Day 10 Photos and Commentary

The train we rode

View out our window

View out our window

Hehe. More stairs

Arc de triomphe

Me

Eiffel Tower in the distance

Day 11

Dad wanted to check out the Arcades of Paris. Arcades are a bit like shopping malls, in the sense that they are enclosed areas with various stores. They can be found everywhere, tucked between buildings. We saw around 4 of the arcades. We then went to the Notre Dame Cathedreal, which was really amazing. It was so detailed, and it had sculptures everywhere. The inside was also neat. It had very, very high ceilings, and the stained glass windows were interesting.

Day 10

We left Amsterdam today. We got packed, and then went to Centraal Station. We rode a train for about 4 hours. We stopped in some small towns, and Brussels, along the way, but we didn't actually get off. We arrived in Paris, and went to the apartment. I was pretty tired by then because I was carrying a bunch of bags. We got settled in our apartment, and then went outside to see the Arc de Triomphe. We couldn't actually go under it because of the large street that pedestrians couldn't cross, and we got lost when we tried to go underground. We had dinner at a restaurant, and then went home.

Paris is pretty nice. I don't like the layout of the streets though. It's like a crisscrossing spiderweb that is almost impossible to navigate without a map. Most of the buildings consist of 6-8 storey apartment buildings. I personally like Amsterdam a lot better, mostly because of the atmosphere of the city.

I'm sorry

I've been busy with school lately, so I haven't been able to make posts about Paris. I promise I'll have day 10 up by tomorrow, and maybe day 11.

Once again, sorry for the delay.

Day 9

Well, we went t0 two museums today. The first was the Rijks museum, a museum with 17th-18th (approx) century art. Mainly paintings, silver... stuff, and pottery. The paintings were realist, spanning over many genres such as still life and portriats, but many of them were portrayals of Dutch life during that period. They were pretty nice paintings, but I personally find cartoons and modern art more exciting. The pottery was also pretty nice, they had these weird planters that were tall and shaped like pagodas. The silver stuff was mostly just overly complicated pots, I didn't find those interesting. We left and went to the Van Gogh museum, which had many of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings (Which I didn't find too exciting) but there was also abstract paintings by another guy called Max Beckmann which I found very interesting. However, my favourite part was the cartoons by Jan Kruis, who is a really great cartoonist. I think I'm way more interested in cartoons than I am in paintings... they seem more active and lively to me.

We left the Van Gogh museum to go to a very large street market. We got these really good fries for lunch, and did some browsing. (A little more than I would have liked to) We later headed to a t-shirt shop so I could pick up a new shirt. It's super awesome.

We later went down to hang out outside and have dinner. And Barbara came back. (Did I mention earlier that she left?) So we hung around the bridge outside the apartment.

Tomorrow I'm going to Paris. There probably won't be a computer there so I'll take notes in a notebook and write blog entries when I get home.

Day 8

We went riding our rental bikes from the day before. We rode to Vondelpark, a city park. It was rather manicured, unlike somewhere such as Stanley Park in Vancouver. We returned our bikes and walked back to the apartment. We stopped by in this awesome t-shirt store. I plan to go there tomorrow to get myself a shirt there. Back at the apartment, we hung out a bit, and I caught up on my homework. We went out again later to explore the city. Mostly, we went to the slummish area of Amsterdam, which had garbage bags and cardboard boxes lining the streets for some reason. The canals were also a lot dirtier there. We returned to the apartment later.

Day 7 Photos & Commentary

Windmills that we saw on the way

Bikes!

The yard is organized into rows

Sea of bikes

The scrap-pile. These bikes are unuseable or unsuitable, so they are destroyed

Wheel in the scrap-pile

Ripped seat in the scrap-pile

Pedal in the scrap-pile

A graveyard. Mostly jewish I think

So as you can see there is sand with shrubs on it.

Dad in the park

Me ridin through the park. My arm looks weird in this picture

Beach huts. There were lots of these

Dad

Me

The water

Shells

More shells

I placed the camera on the ground for this one.

