europe – Tara’s Adventures

Amsterdam Where the Past Meets the Present

Dec. 5, 2024

Amsterdam is a lot of things. It has a lot of history that can still be seen all over the city.

It’s the city where Anne Frank wrote her diary:

It’s the city where Rembrandt became a prominent portraitist:

It’s a city with its own dark past. After all, I t’s seen everything from the Spanish Inquisition to witch trials and Nazi occupation. Some of its buildings still signal these darker times.

For example, take the Spinhuis. This is a former women’s prison, which is now a University of Amsterdam women’s dorm. And, the building has a scene above the door showing a woman’s beating:

The city also turns 750 next year (October 27, 2025 to be exact). In celebration, the city of Amsterdam recently launched “Amsterdam Monster Factory” (amsterdammonsterfactory.com), which includes eight monsters that each represent a different value of the city.

The monsters primarily live in virtual reality, which can be accessed via the Amsterdam Monster Factory App. So, you can see most of them, this is an image from the app:

But, we spent the afternoon trying to track the monsters down IRL. We found a few of them in stores and parks across the city.

We found Moki at the Amsterdam train station. He “represents Courage (one of the Xs on the city shield), and the open mindedness, tolerance and spirit of the city of Amsterdam.”

We caught up with Kiki and Kima in the I Amsterdam store. They “represent Compassion (another X on the city shield) for others and openness to help those in need.”

I found Gretel on a sign in Westerpark. She “represents Freedom of Expression, and Amsterdam as a city of no taboos – a place where the entitlement to speak your mind is a fundamental right.”

And, Biggie was near by. He “represents the future of the open minded spirit of Amsterdam.”

From there, we jumped on a canal cruise to take in the Amsterdam Light Festival. This is the 13th edition, and the theme this year is “rituals.” (amsterdamlightfestival.com/en)

I didn’t fully understand this one (there were also several human figures swimming, sitting and running…), but I thought the artistry was amazing:

Another fun one were these tulip petals:

Anyway, this is the last email from this trip. We fly home tomorrow, and then it’s back to reality. Thank you for sharing our adventure with us.

All our love,

Tara (and Steve)

Paris – We Know Where the Bones are Buried

Dec. 1, 2024

We started our day at the Eiffel Tower:

From there, we made our way along the Seine past the Musée d’Orsay (a train station turned impressionist / post-impressionist museum):

And, the Louvre:

On our way to the Paris Catacombs:

The Paris Catacombs are part of a much larger network of limestone mines located under the city. The mines operated for centuries before a major sinkhole in 1774 opened up to devour houses, carts and people. This (and several others) lead to creation of Inspection générale des carrières (IGC) (a special group of architects responsible for the inspection, maintenance and repair of the mines).

In 1785, the city’s retired mines were the solution to another problem – over crowded public graveyards, which were gassing out residents.

The bones of over six million Parisians are now in the catacombs:

The bulk of the bones were moved to the catacombs from various city graveyards, which allowed the bones to be thoughtfully placed and organized. Some bones were used to line walls, whereas others created archways and pillars. Regardless of where the bones were placed, many took on a decorative feel:

After the catacombs, we were ready to get above ground and off our feet. After all, there’s always tomorrow…

All our love,

Tara (and Steve)

Trading the Heat of Africa for the Cool of Europe

Nov. 30, 2024

Hello everyone,

Hopefully, you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

While you were digging into a turkey, we were wrapping up the Morocco leg of our trip. Yesterday, we made the move back to Paris.

Or, to put it another way – we traded this view:

For this one:

As intense as Marrakech was, Essaouira was wonderfully laid back.

For example, take people passing you on the street. In Marrakech – you had to keep an ear out for motorcycles tearing through the narrow passageways, because they wouldn’t stop as they came within an inch or two of you. Whereas in Essaouira – we rarely saw motorcycles, but if a bicyclist had to pass you around a corner, they’d apologize.

Another example were the street vendors. In Marrakech, walking through the souk or the square at night felt like a gauntlet. Storekeepers and food vendors would block your path in an effort to drive you into their stall. However, in Essaouira, maybe one in five vendors would look up from their phone to acknowledge you. There would be an occasional hard sell, but then I’d ask for a ridiculous transaction (e.g., to sell me a $12 scarf for $4) and then we’d be on our merry way.

We noticed that Essaouira had a European vibe to its streets, which makes sense. (The Medina was designed by European engineers.)

However, there is a distinctly Moroccan flare, even to the street art:

And, the city’s blue fishing boats… These small, but mighty ships feed everyone from locals to tourists, and seagulls to cats:

Now that we’re back in Paris:

We had to say goodbye to Brad and Sarah last night:

While it’s been a busy weekend, we’re excited to explore Paris for a few days.

All our love,

Tara (and Steve)

What Not to do at Gare du Nord (or How we Almost Became Marks or Why You Shouldn’t Trust Overly Helpful People)

Nov. 23, 2024

We’re fine, and nothing ended up happening, but that was likely due to our travel schedule. But, we did experience someone who, as Steve put it, was “very nice, in an almost creepy way.”

I have a long history of getting lost on the Paris metro. It happened when I was here in undergrad, and overwhelmed by all of the train lines, stops, people, etc. It all worked out, but not without the help of a very nice kiosk worker.

Fast forward 24 years, and Steve had a plan to get us from the Gare du Nord train station to our hotel in the 18th arrondissement via metro. Steve was great about navigating us around Amsterdam (and many other cities on other trips), so I had no doubts about his ability to direct us. However, we were having a hard time getting started.

