Underground works

To protect the works for the new Underground in Amsterdam this fence is placed with a funny decoration.

I had a look under the ground again as I did in december 2010, almost a year ago! look here  but I don't see much difference yet. No rail or train to see.

Still looking up

I walked on with my head up and looked at one of the oldest theaters in Amsterdam  "Carre". The stone building of the "Royal Carre Theatre" was opened in 1887 for the public. It was founded by the Carre family, who were known for their circusacts. That's why the circus horses are seen in the facade. Once a year with Christmas there is still a circus performance. The rest of the year you can see musicals or vocal artists.

The building is situated at a very narrow canal with a great view over the river Amstel I have been in there very often, already when I was a child. The inside is very beautiful with red plush.

Strong guys

Walking through Amsterdam you have to look up sometimes, I saw some details I had never noticed before.

Inside Design Amsterdam

At the design exhibition in Amsterdam IJburg last sunday.

We have an indian summer at last for a whole week with nice temperatures and no rain.

IJburg

This weekend we had an exhibition "Inside Design Amsterdam" in IJburg, the area I mentioned yesterday. Several houses and buildings were opened for public and you could have a look at all kind of designs.  Here I am at the balcony of a penthouse, which was very high to look down I think, could  never live there. The blue balloons and the Fatboys were a sign you could visit the house. It was a very hot day 21 C (69.8 F)  and we were exhausted by walking and go up and down the stairs all the time.

Sunday Bridges

 The "Enneus Heerma Bridge" connects the new urban district of IJburg built on seven artificial islands in the IJ-Lake with the isle of Zeeburg, a borough on the eastern  edge of Amsterdam.

It is made of steel with a lenght of 230 meters and a height of 26 meters and was completed in 2001.

The designer was inspired by the classic gables of Amsterdam's canal houses and the wavy patterns refer to water.

See for other Sunday Bridges over the world here

Weekend Reflections

A reflection of a building under construction with the hoisting cranes in the windows of the Chamber of Commerce in Amsterdam. See for other reflections over the world here

Idol

This is Willem Nijholt a famous dutch actor, comedian and musical star. He has written his memoirs and presented his book yesterday in Almere. I like him very much and so I had to go, listened to his voice and saw him very close by.

Afterwards I bought his book (of course) and he signed many, many books for everybody there was a long queue.

Look what he wrote for me," To Marianne, love and happiness", he is a sweet man.

If you like to see more of his career of 50 years look here

Poem with trouble.

By an appointment with the city councel of Amsterdam two artists had painted a poem on the street at the Westerdoksquare. It would fade away slowly as time passed by. The next day already the municipal cleaning department wiped out most of the poems as an angry neigbour had complained about it!

That was a very fast fade away.

The artist started repainting te missing parts as he got commissioned by the city councel. Now the neighbour called the Police who weren't informed about this project and he had to stop again. In the end he could finish the project. How difficult can it be to communicate in a city council.

Look here for the happy artist "Enkeling"

Prince's Day

I made these photo's from television, so the quality is maybe not that good, but I will show you this because it is a special day in the Netherlands.

Prince's Day is the day on which Queen Beatrix addresses a joint session of the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives in the Hall of Knights in The Hague. The Speech from the Throne sets out the main features of government policy for the coming parliamentary session.

The Queen leaves her Palace in the Golden Carriage with the Crownprince Willem Alexander and his wife Princess Maxima for the Binnenhof, escorted by court dignitaries and a military escort of honour.

Some people think it is not done in modern times to have this pompous expression of carriages and so, but I think it is a little theatre once a year and nice to watch.

Where can you see this on the streets nowadays, it is like a movie though?

An inside look at the Golden Carriage.

When the Queen returnes to the Palace she traditionally salutes the gathered crowd from the balcony with other members of the Royal Family.

This is our Argentine born Princess Maxima and our future Queen as Queen Beatrix abdicates. Nobody knows when this will be, only the Queen herself, she is 73 years old now.

Playing in the parc

In the Westerparc last Sunday was a group of people playing soft ball. When I looked closer on my screen I noticed a man with an "Ernie" hat and a kissing couple. It is funny to see  more details after making the photo.

