Amsterdam day 229: Spring is on its way!

Saturday we needed to take Jac to the English-speaking ward building. It is 45 minutes away from us, but she has connected with the kids there and is liking church again. The seminary group was on it's way to Antwerp for a seminary conference. 

Kelly and I decided the whole family should go and, since the sun was shining, we should spend the day exploring the area. 

After dropping her off we grabbed some groceries for a picnic and headed out to a park/lake/recreation area. We always pass it on the way home from the English-speaking ward and were curious. It was a cute little walking area next to a lake. It was like being in PTC again, only larger and COLDER. The kids loved talking to every single dog that walked past. They found oyster (they say) shells in the lake and Cameron even found an Ancient Egyptian good luck charm. It was AMAZING. Our picnic ended and we headed on, in search of more. 

We drove through a cute little town and passed a lady riding a bike with a dog in the front basket and another in the back basket. That was pretty cool, but the best part was that she was also leading a horse along by the reigns. We all got 100 points for seeing that. (There is an ongoing debate as to whether the dog in back was actually a cat. We may never know)

In the Netherlands, when the sun is out so are the people. It was only 48 degrees as the high on Saturday, but EVERYONE was out soaking up the sun. They really do worship it up here. 

Continuing on our trek, we were stopped at an intersection for 10 minutes while we waited for a bike race to whiz past. (The kids are loving when we use that word) It was pretty exciting, but, poor Ryan had to pee so bad, that she only kind of got into it. 

We crossed the intersection, finally, and stopped at this little restaurant with a great playground outside of it and a cute little store with farmer's goods. They had all kinds of cheese, like pesto, truffle, pepper, cumin, Italian seasoning to name a few. There were also several types of honey and jellies. I popped in while the kids and Kelly went to play. 

THE PLAYGROUND 

The playgrounds here are awesome. They are "dangerous" by U.S. standards, but they allow for so much exploration and fun. Most are made of wood or metal and most are made to be climbed on or swung from. This slide has little climbing handholds all over it. Aaaaand it is in the littler kid's play area. The slide is also nice and steep, so you can get going pretty fast. 

 

This is the rest of the little kids's playground. Balance beams, sand scoops, spider net and a sheet of tire rubber draped over three wooden bars that moved as you walked across it. Ryan and Charlie spent a lot of time there. Ryan would jump on one section and Charlie would sit in another section waiting to be tossed into the air. It was so cute to hear his belly laugh. 

This is the ferry. This is a common feature of most playgrounds near water. The kids hop on a flat raft and pull themselves across the stream or pond. It is always a big hit.

  

                                                              Charlie wanted in on the action as well. He did so great. When he got to the other side I cheered for him and he was so happy he ran and hugged a bald guy on his side of the river. I can only assume he thought it was Kelly

Cam and Bev had a blast on the zip line. (Another common feature at parks here) They figured out that if they rode together on the zip line, they could go super fast. Bev has some astounding upper body strength. Many times, she was just hanging on with her arms. 

THE FLOWERS

After tearing the kids away from the park, we set off in search of flowers. It is still a bit early for the tulip fields, but we know the daffodils and Crocuses were up, so the hunt began. There is a very colorful drive you can take, so we looked it up and were on our way.  

It was so much fun to have the kids be on the look out. We had them searching for flower patches that were bigger than daddy. Luckily we found quite a few. 

After seeing all the flowers, the kids and I could not resist any more. We pulled over at another small little neighborhood park (those are everywhere as well) and picked a few Daffodils to bring home with us. They grow like dandelions in Utah. I wondered if the people here mow them when they mow the lawn. 

And lastly I got a cute picture of some jongens (pronounced "yohngahs" (boys)) just sittin' on some hay bales. I love farms, but farms in the Netherlands might be some of the cutest dang things ever. One day I will get a picture of my favorite cows and write ode. 