Steve’s directions wanted us to take the 4 train to the 2, but we saw signs for both the 2 and 4 trains at Gare du Nord. We were torn about which train to take, and we hadn’t even purchased our tickets yet.

As we were in line to purchase tickets, a very helpful man in the next line became overly interested in our troubles. Our would be helper didn’t speak English, snd Steve was working hard to use his French to devise a plan.

Our helper walked us from our original ticket line to another ticket machine around the corner that was closer to the train that we’d eventually want to jump on. Then he stood in line with us to buy tickets.

He asked us several questions to better understand how long we would be in town, presumably to help advise us on what tickets to purchase. We were clear about only needing a single ride ticket, which is when he became overly interested in a woman and her teenaged son who were having issues with the ticket vending machine.

This is when it crossed the line from helpful to creepy.

Our good samaritan swooped in to help this other woman. First she was having issues selecting her preferred language, so he took over and drove the transaction in French. He asked her about the length of their stay, and determined they would need a five day pass. Then she had issues using the credit card saved to her smartphone. “Luckily,” he was there with his card to complete the purchase.

From there, he followed her and we were left to buy our tickets.

When all was said and done, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all part of a scam. Once we were settled in to the hotel, I did a little research.

Reddit suggests the scam probably played out a little something like this:

He got the woman to scan in with her ticket and then asked her to reimburse him (in cash). (We already know she wanted a five day pass, and he probably said he got the more expensive all zones passes. So, she’s looking at €114.25 (€76.25 for her ticket and €38 for her son’s).) She pays the train station helper, and he disappears. She’ll discover that all she has are two single use tickets valued at €2.15 each, and has been scammed out of over €100.

Hopefully, this isn’t how the woman’s evening played out. (It probably was.) And, she got to her hotel without further incident. (Seriously, I hope he didn’t take her to an ATM for the cash reimbursement…)

Well, the lesson I learned today is to be wary of overly helpful people.

Scams aside, our evening was pretty uneventful. We grabbed dinner, and went for a walk. We found ourselves in front of Moulin Rouge, so this happened:

All our love,

Tara (and Steve)

Art + Beer = Life

Nov. 22, 2024

Hello friends!

We tried to bring a little culture into our trip by going to the Van Gogh Museum, and while we were in the neighborhood decided to drink in the Heineken Experience. Considering the snow on the ground and rain in the forecast, we were glad to be inside for the bull of the day.

We saw a number of Van Gogh’s big hits – everything from Sunflowers and Almond Blossom to Irises, Bedroom in Arles, Wheatfield with Crows, and a number of his self portraits. (Sadly The Starry Night lives in New York at MoMA, so we’ll have to see it on a different trip.)

Even with a number of his heavy hitters in the building, we were also taken with several pieces that were new to us. And, with so many pieces (over 2k), I didn’t realize that Van Gogh only painted for about a decade…

“Wheatfield with Reaper” stood out to both of us. I found it interesting that this was one of the pieces Van Gogh painted while institutionalized, and Steve noted how the brushstrokes brought natural movement to the wheat:

Two other pieces stuck with me.

Full disclosure – these next two photos are excerpts of the larger pieces, but I’m hoping to highlight the texture the paint brings to these works.

The first one is “Cypresses and Two Women”:

And, the second is “Giant Peacock Moth”:

As I mentioned earlier, we also hit up the Heineken Experience. It runs through the original Heineken brewery, which still has the original copper kettles and stained glass in the brew room:

On the tour, we learned a bit about their brewing process, special ingredient (it’s the yeast), and some facts about the brand, including:

1) Although Heineken is publicly traded, it’s largely owned by the Heineken family.

2) Heineken was the first beer imported into the US after prohibition ended.

Specifically, six days after President Roosevelt signed the constitutional amendment ending prohibition, 25 barrels and 50 crates of Heineken landed in New Jersey.

Not everything is original, I mean the beer was new. At the beginning of the tour we were promised “the freshest Heineken in [our] lives,” (i.e., it’s no more than three days old), and they delivered:

Tomorrow we’re jumping on a train to Paris, and we fly to Morocco on Sunday. So, just a heads up that I may not have an update until next week. Until then…

All of our love,

Tara (and Steve)

Windmills, Clogs and Cheese

Nov. 21, 2024

Hello friends!

I’m sure you all know this, but adjusting to a new time zone is the worst. We’re still working at it, because today we found ourselves working to burn a couple of hours until breakfast opened at 6 am. As soon as we were done, we went back to bed for a nap.

Like I said, we’re working on it…

Anyway, after we got up the second time, we headed over to the Albert Cuyp Market. (Imagine if a flea market and farmers market had a baby. It’d be something like Albert Cuyp Market.) I found a few knickknacks, and Steve met a new friend:

Then we spent a good chunk of the day exploring Zaanse Schans. It’s a Netherland’s heritage site full of windmills and houses from the 18th and 19th century that are filled with makers of clogs, cheeses, candies and much more . Some of the buildings are original to the location, but many were relocated to the city when they were put up for sale and / or scheduled for demolition.

In short, it’s painfully adorable:

While we were there, we watched a guy make a clog:

Saw clogs that were probably made for Liberace:

Tasted all sorts of cheeses:

And, made the brilliant decision to climb to the top of a windmill while it was snowing:

We also found the jewel of my clog photo collection. It’s so good that I may need to stop collecting.

I mean, seriously, how can I top this?

The good news is that we made it back to Amsterdam in one piece. However, I don’t know how much longer we’ll stay that way.

As Steve put it, walking through Amsterdam is long “playing Frogger.” You’re dodging bicyclists, pedestrians, smart cars, etc. Luckily, we’ll get more practice tomorrow!

All our love,

Tara (and Steve)