Amsterdam’s Dutch National Holocaust Names memorial (which opened in September 2021, not long after I moved to A’dam) is heartbreaking, and also beautiful in its simplicity and symbolism. I went again with a visiting friend on, appropriately, the weekend of the 80th anniversary of the first Dutch national liberation day.
Although I bike past it several times a week, I guess I’ve not yet shown you the outside of Amsterdam’s Royal Palace, shown to the left here next to the 15th-century “Nieuwe Kerk,” so called b/c in the 1400s it was the new kid on the block after A’dam’s first 1306-built church, which as of this building’s opening became and has remained the “Oude Kerk.” The 1655 palace started life as a town hall – as noted in earlier posts about it. (And since their full time official residence is down in the Hague, this is really only where they do formal stuff that needs done in A’dam, I think.) I’ve sorta been waiting for the construction to finish before I took photos, but I liked how the setting sun lit this clouds on this evening, so here you go :-).
I have an embarrassment of riches in terms of Amsterdam canal photos waiting to be shared, including above and several below from a lovely canal cruise Sam & I decided to do between the matinee and evening concerts on the last day of the Mahler Festival back in May, and a few taken during Barbara’s visit just before Sam arrived…then a few more from just my usual wanders by foot or bike around this lovely city where the days are becoming painfully, noticeably, shorter as we’re now within three weeks of the next equinox 😦