Post by Grubb. Years ago I taught a class about art design in film with an architect who turned me onto Bjorke Ingles, so I was eager to see Bjorke’s 8House. Winner of the Housing category at the World Architecture Festival in 2011, 8House has 476 homes divided into townhouses. “The entire complex is combined by a…
One way to wake up
Post by Grubb. On my way to grab a cup of coffee and a pastry, I went by a seaside promenade where some adventurous young people were taking a dip. I don’t know what the water temperature was where they were swimming, but it was around 49 degrees outside. As they egged each other on it…
Green Light District
Post by Ella Christiania is a “micro nation”, or perhaps one could call it an independent municipality, within Copenhagen. Founded in 1971 when some folks decided to put down roots on an abandoned military base. One can imagine a group of young, hippiesh libertarians rebelling against the corporate world. The laws in Christiana are simple…
Practical matters: Public transport Copenhagen
Post by Ella. As is usual in Europe, there are trams, busses, trains, metro galore. In Holland and here in Copenhagen, navigating public transport is made so much easier with Google maps. Google knows all is seems. Google can give you all your transit routes, number and names of stops to traverse, where and how…
Arrival Denmark
By the time we got to our new apartment in Copenhagen (we flew from Amsterdam), it was time to pick up some groceries and feast on hearty pumpernickel, herring, lox, Tzatziki , tomatoes, Gorgonzola, olives, havarti and some Vinho Verdi. A global feast. And that’s it. Time for a night off to stare at all…
And thank you again Esther
Post by Ella. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we fly off to Copenhagen leaving our old friends behind. We closed out the afternoon and evening with a trip to Delft (15 min by train), enjoying a glass of wine (non-alcoholic beer for Grubb) in Esther’s garden, followed by a tasty black rice / vegetable / shrimp casserole prepared…
Hendrik revives
post by Grubb Our friend Hendrik met us on the terrace outside Pavlov’s Bar and Grill in Den Haag this afternoon. Hendrik van Leeuwen is an artist (hendrikvanleeuwen.nl) who teaches painting and reviews art for numerous publications. Along with his wife Gina, he was to have accompanied us to the Vermeer exhibit at the Rijksmuseum on Sunday,…
Dutch Takeout
Post by Grubb. This morning I thought I’d go next door to the coffee shop/bakery and bring back a cappuccino (my third) to enjoy on the patio outside the back of our apartment. Again, to demonstrate the trusting nature of this inner-city neighborhood, I was allowed to take the ceramic cup of cappuccino with me since…
Broodje or bust
Post by Grubb. Remembering our trip here in 2016, I vowed not leave Den Haag without having a herring Broodje. The herring stand was outside the courtyard of the Mauritshuis, the museum we visited back in ‘16. I had a brief notion that we might drop in the Mauritshuis and check out a few masterpieces to see…
Grubb gets his herring
Post by Ella. The herring stand we remembered from our last visit to Den Haag at which we got broodjes (herring in a roll with your choice of onions and/or mustard) and a seagull swooped in and nearly got a nip of my herring, was still there. Grubb couldn’t resist. And there was a grey…
Rotterdam
Post by Ella. As you can tell by the latest several posts, we spent the day in Rotterdam. It is a vibrant, busy city with unique architecture. we were here for the first time on our last trip to the Netherlands and decided we really enjoyed the place. Rotterdam’s history begins in 1270, when a dam…
If Dr. Moreau succeeded
Post by Grubb. One the exhibits in Kunsthal Rotterdam was by a woman named Piccinini whose silicon molded figures suggest what might have happened if Dr. Moreau hadn’t met his untimely end. Below are Ella’s favorites
If Claus Oldenburg taught kindergarten
Post by Grubb. Kids at the Kunsthal Rotterdam playing with giant inflatable billiard balls on a bouncy plastic table.
Dazzled by the Depot
Post by Grubb Inside the reflective glass bowl of the Depot is a six floor atrium divided into translucent levels where exhibits are sectioned off into glass compartments. Art displayed in visible engineering (above) The best part of the Depot experience was the app that let me read the bar code placed by the window…
Rotterdam from above
At the top of the Depot, with stands of Aspen and fir reflected in the glass walls of the museum’s restaurant, there is a 360 degree view of the Rotterdam skyline.