Also, If we don't start getting a few more visitors over here I might unfriend all of you. YOU ARE MISSING SO MUCH! The Netherlands is the PLACE TO BE in the spring and you have a free place to stay. COME ON!

Amsterdam Day 230: Bare Bottom and Hair Cut

I just wanted to give you an update that potty training is going very well. See for yourself. 

Also, the other day we were out in a wilderness area and Charlie needed to use the facilities. There were no facilities, so we told him to go pee in a tree. He was very excited that we gave him permission for something like that. I am now a little worried about the next fun places that he is going to find to pee. 

He also got a haircut today. What a difference 20 minutes can make. This boy is too cute.

Amsterdam Day 224: Amsterdam's Transformation

I came across this article and it absolutely fascinated me. At one point in school, I was studying city planning as my career path. After having worked with the small town of Sunset, and all the politics of even a small town, I decided city planning was not right for me. But I have still always had a big interest in city planning and I have a huge interest in Amsterdam specifically. So all that to say, this was a fascinating article for me. 

http://calgarybuzz.com/2016/02/sustainable-amsterdam-transformation/

Sharing Amsterdam’s story of transformation into a city for people

Image: Amsterdam Archives & Thomas Schlijper

At first glance, Cornelia Dinca’s journey from the oil fields of Alberta to the bicycle-friendly streets of Amsterdam seems like an unlikely one. But the relationship between the way we design our cities, and the energy we use is one that has long fascinated her.

After immigrating to Western Canada with her Romanian family at the age of eleven, Dinca had a typical suburban upbringing in Calgary, and – with a Bachelor’s in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering from the University of Calgary – spent some time working in the fossil fuel industry before Europe began calling her to return.

Image: Thomas Schlijper

“I took a year off to live in France before starting university, and also completed a work term in Germany,” Dinca recalls. But it was a (poorly paid) internship crunching numbers at an Amsterdam climate change consultancy that ended up sealing the deal.

The experience of living and working in Amsterdam was transformational, shifting her focus from one of environmental sustainability to urban livability. Securing a job as a tour guide to supplement her income, she would show historical photographs of the city’s car-choked streets to tourists, and their reactions were almost entirely uniform: “They would almost always say the exact same thing: ‘That looks an awful lot like my city,’” remembers Dinca.

Image: Amsterdam Archives (beeldbank.amsterdam.nl) & Thomas Schlijper

Dinca and her Californian partner briefly moved back to North America for nine months in 2013, drawn by Vancouver’s reputation for world-class quality of life and progressive politics. But a frustrated stint into the bicycle advocacy scene – including the fledgling Streets for Everyone – would often end in the same reaction from local leaders: “This isn’t Amsterdam”. But, drawing on those archival photos she had collected over the years, Dinca reminded them that, as recently as the 1980s, neither was Amsterdam.

And so, rather than continue down that rather unproductive and unsatisfying path, Dinca decided it was time to return to her adopted home, and complete her Master’s in Urban Planning at the University of Amsterdam, with an emphasis on exploring the (often undervalued) connection between transportation and land use planning.

Image: Amsterdam Archives (beeldbank.amsterdam.nl) & Thomas Schlijper

When it came time to select her thesis project, Dinca recalled the old black-and-white photos that she would show to tourists, and asked herself a compelling question: “Why don’t cities learn from their peers’ historical mistakes and successes?”

She knew, for example, there was intense opposition and outrage at the removal of car parking at the time, while, decades later, almost all Amsterdammers would enthusiastically agree it was a positive step. So she set about better defining and quantifying these dramatic steps towards a city for people, and the average person’s reaction to them.

Image: Amsterdam Archives (beeldbank.amsterdam.nl) & Thomas Schlijper

“Generally speaking, I identified three distinct periods in Amsterdam during the 20th century,” says Dinca. “I called them the pre-war, post-war, and post-car eras.”

The higher density, mixed-use streets built before the Second World War were undoubtedly the easiest to retrofit, whereas the post-war streets proved far more challenging because of their low density, inflexible zoning, and auto-centric design.

