Foto Vrijdag 1.5

I’ve inadvertently been focusing on various sculptures and statues around town for the past few weeks of Foto Vrijdag entries, so I figured this week I’d intentionally continue the theme with one of the most famous statues here in town. It’s Thinker on The Rock, by Welsh artist Barry Flanagan. There are other versions in [...]

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Free Good Music

One of my favorite bands, The Phoenix Foundation, is releasing an EP on December 7, to tide us over while we wait for their next full-length album to come out sometime next year. To tide us over until December 7, they’ve released a free download of a song off the new EP. You can get [...]

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You Provide the Q …

and I’ll provide the A. Inspired by another blogger — a couple of them, actually — if you’ve got any questions about Utrecht or about me, I’ll try to answer them. Or, if you’re one of the regular visitors here who never comments, simply drop me a comment and let me know what brings you [...]

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Then and Now

I’m really feeling awful today, so this is a short one.
Last year for Christmas, I got my parents a calendar of scenes of Utrecht taken around the beginning of the 1900s. I then went around town trying to get shots of the same areas as they look today. Some areas hadn’t really changed much at [...]

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Tiptoe Through the Tulips

I seem to have developed a bit of a cough today. I’m hoping it goes no further, as I really don’t want a cold right now. But as I’m feeling a bit under the weather, this week’s posts may end up being photo-heavy/word-light.
Merian and I had been discussing flower vases and such last week, so [...]

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The Arrival

Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands from Spain today. We headed over to see his arrival, along with seemingly half the population of Utrecht. He’s a popular man with screaming fans.

Zwarte Piet was also in attendance, seemingly in record numbers. There were boatloads of them! Maybe Spain’s unemployment numbers will drop after this month!

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Foto Vrijdag 1.4

This is a detail from one of my favorite sculptures here in town. It’s such a quiet, solitary setting and the sculpture fits the environment so perfectly. I saw the man quietly contemplating the trees when I first came upon him, during a walk with Pippo. I thought it was lovely. Then I saw the [...]

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Gefeliciteerd!

Today is Giovanni’s birthday. He decided to go for a low-key celebration, so we’re staying home and I’m making a wine-based beef stew, as he requested. Tomorrow, though, is a different story. We’re going to see Eddie Izzard perform in Amsterdam. Not too shabby a way to celebrate!

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Things We Learn at the Potdeksel

Who says you can’t learn anything in a bar! We headed over to the Potdeksel last evening for an aperitif before dinner, since Merian and René were there (and we had no St. Maarten’s candy). While there, the subject of tongue-twisters seemed to come up and Kris suggested that if we can learn the following, [...]

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Rooms For Rent

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s made the BBC news website, as well, so I figured I’d mention it again. Plus, it never fails to amuse me. The Netherlands has a shortage of criminals — or at least a shortage of ones who are caught and sent to prison — so we’re [...]

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