hello you! i'm home. sitting right here at the kitchen table which is wearing her new dutch tablecloth i brought home from a small village in the netherlands. 100% cotton, luscious fabric and only 15 euros! i bought it first thing that morning and toted it along in my bag the rest of the day.
reentry has been slow and muddled. takes me awhile to get all the way back. so i've been piddling. wandering around the garden getting reaquainted with the native flora and fauna. but most of my interior life is still taking place in amsterdam.
like this day we wandered out in the early morning. the canals were watery mirrors. i'm still there.
melinda and i ambled through morning streets on our way to a boat ride through the canals on board a turn-of-the-century salon boat. we reserved through the hotel pulitzer, a swanky place along the prinsengracht in the lower jordaan. if you come to amsterdam i highly recommend this as an alternative to the larger tour boats. something special. you'll see what i mean when you're on board.
our captain took out 2 wooden step stools and gallantly held them while we stepped down into the boat. we chose seats outside. there are only 8 or 10 seats total on the boat. it's a very intimate atmospheric setting.
my utter delight was matched perfectly by my companion & friend melinda. how nice it is to travel with someone who has eyes to see such wonder in the world.
there is so very much to see. from the gabled buildings to houseboats galore to interesting plaques. things you also see while walking, but from a different angle. boats intrigue me and make my heart beat faster and my tail thump harder.
our captain was the cat's meow, but i couldn't help wondering which of us would take over controls if imco brune were to suddenly become incapacitated in some cataclysmic, but non-fatal event. surely it would be i. i would insist upon it. there would be no question. "cast your fears aside at once!" i would tell the other passengers. "i've got this." no one would blink. my natural sea-faring ability would rise to the forefront of my brain and guide my hands in the proper direction.
although this scenario did not come to pass, i still enjoyed the ride very very much and for some reason when i think back on this day it was i powering the salonboot de tourist up the canals. oh the burden of an over-active imagination!
the endless sunshine turned the water and bridges golden. everything glimmered. the air was fresh & cool.
i took so many houseboat photos that i will share them in a separate post. DFLA is going to be amsterdam central for awhile.
my travel journal is 80% completed. all the writing done, but still there are 8 or 10 blank pages on which i will add more sketches from photos. i don't think i'll add any actual photos though. i'm having too much fun with the gouache and watercolor to stop!
i include a few pages today for your consideration.
there were giant postcards on board. i took one to sketch and paint later back at the apartment. melinda had her sketchbook and watercolors and worked beside me at her own table.
more tomorrow!
You make me yearn to go to Amsterdam! That has never happened to me before, haha! 😉
Wow, breathtaking! Good 4 you!
Sheila
LUV it! i By the first shot, I thought U were still in the Netherlands! haha! Thanks 4 the wonderful tour. We must do that again sometime!
lovely photographs… I love the golden shine. Now want to go back to Amsterdam too. I had to laugh with your spelling of wooncamer… It shouldbe woonkamer. C and K are often pronounced the same, so it is easy to be confused. Very exotic but also verry charming spelling mistake. I am hoping for a couple more, it is truly funny. :0)))
So glad you are safely home and really looking forward to more time in Amsterdam with you at the helm. Aye, Aye, Captain…carry on!
That table cloth. That boat. Your journal. swoon…
Welcome back home, Mary Ann! I, too, am getting readjusted to being “back home” after three weeks away so I can totally relate to your slow paced re-entry. Being home is good, but the memory of favorite places lingers long and draws you back.
Like the others who have posted comments, I look forward to your continued commentary about your trip. The drawings and paintings promise to give us a personal interpretation of what you saw and did. No doubt, we’ll be enchanted and inspired to make our own trip to the Netherlands to see for ourselves what you have so beautifully illustrated and described in your eloquent way.
While I was on my recent trip I was able to visit the Folk Art Center near Asheville, NC and came away with renewed interest in pursuing artistic and writing projects. I am pretty sure you, too, have been filled to the brim with new ideas and inspiration for your artistic and prose endeavors!
