Foreground, behive; background, stork on nesting platform. At least, I think it’s a stork but maybe different migratory birds use those platforms at different times. That’d be a smartly-adaptive Dutch approach to supporting migratory bird populations in the midst of probably the most famous park in the nation…
Both taken along the Amstel by where the Dutch National Ballet & Opera company are housed in the same building as City Hall. The one below taken from a balcony during intermission of an evening (yes – summer in the north) ballet performance.
These lovely red poppies have been blooming quite abundantly for many weeks now, and I finally found the opportunity to photograph a few, while visiting Texel recently.
Let me introduce you to Zwolle, the lovely little capital city of Overijssel. (A province whose descriptive name means “above the Ijssel river,” if you’re curious. And Zwolle is named for the minor contour- which in the Netherlands would likely be called a hill – upon which the city was originally founded: Zwolle is related to the English verb “swell.”)
First of many photos I’ll be showing you from the lovely island of Texel, off the coast of the mainland and the northernmost part of “Noord Holland” aka North Holland.
Rotterdam, one learns, is Europe’s busiest port and was until fairly recently the busiest in the world. It also has a long history of shipping, and in its urban center features both an indoor maritime museum (which I’ve not yet entered), and a living outdoor museum that you can walk through for free (as I did during the evening walk which yielded these photos), or do tours with information shared if you book and pay…I assume. Haven’t yet researched that part. And as you’ll see, some of the lovely older buildings did manage to survive WWII. I’m told that the one you see here was temporarily moved so that they could build a new tunnel under it, then brought back to its plot once the tunnel was constructed. Good engineers, these Dutch folks, eh?
(so much world, so little time....) 