Wandering the Streets of Amsterdam

There is an extreme contrast between the canals and streets of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and my home on the mountainside in Provo, Utah. As I write this short post, I am looking out the window at the hillside with the leaves on the thick stand of trees just starting to turn yellow. By turning and looking out the front windows of my house, there is not a car or bicycle or person in sight. I can see the mountains covered with clouds and miles of trees.

Say Cheese

I don't usually see anything like this cheese wheel display in any of the stores we frequent in the United States. We mostly see shredded or individually packaged cheese. I saw this display in the Netherlands. Looking online, these cheese wheels would probably sell for about $100 each.

Amsterdam Light Rail in the Rain

We rode the tram around Amsterdam and walked on this day in the rain. We also discovered that there were different tram systems and you had to have a ticket for the particular one you wanted to ride on. This photo was taken in the Museumkwartier near the Van Gogh Museum.

Smoked Jalapeno Cheese

Most of the supermarkets in the United States have a refrigerated cheese section, but you seldom see cheese displays like this one in the Netherlands. I saw and ate more cheese in Europe than I can remember eating before. I do like cheese and I would probably eat more except for the high cost of the product here in the United States.

Amsterdam Harbor

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has been an important seaport for over 700 years and maybe a lot longer. It is the 4th busiest port in Europe by metric tons of cargo. This view of the city is from the roof of the NEMO Science Center.

Strawberry River, Utah

Sometimes we just need a peaceful scene. Here is a quote from the following book:

Chambers, Aidan. 2010. This is all: the pillow book of Cordelia Kenn. https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=B04B4A50-8FE6-4E15-86CF-6672E6A860B6.

I thought how lovely and how strange a river is. A river is a river, always there, and yet the water flowing through it is never the same water and is never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move. And over time the river itself changes too. It widens and deepens as it rubs and scours, gnaws and kneads, eats and bores its way through the land. Even the greatest rivers- the Nile and the Ganges, the Yangtze and he Mississippi, the Amazon and the great grey-green greasy Limpopo all set about with fever trees-must have been no more than trickles and flickering streams before they grew into mighty rivers.

The Strawberry River runs into the Duchesne River and then into the Green River which eventually joins the Colorado River and mostly dries up before it reaches the Gulf of California or the Sea of Cortez depending on which side of the border you happen to live on. It is interesting to think about the fact that the water in this placid stream will end up growing the vegetables from the California Imperial Valley by way of the All-American Canal.

Kokanee Salmon 2019

One of our favorite activities is to visit the spawning of the Kokanee Salmon at the Strawberry Lake Fish Trap in Utah. It is one of the outstanding wildlife events. The fish travel up the Strawberry River to spawn. Here is a short explanation of the fish from UtahFishingInfo.com entitled "Kokanee Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)"

Kokanee Salmon are bright silvery fish with no definitive spotting pattern. Kokanee have a dark blue back with silvery sides. As the spawning season approaches, kokanee turn from silver to orange to deep red and the male develops a characteristic hook-jaw common to the Pacific salmon. A deeply forked tail also distinguishes them from rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout. They are present in reservoirs such as Flaming Gorge, Porcupine and Strawberry reservoirs. 

Kokanee Salmon is simply the name for a Pacific Sockeye Salmon when it is landlocked. Kokanees have been a part of Utah's fishery management program for many years now. Kokanee can be one of the most difficult and elusive fish species to catch in Utah, but are a beautiful fish to catch and are very tasty to eat.

Iconic Windmills in the Netherlands

From logos to T-shirts, Dutch windmills have become iconic. They have had a long time to become iconic since the earliest windmills date from the 15th Century. We got an extensive tour of one of these working windmills that was being used as a sawmill. Other windmills were and are being used to grind grain, pump water, and as an industrial power source. Here is a short quote about the uses of windmills from the dutchnews.nl article entitled "It’s windmill weekend: 10 things you should know about Dutch windmills."

The energy generated by wind and watermills was used to turn any raw material that needed pounding, mauling, shredding, hacking or mixing into a tradeable product. The Zaanstreek paper mills, for instance, were renowned throughout the world for their good quality paper. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was printed on sheets produced there. 

There were mustard mills, hemp mills, grain mills, snuff mills, cocoa mills, oil mills, chalk mills, paint mills and saw mills. Because of their ability to turn trees into planks (for shipbuilding) much more quickly, the latter were instrumental in making the Netherlands a powerful and very rich sea-faring nation. In fact, some say the first industrial estate in the world was a complex of 23 saw mills on the Kostenverlorenkade in Amsterdam. One, the Otter, still remains. 

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

Around the world we a seeing many Windmills for the generation of electricity.

Another Draw Bridge, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

We were impressed with the drawbridge in downtown Annapolis, Maryland while we lived there and so we were even more impressed by the drawbridges on the canals in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. There are 1281 bridges in Amsterdam.