Love, love, love the watercolors works and can’t wait to see more! Did I tell you when i came back from 10 days in a tiny village in southwestern France this past summer (and got stuck in Philadelphia for the night on the way home), when i woke up the next morning and realized I was neither back in my own bed, nor in France – I literally cried. It’s a strange hazy place in that few days where you’re hovering being between two lives – the practical one with the dishwasher, and the European one. Catch it while you can before it slides off into the mist. On other hand, so glad you’re back, my tail thumps too – life has been just a little less colorful without your dispatches.
So many gorgeous shots, one after the other…….. Esp love the strong sun on the buildings, reflected in the canal; the view under the bridge to the canal-side buildings; the reflection on that shiny knob on the boat….. Pleasant shivers up the spine………….
So grateful to you for taking us along; can’t wait for more Amsterdam!!!! 🙂
Welcome back! You have reopened my eyes to the wonders of the Netherlands and I think I will have to add that area to my travel plans next year when I go on my post-retirement voyage back to Europe and places missed… I have not been to the Netherlands for (OMG is this really true?) 40 years! Yikes! Time for a revisit! Loving your canal photos… won’t it be fun to be there with your sister when you go again!!
I admit to feeliong envious of your lovely trip. I know every one of those buildings and canals as one of our little granddaughters is an Amsterdammer. My favourite place, after London.
You have done justice to that wonderful city and I love those drawings, Mary Ann. If ever an artist was ‘free’ it’s you!
Lovely!!! Welcome home!
Oh this is better than creamed tuna on toast (loaded with butter)! Just to see the boat, mirrored int he canal and you r travels-it all feels comfortable and welcome, now. I want to draw it all! The food and drink looked wonderful, and I could see that the people were so friendly-I could feel that. Very glad you’re back and big relief to see that you are back ok-I tuned in each and every day. Thanks for inviting us along, and welcome hone!
Sandy in Dublin, CA.
Ahoy Gilligan! Good thing you didn’t do the Three Hour Tour or we would never have seen your lovely photos and sketches. Hope to make it over there some day. Glad you made it home safe.
Your photos are gorgeous and your sketching is inspiring. Can’t wait to see more of both!
What gorgeous photos! I am a friend of Melinda’s and am so jealous of her travels!!
I am famous AND color coordinated! Thank you for your kind and lovely words. Seeing this post energized me out of my jet lagged myopia. I miss Amsterdam and I miss you!
Oh that golden light at sunset is deliciously edible. Love love love it.
btw, it was the Hotel Pulitzer for our family of 5 back in the early 80s, and yes the dollar was much much stronger! Glad to know it’s still there. 🙂
Wow, Amsterdam looks gorgeous from the canal. I’m hoping to make it there myself someday so will be checking in to see what I should do when I get there.
I kinda of figured you were state side and making the transition between worlds; even though my travels afar have been pretty limited I do know that when I return from having been; I need a few days to reacquaint myself with being ‘home’ I know I need to make that transition as gradual as possible. I’ve been stalking your blog actually, knowing that at any moment you’d be hanging out the ‘honey, i’m home’ sign and share another wonderful tale and you did not disaapoint, your canal voyage was pure delight, I can hear the gently lapping of the water against the boat, feel the glide of the vessel as it makes is quiet trek through the canals. Your awesome photos bring all those tiny details to life; the next best thing to being there. You bring it all in for nice and close observation and I look forward to much more from Amsterdam from your cozy corner of LA. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how rockin I think your journal pages are, how the ebb and flow of your gauche and watercolors are the perfect way to capture your time in such a magical place. Welcome home mistress of the high seas and grand adventures.
Flowers & the stain glass ceiling light in the boat…you know the Captain loves his job. Wonderful photos & peek at the journal,thanks, Holly
Glad you made it home safely. Thanks for the grand tour of Amsterdam — every photo has been charming and inspiring. Your wonky drawings are adorable as ever. Hugs.