Image: Frans Busselman & Thomas Schlijper

But no matter the original design intent, planners were simply retrofitting them to accommodate a diversity of users and uses, not unlike the period before the invention of the automobile. ‘”It wasn’t just about building bike lanes,” insists Dinca, “But building streets that act as destinations rather than traffic sewers, and slowing everyone down to a speed where people will chose to walk or cycle.”

It wasn’t until a viral tweet by University Professor Marco te Brömmelstroet, and a subsequent FastCoExist article, that Dinca began to understand the power and potential of using social media to share her work. She became far more active on Twitter, and resolved to take full advantage of the opportunities it presented her.

Image: Frans Busselman & Thomas Schlijper

“I connected with Thomas Schlijper, often called ‘The Photographer of Amsterdam’, whose beautiful work I was using to illustrate the current conditions,” says Dinca, “And, after a couple of beers, we decided to collaborate on a social media campaign.”

Dinca and Schlijper officially launched their #LivableCities campaign in December 2015 under the Sustainable Amsterdam moniker, an organization Dinca started the previous year to make sense of what she was learning. The group now offers guided tours and study programs to visiting students, professionals, and politicians; each designed to communicate her passion for the city she calls home, and her desire to impart its successful approach to creating smart and vibrant communities.

Image: Amsterdam Archives (beeldbank.amsterdam.nl) & Thomas Schlijper

In addition to her collaboration with Schlijper, Dinca recently partnered up with artist, urbanist, and fellow Canadian Lucas Brailsford to create a wonderful animated video of her collages.

While Dinca and her American partner plan to remain in Amsterdam for the long-term, that certainly won’t prevent their wanderlust from taking them around the world, including a six-week tour of South American cities this summer.

“I am really passionate about sharing Amsterdam’s story of transformation,” Dinca says proudly, but is careful not to insist it has all of the answers. “Every city has its own unique conditions and challenges,” she admits. “It’s not about making all cities like Amsterdam. It’s about making them better versions of themselves.”

Amsterdam Day 217: At Sea

If you can't tell by now, I'm no longer giving a live play by play. The wifi on board the ship was more expensive than I was willing to pay. And I really didn't want to update my blog when I could sit on my balcony listening to the waves hit against the ship. We slept with the door open to the balcony, because it was so nice to fall asleep to the sounds of the sea. 

Speaking of the sounds of the sea, here are a few videos to show a little bit of the fun we had at sea. 

The first is Charlie at dinner. After an hour and a half in the restaurant in the evening, a few nights they wait staff entertained us. Charlie really liked the rhythm of the music and started dancing on his own. 

Jannica also had the final round of "The Voice of the Sea." Notice the live band and the backup singer. Pretty cool. Ultimately she did not win. An Italian guy won. 

And then very strange to American families, the kids club activities really started picking up around 9pm. We thought that the kids should be going to bed around then, but the culture for Italian and Spanish kids is that they stay up much later. Remember though that they take the siesta. This is one of the kids clubs activities at 10pm as we were about to put out kids to bed. 

Amsterdam Day 216: Napoli

Today was the day that everyone was looking forward to. Everyone was excited to see the city that was destroyed and preserved by lava. The city did not disappoint. 

One of the most exciting parts was seeing the exquisite designs on the walls and floor from almost 2000 years ago. 

And of course we all wanted to see the plaster molds of the people that died. To a 6 year old boy, this kind of morbidity is the best.  

 

It was a short day at port, so we really didn't have as much time as we could have taken. A quick 2 hours in this place was not enough, at least when you have a 3 year old that walks a lot slower if he is even walking in the right direction. We brought a stroller along to help with that, but if you notice in the first picture, the roads were not exactly made stroller friendly in 67 A.D. 

Amsterdam Day 215: Palermo, Italy

Palermo, Italy may be one of the most depressing and disgusting cities in all of Western Europe, and maybe even all of Europe. Although I haven't seen a lot of the rest of Southern Italy, so maybe there are cities that rival it. 

