Netherlands

Urban Canals.128

You’ve seen this church a few times before, usually as seen from the bridge which you now also see here. 🙂

Islands.18

The foreground is an island, from which I took this canal view, so I get to categorize it in this series if I want to. Plus, it’s my blog anyway so I can categorize how I like :-). But I do need to get out and explore some bigger islands again soon, or this series will have to go into hibernation… 😦

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Urban Garden.148


Coasting.47

I had enough miles to get a cheap night at a nice hotel on the coast south of the Hague, but 20k of them were going to expire end of March. Out of that circumstance came a two days / one night exploring the coast. We found walking the dunes and beach quite invigorating, and the weather was generally conducive.

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Urban Garden.147


Urban Garden.145

I created a tag called “graffiti art” years ago, I think when I visited Melbourne for the Australian Open in 2009. Recent days have given me opportunity to appreciate the differences between graffiti (art) styles in Amsterdam and SF – wait for some of my mural photos taken on my last morning in SF, and also for some I believe I got while I was up Eureka. 🙂

Small Wonders.174

So yes, we landed early Tuesday in Amsterdam. While I was away, the crocuses faded, the leaves remained absent from the trees (though many are strongly in bud by now), and as you see in these photos taken while walking to stay awake, the tulips are coming into their season.

Urban Garden.139

No, I’m not yet back in Amsterdam, but I did collect some lovely photos of the spring bloom before I left. Thanks to everyone who’s been happy to see regular posts resume, I’ve decided I’ll try to go daily again, so this is being posted as I wait to board a flight from Austin back to SFO. Next up, more of Northern California, no doubt mixed with more from this weekend’s family Texas swing along with more from A’dam, and possibly even Bangkok or Hong Kong where I stopped for work on my way over…

City Views.171

This was my parting view of my lovely neighborhood and home in spring, before boarding the bus for Schphol that I’m on as I type this. Yes, friends, I’m about to start a complicated and long trip that’ll involve a week of work in Bangkok and Hong Kong, followed by some family and home time in CA and TX, before returning to this lovely circle after the crocuses and daffodils which grace it each spring have faded.

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Small Wonders.170


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City Views.170


Small Wonders.169

I finally got off the train in Leiden, for a tour of the old observatory. Turns out the blooms are farther ahead here than where I’ve been wandering lately in A’dam.

City Views.169

With this winter-sunset view of the Amstel in the heart of my adopted home city of Amsterdam, I leave all you dear readers for some undetermined period of time and complete my 365 days of at-least-one-post-per-day. I expect to be back in a few months — and any comments, post-views, or requests for less or more of this or that type of post in the interim may help guide me when I start the next chapter.

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Urban Entrances.67


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City Lights.17