Mlle in de Grote Appel: fotos

Showing posts with label fotos. Show all posts

Friday, June 5, 2009

Antwerpen

There's something so mysterious and sad about this woman. I look at her and wonder how many years she's been waiting at this doorway in the center of the city. I think that she could have been waiting here before my grandparents were even born, and that she's weathered countless bitter cold winters, sunny days, and seen complete lifetimes pass her by.
Her face, the way it's aged, or how it was carved leaves her looking scarred and shy, but she's quite demure and lovely, isn't she?

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Amsterdam

my house

Just kidding. This is a little bar by my house that I like a lot. Apparently this is a bar where old ladies like to hang out. There's also a dog who growls at you when you go to the bathroom.

Queen's Night

I went to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in Amsterdam on Queen's Night. There were different points throughout the show where I thought Karen O was amazing, and others not so much. This was one of the amazing times. She wore this crazy mask while performing the only song on the new album that I like, "Heads will Roll"... it was great to watch the show from the balcony and see the crowd freaking out. I'm glad I went, although I wish I'd had a nice camera because she moves so much and my little point and shoot was just struggling to capture any clear shots of Karen. In the end, I settled for blurry shots, going for the "abstract" effect.

I ate frietjes met samurai sauce at Leidse plein afterward.

This is a death trap ride. Would you go on it?

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Leiden

chasing bloemen

Monday, April 27, 2009

meet some of my neighbors

One of my favorite things about living in the Netherlands is that there are so many birds! Back home I was quite the novice birdie, with my 2 feeders and little "who's at my feeder?" book. Unfortunately we don't have any suitable bird friendly spots in our teeny tiny itsy bitsy patio, so I like to walk over to the water by the house and check out the scene.

Of course I have been really enjoying spring, because there are SO many babies! They're everywhere and I've found that I have to go and count them every day or two just to see who's left, because it seems like they are preyed upon by the sea gulls and local cats. At first I was sort of gutted at the realization, but really, if you're going to enjoy observing nature, then you have to accept these things.

I think it's really cute though how when the babies first hatch they stay so close to their mother, and within a week they're zipping all over the place, exploring and chasing mosquitoes. occasionally there will be one who is a bit too brave and it goes off exploring and doesn't realize that everyone else has moved on. Once it's realized, the baby will begin chirping loudly and swimming at full speed towards them to catch up. Yes, I realize that I am a complete geek.

Anyway, this is one of the "families" that I've been visiting. They're a lot bigger now.

Saturday

Recently I discovered that there was a terrace on the top floor of V & D here in Leiden. There's a little place where you can get some nibbles or coffee and enjoy a very pretty (and perhaps the highest in the area) view of the city center. At times it can feel like you're experiencing a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", but in this case the gulls are more interested in your food than they are in killing you.