Canal Bridge, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Amsterdam is a city of canals. The history of the canals is fascinating. Here is a short introduction from Wikipedia: Canals of Amsterdam.

Much of the Amsterdam canal system is the successful outcome of city planning. In the early part of the 17th century, with immigration rising, a comprehensive plan was put together, calling for four main, concentric half-circles of canals with their ends resting on the IJ Bay. Known as the "grachtengordel", three of the canals are mostly for residential development (Herengracht or ‘’Patricians' Canal’’; Keizersgracht or ‘’Emperor's Canal’’; and Prinsengracht or ‘’Prince's Canal’’), and a fourth, outer canal, the Singelgracht, for purposes of defense and water management. The plan also envisaged interconnecting canals along radii; a set of parallel canals in the Jordaan quarter (primarily for the transportation of goods, for example, beer); the conversion of an existing, inner perimeter canal (Singel) from a defensive purpose to residential and commercial development; and more than one hundred bridges. The defensive purpose of the Nassau/Stadhouderskade was served by moat and earthen dikes, with gates at transit points but otherwise no masonry superstructures. 

Construction proceeded from west to east, across the breadth of the layout, like a gigantic windshield wiper as the historian Geert Mak calls it – not from the center outwards as a popular myth has it. Construction of the north-western sector was started in 1613 and was finished around 1625. After 1664, building in the southern sector was started, although slowly because of an economic depression.[which?] The eastern part of the concentric canal plan, covering the area between the Amstel river and the IJ Bay, was not implemented for a long time. In the following centuries, the land went mostly for park, the Botanical garden, old age homes, theaters and other public facilities – and for waterways without much plan. 

Several parts of the city and of the urban area are polders, recognizable by their postfix -meer meaning 'lake', such as Aalsmeer, Bijlmermeer, Haarlemmermeer, and Watergraafsmeer. The canals in Amsterdam are now used for tourism, recreation, houseboats, and a relatively small amount of private transport compared to the main modes of walking, light rail, subway, and bicycle. Most of the canals are paralleled by automobile roads on both sides.

Ice in Retreat

According to NASA's Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program, Glacial Retreat in the Alps:

1. The European Alps have lost approximately 50% of their total glacial volume between 1850 and 1975, with an additional 35-40% of the remaining amount lost since 1975 (Haeberli et al. 2007).
2. In 2003, a record heatwave swept through Europe causing a mean glacial mass balance loss of 2.45 meters-water equivalent (m w.e.) in the European Alps. This was one of the most significant mass balance losses within the past 2,000 years (Haeberli et al. 2007).
3. Switzerland relies on hydroelectric power for 50% of its energy supply, and much of this is sourced from glacial meltwaters provided by the Swiss Alps (UNEP 2008).
4. A rise in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius would decrease the snow reliability of high-altitude ski resorts by over 20%, with even more drastic results for low-altitude resorts. This would be potentially disastrous to Switzerland's tourism-dependent economy (Koenig et al. 1997).

From our short visit to the high mountains in Switzerland, the degree of loss of ice cover was abundantly evident. 

Cars, Boats, and Bicycles in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

There are a lot of cars, boats, and bicycles in Amsterdam. The city could define what is usually referred to as high-density housing. Housing is also extremely expensive. The cost for a 480 square foot studio apartment can run to over 1500 Euros per month. See "Cost of living in Amsterdam, Netherlands." The country is almost absolutely flat and parking space for a car is at a premium, so bicycles are a really good form of transportation.

Westerkerk, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Quoting from Wikipedia, Weterkerk:

The Westerkerk (Dutch pronunciation: [ʋɛstərkɛrk]; English: Western Church) is a Reformed church within Dutch Protestant Calvinism in central Amsterdam, Netherlands. It lies in the most western part of the Grachtengordel neighborhood (Centrum borough), next to the Jordaan, between the Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht.

Continuing the quote:

The Westerkerk was built between 1620 and 1631 in Renaissance style according to designs by architect Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621). He is buried in the church he designed earlier: the 'Zuiderkerk'. The building of the Westerkerk was finished and completed by his son Pieter de Keyser (1595-1676) and inaugurated on June 8, 1631. The church has a length of 58 meters and a width of 29 meters. The high nave is flanked by the two lower aisles. The three-aisled basilica has a rectangular plan with two transepts of equal dimensions. As a result, the plan for this church was given the form of two Greek crosses connected with each other.[2] (a patriarchal cross). 

On our visit, the Church was closed for restoration. 

Crowds and Canals

Having spent most of my life in the Salt River Valley of Arizona, I am not used to streets filled with pedestrians. The obvious reason is that Phoenix and the surrounding communities are in the low desert and summer temperatures can be over 110 degrees in the shade. Another major reason is that there is almost nowhere you can get to by walking. Phoenix is a city of cars and parking lots. Our recent stay in Amsterdam, the Netherlands was a distinct contrast. There are few cars in the downtown area and lots of pedestrians. There are also thousands of bicycles. They also allow boats and even houseboats on their canals. It is against the law to even swim in a Salt River Valley canal. Although from the condition of the water in the Amsterdam canals, I don't think I would swim in those either.

