[Rhodes22-list] What I did on my summer vacation

[Wally Buck]

Wow sounds like a great trip, thanks for taking the time to post.

So how was the coffee in Amsterdam  ......???

Wally


>From: Steve Alm <salm at mn.rr.com>
>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: Rhodes <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] What I did on my summer vacation
>Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:54:27 -0500
>
>Hi everybody.
>
>We just got back from Europe and here's how it went.
>Trip overview:
>3 days in Amsterdam: 3 days in Paris; 6 days in Lisbon; 2 days in Tavira
>(southern Portugal); 3 days in Seville, Spain; 2 days in Ericeira, Port.
>
>Details:
>In Amsterdam, we immediately took to the streets and started just walking
>around, enjoying the sights--and what great sights they were.  The canals
>are loaded with every kind of boat you can imagine.  Even tall-masted
>sailboats that were stranded between two low bridges.  Many were old-wordly
>looking lap strake vessels with big, fat, high bows. We took a boat tour
>around the canals and went to the house boat museum where we saw everything
>from old to new, inhabited and abandoned.  The people that still live on
>their boats often sit out on their canal side decks and greet you as you
>boat by.  People were very friendly and inviting and most spoke English.
>
>Our favorite part of the city is an area called Leidesplein, with very
>narrow cobblestone streets lined with shops, restaurants, night clubs and 
>of
>course the famous ³coffee houses.²  We ate most of our meals at sidewalk
>cafes.  They arrange the seating so everyone faces the street.  It¹s like
>sitting and watching a movie.
>
>We visited the Rembrandt Museum where we saw, among others, the wonderful
>³Night Watch.²  I¹ve only seen pictures before and they hardly do justice 
>to
>the real thing.  We also went to the van Gogh museum and ditto to that.
>Mary Ann is something of a painting historian so it was nice to have my own
>personal docent.  I learned a lot as we both gazed in amazement at these
>extraordinary works.
>
>And speaking of gazing in amazement, we also toured the red light district
>and saw the hookers in their little street-side windows in various states 
>of
>undress, waiting for customers.  One simply walks up to the window, slips 
>in
>a 50 euro note and gets invited in for about fifteen minutes.  Not very
>romantic but, well...enough said.
>
>They say there are more bicycles in Amsterdam than people.  They have
>parking ramps for bikes instead of cars.  There are no ramps for cars.  
>Even
>older men and women all dressed up for work in coats and ties or even high
>heels are riding around on bikes.  The public transportation is incredible.
>trains, trams, metros, busses, you name it.  It¹s very easy to get around.
>Nonetheless, we got around mostly on foot and by the third day we had
>blisters, shin splints, aches and pains galore!  We bought foot powder to
>soak our feet at night and I broke down and bought a funky, old walkin¹
>stick.  More about my cane later.
>
>We said goodbye to the land of tulips and took the high speed Thalys train
>to Paris.  We arrived at the train station and took the metro from there to
>the city center near our hotel in the Latin Quarter.  Upon emerging from 
>the
>underground, my first glimpse was Nortre Damme!  Whew!  We checked in and
>hit the streets.  Mary Ann lived in Paris years ago, so she knew her way
>around and speaks French.  Dining was the first priority so we found a cute
>sidewalk cafe and indulged.
>
>Napoleon mandated that all buildings be the same height, so all you see are
>six story (the attic is actually 7, but that¹s typically reserved for the
>servants) structures with all that frilly French design.  Again we, the
>intrepid walkers, wondered around the narrow streets, stopping for snacks
>and wine whenever our feet got too tired to go on.  These rest stops seemed
>to get more and more frequent.
>
>We went to the modern Pompidoa museum where they had paintings by Dali,
>Picasso, others.  At the Louvre, there was a special Leonardo deVinci
>exhibit that was utterly wonderful.  deVinci only painted 30 something
>paintings, but he filled up pages and pages of little technical drawings of
>everything from human anatomy to flying machines.  Absolutely fascinating.
>We decided not to stand in the long line to see the Mona Lisa which is in
>its own room.  What bothered me about the Louvre is that the labels next to
>the artwork are only in French.  You¹d think that they¹d have several
>languages like they do everywhere else, but no.  Nortre Damme was perhaps
>the highlight for me.  I had no idea that the place is actually still open
>and free to all.  Not only do they still give Mass there (with the 
>Cardinal,
>no less, presiding) but they still play the pipe organ which we got to 
>hear.
>I was profoundly astonished.  It blows my mind to think that before it was
>built in 1133, some architect had to put pen to paper and say, ³I think we
>should build it this way.² and that the people responsible for approving it
>said, ŒYeah, that looks reasonable.  Go ahead!²
>
>Paris is extremely expensive so we tried to shop at grocery stores and 
>bring
>food back to the hotel whenever practical--  baguettes, cheese, sausages 
>and
>wine, but it was hard not to stop at the creperies and various other
>sidewalk eateries.
>
>I know you¹re probably curious how we were treated by the French.  More on
>that later--let¹s go to Lisbon.  Our friend, Eddy Goltz, has been a
>professional musician there for 20 years.  He stays with us once a year 
>when
>he comes home to see his family so it was cool to do the reverse.  Lisbon 
>is
>a beautiful and very old city.  Founded by the Phonecians thousands of 
>years
>B.C. and subsequently inhabited by Celts, Romans, Moors, Safardic Jews and
>Portuguese.  The antiquity of the place is hard to wrap your mind around