Day 7

Today was quite a busy day. Me and dad got up to rent a bike, then we cycled through the industrial district out to the AFAC, which is a bicycle yard for stolen or illegally parked bikes. The place that we were invited to 2 days ago. Since Amsterdam has about 600 000 bikes, it is obvious that many are stolen or illegally parked. At the AFAC yard, there were almost 12 000 bicycles which were stolen or illegally parked. People would go to AFAC to reclaim their bike, which is usually easy if they know their bike ID. In Amsterdam, almost all bikes have an ID code, so that it is easy to reclaim the bike if you know the code. Even if you do not know the code, you can just describe your bike's colour, brand, defining features, etc. All info about the bike is put into a computer, so that it is easy to locate the bike. (The AFAC is divided into rows, and those rows are also subdivided)

So anyways, with bikes that don't get claimed after about 3 months, they either scrap 'em (If thery're in horrible conditoin) or sell them for auctions (If they're in great condition) or donate them to developing countries or other places. (If they're in useable/OK condition)

It's truly amazing how many bikes end up in this yard. However, these guys seem to know what they're doing, so it's not too bad.

After the tour, we departed to the town Haarlem, which was a little like Amsterdam, except with less bikes and way less canals. We stopped there for donairs, and then continued to Haarlemmerhout, a park near Haarlem. Haarlemmerhout consists of sand dunes with forest growing over it in some areas, shrubbery in others. Some areas were pretty desert-like, I almost expected to see a cactus there. We eventually reached the town of Zandvoort, a small beach town. At the time the beach was very, very foggy and it was kind of cold, so there weren't a lot of people. Actually, it was kind of hard to tell because the fog was too thick to see anywhere down the beach. We took the train back (The beach wasn't exactly exciting) to Amsterdam, which took no time at all. Then I stayed home updating my blog. :)

Fortunately, I brought my camera, so I took tons of pictures. I'll put them up tomorrow.

Day 6

Yeah, more of a realxing day today. We returned our rental bikes, and then went for a little tour of Amsterdam. (I thought that we were just nipping out for lunch, so I didn't bring my camera) We saw some paintins from Rembrandt. They chose the least exciting ones in existance, you know those ones with rows of silly-looking Dutch elites sitting around, doing nothing. Yeah, those ones. I've never really liked hyperrealism anyways. Anyways, we went back home, and Anthony left for Mexico City. He gave me a lot of spending money for Paris (100 Euros) because he's really generous and kind of rich.

Day 5 Part 2

So, we got home, and I hung around for a while, and later on one of Anthony and Barbara's friends came. She was a bit loud, but she was kind of nice, I guess. Later, we went over to some of Anthony and Barbara's other frien's place to have dinner. They were called George and Christianne. Christianne could only speak French well, so Anthony and Barbara (And George) were the only people who could talk to her. Also, George had invited me to his workplace, a stolen/lost bike yard, for a tour. We had our dinner, and went home.

(Note that I went to the bikeyard on day 7, not day 6. He invited me two days in advance)

Day 5 Part 1

Me and Barbara and Anthony (Who had come in on Day 4, after I'd posted my blog) went out to rent bikes today. We got Dutch bikes (Obviously) and we went riding into the countryside.

A Dutch bike is mainly designed for commuting and carrying things. There is a rack in the front, as well as in the back. The bike I rented came with a bag on the front rack. The bike itself has a step-through frame, which is like a diamond frame, except the top bar is curved downwards so that it is easy to mount. The seating is also designed for comfort, because the handlebars have been curved back and the seat has been lowered so that the rider is sitting straight up, instead of bending forward. However, despite the bike being comfortable and useful, it has it's drawbacks. For starters, it's rather slow and heavy. This means that going up hills is hell. Additionally, there are only three gears on the bike. This is kind of limiting. So while I like the Dutch bike for it's comfort, it takes a lot of effort to get it to go really fast. I'd rather stick with my modified upright racing bike instead. That thing goes at like... light speed.

So anyways, we set off for the countryside on our bikes. It was really great. The Dutch countryside mainly consists of fields and rivers, lakes, streams, and marshes. I was stupid enough not to bring my camera, so no photos. :(

We rode maybe 10 kilometers, passing by towns until we got to "Broek in Waterland" to have lunch, where I had a bacon and mushroom pancake, which was really good. We then left and went around to Monnickendam, and then back to Amsterdam. By the time we were back there, I was quite tired. In total we rode about 36 kilometers.

