Amsterdam

Wow, it has actually been 2 months since I posted! I have an even bigger backlog now! To be fair, I've been very busy - directing Charlotte's Web, which is now up and running, having guests visit, working full time, writing a 2nd draft of my book, and getting ready to come home to get married! Hurray!

I will now take you back to... AMSTERDAM!!



Yes, Amsterdam is full of "coffee-shops" (places to buy/smoke pot), prostitutes and bakeries that are open all night selling chocalate covered waffles, donuts, eclairs, pizzas. There are also plenty of tourist (like us) trying to decipher maps on every corner. But, Amsterdam is also full of beautiful flowers, spectacular architecture, canals, cats and bicycles. Lots and lots of bicycles.






Swans!

Everything was quite expensive, but we saw things you couldn't see anywhere else, like a cat licking whipped cream out of a shot glass on a bar and the world's largest collection of Van Gogh as well as some Rembrandt and Vermeer. We also went to what was probably the best vegetarian restaurant in the world - De Boelhoed (The Bowler Hat). Expensive (but probably not that expensive for Amsterdam) but huge portions, nice staff and a friendly kitty. Every store/restaurant had a cat. Heaven!!

We went to De Poezenboot, which is a cat shelter on a boat on one of the canals. We made a few friends, some more shy than other.




A view from a bridge of the Bloemenmarkt, the flower market - not just tulips, but cacti and roses as well as Dutch touristy trinkets.


The Christmas Palace - all Christmas all the time!!! Christmas stuff the whole year 'round!


Amsterdam is full of little alleys, some only narrow enough for two people to slip through. Someone will always try to ride a bike through them.


A big beautiful church. One of many.


Tourists in the Red Light District!


Pat, enjoying the tilting buildings. They are so old and so narrow that they lean into each other or lean forward. Some of them even have material built in to fill in the gaps.


More bicycles, beautiful buildings and canals.


Amsterdam, like all major cities, has a Chinatown, complete with Buddhist temple.






Another gorgeous building along the canal.

The university theatre.


Me n' Rembrandt.


Pat in the heart of it all.


Me, at my new favourite store in the world - De Kunstboer, where I bought a new wallet and phone case. Everything was bright colours, cute animals and polkadots!


It was probably a good thing that I had run out of money/room in my suitcase. It was nearing the tail end of our European holiday and I could have spent thousands on beautiful, unnecessary crap in Amsterdam. Like little fairy-pigs. So cute!

By then, the crocuses were all starting to sprout. It was cold at night, but the days were breezy and sunny. We were a little early for the tulips, but one day we'll go back and see them! Three days was simply not enough to see this amazing city!

Dusseldorf

In keeping with my extensive backlog of photos from Europe (even though lots of fun stuff has been happening in Australia!) - I give you m day in Dusseldorf.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't gorgeous, but at least it wasn't raining. Walking through the glamourous shopping district, the Konigsallee. I wouldn't touch those shops, but the river was lovely.


This is just along the Rhine promenade, with the Alstadt (Old Town) in the distance, including St. Lambertus church.


Dusseldorf was full of statues and sculptures, old and new. I kept m eye out for the 8 "pillar saints" but only found 4.


The Tourist (looking up at the Rheinturm).


The Photographer.


One couple.


The other couple.

The wonderful old statues could be found all over as well:




Walking through Dusseldorf is never boring - there are fantastic old buildings, with centuries of history like the Schlossturn:



The Kunstammlung, home of a huge modern art collection:


The Tonhalle, once an observatory and now a concert hall:


Church and modern art sculpture, co-existing:


The Media Harbour is where you find the really far-out modern architecture, including the works of Frank Gehry:







I had a lovely stroll through the Hofgarden, where I saw the brave little crocusses starting to bloom:


and I got a pleasant little surprise when I ran into some fellow Canadians!

Bonn

Pat and I took a day trip to Bonn, the birthplace of Beethoven. It was overcast and it rained a little, but it was a good day to visit museums, which Bonn has in spades!

First off was the Beethoven Haus, which is the house Beethoven was born in and grew up in. It's now filled with instruments he played, his hearing aids, original sheet music and the notebooks he used to have conversations with people. We couldn't take pictures inside, but I took plenty outside.







Next, we hit up the Museum Koenig, the natural history museum. Following that, we went to the German history museum, which was interesting but almost entirely in German, so we puttered through the Humour/Satire exhibit and then headed across the street (most of the museums were on the same block) to a very interesting and thorough exhibit about Napolean at the Art and Exhibition Hall. We couldn't take any pictures of the exhibits, but they were really well done!

Bonn had so many beautiful little streets and buildings, we honestly could have taken a picture of every street, but it wouldn't be able to capture the atmosphere. Everywhere breathed history, it was too cool.







Little German fruit market. They also had cheese, meat and bread. After all, it was Germany.



Parting shot: Beethoven statue. Rumour has it Beethoven actually hated his hometown, but they still love and worship him there. I definitely enjoyed my time there.

