Week IV - France on the Horizon

Full picture album is here: "Pics"

Through the quirks of politics, geography, and haphazard travel plans, I've covered three countries this week (four, if you count Switzerland -- see below), so forgive the long post.

From Wolfheze, Netherlands, near the Kroeller-Mueller museum, I took back roads into Belgium, arriving in Bruges after a fairly dubious detour on a road that I still think might have been a bike path.

The claim "Venice of the ...." wherever seems to be growing in popularity, even as Venice itself sinks. A quick Google search for the phrase "Venice of the North" shows the leaders to be Stockholm, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Maryhill (??), Bornholm (??), and Glasgow (by virtue of an art festival, rather than water or scenery)....basically, anyplace with a history and some canals.

The same applies to "Little Paris" (Bucharest, Brussels, Milan, and others, although Paris Hilton has screwed up Googling this one).

That vented, Bruges (Venice of the North, they say) really is quite nice. Unlike so many European cities, the guidebooks aren't peppered with the phrase "destroyed during the war" and despite sometimes out-Praguing Prague, the quiet, shadowy streets outside the touristic center, and the tangible pride of its citizens, made it a pleasant surprise.

On Saturday, I drove to Oostende, on the coast, and wandered through a Tintin and the Sea exhibit. Turns out Herge's family came there every summer for the traditional beach month. Mediocre, but lovingly exhibited, and heck, who wouldn't claim him?
I then took the (currently) longest tram line in Europe along the coast, an idea garnered from a random article in The Telegraph. Sadly, the coast was a bit like a Belgian Miami, having seen better times. Calming and a bit wistful, though, in its "holiday at the sea" tradition, and the eagerness and excitement of the kids riding the boardwalk in a variety of wheeled contraptions. Beach resorts whose time has passed -- with scents of candy and echoes of music still lingering amidst the faded and cracking pastel colors competing with defiant hydrangea -- make me nostalgic for a time that probably never really was.

From Bruges, I shuttled to Brussels, which has a reputation as a government town. The EU Parliament, NATO, and other government orgs are headquartered there. I once had the glimmer of an opportunity to work in Brussels, and was flown over for a few days from London to check it out. Then, as now, I liked it.

It's a bit like Berlin: the drive to impress tourists isn't all-consuming and you can sense that it's a city to actually live in.

Brussels was also a major center of the Art Nouveau movement. Victor Horta, one of its most renowned practitioners, built his house and studio here. Today it has been restored and maintained as a museum, with the emphasis on the house itself. Since photography isn't allowed inside, here are some sanctioned pics: http://www.hortamuseum.be/main.php?page=visite_m2&part=maison
Finally, Brussels marked the first chance on this trip to speak French. Rustier than a Richard Serra sculpture, and just as cumbersome.

Spent one night in Luxembourg, which was all I needed. Rainy and cold. Not the country's fault, I know, and I can see the attraction, but moved on.

Back into Germany for two nights, based in Freiburg, which is a pleasant university town with a famed Muenster. Don't know what that is? In English, it's a Minster. Still lost? Me too. It's a cathedral. Under wraps for reconstruction, right now, but it supposedly approaches perfection in the design of its tower.

My real reason for being in Freiburg (other than its reputation as the warmest town in Germany) is its proximity to the Vitra Design Museum. Vitra owns the production rights for all Eames furniture in Europe and Asia, and maintains an archive collection of over 4,000 furniture pieces by hundreds of designers. For mid-century furniture freaks like me, it is basically Mecca.

Unfortunately, the archive isn't displayed; rather, it serves as a "lending library" to other museums. The on-site museum itself shows only temporary exhibits. However, I took the tour to see the Eames Production/Process exhibit, which was excellent. In a room surrounded by examples of all their major furniture, in various states of assembly, you truly understand their genius and craftsmanship. By also showcasing their architecture, "amusements" (plywood elephants, games and toys) and multimedia work, the museum also provides context to underscore their humanity and love of life. And of course, it all took place in Venice, California!

Vitra is also where Ghery got his first taste of Europe, designing the main museum building (which is flanked by a Fuller dome, Oldenburg sculpture, and other architectural salutes.)

