Amsterdam’s Museum Quarter and Vondelpark

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Travel Spirit

The area in Amsterdam known as the Museum Quarter or District is beautiful! I just happened upon it while racing from Vondelpark to meet my friends at The Heineken Experience. If you want culture, then this is the place! The Rijkmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, and Concertgebouw (Concert Hall) are located in this area. Straight ahead in this photograph you’ll notice the iAmsterdam in red and white. People were sitting on the letters and some even climbing!

One quick story…while running to get on a Metro going somewhere (can’t remember where because I went through ten Cities in 27 days…that’s a lotta trains/and I guess it really doesn’t matter where for the story), just as I made it in before the doors shut and was jockeying for space, a lady with a large grocery bag and her two children with scooters were right behind me, unbeknownst to me. The doors shut on her, the kids fall over onto their scooters like dominoes, they start screaming and crying and luckily the doors open and the lady squeezes in. I was trying to help the children up, but was so tightly crammed in, I couldn’t bend over. That wasn’t fun.

I love how they’ve formed the trees…

In the late morning, the chill long gone, I traipsed through Amsterdam’s revered urban park…Vondelpark, observing the palette of greens generated by the shafts of sunlight. Vondelpark reminds me of Central Park in New York City. There were lots of people out jogging, walking, and bicycling…enjoying the weekend!

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Going Solo in Amsterdam

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Travel Spirit

My friend and I arrived to Amsterdam‘s Central Train Station just before 9am on May 30th, following a not so comfortable overnight train ride from Munich. I’ve taken overnight trains in Egypt and Portugal and I have to say this was the least comfortable. I’m sure my friend, Richard, can’t get comfortable in many beds because he’s 6’7″ tall, but it was also quite noisy throughout the night and when I would wake, I was being tossed to and fro. Enough complaining!

We bought our 72 hour transport card and followed the Google Map directions I had printed off leading us to the Metro line that would deposit us less than a half mile from the Airbnb I had rented for our 3 night stay in Amsterdam. Upon arrival to the Apartment, we were shown around by the owner, and once she left we settled in. It is situated on a canal and had everything we needed. We were especially thankful for the washer and dryer, which we put to immediate use!

Richard’s twenty something year old Cousin, Tobias, from Germany was arriving by train a couple of hours later, so I went exploring by myself, while he went to meet him at the station. This little car was parked on the Street in front of our Apartment. I call it the half car…

Having traveled in Southeast Asia, six countries in Africa, and other developing Countries, and experienced the organized chaos associated with a multitude of bicycles, I was surprised by this in Amsterdam, along with absent helmets on most children and adults, and the legality of motorcycles on bicycle lanes. There’s nothing like biking along and suddenly feeling the air whoosh by from a large motorcycle within inches of your handlebars!

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Magical Munich

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Travel Spirit

Arriving in Munich with my friend Richard was exciting for me because it was the first time I’d returned to Germany since living there in the late 70’s while in the Military. Our train ride was six hours from Budapest and I was looking forward to some solo exploration, after having been responsible for guiding 11 other travelers through four European countries for 11 days! I had reserved an Airbnb in Munich, located within walking distance of Marienplatz and other areas of Munich on my list of things to see.

Richard’s friend that lives in Munich, met us for dinner that evening at an Indian Restaurant called Sangeet. It was excellent! I left them to catch up and returned to the Apartment. The following two days we explored some of Munich. This gaggle of geese in the English Garden reminded me of the Serengeti migration…

Although the sky was overcast, it seemed nature’s colors were so vibrant! These ducks were swiveling their heads this way and that…

Approaching one of the squares, either Marienplatz or Oedeonplatz, the fountain’s spray was dramatic!

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Europe for a Month

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Travel Spirit

You haven’t heard from me for a while because I’ve been busy planning the European trip I mentioned in a past post. In the other post, I gave you information about the first adventure taking trains from Prague–Vienna–Bratislava—Budapest and it occurred to me that I could stay in Europe longer and offer a second trip to another group. I have purchased train tickets to travel from Budapest to Munich for a few days, then an overnight train to Amsterdam for a few days. I’ll be staying in an Airbnb in both locations. Next, I fly from Amsterdam to Copenhagen where I’ll meet the other group for an unforgettable Scandinavian adventure!

We’ll head to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days, then to Oslo, Norway, and finally take the scenic train and boat cruise of the fjords in Norway to Bergen, where we’ll fly home. There will only be four of us for the second portion. I’m so excited!!

My three passions in life are photography, travel, and organizing/minimizing and all of my dreams are coming true! I just helped an elderly couple yesterday with organizing their retirement village home and will be spending a lot more time with them. And…my photography assignments have been coming along. I’m still working with iSPYCINCY and have an upcoming assignment Sunday. I answered a Craigslist ad for a Merchandise photo shoot. My husband went with me because I was going to the man’s apartment in a new area of Cincinnati called “The Banks”. He’s starting a business selling picture frames and wanted some lifestyle photographs of them. Here are a few of them:

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