Clouds from an Airplane Window

This photo was taken as we approached the Salt Lake International Airport. There was quite a storm brewing and we had to sit and wait for about half an hour before docking due to lightning in the area. But when you are looking down on those same clouds, they are lovely. By the way, this current storm left us in Utah with the first snow of the season on the mountains.

Drawbridge on an Amsterdam Canal

I grew up with canals used for irrigation. The contrast with the canals in Amsterdam is significant. Here is a brief introduction to the canal system from Wikipedia: Canals of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, has more than one hundred kilometers of grachten (canals), about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals (Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht), dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel. Alongside the main canals are 1550 monumental buildings. The 17th-century canal ring area, including the Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Herengracht and Jordaan, were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, contributing to Amsterdam's fame as the "Venice of the North."

We took two canal tours in Amsterdam and walked many miles along the canals. Amsterdam is a city of canals, bicycles, and people. We also love the Trams. 

Panorama of the Alps with Matterhorn

You will probably have to click on this photo to see the detail. One thing this photo shows is the Matterhorn in the context of the other peaks in the same area. The Matterhorn is the small bump on the horizon in the right-center of the photo. This photo also shows the second largest glacier in the Alps, the Gorner glacier on the left-hand side of the image. This photo was taken from Gonegrat. You can get to this lovely spot by taking the Gornergrat Bahn, the world's first fully electrified cog railway.

Glaciers

I live where glaciated valleys are visible every day of the year but it is rare that I get a chance to see them in action. In this example from the Alps, I can see two glaciers merging and forming a medial moraine (the dark line running down the right side of the merged glaciers). This medial moraine is like a conveyor belt carrying rocks and illustrates the grinding action of the glaciers as they create regolith. This is the Gorner Glacier Here is an explanation of this glacier from Wikipedia: Gorner Glacier.

The Gorner Glacier (German: Gornergletscher) is a valley glacier found on the west side of the Monte Rosa massif close to Zermatt in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is about 12.4 km (7.7 mi) long (2014) and 1 to 1.5 km (0.62 to 0.93 mi) wide. The entire glacial area of the glacier related to Gorner Glacier is 57 km2 (22 sq mi) (1999), which makes it the second largest glacial system in the Alps after the Aletsch Glacier system; however it ranks only third in length behind the Aletsch and Fiescher Glacier, respectively. Numerous smaller glaciers connect with the Gorner Glacier. Its (former) tributaries are: Gornergletscher (after which the whole system is named, but the upper part is almost disconnected from the lower part nowadays), Monte Rosa Gletscher, Grenzgletscher (nowadays by far its main tributary), Zwillingsgletscher, Schwärzegletscher, Breithorngletscher, Triftjigletscher, and Unterer Theodulgletscher (although the last three ones are actually disconnected now).

A Rainy Day in Amsterdam

We came prepared for rain with really good raincoats. But when you are a photographer, rain raises a few issues including getting you lens water streaked. This is a photo through a window at the Van Gogh Museum. I liked the effect of the drops of water on the window. But being outside was a different matter. It was really wet. I can switch over to my iPhone in those times because the iPhone is water-resistant.

Downtown Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Amsterdam is a fascinating city. We spent the day walking in the city and visiting another museum. By the way, it was raining most of the day and this photo is in the rain. I'm not sure I like the color in the image above, so here is another one for comparison.

Gornergrat, Switzerland

This really is Switzerland and you can see the Matterhorn in the middle of the photo. This is near the tops of the mountains at about 3089 meters or 10,134 feet. This fabulous viewpoint is accessible by walking up a trail or riding up the mountain in a cog railway. We kept expecting the clouds to cover the Matterhorn, but they just played peekaboo all the time we were visiting this lovely place. Here is a very short explanation of the view:

The panorama is among the finest in the world. The views take in the Monte Rosa massif with Switzerland’s highest peak (Dufourspitze, 4,634 m); the second-largest glacier in the Alps, the Gorner Glacier; and a total of 29 mountains above 4,000 m, including, of course, the Matterhorn in all its glory.

This is the place to see the Alps. 

Alpsee, Howenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Bavaria is a place of lakes, green fields, mountains, and waterfalls. The beauty of the countryside is so remarkable as to look like a park. In my part of the world, the only thing that green is a golf course. If you can imagine an entire countries that looks like a golf course, then you can imagine Germany and, of course, Switzerland. This lake is called the Alpsee and it is in the town of Hohenschwangau near where the Neuschwanstein Castle is located. I thought you might want to see some of the other beautiful country other than the castle.