Oh yeah. Switzerland. Vitra, in Weil am Rhein, is inches from the Swiss border. (Not being a Schengen signee, Switzerland still *has* a border, by the way. With officials -- rare in continental Europe.) I had to explain that my visit to their nice country was only going to last long enough for me to turn around, if they could be so obliging. (That last exit a kilometre back in Germany and tucked away in the middle of hundreds of red road construction cones, was easy to miss.) They obliged, and not for the first or last time, I'm sure.

Freiburg was the last port of call before heading into France for awhile. Classes start Sept. 3, so I have begun earnestly checking every word I don't recognize in my little dictionary.

A plus tard!

Week III - Lots of Form, some Function. And more cheese.

Full set of pics is here: "Week III pics"

Last week we left off in Texel, sand dune and heather capital of the Netherlands.

Returning on the ferry to the mainland, I headed southeast to the National Park and the Kroeller-Mueller museum, temporarily rejoining the route my mom, sister and I followed during our summer tour of Europe in 1986. The museum houses a large Van Gogh collection (in a less hectic environment than the eponymous museum in Amsterdam), and hosts a world-class sculpture garden, which has continued to expand over the years.

As a sixteen-year old, I remember staring at Snelson's "Needle Tower II" in awe. How could such a structure stay standing, using only cables and tension, with no rigid connections between any one bar and another? 20 years later, I'm still baffled. There are times when a liberal arts education falls flat on its face.

Another, new, highlight was "Kijk Uit Attention", by Krijn Giezen. Sadly, a high-schooler fell last year while descending the stairs and was injured (not fatally)...climbing the piece is still on hold.



Understandably, since there are no rails. One stumble and you're not stopping till something stops you. But even from the ground, the visual impact is mesmerizing and induces knee-trembling.

The next day led me first to Utrecht, to visit the only consummated work of De Stijl architecture, a commissioned house designed by Rietveldt. The interior wasn't open that day, but the exterior was fun. Standing now at the end of a row of mundane dull-brick apartment buildings, the house looks like a weather-beaten transplant from Manhattan Beach's waterfront, but imagine how revolutionary it was at the time.

Then to the Central Museum in Utrecht, for a little more Rietveldt, and a LOT more "Dutch Masters." Finally, before calling it a day in Rotterdam, through Gouda, where I stopped to buy some cheese, as one does. That night I checked the internet and found, with relief, that I had, indeed, been taught to pronounce it correctly: "how-da", with some guttural phlegm thrown in here and there to sound truly native. (Right, good luck. Dutch sounds like Russian would on a poorly tuned AM radio.)

Rotterdam is a slightly gritty port city (busiest in Europe and top 3 in the world), with pockets of true hipness, including the Netherlands Architectural Institute, which is currently hosting a comprehensive exhibit on Le Corbusier. Next door, they maintain (lovingly and accurately) a house built in the 20's -- "hypermodern" at the time, it still works its spell, and I am tucking away the floor plan in my mind (and computer) in case I ever have the chance to crib a few ideas from it. I'm not so sure I need a clock in every room, though.

Honestly, I ended up spending more time in the Netherlands than I anticipated, but that's turning out to be the real pleasure of this "hiatus" month -- I am only planning a few days in advance, and trying hard to "hang loose." It's peak travel season, so this makes bagging the perfect hotel a little trickier, but it's working out so far.

Philosophical digression: In Amsterdam, I bumped into a fellow Californian traveling with his sister and mother. He was aching to get a little free time and I hadn't had a conversation longer than two sentences recently, so we started making plans to grab a drink after his dinner with the fam. We hit a brick wall when it surfaced that he didn't have a cell phone that worked in Europe. Luckily, his sister, over here on an internship, did, so planning continued. How did it used to work, again? You just showed up where you said you would??? In the same vein, I can't believe we used to do this kind of traveling with one -- maybe two -- guide books which were already a year out of date when published.

