tried some Poffertjes, which are like mini-pancakes drenched in butter and coated with powdered sugar...mmmm.

Caisson 1

Nathan and I partook in the Amsterdam Underground Festival tonight. We got to put on big waterproof boots and hardhats and go down about 40 meters into what will be part of the new subway tunnel in Amsterdam. Once we were below ground there was a light installation as well as a video that was played. The video took pictures from 101 days of news, and was rather interesting to watch. There were no words, just music and the pictures. The light installation was pretty cool too, when the lights were the brightest, the reflection on the concrete made it almost look like there was a fire.

Dutch Design

This morning Nathan and I rode to downtown to check out some design stores. But we first made a stop in Rembrandplein, where the picture above was taken. Although the area is named for Rembrandt, his house is not there.

We went to Droog design first, which has a mixture of pieces for sale, as well as an exhibition space for Delft students. The student work was very interesting, a lot of them using materials such as rope and fabric to make chairs, walls and other furniture. A lot of the pieces used resin as a hardener. One of my favorite things was the bench below. You sit on the plates and they roll around on top of the beads.


After Droog we went to WonderWood, which had a lot of bent plywood furniture. Everything was way out of my price range, but the best thing in the store was the Vitra. Its an elephant chair for children designed by Charles Eames. Apparently this store is the only one displaying it. There were two versions, one in a natural wood tone and the other red. The man in the store said 1000 of each were made to commemorate Eames 100th birthday, and all 2000 have already been sold. I can see why, they are very cute, but at 1350 Euro, they are a bit expensive.



On the way back to the apartment we found a hidden courtyard. All the houses opened up to the inside which had a park area and an English Reformed Church.

Biking Amsterdam

After grabbing my sweater I headed back down to the center of town to see the bike parking garage at the Central Station. I heard it was big, but man I've never seen so many bikes in my life, I'm not sure how there are any cars in Amsterdam. The picture below doesn't even begin to show how many there were.


After gawking at the bikes for a little bit I rode out to a dock to check out and MVRDV building. It was a big housing complex, not quite in my taste. It was cool to see though and the location couldn't be better. It's right at the end of the dock and you can walk through part of the building to get to a large deck.


I then made my way back to the apartment which was pretty easy, I felt like after riding for a day I got more used to the street layout. I find some cool old houses on a side street along the way. I recommend biking around to anyone that may come to the city.

Finding NEMO

Today I set off on my borrowed bike to go see NEMO, which is a science center by Renzo Piano. About 5 minutes into my ride I took a wrong turn, not realizing it of course. So I ended up winding around the outskirts of Eastern Amsterdam for about an hour. Along the way I stumbled upon this cool apartment building:

I was about to call Nathan, but somehow I ended up finding my way back to a road into the center of Amsterdam. I saw some awesome house boats along the way back into the city. There were a lot of very modern looking ones.

Once in the city I found ARCAM, which is the architecture center. It wasn't opening for a half an hour, so I wandered around it and there was NEMO! So I wandered over and climbed up the roof deck. It has a great view of the city and I sat there and drank a coffee.

I went back to ARCAM and looked at their exhibt on young Amsterdam Architects. After that I decided to come back to the apartmentto get my sweater, since it was getting chilly. It took me about 20 minutes to get back which was much shorter than the hour and a half it took to find NEMO.

Amsterdam

I am now in Amsterdam for about 3 days. Taking the train to London's Gatwick airport was a little confusing because you can't take the underground to get there so I had to go to a different area and make sure I was on the right platform. Gatwick was a little strange because they don't post the gate number until about 45 minutes before the flight, so you have to sit in a big communal waiting area. I read the Grazia I got at Fashion Weekend, and then on the plane I fell asleep for most of the trip.

After dinner Nathan and I took a walk around Amsterdam which is beautiful at night, I can't wait to see it tomorrow. I get to use Nadirah's bike tomorrow, and I'm excited to bike around the city. I've never seen so many bikes in one place. Apparently the central train station has a three story bike parking garage, so I may check that out tomorrow. No pictures today, but I'll put some up with my next post.

Things I Will Miss About London

the hobbit doors


street signs on the sides of buildings


the fire exit signs, because if there is a fire in London you WILL be running and not walking to that exit

London Fashion Weekend

Tonight Kat and I lived the high life at London Fashion Weekend at the Natural History Museum. Basically its all the up and coming designers collections at super low prices. I'm wearing a scarf in the picture because it was rather chilly out. We got a goody bag with some free stuff, including Grazie which is London's semi-trashy celeb magazine, so that's what i'll be reading on the plane to Amsterdam tomorrow. There was also shampoo, lotion and other free stuff in the bag. I got a fancy red hat and Dad you will be happy to hear that i now have 3 pairs of jeans with me. I bought a pair, they were a steal because they were one-off jeans that can't sell in a store. Below is me in my new hat and some free champagne we got. The hat is slighty crooked in the picture, it looks better when its on straight.

And I would walk 500 Miles....

Today I spent the day wandering around london, mostly in the Kensington area. I started by visitng Christ Church which is a little chapel right near the flat. After winding through a bunch of neighborhood streets I ended up in front of the Royal Hospital, which according to Kat has a spectacular sunday service, and apparently its where Margaret Thatcher goes for church. I then made my way over to Herrod's which was huge. My favorite display was the backgammon boards, the most expensive one I saw was 1599 pounds! They already had a christmas section up, which appropriately was playing christmas songs. Each section of the store played its own music, I even heard hootie and the blowfish in one part of the store.


After Herrods I wandered over to the Serpentine Pavilion. It was pretty full inside even though nothing in paticular was going on. There was a ramp around the pavilion which led to an overlook over the main room. Somehow I managed to wedge my foot between the pathway and the building. There must have been only one spot that was big enought for a foot and mine found it. So now I have a nice souvenir right below my ankle.


After the Serpentine injured me I decided to walk around kensington gardens. There were so many dogs running all around, and I couldn't believe how all of them always eventually ran back to or after their owner. I passed the Peter Pan statue and then it began to sleet! But only for about 2 or 3 minutes. It got pretty cold out and so I made my way back to the flat. Once I got back to Kat's street all the kids were getting out of school, their uniforms were very cute and a bunch of them were skipping down the road.

The Tate Modern & Food For Thought

Last night Kat and I took the tube towards the Tate Modern. We got off near St. Paul's Cathedral and crossed the Millenium Bridge to get to the Tate. When we were about halfway across the bridge it started to rain. The weather here shifts pretty fast, one minute its warm enough for a t-shirt and the next you need a sweater. As you can tell from the picture of Kat and I it was also a bit windy out.

After the Tate we made our way to Food for Thought in Covent Gardens. The food was delicious, we got a huge mixed salad with pasta, lettuce, beets and cous cous and for dinenr had eggplant, tomatoes, rice and yellow curry. The bread was delicious and I left feeling very full.

We went back to Kat's flat and watched This is England which follows a young boy as he encounters skinheads. It was excellent.

1st Day-London

I finally got to London this morning, after waiting to get through customs for about an hour. The flight over was decent, they even feed us dinner. So far the city has been awesome, Kat's flat is very english, complete with artwork of british men on horseback. So far today we went to the Royal Academy of Art and then I headed off to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. The Royal Academy had a lot of crazy stuff, including a cast of a dead criminal from the 1800s or so (they apparently skinned him before making the cast so they could get a better idea of how a body looks on a cross). They had a bunch of other stuff lying around, including a case full of skeletons.