Last post from Holland!

They definitely know how do to salads here. The to-go salads have pasta, spinach, veggies, meat (optional) and dressing, all in one fancy package that even tells you it's "excellent." Packaged food is everywhere here, but I stuck to these salads because they were so darn good.


The Oudergraacht in Utrecht (the "old canal"). It is a great canal that runs through Utrecht. Buildings have their main entrances on the street, but in the back of the houses/shops (the back is what you see here) have access points to the canal. Deliveries and trash pick up used to be made by river (canal).


On Wednesday of this past week a few of us ventured to Rotterdam for the Architecture Binnale (it's a biennial architecture conference that travels to a different city for each conference, I guess). It was great that a city in Holland hosted it this year! The exhibits were amazing and we went to a lecture on "The Geography of Fear." The above plaza was done by West 8, a Dutch l.arch firm that did the red bridges in an earlier post. The flower installation that you see was also done by West 8 (it's not there all the time). It was created to mark the lives lost when Rotterdam was bombed (totally destroyed) at the end of WWII.

So we ventured to a park done by Kathryn Gustafson, an American l.arch who has done some fantastic works throughout Europe. This one was an old industrial ruin that was turned into a loved park in Amsterdam. I did take some photos of the park but they aren't that great. I decided this tree and it's grate/fence around it may be more interesting. It is the LARGEST tree cozy I've ever seen (Julia is standing with our bikes just to the left it). For the life of me I can't figure out why it is so huge other than it must have grown up with its tree.

My last rented bike. :( It was in Amsterdam - the best bike I've had the whole trip long. It's great that they paint them red - that way locals know you are a newbie to Amsterdam rush hour bike time. Nothing like having a HUGE target on your back, eh?

Here is a model of Bijlmer (that place I referenced at the end of my last post). I just posted it as an example of what you find when you go to the planning/city offices in nearly every town we've been to. The models here are huge and really well done.

Good planners. Soccer fields.

Even their trash is cool. A Mondrian cup?!? Well, okay, there trash is NOT cool (it's everywhere and disgusting) but I didn't mind that this cup was on the ground....it spruced up the turf.

Hostel room #2. When we first moved in, the beds were attached. Needless to say, we re-arranged! And added the requisite travel mess.


The outside of the hostel. It is gorgeous and perfect for an evening meal, I suspect. We were gone to lectures or visits nearly every night so missed out on that fun. Hopefully I'll be back in the future...for leisure!


A view of the hostel courtyard from our floor. I was out on the fire escape to get this photo.

Finally, the photo of Joost, Carolilne and me! This was taken after dinner as I left Maarn to head back to Utrecht. Joost and I were in the same freshman dorm at St. Lawrence. Caroline lived in an adjacent dorm. They now live in Montreal - he teaches economics the University of Quebec Montreal, she teaches anthropology at McGill University. They travel quite often to Kenya for their research on cultures and development. We had a blast having dinner!

Bijlmer, again. This is why the reference was made to Pruitt Igo - enormous housing complexes and a really impoverished area. The concept was to put people in highrises that have social uses on the first two floors (commercial, civic), and the rest would be green space. The green space is so massive it feels just as intimidating as these looming buildings. Corbusier and CIAM left it's mark on many places around the globe, this is the first time I've actually been IN a "modernist" master plan. It is overwhelming, the energy is dark and even looking at the maps I felt lost. The intention was to promote people living together and having communal spaces...I'm not sure we, as a species, can do that in massive numbers (these blocks have over 300 housing units).

Another Bijlmer characteristic - transportation hierarchy. Pedestrians on the ground, everything else raised above (even cars and trains). Cool concept but you feel like an ant in a monster's world.
One of the best things about the Strowis hostel.....coffee in the morning...yum!

One of the exhibits at the Binnale was on Corbusier. We've studied him in school quite a bit, he has really left his mark in the world of architecture (good and bad). This exhibit showed his larger body of work - I had no idea he was also a painter, sculptor, interior designer, writer, etc. It was amazing to see.

Another image of Utrecht. The tower you see is called the Dom Tower. It's about 370 feet tall, and was built in 1321-1382. They have an ordinance where you can't build above a certain height so that this is the prominant feature in Utrecht. It's gorgeous.

So that's it! I certainly have more photos but will leave it at that for this trip. I jump on a plane tomorrow morning and arrive in Saint Paul by midday! Of course, there is a seven hour time change so I'll have some time, a good nine hours, to reflect on my journey!

Love you all and see you SOON!