How do they get the Bikes out of the canals in Amsterdam???

Ode to Tacheles

I came across this article recently in the NY Times.

R and I went to Berlin for his birthday in July. He's a Berlin expert and made sure to show me (a first timer) Tacheles as one of our stops.

Here a result of that visit...

Dutch news: Anne Franks's tree

from NY magazine:

Tree Immortalized by Anne Frank’s Diary Topples

It was the rare indication of nature visible from Anne Frank's attic window in Amsterdam, but earlier today the 150-year-old tree was felled by a heavy wind. "Our chestnut tree is in full blossom. It is covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year," Frank wrote in an entry dated May 1944. Her hiding spot was discovered the following August. [Reuters]

Kamperen in Noord-Holland

R has the month of August off and since we are spending most of the time visiting family we thought we'd do something new for just the two of us first. So we spent a fun afternoon running through the aisles of a large camping store and experienced our first camping trip together.

We chose North Holland as our first destination. It's been so easy to travel from where we are now, needless to say we love doing it but I haven't been able to land work yet and our mileage points for free hotel stays are dwindling. We kept our fingers crossed that we'd love our camping experience; it would allow us to continue to travel and save us money on hotel rooms.

We booked a spot at the Kennemer Duincamping Geversduin and took a train up to Castricum, North Holland. At the train station we rented bikes and biked the rest of the journey to our campsite. The only camping gear we had was our tent, sleeping bags and a camplight so traveling without car was manageable.

Kennemer Geversduin is situated as close to the dunes of the North Sea as you can get. The area (Nationaal Park Zuid-Kennemerland) is protected and we had miles and miles of trails winding through the dunes to bike (horseriding and hiking are also options). We loved the area and spent our first day biking through it until the rain clouds started threatening.

On the second day we explored some of the smaller villages in North Holland. We visited the Alkmaar cheese market on our last day. Those photos to follow. Until then, enjoy these shots of our camp ground, the dunes and the North Sea...

Oh, and good news re camping, we are hooked!



this reminded us of Northern California
sheep grazing in the dunes

our bikes parked at the beach

offshore windfarm

storm clouds gathering

Oranje! Pregame

Seen in and around town today...

Oranje! preparing for the event

I never thought I'd cheer "orange" again, but eight years after graduating from Syracuse U, my host country has made it to the World Cup finals!

The morning is still blissfully quiet, and finally the heat wave has cooled, but it won't be long before we start hearing the vuvuzela's* as Holland does some last minute preparing. Most of the houses and buildings are covered in orange. Some had little sprinklings of it as the World Cup was getting started a month ago today, but they've been steadily adding to it as Oranje continued to advance.

It's been 32 years since the Netherlands have had a chance at winning the cup. The first time they made it this far ended in a loss against Germany, so we'd all been hoping Germany would make it again, but sadly no luck. Would have made for a more exciting game and a chance at revenge for the Dutch.

Other events have been shifting their schedules after Oranje made it to the finals and once it was clear that the country had gone oranje gek (orange crazy). In the semi-finals match, this country of 16.5 million had no less than 12.3 million watching! Among those not watching will be residents of the Dutch bible belt. (I had not idea NL also had a bible belt...the things you learn thanks to football)

We still have nine hours to go, I'll soon be getting out my orange T, purchased originally for the Koninginnedag celebrations (so far the best Dutch party I've ever been to) and will probably hop on the bike and take a few pictures of the orange "ivy" covering most homes.

Of course I am hoping this will turn into the other best Dutch party I've ever been to. Predictions are being made by parakeets and octopi, but I've heard that no team that's ever lost the first game of the matches (hello Spain) has ever won the World Cup. Oranje hasn't lost a match yet.

We'll be watching the game from one of two places, both outdoors: the site of Blaak Market or in front of the Stadhuis (city hall), both marked in the map below. Our local cinema is showing the game in 3D with English commentary but I can't imagine it being as fun as the outdoor screens and forget about getting tickets this late.



View World Cup Finale in a larger map

Enjoy the game!!!


*vuvuzela: those annoying horns that have resulted in job loss and cause that swarm-of-bees like drone that put my husband to sleep in front of the TV

zeeschildpad = sea turtle

Amazing video by a sea turtle who found a Dutchman's lost camera in Aruba and filmed part of his journey to the Florida Keys.