Anne Frank

As there is much commotion in the Netherlands now about the tree of Anne Frank that has broke down, I will pay your attention to a book I recently have read. In Dutch the title is "Greetings and love to all, the story of the family of Anne Frank" by Mirjam Pressler.

In the attic of the family home of the Frank family in Basel were just thousands of letters, documents and photo's discovered. From this sensational discovery the author suggested a  turbulent history together from the Frank family, the family that would produce one of the most famous girls of Europe : Anne Frank.

It is an incredible moving story of a loving family and illustrated with many unknown photo's of Anne and her family, like this one on the cover.

In english the title is "Treasures from the Attic: the extraordinary Story of Anne Frank's Family"

FOMU

Recently I have been in Antwerp and the FOMU , Province of Antwerp FotoMuseum. A very large new museum with great photo-exhibits such as "American Documents " with photos of famous photographers such as Walker Evans and Diane Arbus .

Further an exhibition on Filip Tas who has published in journals in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Finally, pictures of travel and the rise of tourism .

In short worthwhile to go and have a look.
see http://www.fotomuseum.be/

Sail Amsterdam

A fantastic day in the harbour of Amsterdam. Fifty tall-ships came in today with beautiful weather and hundreds of little boats around them. They are staying 4 days here. I stood four hours on my feet to look at the parade with my camera above my head.

Foundation AAP

In Almere is a rescue centre for primates and other exotic mammals. Many of the animals have a history of abuse and neglect. If you read the story's, it is heartbreaking. Foundation AAP (monkey) has made an amazing centre with islands in the open air where they are re-socialised with other victims and can try to live a "normal " life as an animal. If you want to read more about this foundation and their good work look at

http://www.aap.nl/english

NEMO-building

Approximately fifteen minutes from Amsterdam Central Station is a huge green copper building. The fascinating construction - often compared to a ship - is superimposed on the IJ-tunnel. It is the largest science center in the Netherlands and bears the name NEMO, wich means nobody. The building is designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano in 1997. On top you can sit on a "Piazza" and have a look over the harbour and the city. Inside visitors of all ages can playful learn all about science and technology.

Photo-exhibition

In the Amsterdam Municipal Archives I have seen the exhibition of the photographer Dolf Toussaint about The Jordaan, a working class quarter of Amsterdam in the 50 and 60's. That's the time I spent my youth in Amsterdam, so it was a trip to memory lane for me.
The man on top has pigeons in baskets, many people used to have carrier-pigeons at their roofs in those days in Amsterdam.
The ladies are beating a stair-carpet, used for the very high stairs in the old Amsterdam houses.

What retired people do.

Today me and my husband made a little boattrip to the other side of the Gooi lake. We took our bikes with us and cycled to Naarden, an old fortified town and had a very good lunch on a terras. Mmm, the retired life is not bad. The skies were amazing today, we saw all sorts of clouds..

Second hand Bookmarket Deventer

The first sunday in August is every year B-day. One of the biggest 2e hand bookmarkets in Europe is in the lovely old  city Deventer. The hole innercity is filled with books in the open air. It is a very nice atmosphere with lots of happy people browsing and reading. I love it to go there.