Cologne, Part 2

I'm so backed up! I have so much more to post! The best part is, I've been doing awesome fun stuff and taking more photos. So, keep coming back to this blog because this is where the action is. Or will be. My excuse is that it takes my computer forever to upload photos. Anyway, I have some free time now so here we go.

Cologne, Part 2: The German Experience

Cologne is most famous for, obviously, Cologne. So I headed over to the Glockengasse 4711, where the sell the famous Eau De Cologne.



It smelled amazing in there. I bought so many bottle of EDC, it is such a lovely fresh scent, and I am not a perfume person. Looking at the museum area, there was a plaque listing the awards it has won.



Look a little closer:


The Australian connection strikes again!

There was one day I decided to head to the zoo and aquarium. I had two cameras with me and they both ran out of battery about halfway through the zoo! There were so many beautiful animals including the exotic grizzly bear and raccoon. There was also a litter of baby capybaras and some beautiful okapi, which I'd never seen in real life.

There were about 14 elephants. The littlest one was very affectionate towards the others:


Camels, relaxing:


And Mom, here you go: Meerkats, meerkats, meerkats!!






The Hohenzollern Bridge is the famous bridge that crosses the Rhine, connecting Cologne proper with Cologne Messe/Deutz. The tradition is to write your name and your lover's name on a lock, lock it onto the bridge, then throw the keys into the Rhine.


Here I am on the bridge, holding Pat's beer for him. Again, public drinking it totally acceptable. And it was the afternoon, so it was even more totally acceptable. There were so many locks.


If you're ever in Cologne, it's definitely worth a stroll to look at all the locks. And you can have a look for me and Pat's!

Cologne, Part 1

This will be my first of at least six posts about the last four weeks. Pat and I went on globe-trotting adventure to Germany, Holland, Scotland and South Korea. Pat won a working grant to go to the city of Leverkusen, which is in between Cologne and Dusseldorf. He was working 8 - 4 on weekdays for two weeks, while I played tourist, since it was our first time in mainland Europe.

I spent most of my time in the city of Cologne, known there as Köln or Kölle or Colonia. There was so much to see, not the least of which was the gigantic Dom Cathedral. The whole city is a mixture of Roman, medieval and turn-of-the-century architecture. Just a sampling of the buildings I saw:













There was plenty to do in Cologne. I visited as many museums as I could, including:

The Wallraf-Richartz Museum , which had a Cabanel exhibit as well as works from Cezanne, Monet and plenty (as in a whole floor or) of Gothic religion works.

The Kolumba Kunstmuseum, which was all about displaying quirky modern art together with ancient religious pieces in the same setting, which gives you a different way to perceive all the art. It didn't always work, but it was a very neat way of doing things. It was built on the ruins of the St. Columba church, which are still there on "permanent exhibition. That was very cool.

Museum Ludwig, which housed loads of modern art like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. There was also an exhibit of Australian Aboriginal art which made me smile since many of the pieces were by artists I've seen here in Brisbane!

There was also the Museum Of Applied Arts, which was filled with art as it appeared throughout the years on furniture, pottery, tapestries, dishware and decorations. Unfortunately very little of the descriptions were in English, so I had to make do just looking at all the pretty things!

Pat and I went to the amazing and delicious Chocolate Museum and the fascinating Roman-German Museum, check out the pics on his blog for those!

There were a whole bunch more on my list that I didn't get to see, because everything in the city shuts down for KARNEVAL!! Karneval takes place for the 6 days before Lent. Everyone dresses in costumes, drinks in public and there are 5-hour long parades where people throw candy from floats and exchange flowers for kisses. It was so much fun!!


A big part of Karneval is walking around with a large group of people who are all dressed the same.


Me, with a giant pig. Maybe a pink donkey. Either way, he was warmer than me.



The beautiful fan dancers!


Here I am enjoying a snack out of the Grosse St. Martin church. I must confess to eating a lot of "pommes frites" when I was in Cologne. Fries were everywhere, cheap and delicious, with a variety of sauces (my favourites being curry ketchup and peanut satay). But I also found the loveliest little (and probably only) vegan restaurant in Cologne, a place called Well-Being, which I went to four times. It was decently priced, centrally located and the fellow who worked there spoke passable English. Not to mention how delicious and full of vegetables the food was (real vegetables, not deep-fried potatoes).

Just North of the city centre you'll find the Cologne Zoo, the Botanical Gardens and the Sculpture Park, which is like an open air art museum!




Bunnies can also be found enjoying the sculptures.


Cologne is most famous for the Dom Cathedral. The church is so huge, the first time I saw it I strained my neck staring up at it. In this way it's hard to get lost in Cologne, because you can always find your way back to the main train station by spotting the spires of the Dom. Pat and I climbed all the way to the top and got a fantastic view.

That's all for now. In my next installment - perfume, animals and love-locks. Auf wiedersehn for now!