Copenhagen

St. Nikolaj

Leaving Amsterdam, Copenhagen was the next stop on the Great European Tour.  As with Amsterdam, Copenhagen is a port city and has a network of canals, so we used the same strategy and took a canal and harbor cruise to start our exploration. Copenhagen is known as the "city of spires", and we got good views of them from the cruise boat.  Copenhagen may not have more spires than other cities, but the ones it has are very unusual.  Seeing an often repeated architectural theme, we think it could also be called the "city of spirals."

(left) the Borsen, or Old Stock Exchange; (right) Church of Our Saviour.

The Borsen spire is quite fantastical, starting with four dragons at the base whose tails intertwine and spiral upward.  The spiral of the Church of Our Saviour is a stairway that leads up to a crows-nest observation platform.  Urban legend has it that the architect of the steeple committed suicide by leaping from the top after the king complained that the spiral wound the wrong way.  As with many such legends, this one has been debunked by records of the architect's life, which went on well beyond the completion of the spire.

Cruising the harbor, you see reminders of Denmark's nautical past, as well as examples of the modern present, such as the Copenhagen Opera House.

Without question, the biggest tourist attraction in Copenhagen is the statue of the Little Mermaid.  We made no plans to go see it, but our cruise boat came in close to it, so here is a picture of her from an angle you never see in the tourist brocures.  I have circled the statue since it is so hard to see among the tourists;-)

We stayed near the Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement/theme parks in the world, with one of the oldest roller coasters still operating, as well as many other modern thrill rides.  Of more interest to us, it is home to some of the best restaurants in Copenhagen.  It is not a good idea to mix eating and roller coasting, so we did not ride, just ate there.

We made a point to go see Rosenborg Castle, the residence of Danish kings and queens in the 17th and 18th centuries.  

It is small as castles go, and contains some incredible ornate furniture.  The basement houses the Crown Jewels of Denmark and the Crowns themselves, from back in the days when monarchs were absolute rulers.  The item that really caught my fancy, however, was upstairs.  It is the queen's throne. The round pieces in it are made of narwhal tusks, which have (can you guess?) spiral ridges.

There are beautiful gardens all around Rosenborg Castle.  Carmen of course took lots of photos of flowers, and we will only show this one because it is so unusual.  Does anyone know what it is?

Denmark has been famous for amber going back to prehistoric times, and Copenhagen is home to the Amber Museum.  Here are just two of the incredible things made from amber:

In the center of Copenhagen is a round tower, the Rundestaarn, that boasts being the oldest functioning observatory in Europe.  Built in 1642, the original astronomers needed a way to haul telescopes and other equipment to the top, so it was built with a ramp for horses that ...*spirals* upward.  Visitors, including your two intrepid bloggers, still go up this way--on foot that is, there is no pony ride to the top.  It is one of the best views in Copenhagen.

After three days in Copenhagen, it was time for something completely different, and so we headed off to the next stop on the Tour:  Switzerland!

Amsterdam

One of the reasons for spending a year in Italy was to use it as a home base for seeing lots of other places in Europe.  To that end, we embarked on the Great European Tour in July.  Our first stop was Amsterdam.




A port city, Amsterdam has extensive canals laid out as concentric semicircles and spokes.  So a canal cruise was first on our agenda for discovering the city.

At one point in the cruise, you get a great view of six bridges down a canal.

There are lots of people living on houseboats on the canals.  They started as a cheap alternative for students and artists; now they are among the most expensive housing.  They range from spartan to luxurious.  Many have gardens.  The one below has a floating patio.

The canal cruise was great for seeing the architectural styles.  Virtually all the row houses had hoist beams sticking out from the peak of the roof, for lifting furniture to upper stories since it was impossible to carry them up narrow stairways.


















Amsterdam is a city with a large number of museums, from big and famous (the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh museum), to smaller specialized ones like the Museum of Cannabis, or this one we spotted from the canal boat:

Speaking of cannabis, we are sure you know that Amsterdam has some notariety in Europe because it is legal there.  We had a funny moment when it started raining and we went into a little souvenir shop to buy an umbrella.  Carmen picked one out without looking too closely and took it to the clerk.  She was a bit concerned about our choice and said, "Do you know it has weed pictures on it?"  We bought it anyway.

Number One on my list to see was the Van Gogh Museum.  Unfortunately, no picture taking was allowed inside the galleries, so we settled for this mural reproduction in the lobby.











The Van Gogh Museum is near the Rijksmuseum, which is the Netherlands national gallery.  They are separated by a big park with the iconic I Amsterdam sign.  This day, lots of people climbed up on the sign.  Kids could play in the adjacent playground.

The Rijksmuseum is the home of major works by the Dutch masters of the 17th century.  The crown jewel of the collection is Rembrandt's "The Night Watch".  I have seen Rembrandts before that were the size of normal paintings.  This thing is huge--3.6 x 4.4 meters (we use the metric system, remember?).  Photos were allowed here.

The Rijksmuseum houses more than paintings.  The upper floor has a World War I fighter plane.

Gary was inspired to do "Junior Birdman"

On our last day, we rented bikes and explored the town.  Bikes and bike lanes are everywhere in Amsterdam, and it is really easy to get around on them.  We stopped to admire hollyhocks (the most popular flower here after the tulip blooms fade), enjoy the Vondelpark, and have lunch at a sidewalk cafe.