On this trip, I'm relying on the internet to keep me AWAY from the places in the guide books. Any decent city has more than six great restaurants, and the six that "Froder-Rickgat's" picked might have been great two years ago, but it's a safe bet you won't find the locals eating there. The cure, theoretically, is local review sites on the net. However, it's a Catch-22. Any site with enough critical mass to be useful and relevant starts to exert its own law of inverse coolness, while most hobble along with a few scattered, poorly organized reviews. TripAdvisor.com is still holding its own, though the hotel selection seems to be constrained now by some corporate partnerships.

I guess nothing replaces just walking around and asking people whose livelihood isn't tied to providing "safe" recommendations.

Week II (and pics from Weeks I and II)

I'm still trying to find the best way to post pics. As hoped, I've stepped things up in the picture taking area, and, as much as I like Blogger, I don't relish the thought of trying to upload and position 30 some photos. So, for a quick visual recap, try crossing your fingers and clicking this link: " Pics"

Amsterdam was magic. I've been there twice before. Once when I was 16, with my mother and sister as we did long tour of Europe after living in Florence. Again when I was 18, as the first port of call on my "backpacking through Europe" gig after high school. I obviously remembered enough to think I wanted to go back, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn how great a place it really is, if you just stay away from the central train station area.

Walking along the three main canals, and darting up and down the connecting side streets and canals, as well as venturing into the even more remote De Pijp and Jordaan areas, revealed a charming, beautiful, and pretty darn hip city. I am adding Graphic Designer to the ever-growing list of career options I wish my high school guidance counseler had clued me into, since every nice brownstone in Amsterdam comes with a plaque by the buzzer signaling that one or more works within, when not pausing for a coffee at a cafe next to a sun-dappled canal. (The other missed careers are general contractor, civil engineer, architect and hugely successful spy novel author. The fact that I wouldn't have succeeded in any of them doesn't temper my resentment about not even being told they were options.)

Highlights included: well, just wandering around, actually. I'm not a Rembrandt or Van Gogh fan, and those are the real "must-see's".

After Amsterdam, a backroads drive to Alkmaar, famous for its weekly cheese market, but nice enough on its own. On the way, stops at Edam (yes, I tried the cheese) and Enkhuizen, a nice port town. Then the ferry to Texel, the southernmost of the Frisian Islands. With 1% of the Netherlands land mass, the islands host 75% of its plant species. (I don't know if that's impressive, but it sounds it.) Mostly along dunes, in protected nature reserves. Nicely laid back (though with plenty of shops selling sarongs, swimsuits, and sand shovels), it reminds me a bit of Cape Cod, without the crowd...even in August.

Dutch sounds more like Russian than German, but I'm finding I can read the menus. If you had any doubts about Texel being "the real thing", this will dispel them...there are no English menus. And I only heard English (from native English speakers) twice.

Despite a strength-sapping headwind on the return leg, a long bike ride (when in Rome) offered great rural cum beach scenery, as well as a hyperactive parachuting site at the main airport. Groups of five jumpers landing every five minutes. Apparently a strong and consistent breeze makes it an ideal spot for jumping.

Cheese and clogs forever!

Week I

Although I finished work on May 31, I hung around Berlin (oh, and Scandinavia -- ofoto pics to follow sometime soon for interested parties) until last week. So, I count August 1 as the "official" start date of my walkabout. I managed to fit everything I own into the Mini. This was possible because I made sure I owned very little before it came time to try. (Thanks, Christian, for willingly accepting all my "donations".) With so little to keep track of, you'd think I'd know where eveything is. However, my car is rarely right next to the hotel room, so I seem to keep finding myself missing a relevant gadget. Often, the memory card reader for my cameras. I'll need to dig down deep for some discipline on that front. In the meantime, I pledge to myself to post at least an outline weekly, which can then serve to nag me into revising with more detail and, when appropriate, pictures.

Week I:
- Leaving Berlin, Freidrichshain and (sigh) the loft of dreams -- Thanks, Bernd, Alex, and Elli!
- Paperwork (new address registration, and, consequently, new license plates) -- Thanks, again, C&D
- Bremen (personalised tour from Christian!)
- Hamburg (sleeping in a water tower/hotel) -- Greenest city in Germany
- Amsterdam...time to experience it as an adult :)