Day 4 Photos and Commentary

Dad giving his presentation.

(Look at it sideways) These figures represent gods, I think. The one at the top is the supreme god.

A boat... looks like a long canoe.

I actually forgot what these are. The one on the far left is definately a mask. The one right of that seems to be a figure. I guess these are miscellaneous artifacts.

:D

I dun liek da way hez lookin at meh

I guess he doesn't like having his picture taken. (Heh. You can see me in the glass)

Hey look! It's Michael Jackson!

OOOH!!! POINTY!!! ME WANT

Foto.

Yeah. I just survived this one. It's an amazing story.

This wax figure has a motorcycle. Yeah.

This guy offered me candy. I said no.

Eeeeek.

It's... Buddha! What's up, Buddha?

Unfortunately, after this the museum started getting even more awesome so I got distracted from taking pictures.

Day 4

So today we went to the University of Amsterdam so that dad could give his presentation about Sydney Chapman's Theory of the Hours of Labour. We took the tram there, so that was my first tram ride. The trams were quite unique, with little booths inside the trams so that the guys could check the tickets. We got a little lost but our map helped us. We got to the university, and dad gave his presentation. It was quite good, but would have been better for me if I actually understood economics. We stuck around a bit to have lunch, and then I left to go to the Amsterdam Tropics Museum. (Or the Tropenmuseum)

The museum was great. It covered tropical or subtropical areas, cultures, and history such as New Guinea, Africa, Mexico, and Southeast Asia. (Malaysia, Thailand, Phillipenes, etc) There were many interactive exhibits, and great effects, such as a projector that would project onto a glass wall, so that it looks like the wall itself turns into a screen. (Not advanced technology, but still neat) There were hyper-realistic wax figures, and old artifacts of course. I even got to hear some good (Gasp) rap/hip-hop music, as the Africa section covered modern African music. I guess the Africans are better at rap/hip-hop than African-Americans.

Anyways, I left at around 4:00 and met up with my dad, and we went back to the apartment. We are just kinda hanging around now. It's 10:12 as I'm writing this, and it's thunderstorming outside. Kind of weird, because earlier I was sweating in the heat outside. I hope that the rain clears up so we can go on a bike ride tomorrow... I'm looking forward to biking in Amsterdam.

(Photos will be up tomorrow or maybe even in a couple of hours. Depends on what I feel like)

Day 3 Photos and Commentary

Me and bikes

A parking lot for bikes!

TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! These are really cool. They sound awesome... and they're like trains... on the STREET.

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to go in here. But I doubt that they'd let me in. :(

(Look at this one sideways) This is a life sized basketball player, made out of Lego. Not to impressive compared to the other Lego stuff you can see in Europe (Like in Denmark, I think) but it's still pretty neat.

Day 3

I'm pretty sure I slept until 11 on this day. I had my breakfast with dad, and then we headed out to tour around the city. First we went to the central station area, where we took a couple of photos of the bicycle parking lot there. We then went walking downtown to check out some stores, and I honestly don't like it as much as the less crowded areas. The streets are a bit weird there, especially the crosswalks... the stoplights take forever to change, so some people ignore them and walk on through at a red light. Anyways, we headed over to the university where dad would be registering for his conference later. A guy there mistook me for Dutch so he started talking to me in Dutch... When he realized that I didn't know Dutch, he switched to English, just like that. That's what's amazing about these people. Almost all of them know Dutch and English well, and usually German and French too.

 

We left for the apartment, stopping at a bakery for food on the way. I was dropped off, and dad left to go get some groceries and to register at the university. I stayed home to send e-mails and update the blog.

---

Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to Yahoo! Answers.

Photos and Commentary From Days 1+2

View from the airplane of England

Cloud tops

The view from our apartment

Part of the stairs I climb to get to the apartment

In Amsterdam, the stair cases are too narrow and twisty to get furniture up, so they use these pulleys to get furniture in the window

This photo describes Amsterdam well. There are bikes, canal, and the buildings. The buildings lean inwards a bit, but this picture doesn't demonstrate it well...

Bikes!

Dad by the canal

(Look sideways to view) You see these posts all over Amsterdam, lining the streets.

That's all for now! I'll have photos from day 3 up soon.