My Russian Life: February 2014

Do you like graffiti? Do you ever really look at it?

I have to admit, I never did. All I tended to see was the ugly scribbling of nonsensical phrases & dirty words, and hate that someone had vandalized the side of a building or a bridge.

But I'm starting to have a different view on graffiti, or rather on well-executed graffiti, and can see it as pretty interesting art form. Over the past 3 years, I've spent a lot of time traveling through Europe, and you tend to see a LOT of graffiti. Especially in the older cities. Lisbon was full of great graffiti.

I saw some interesting walls this past weekend in Amsterdam.......................

My 1st thought when I walked by was Venus De Milo, with the long, flowing red hair & the hearts. Maybe this artist is in love!

And this was on the adjacent wall. Together. Apart. And I'm not sure what he's saying about "her" (on the left), but I'm thinking they are now apart.

In a school playground. It's better than a boring brink wall, right?

Making their escape out the window. Funny!

I didn't realize until I looked at my pictures, but here's another piece by Mr. Venus De Milo. I have started my own personal collection on Inkie's work!

Great piece. I saw this wall after I had visited the Van Gogh Museum, and the picture does resemble Vincent a little, don't you think? Or Vincent as a cowboy? I wonder who it really is?

Ruby. Looking at the signatures on the bottom right, I'm thinking "Juice" painted over "Darian's" work. That doesn't seem cool.

In the Jordaan district, next to a coffeeshop. Wow! There's a lot going on here. What was your vision Fabrice?

Original Spirit by Will Eisn (I think)...... I like it!

Do you like to travel alone? Have you ever tried it?

I don't mean for work, and I don't mean doing the actual process of travel (by car, plane, train, whatever) by yourself. I mean, have you ever tried taking a short trip or visiting a place for a day all by yourself?

I know it's not for everyone. Most of us like to be with people. I do too. But the beauty of traveling alone is that you can do whatever you want to do, when you want to do it, how long you want to do it, and you can change your mind as many times as you want!

If you want to sight see, do it. If you want to sit & read at a cafe and people-watch, go for it. If you want to shop, or sleep in late, or eat room service, or go running, you can do it.

Personally, I love traveling by myself & I'm lucky that I can. A few times a year, Pat has longer work trips that span across a weekend or two. And since I'm in Russia essentially by myself when he's away these days, there is no point in my spending the weekend alone in my apartment. Right?

So I went to Amsterdam this past weekend. I love Amsterdam. It's a great walking city, people are friendly without being "in your face", it's affordable and casual, and I've been their enough to know where to shop (Nine Streets is my favorite!).

I stayed at the Hotel Okura, located in the Oud-Zuid (former south) region, which is close to the Museum District. It was a great hotel - 4 restaurants, 2 bars, and an amazing spa (60 minute massage on Saturday!) and health center. And it cost 1/2 the price of similar hotels that are closer to the city center. I liked being in a real neighborhood, away from all of the tourists and away from the Red Light District and Dam Square.

The weekend started out a little gloomy. Light rain and lots of gray

Making the morning commute in the rain on a bike would take some getting used to.

After a nice long morning walk, it was time for breakfast!

Lunch at Le Pain Quotidien, one of my favorite chains. It's out of Belgium. The Daily Bread. I had one of their tartines with tuna, hummus, chickpeas, avocado. So pretty

I like how the houses look almost identical from the outside, except for the color.

Great bridge design.....

Eww... nothing like an outside urinal. I'm not sure that I would park my bike next to it!

Saw this in a window. Hint to Pat..............

The weather got progressively better throughout the weekend. Finally some blue sky!

This reminds me of an IKEA picture that we have on our living room wall (EVERYTHING in our apartment if from IKEA). In it, everything is black & white except for the red bike.

Rows of houses, rows of rooftop hooks for transporting items to the top floors.

The 1st crocus of the season.... I wish it was almost Spring!

I love this little outdoor seating area that someone set up outside their apartment.

I read that they estimate that there are 600,000+ bikes in Amsterdam. And the population in the city proper is around 750,000. That's almost 1 bike for every person

This is Johnny Jordaan square. There is a little bar on the corner that I've walked by (and stopped at) many times. Johnny was a well-known singer from the Jordaan district during the 1950's. The other statues represent some of his band members.

They made a great Café Americano

A trip isn't complete without a walk through a market. Because I was staying in a different part of town than usual, I needed to find a new market. This one is called Albert Cuyp Market and is open daily. It was a little junky for me, but the food looked good, especially the seafood.

If you've every tried to get vines to grow how you want them, you know that it's not so easy. I like that the vines on these houses are just shy of taking over & being too much.

Glad to see that they don't use ropes and pulleys anymore. Automation!

An afternoon smoke.......

Lunch #2. Another open-face sandwich. This time with warm goat cheese, apples, almonds, and greens on brown bread with a little drizzle of honey. Oh, and a Leffe. Delicious!