>when you come from a neighborhood that was built in the 1930¹s.  One of the
>best natural ports in Europe, Lisbon is a bustling shipping and
>boating/sailing haven.  We saw everything from full rigged tall ships to
>kayaks; ocean going container ships to PWC¹s.  There are aquaducts, a 
>middle
>ages castle, monuments and cathedrals abound, and of course, sidewalk 
>cafes.
>We took a double decker bus tour where we got to see the sights and get
>ourselves oriented to the city.  There are many lovely beaches along the
>coast but the Atlantic is pretty cold so we only waded a bit which felt
>great on our sore feet.
>
>I got to play three gigs in Lisbon.  The first was a jazz big band that
>played for the Lisboa Escola de Danza (School of Dance).  They were doing a
>show featuring various selections from American musicals ranging from
>Cabaret to Chicago.  The band was pretty good but the dancers were
>fantastic.  The other two gigs were in nightclubs.  One was a trio--myself
>and two other Portuguese dudes who spoke little English and didn¹t know my
>arrangements very well but we managed to speak the international language
>pretty well.  The last gig was a quintet with Eddy and Mary Ann on the 4th
>of July and us Yanks rocked Œem good.  Tons of fun!
>
>We left Lisbon to go to the southern Portuguese area called the Algarve,
>known for its quaint villages and beaches.  After quite a mixup in the
>bus/train ride, we finally got to Tavira at about 11 at night.  They
>happened to be celebrating San Pedro that weekend so the town was all
>dressed up and decorated with flowers.  The whole town was out dancing in
>the streets to the various bands, eating sardines and snails and drinking
>beer.  It was really very sweet.  We took the water taxis to the beaches
>which were beautiful indeed but too windy to enjoy for long so it was back
>to the sidewalk cafes for more beer.
>
>We took the bus to Seville in Spain.  Wow, what a fantastic city--my
>favorite of the trip.  Everything is clean and well kept.  We stumbled
>around a little and found a hotel, checked in and then, you guessed it, hit
>the streets on foot.  What a beautiful and enchanting city!!!  It wasn¹t
>long before we happened along a group of people at a bar who had spilled
>into the street, all singing in harmony, dancing and playing
>guitars--Flamenco Sevillana!  It was just wonderful.  I¹ve seen Flamenco
>performances in the States, but like pictures of great art, it¹s a whole 
>new
>experience when you¹re there where Flamenco was born.  We went to several
>other Flamenco shows too and they were all fabulous.
>
>We found the double decker bus tour here as well and the sights were
>spectacular.  The Moorish Alcazar palace from the 900¹s, the Cathedral of
>San Cristobal (where Christopher Columbus is buried)--almost as impressive
>as Nortre Damme,  fortresses, a whole modern area built for the world expo
>in 1992 to celebrate 500 years after Columbus discovered America, and yep,
>sidewalk cafes.  We ate lots of tapas and gaspacho to die for.  The sights,
>sounds, smells, and tastes of Seville are truly a delight for the senses.  
>I
>can¹t wait for my next visit.
>
>We bussed back to the Lisbon area and spent our last two nights with two
>newly acquired friends Stephen and Vanessa who are transplanted from 
>Belfast
>and London.  They live in the little fishing village of Ericeira, out on 
>the
>coast northwest of Lisbon.  Very charming and down scale.  Crab dinners and
>lots of Irish whiskey.  It was nice to cap the trip off with a couple of
>relaxing days on the ocean front.
>
>People and attitudes:
>There is no shortage of anti-American sentiment in Europe.  Virtually every
>person we spoke to felt the same about Bush.  Fortunately however, they 
>were
>able to distinguish between American foreign policy and us two travelers 
>and
>the image of me in my Panama hat and cane gave most the impression I was a
>Brit or a German--fine with me.  Nobody gave us a hard time about it
>although they all wanted to talk politics.  Most agreed that if there had 
>to
>be just one major super power in the world, better the US than Russia,
>China, Japan, or any one else.  In Amsterdam, the folks were very friendly
>and affable.  In Paris, they were just being Parisians--they hate anything
>that¹s not French and they¹re pretty snobby about it.  But I didn¹t get the
>feeling they were singling out America as the center of their hatred for
>things not French.  In fact President Chirac just gave an address urging
>people to smile and be nice to Americans because they¹re losing too much
>money in tourism.  Americans are staying away from France in droves.  The
>Portuguese people, on the other hand, make the French seem like happy 
>little
>school girls.  They¹re truly horrid people, especially the Lisboans.
>Portugal is the most backward country of western Europe and it gives them 
>an
>inferiority complex.  They have few natural resources in their little
>country and they view themselves as have-nots.  They take every opportunity
>to be indignant and sour.  They¹re not outwardly rude, but if you go into a
>restaurant, the waiter will look at you as if to say, ³What are you doing
>here?  Can¹t you see I¹m busy being miserable?²  The Spanish were just the
>opposite.  They¹re happy and glorious.  We were treated like the king and
>queen.  I just can¹t say enough about Seville.
>
>I took about a hundred and fifty pictures with my trusty 35 mm.  After much
>debate, we decided against a digital camera so we can put the photos in an
>album and pass it around, rather than trying to get everyone to gather
>around the computer.  I¹m having them put on a disk too but I don¹t have a
>web site or anything to post them on.
>
>So there you have it.  It was a great trip with many new memories and
>friends........and I¹m thrilled to be home!
>
>Slim
>S/V Fandango
>
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