Wet Weekend

We had a very wet weekend again. We decided to go to the movies in Amsterdam to see the new Woody Allen ""Midnight in Paris"  where we heard the thunder and rain during the movie playing. Afterwards we walked through the Westerparc where even this sculpture tried to keep his feet dry.

Utrecht (Weekend Reflections)

Utrecht has beautiful canals with little businesses along the water-side below which you can reach by stairs (left and right) from the street level above.

See for other pictures of Weekend Reflections over the world here

Utrecht (Skywatch Friday)

The Dom-tower in Utrecht, a very nice town to stroll around, to shop and to have lunch on a terrace.

We had a little nice weather with at least a blue sky and clouds of course.

To watch other Skywatches over the world look here

Ferry

The ferry between Amsterdam North and the Centre over the IJ-water..

Where did the boys come from? When I looked at my laptop I noticed the two boys were not in the first picture, sitting on the ground?

Bus-station Amsterdam

A few weeks ago I showed you the bus-station in progress in Amsterdam here. I had heard there had been built a roof over it and I show you now. You remember the little round building above, here you see it again.

It is becoming rather spectaculair to drive here and see the changes. I was not the driver, my husband was, I was lying on the dashbord to make the pictures.

Bird views

Yesterday I promised you more birdviews of Amsterdam. This is the Rembrandtsquare with the statue of Rembrandt in the middle. There was a kind of artfair going on under the white decks of the stands.

The Utrechtsestreet with the old houses.

 The second tower at the right is the Westerchurch, where Anne Frank lived nearby and listened to the bells ringing which she mentioned in her diary. Blogger Janey and Co of  Thin air asked me yesterday which church it was.

The Dam Palace is in the middle with the green towertop. Left the Westerchurch and the big building in the front is the Doelen-hotel, maybe well known by visiters.

Open Monuments Day

Once a year we have a national "Open Monuments Weekend". You can visit buildings you always wanted to see inside and are normaly not opened for public. This one called "The Bank" at Rembrandt square has been a bank building and is lately complete stripped and renovated.

You could have a look inside, but what I was excited about, you could go on the roof and have a fantastic view over Amsterdam!

And here I stood, the wheater was as usual clouds and rainy, but it this moment it was dry.

This is a view with the Zuiderkerk (Southern Church). Tomorrow I'll show you more.

Sculpture bridges (Sunday Bridges)

As I have mentioned before, many old bridges in Amsterdam have sculptures like this one from 1923 in the Weesperstreet. The sculpture is made by  Hildo Krop who was the "city-sculptor" and has made many works on bridges and in the city.

See for other Sunday Bridges here

Botter (Weekend Reflections)

A "botter" is an old dutch fishingboat, now no longer used for fishing but for recreation.

See for other weekend reflections here

Amsterdam (Skywatch Friday)

The river Amstel in Amsterdam at sunset. See for more Skywatch photo's here

The Portugese Synagoge

In 1492 Spain expelled its Jewish population. Many who fled to Portugal were nevertheless forcibly baptized after 1496. More than 100 years later, their descendants -victims of the inquisition who wished to live as Jews- began to arrive in Amsterdam. At that time the Dutch Republic was at war with Spain, so to avoid being identified with the Spanish enemy, these refugees called themselves "Portugese Jews".

This Synagoge is built between 1671-1675 and amazingly not destroyed during WWII. There have been some restorations in 1852 and 1955 and it looks very authentic. The deal floor is covered with fine sand -in the old Dutch fashion- to absorb dust, moisture and dirt from shoes and to muffle the noise.

Look at he beautiful wooden ceiling.

The courtyard almost looks like an old village square. I had never been inside here before and was very impressed by its beauty. You can read more about the history here.

Singing loud

These woman were singing their heart out with old dutch songs at the Harbour-days last weekend in Almere.

Safe home

My sweet neighbour P. is a volunteer at the animal shelter and has given a mother and her four kitties a temporary home. The mother was found on the street with her four baby's and brought to the shelter. To socialize the kittens my neighbour invited me to come along and play with them. 

They are four weeks old  and very playful and so cute.

All four are already reserved by people who will take them home in two weeks. The mother will have a home too, so a happy end afterall. The shelter told P. the mother was certainly not a homeless cat, but probably put on the street when she was pregnant.

And now you will ask me whether I will have another kitty again, the answer is no not yet.