viii. or is it iix. AMSTERDAM and GORICHEM

yesterday was my last day in amsterdam. woke early and made way to anne frank's house (a museum now).  the place was stirring and moving, not to mention, beautifully done. spent some time in there before moving on to a cafe (de bakkerswinkel) on the outskirts of the red light district, and no the cafe was not disgusting, rather incredibly beautiful, arty and a bakery in itself. they make jam too, the passionfruit curd was something i will never forget. on the walk home i was chatting to sylvia about cutting my hair, and before i could do much i was sitting in a chair with my loooong hair falling around my shoulders and doooown my spine. half an hour later, gone. i now have shoulder length hair and look somewhat different. so yes, i am cursing myself, but i am still trying to distinguish between cursing myself, or adjusting to change. can't quite work it out.
after getting one or two last things at waterlooplein market i picked up my backpack and we made our way by train to utrecht, some other town, and eventually gorbichem by bus as a bridge was broken. let me say that the heat yesterday was astonishing. eventually we arrived at the family home of the alting van geusau's. the garden is filled with beautifully coloured and saturated flowers, while in the back, hanny (mother of sylvia) has created a vegetable, fruit and herb plantation out of the space they have. it is quite amazing. bouderwyn (father of sylvia) has a 'hobby'as he calls it, with cars. he has an old school car, i will find out the make, a normal car for normal use and on the way is a porsche type car from brazil, a type of a collectors item.
it's very sweet here. today sylvia and i are going to the city of utrecht, a product of the middle ages and contemporary times. and not too long until we make our way to rock werchter, belgium for 5 days of camping and music.

vii. AMSTERDAM snaps

 

above is an almost generic image of amsterdam's canals and the houseboats that some people choose to live in. otherwise the houses line the canals upwards, narrow and tall.

above, an image of rembrandt's old home

 

above, an image again of the houses you see here, but you can also see that the roads are lined with bicycles. when they come alive, they will kill you.

this image is from the day i sat beneath the huge tree in vondelpark. 

then i made a new friend...

sometimes, when i'm lonely, i take a picture of myself. 

grey day. see the cineac in the background.

vi. AMSTERDAM

while i write this i am pulsating with heat since today is the first hot day i have experienced since summer ended in cape town. the last couple of days have been lovely, as only they can be here in amsterdam. on friday evening sylvia and i went to see School for Scandal, a production put on in a wonderful theatre as part of the holland festival. yesterday i spent most of the day wandering the streets with the intention of buying something for summer. catherine, a distant relative from the van geusau side (as opposed to von geusau) joined sylvia and i for last night and today. we went out for supper at sylvia's favourite cozy restaurant named 'stoop & stoop' where they serve delicious, slow cooked, homey food.  the dutch locals are so friendly, warm and beautiful which made our evening that much better. later, we all went to the movies for a nice little girls night.
this morning we woke up and wandered through the quiet streets to a wonderful organic bakery. they serve artisan everything, with such a nice ambience. i realised that i've started thinking and speaking in pigeon english in order to come across a little more clearly, so we had a pigeon english morning. it's much harder than speaking fluently...
sylvia then suggested that we go for a boat ride through the canals in amsterdam, which we did. it was very hot in the boat but we got through it alive knowing some odd facts here and there. we waved catherine goodbye and i went off to the park  to meet up with matthew and the shade.
so far my travels have consisted of rich history, modes of transport (specifically feet...) and the most beautiful food, consistently improving.
tomorrow is my last day in amsterdam, i then go to utrecht to the more rural area before rock werchter which is for 5 beautifully long days in belgium.

