POC Photo Company photography, travel, stories and other musings
Happy New Year
It’s been six weeks since I started this adventure and it’s now the longest time I’ve been abroad. The previous record was 1 month in Peru(Lima and Cusco) way back in 1999. That was certainly an adventure. That was through a study abroad program at Brooklyn College. I am now in the Hague, having just arrived last night. My time in Amsterdam, taking care of 2 kitties, Finn and Callie, has come to an end. Being winter time, there were a lot of overcast and cloudy days. It reminded me of Seattle. There were a few days where the sun peaked out behind the clouds to play. Luckily there were only a handful of days of rain. This was my second time in Amsterdam and both times have been in the winter. So the next time I visit will only be in the spring or summer where I can see all those tulips they talk so much about and I can wear shorts. Regardless of the weather, as always, I did a lot of walking and photo-ing.
Callie
Finn
I like to go off the beaten path and stay away from the more touristy areas of Amsterdam(or anywhere I happen to be). Why take the tram between sights when you can see the more interesting things, the more intriguing things in between. Maybe along the way is this quite peaceful block that has this small cafe where only the locals go. In Amsterdam, the center is a very touristy area and as you go out from there, out from the concentric canals, it gets less so and cooler. If you come here, sure, walk down the city center. See Dam square, look at the old palace and things like that. But just know there is so much better beyond that. If you’re thinking about coming to Amsterdam, get in touch with me. I’ll plan your whole itinerary. If I could do it all over, I’d be a travel agent and tour guide. I did a lot of museum and tourist stuff on my first visit to Amsteredm last February so I didn’t do a whole lot of that. Though I did go to Rembrandt House and took a day trip to Zaanse Schans, the land of 17th century windmills.
Oudezijds Voorburgwal
Diversity in Bureaucracy-mural by Judith de Leeuw JDL(2021)
Freakin' Windmills of the 17th century in Zaanse Schans
Wooden Shoes
Part of the reason I decided to go on this journey is to meet with people and engage. How to do that? It can be very easy just to stay inside or just go to a coffee shop and keep to myself. Some of you may know I’m sober. So one way to meet people is to go to some AA meetings. They're all over the world. I made my way to some English speaking meetings. I met some people there and was invited to a holiday party where we all made Gnocchi together and had traditional English holiday cakes. When I first got to the address, I looked through the window and saw a whole bunch of people I didn’t know. At that moment I thought I could have gone either way. Just walk away and go home or go to the party and introduce yourself. Luckily I chose the latter. Everyone there except me lived in Amsterdam but they were originally from areas in France, The UK, Australia and The USA. Our host was speaking French, Dutch and English. There is also meetup.com. I had never heard of that before but it is basically a site that lists all these different groups that “meetup”. Anyone can form a group of any kind. While here I joined a book club and Expat Cinema meet-up. For the book club, we read “Trust" by Hernan Diaz. We met at the Central Branch of the Amsterdam Public Library at Oosterdokseiland. We had a good discussion for a couple of hours. For the cinema group the movie was “The New Year That Never Came”, a Romanian movie with English Subtitles. It’s about the last days of communist Romania under Ceaușescu in December 1989. It follows 4 different groups of people. I recommend both the book and movie, especially the movie. It was very refreshing. It seems like most of the movies these days are all about people getting revenge or about some superhero universe.
Making Gnocchi
He knows what's up
Mega Swing Ride at Het Amsterdamse Winterparadijs
As I’m doing all these things and going about my day,there were times where I said to myself, “What the hell am I doing?” I also had many thoughts during the last month of just wanting to be in the comfort of my old Austin apartment and the regular routine I had. Even though the regular routine is part of what ignited the flame to do all this anyway. I’m sure those thoughts will persist from time to time. I also think spending 3 weeks in one place is a lot. What do I do with all of my time? I’m not spending every second at meetups and AA meetings. Sometimes I feel like I’m just consuming everything; all the great art, great sights, great food. I say to myself, is that it? Is this all I’ll do? I want this to have some kind of meaning. Maybe I thought in the end I’d be this enlightened soul. I’d see and understand the world and the people in it and teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I have been accused of delusions of grandeur before. Maybe it doesn’t have to mean anything. Maybe the things that I come across; a piece of art, a conversation with someone I’ll never see again, the most spectacular hot chocolate I’ve ever had, will just help raise the spirit in my soul a little more. Maybe it will help me be a little more understanding, be a little more helpful, and find some joy in a world that seems at times like a cold, dark place, especially with the tragedy down in New Orleans. As I’ve said before, my first reason for doing this is that I really liked going to new places and photographing all that I encountered there. Maybe that’s enough. The other things will follow. All I have to do is be myself and be honest, open and willing. That’s something anybody can do at any time, anywhere. That’s life. So I just need to take it easy, take a breath and enjoy the process. I am grateful. I know not everyone is able to do this. Even though I’m doing this as economically as possible, I am trying to get a remote job of some sort, I’m still doing this, experiencing wonderful things and learning about myself. And hopefully I’ll just be a little bit better in the end.
Christmas Time in Damplein
Rialto Theater in De Pijp
My next long term stay is down south on the west coast of The Netherlands in a place called Zeeland. I could be there for around 3 weeks. That will be through workaway. I’ll be staying with an artist in a town called Goes. But that doesn’t start until January 8th. So I had to decide just the other day where I would stay in between. Haarlem? Utrecht? Rotterdam? I chose The Hague because it’s close to the Zeeland area and it looks pretty cool too. This is also part of the fun of this trip, not knowing exactly where I’ll go next. The spontaneity of it all. Today I'm in The Hague. We had some sun for a bit but unfortunately I couldn't be out too long since I’m still recovering from a cold of some sort and didn’t want to push it. I think I’ve had it since Monday evening(Jan 30th). Which means I stayed home on New Year's Eve, which wasn’t really a big deal. There was a super, sober dance party I could have gone to but I knew it would be best to stay at home and just rest. And speaking of New Year’s Eve, let me tell you there are crazy fireworks here. I mean they were going off for several hours before midnight. And just before the new year and well after, they were going non-stop. All around me from every direction. I’ve never seen anything like it. And what’s interesting is that fireworks are illegal here. Obviously the law is not enforced. After Zeeland, I definitely want to be in Paris in early spring, even if only for 3 or 4 days. After that, I’m not sure. I want to go to new places. I want to go to Scotland. I also still intend to visit the towns and cities where my family is from in the countries of Poland and Ireland.
Check out some Fireworks from New Year's Eve in Amsterdam
I’m about to have some peanut butter and bananas on some Wasabröd. I’m listening to, without trying to sound too pretentious, the wonderful Ry Cooder soundtrack to Paris, Texas and some Claude Debussy. And I think my cold is letting up. That is enough from me. Please let me know of any places you’ve been to that I should check out.
Here are a bunch of photos from my time in Amsterdam.
And did you know I have some prints for sale which you can check out here
Elicium-part of the Amsterdam RAI-their convention center
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