Say, who took that last picture?  There's something funny about it...

Expat 4th of July

We first met Anne Kaplan at our friend Paola Salvioni's home.  Anne is a professor at Columbia University, and when not in New York, she is at her well-restored country home in the hills near Greve-in-Chianti, living the expatriate life (at least part-time).  Anne had the inspiration to invite the expats she knew to an old-fashioned 4th of July barbecue and potluck at her house.

Anne's home is beautiful inside...

... and out,

That is Paola on the front porch.

...with flower gardens (yes, Carmen snapped a lot of photos!),

... a vegetable garden that supplied tomatoes, cabbage for cole slaw, and cucumbers for our dinner,

...and a pond with lily pads, frogs, and koi!

Anne fired up her brick wood-burning barbecue and cooked up a ton of good old American hot dogs and hamburgers, in addition to making sloppy joes, potato salad, and cole slaw.  Anne's gentleman friend Gary made a killer lime jello salad.  Some of the side dishes brought by others had a decided Italian flair, it must be said.  But it also must be said that Pasquale, the one purely Italian guest, said that the burgers and dogs with mustard and ketchup were the best!

We are unquestionably loving our year of living in Italy and enjoying the experience of Italian culture, but we also love our roots, as exemplified by a 4th-of-July gathering.  We want to thank Anne for having us over and putting this together.  Needless to say, EVERYONE went away well-fed!

Dave and Melissa

The Honeymooners

A year ago on the Fourth of July, we were at Rick Calou's barbeque and were talking with Dave and Melissa Short about our upcoming sojourn to Italy.  They already had plans for a European honeymoon a year from then, and we invited them to drop by.  They became the first of our friends to sign up to visit us--a year in advance!  And as booked, they arrived on July 2 for a short two-day visit.  We had not yet been back to the Uffizi since our Italy trip nine years ago, so we decided it was time to go back to one of the great art museums of the world, and Dave and Melissa agreed.  

We started on the second floor, medieval and Renaissance paintings.  There are so many great paintings, the selection here is based more on which photos turned out decently than anything else.

Adoration of the Magi from the 15th century, done by two painters (Monaco and Rosselli) about 50 years apart.

Look familiar?  The Birth of Venus by Botticelli.  The black bars stand off the protective plastic sheet in front of the painting.  For this painting in particular, the plastic seems to darken the picture.

The Uffizi has a lot of Botticellis.  From what I remember nine years ago, I was not all that impressed then.  This time I think that because of the chronoIogical ordering, I was more aware of just how much Botticelli had moved beyond the artists before him.  Botticelli was truly great, and taking away nothing from Botticelli's genius, you next come upon this by an unsurpassed genius:

 The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, the quintessential Renaissance Man.

Part way down this first wing, you come to the Tribuna, an octagonal room with some statues and paintings inside that you can only view from three blocked doorways.  The amazing thing about this room is the domed and glassed ceiling that illuminates it.  The dome is inlaid with thousands of sea shells with the inner mother-of-pearl side facing out.  This is a really tough photo to take, virtually straight up while hanging in one of the doorways:

Coming around the corner halfway through the second floor, the windows offer a great view of the River Arno and the Ponte Vecchio:

We had lunch at the museum cafe on the rooftop terrace, with views of the Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio.

After lunch, it was on to the third floor and works from the sixteenth century.  The crown jewel from this period is The Venus of Urbino by Titian.

Do you remember the bronze Cinghale statue in the Nuovo Mercato?  Rubbing its nose ensures that you will return to Florence.  Dave and Melissa are coming back.  So are a lot of other people, judging by the polish on the nose.

And after a hard day of being a tourist, it is nice to relax with a glass of wine in the garden.

The Grandkids Visit

No question, grandkids are the most fun ever!  So our most anticipated visit was by our daughter Amy, son-in-law Scott, and grandkids Eliott and Lucy.  Right after they arrived, we fulfilled one of Eliott's wishes and rode a bullet train, up to Venice.  

Here is the family taking in their first sights of Venice from the Ponte degli Scalzi:

In Venice, you have to go for a gondola ride!



Eliott wrote a story for class about being a schoolkid in Venice and going to and from school on a vaporetto.  And now here he is, riding on one.

Walking around Venice, we happened upon a little piazza where a string trio had set up and were playing music.  Lucy said, "Hey Eliott, let's dance!"

Scott gets ready, then captures some of Lucy's moves.

After dancing hard, grandkids need an energy boost, and what better one than gelato.

Mom deserves an energy boost too!

After all that hard dancing and gelato eating, sometimes a kid just has to crash.

Back from Venice, we all wanted to go to the beach, and our friends recommended a beautiful one, Spiagge Bianche, south of Livorno.  The translation of the name is "white beaches" and it really lives up to its name.  These two pictures were taken by Amy and Scott, who are excellent photographers.

After a day at the beach, Amy and family spent three days in Rome.  When they returned, we showed them around Florence for a day, and the next day we had the grandkids all to ourselves while Amy and Scott did some serious museum visiting in Florence on their own.  We took them to the local pool and had a great time (As did Amy and Scott in Florence!).  Evenings at home were quiet affairs compared to being tourists.  Here, Grandma shows the kids how to play Candy Crush on her iPad.  Bad Grandma!