v. AMSTERDAM

yesterday i started off my day at the van gogh museum. again, it was raining. my shoes are suede, all of my decent clothes were in the laundry after a week of wearing them in london, and my umbrella has come to the end of its cheap, nasty and slutty life. so i saw van gogh soaked. but that was not much of a problem. i plugged in my ipod (listening to the voice of justin vernon's volcano choir) and went through a motion of catharsis in realising that van gogh was better than i expected. and it probably seems quite boring to have read that sentence, but allow me to elaborate. we study art. we study artists. we study the who's, the why's the this, the that, but living in south africa we hardly experience it. since london and now amsterdam, i've had the priviledge to experience a lot of the art, from monet to pollock, to rodin, to rothko and then vermeer, rembrandt and now van gogh. although my moments with monet were moving and stirring, the moments with hundreds of van goghs was particularly interesting for i saw myself moving towards appreciating his saturated oil colours and brashe strokes. it was a truly wonderful exhibit. i moved on through the streets of amsterdam on my own this time. i found myself walking in circles from museumplein, to leidseplein, to dam and to the 9streets without much aim at all. i also found myself going in circles. eventually i sat myself down with some cappacino and a meal and mapped a course. i found my way to foam (a beautiful photography museum... quite hipster) and i discovered myself a new favourite - misha de ridder. she photographs landscapes quite medatively in scandanavia where she also followed a culture/tribe that lives inferior to nature, in silence. her images were beautiful, rhythmic and natural. from there i moved on back to visit vondelpark where i sat under a huge tree in front of a pond. the pond was surrounded with little pads and after a while a mother and baby duck pottered around me before three horses came to eat grass next to me with their young teenager caretaker. it was quite beautiful, to put it simply. after that i met matthew, armin and jarred at their hostel for dinner where i had some human interaction which was nice and refreshing. we ate and drank and spoke to an american about iphone aps which went right over my head.... thanks.
today i woke up and went back to foam to see an exhibit by anton corbijn who photographs celebrities in black and white. interestingly, he photographed a lot for U2 who subsequently used his images in the joshua tree album, for example. so seeing his work was lovely, i might be brave enough to mention that i might prefer it to annie liebowitz... sylvia then fetched me from there and we made way to a secret garden in the hub of the city. we had apple pie and coffee before handing in her essay in one of the many university buildings. we then walked around a bit and i looked into some nice decor shops. and now i am sitting in the rambling, modern and incredible public library. if you go to the top floor you can look right over the city. so i'm going to find a book and read. tonight we are going to the theatre as it is the holland festival which is quite exciting. pictures will come up soon.....

iv. AMSTERDAM

yesterday, wednesday, was incredible. i woke up early and sylvia and i walked down to the bakery near the apartment and i had the most delicate, rich and moist pain au chocolat of my life for breakfast. we walked over to the rijksmuseum where the dutch history is exhibited along with some beautiful dutch paintings, think vermeer and rembrandt. we then walked through the city built on canals. there are houseboats and special constructions made for the waterbirds all over the canals making them green and lively. thats not to mention the bicycles amongst the huge rows of buildings which house the people of amsterdam. we wandered through the university and made our way to a place called waterloo which is a vintage area, but the highlight, in terms of museums, is rembrandt's house. this house is where he used to live when he was still wealthy. so it was an exhibit of it and some of his paintings. then as fate has it, i was walking through the market and walked right into a friend i dont know so well, paul. we ended up spending the rest of the day together. we bought strawberries and bread and made our way to vondelpark and sat in a foresty area making some meals and taking pictures. we made way north afterwards towards to jordaan area which is quite trendy, though not snobby. its a very nice area. after hours together i had to find my way back to sylvia's in time to go to the most beautiful cinema i have seen. we spent the evening there eating cupcakes, drinking champagne and eating sweet popcorn. today, van gogh.

iii. LONDON SNAPS

i thought i may as well put some pics up. here some are from portobello market and that rainy westminster experience. fruity! medievel architecture makes me very excited.

ii. LONDON, AMSTERDAM

firstly, i dont have much energy to put up photos (sorry thom) but i will at somestage since i'm in amsterdam for the next 9 beautiful days.
SO! for the last few days in london i was admittedly a little bit of a grump. fell sick with a bad throat and fever and had trouble sleeping, blaaaah blaaaah!
in a nutshell, spent saturday in portobello with all the beautiful fruit, clothes, leathers, and millions of watches after which i found myself in a downpour in westminster abbey which was wonderful despite the pissing rain.  that night i went out with matt and armin, intending on a pub supper but ended up with a whiskey and making our way from regent park to soho where we eventually had nandos chicken burgers after begging them to make them for us, since the kitchen was closing. that night i was delusional and as a result got completely disorientated, like never ever before. thinking west was east and so forth. i eventually got home and went straight to bed by about 1am local london time. the next day i met armin, matt, alice and ayden at a market just off baker street which was totally snobby. i was due for lunch at charlie and nick's in putney at 14h30 which meant that i had to make time to get there. i left them as they went off to brick lane which i so badly wanted to go to, but was also keen to see the riverhouse, as they call it. another early night to wake up with my last day in london, yesterday, monday.  i ignored my sickliness and went back to the tate where i absorbed it all fully. it was incredible. this woman called taryn simon combined art with a social anthropology experiment which was so very interesting, wont go into it now, but it's worth explaining at some other stage. i then took the tube to green park to find the chocolate croissant and fresh air i was craving which was so beautiful.  i was meant to meet up with verity beard but didnt get round to it, so felt a bit bad. from green park which was lovely and sweet i took a bus up to piccadilly (again) to exchange something i bought at h&m. ended up buying a beautiful scarf from a shop called urban outfitters which i reckon is the best investment so far! i thought my last outing best be to covent garden since i secretly was hoping to catch romeo and juliet, the ballet if it was showing, but to my disappointment it wasnt. so i wandered around but surrendered to the journey home with sore feet and a heart full of fullness and images.
today i packed and annabel, hugo and i went off to the riverhouse to see lynn and sean (annabel's parents) who had just flown into london from SA. i think annabel was so relieved to see them because she's also been getting quite sick. it was soon time to go so annabel asked chuck to take me to the station so gritting my teeth i got into his uninsured car and got whisked away to clapham junction.
the easyjet flight was only about an hour. landed in amsterdam this afternoon where i was interrogated by customs but got through and went straight into the arms of wonderful sylvia. she brought me back to her apartment via train and tram. we then walked through the streets right around the most beautiful city i have EVER seen. this place is just so wonderful and i've hardly done anything yet.