We had another kid puke so that makes three total for the cruise, and one complaining about his stomach for several days. All that to say, Jannica, Beverly, Charlie, and I were the ones to trek into Palermo for the day. 

This is the market. It is supposedly the best of the three main markets. I though I was in the middle of India or Africa with how depressing it was. There was broken glass all over the street, graffiti all over the walls, and rotting fish in the stalls. Overall not what I think of when I think of the great cities of Europe. 

We did find this "beautiful" little square in front of a church. The first thing that we spotted was the fencing around all the monuments. I'm not sure what that is really all about. Probably to keep the graffiti artists away. But it sure ruins the setting as a place that you can sit and relax. 

There is one site that I thought was very interesting in Palermo and it really supports the creepy vibe of the city. In the catacombs, there are the mummified remains of people here. 

Apparently, families used to come by and redress the mummies for special ocassions. 

Many were dressed up in what would have been nicely dressed 100-150 years ago. 

We were not supposed to take pictures but I just couldn't resist taking a couple. Shame on me. This guy reminded Jannica of the guy from the plate from the Corpse Bride. 

After the catacomb, we tried to get back to the ship, but with unclear bus times and stops, it took a lot of time to get back. It was everything you might expect from a third world public transportation system. Nothing like the beauty and reliability of public transportation in Amsterdam, or even Spain. 

We did find a nice area around the Palermo Cathedral. It appeared that all the fixing up done in the city was in about this three block area around the cathedral. 

We did find some of our entertainment along the way. Jannica thought it would be a good idea to put Charlie in the backpack. So we did. I have to admit that it turned out to be pretty cute. 

And finally when we made it on the bus, Charlie thought it would be a good idea to do Beverly's hair. She enjoyed it even if he did pull on her hair a bit. 

We made it back to the ship thoroughly disappointed in our first port of call in Italy. This absolutely is one of those places where you should book an excursion. 

Amsterdam Day 211: Palma De Mallorca Day 1

Last night we were thoroughly entertained my a magician. Cameron's face was precious during each trick. He really thought they were going to kill the guy with the sword going through his neck. He was also very amused by the flaming swords being stuck into the assistant. And Jaimee and I were entertained by the skimpy outfits the assistants were wearing. At least that was my understanding when she stated that they had less and less clothing on as the night went on. It was a lot of fun. 

Today we began our trip by hiking up a mountain to a circular castle. Cameron started counting steps but stopped when he got to around 250. We had to take a rest here where everyone was able to get their own resting spot.  

The view from the top was pretty amazing. The city view looked good too. 

And this was another impromptu break where the kids just got together to stop. This was at the top of the castle. It was pretty cool as it had an open circle area below. 

This was Cameron's favorite part. In his words, "Did you see that naked statue on the bed? I want to spank it. I like to spank naked statutes."

We then took a bus into the city to explore. After spending more for lunch than I have in a really long time for food that was not really that good, we went by the cathedral and royal palace. 

The cathedral was amazing in how it dwarfed the rest of the city. It was so much taller and quite amazing looking. 

This was an amazing moment. We were able to get almost a third of Cameron's face in the picture without tricking him. This is overlooking one of the palace's outer walls. 

And no good exploration of a new city is complete without finding some of the coolest playgrounds around. This beauty is just outside the city wall on the way back to the bus back to the ship. We of course had to spend another 30 minutes exploring this. 

Jannica is at her practice for the Voice of the Sea competition. She is still very excited. Last night we basically didn't see her after her practice at 5pm until after midnight. She seems to be having a blast and is having a great time in the teens club. 

This all sounds amazing, but I feel that is my obligation to let you know that it is not all unicorns and rainbows. To count, we have had two kids throw up on the boat. Not because of sea sickness, but because I think they picked something up somewhere.  I'll make sure to let you know as the body count increases. Unfortunately, this has slowed us down some on the fun activities that we can all do together.