i. LONDON

So, I have been in London since Wednesday afternoon.  One of the most devastating things happened, well I thought it was devastating, I dislocated my knee on the bus after the tube after my 18 hour mother of a flight. I had my backpack attached to me as well as a lot else. Naturally, I cried on the bus, but the British (or Londoners, to be fair) do not make any acknowledgement of this.  It really was just so bizarre.  Eventually I found my cousins place and felt right at home. And my knee is not that bad either... It might be a mind over matter thing. If so, it works, folks.
Yesterday was the first real day for me. I set off to Kensington to visit the Natural History Museum, V&A museum and the Science Museum.  It has been raining here, quite cold too, apparently it's like London's Monsoon... That's not quite accurate, but close enough I think since the rain came right through my umbrella.  But anyway, the museums were incredible, overwhelming and exhausting.  Matthew and Barney decided to join me at the Science museum, but we got a bit tired of it, so went to the all-famous Oxford Street via Piccadilly Circus.  It is bustling and beautiful in the city, worthy of ignoring your ego and taking the most photos you have ever taken (speaking of which, no photos coming up yet, but I will get a grip soon...).  It was SO cold so I splashed out on a jersey and socks... I know, the most obvious of items to pack. I decided to take the bus home, so I sat at the top in the front and saw so much, I even saw JFK's old London home...

Today was a bit of a different day since I woke up feeling quite ill. Thought I best ignore it though and head off to my most anticipated outing: the Tate Modern. To be honest, I wish I had gone when I felt better.  I rushed through there feeling less and less alive, and the thought of going back to Oxford Street made me feel quite jittery.  So I saw everything but took only one painting in, Monet's Water-Lilies.  I was moved to the point that my hair stood on end, it is majestic.  The most moving sight, however, was not in the Tate. It was St Paul's cathedral towering over the commerce district in its splendour.  Words really will never suffice. 
After getting airtime in Oxford Street, I headed back home to babysit and now I sit here, with the sun still up until 10pm thinking of what to do next.... Brave the rain and witness more history.... This is one of the most exciting places to be in.  It breeds energy.

open house

some of my people made rendezvous at my house, phase one of the journey.
sugar overload, food coma, mmm.

rambling house

a week ago, i stayed in kalk bay for the night.
i didn't take many pictures.
since i dont like my digital that much.
but. here are some.

more, from below

i found MORE! except only of Rio, from terry richardson's blog

way up

i've been browsing terry richardson's blog (diary...)
here are some images from above
with views of New York and Rio.

meandering in green

something pretty

green paradise

 

mutterings

since i embark on my journey not this week but next, i have thought i might, perhaps, possibly write a travellog. I'm not sure if i wanted this blog to be about my mutterings and bundles of words that sum up only a fraction of what my eye really sees and what my heart really feels, but why not afterall, it is mine. it could too be something fun and interesting and explorational.
i'll start with packing then. since i am going to the land of clothing and coffee, as in, the land of milk and honey, i am packing next to nothing. what is next to nothing, well it's this: two sarongs, a long black skirt, a grey dress, a black dress, stockings, shorts, two or three tops, two jerseys, a scarf, sandals, a sheet and a pillow slip, and my travel clothes, jeans, top, jacket, all stars. imagine what i could come back with!
i am packing three cameras (a disposable, a film and a generic digital) for extra strength visual experience for the kids in fifty years time, a journal too, for something has to be crafted now and then; my nice new sunnies which make the world look gold and green, even the white clouds shine, and of course a bundle of cash to go everywhere.
so this is only the beginning...