Traveling in Europe Part VII: Finishing Our Time in Europe with a few days in London

Since we were flying in and out of London's Heathrow Airport, we planned a few days in London to be less about sight-seeing and more about experiencing a neighborhood. We chose an airbnb in Fulham (a 40 minute bus ride to downtown London). It had a washer and dryer (which we needed after 2 1/2 weeks of living out of our suitcases) and a nice courtyard to sit in. Fulham is a multicultural neighborhood where we could get fresh fruit and veggies off the street and street food from a large variety of countries. 

After looking for a place to enjoy the outdoors and a walk along the Thames, we visited the Bishop's Palace. This place was occupied for 1300 years by the Bishop of London--yes both Catholic and then Church of England. There were a few deaths along the way, of course, and we enjoyed reading the history of the various bloody religious conflicts.

The interior is now more of a museum, but there are some spectacular decorations left to admire.

Mimi is in charge!

The Palace has amazing gardens where it is open to the public and we saw lots of family parties and picnics on the grounds.

After a lunch there at the Bishop's Palace we walked back to our bus stop along the Thames River finding rose gardens and statues to enjoy.

I couldn't resist laughing as Mike and Hannah stopped to look at this sign! Yep, that's you two.

Okay! I couldn't resist just one more art gallery, Courtauld in the Sommerset house. It is a smaller museum close to the center of London.  After getting off the bus we had a small lunch, and a great conversation with an actress who was also having lunch before her performance. Hannah was pleased when she asked her if she was a dancer, because her body has the looks of a dancer. (Hannah is more interested in cheer-leading.)

It turned out that I had worn out my fellow travelers, and after a few minutes we agreed to meet at a nearby pub. However, I did enjoy seeing this art where I didn't have to shove aside other tourists to see a painting.

Cupid and Psyche (1789)
by Joshua Reynolds, First
President of the Royal Academy

I was especially fascinated by the work of Henry Moore from the late 1940's. It is such a reminder of how more impacted England (and all of Europe) by World War II. His work was done with pencil, pen and ink, chalk and wax. The piece below his interpretation of many people sleeping in a bomb shelter.

Before leaving the heart of London, we did head over to Herrods, the world's largest deluxe department store--Channel or Gucci anyone?

On our last evening in England, we went to a nearby pub in Fulham, The Goose. Finally we enjoyed a typical  pub meal! 

And with a full stomach and a good night's sleep, we Ubered to Heathrow and headed back to the USA.

Traveling in Europe Part VI: The Anne Frank House/Amsterdam

 

It is hard to believe that this child who died at 15 years old could tell a story that has captivated the world for over 75 years. Yet when we went into the museum and eventually into the annex where Anne and her family, along with other Jews, lived for 2 years without ever going outdoors, we were moved. Really "moved" doesn't cover the multitude of feelings this story evokes.

Leaving Germany as the Nazis took over was not enough to save the Franks. Even though The Netherlands was a neutral country, they were invaded and taken over by Germany. Anne's father saw this coming and built a secret annex above a warehouse in Amsterdam which would be Anne's home for two years. I don't need to tell the history of this, but I will say it is a story that brings one's emotions to the surface.

Inside this modern front is the annex the Frank family and others lived in for two years.

Perhaps one of the most stirring parts of the museum is watching the video of Anne's father (the only member of the family that survived the concentration camps) talking about reading Anne's diary. He states that he never really understood his child when she was alive--how deep were her thoughts and how much she had suppressed her emotions. 

Although all three of us travelers had read the diary, seen movies and knew the history, none of that prepared us for actually walking into those cramped rooms. We walked through the space thinking about these people not moving for all the hours that the workers below were in the lower part of the building, thinking about never going outside, never smelling nature. Because Anne wrote her diary and we can now know what those years were like. And we know death was just around the corner!

Should you go to Amsterdam and want to enter the Anne Frank House Museum,  here's the scoop to get tickets. Plan ahead!

https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/tickets/ is the official ticket office. Tickets are only available through this website! Every Tuesday at 10am CET all tickets become available for a visit six weeks later.  

I recommend including the introductory program!

Traveling in Europe Part V: Stairs and Bikes--Amsterdam

Once again, we boarded a train for another city--Amsterdam. So much is said about this city. (Red light district, drugs, canals and flowers) Traveling with our 13-year-old we figured we'd focus on the canals and flowers.

There are indeed flowers everywhere--on windowsills, on houseboats. Flowering shrubs are planted in every small square of soil in the city.

We visited the flower market which was full of bulbs, real flowers, artificial flowers and flowers I've never seen before

Artificial flowers, but colorful.

I have no idea what these exotic flowers are.

Back to stairs and bikes--our very nice airbnb was in a building built in the 1890's. We were on the "first floor." We found out that the first floor is really the second floor and here's a photo of our climb to our apartment.

And then there were the bikes! A great number of folks in Amsterdam ride bikes rather than drive cars. Bravo! But watch out! There are bike ways and walk ways next to each other and sometimes we would weave over into the bike path and get  the ding-ding of a bike bell followed by a 30 MPH bike whisk past you as you jumped out of the way.

Parked bikes.

Bikes pulled out of a canal.

We were not able to get tickets to the Van Gogh Museum, but we did go to the Rijksmuseum.

.

A small piece by Vermeer.

We really were about museumed-out by this time, so we did a bit of wondering around the city.

Window shopping. What the heck?

We really enjoyed our neighborhood where we could shop for our own meals and sit at a nice corner restaurant for an afternoon drink.

A day we all enjoyed was on the water. We rented a small electric powered boat and tootled around on the canals of Amsterdam. Believe it or not, anybody can rent a little boat and see the city from the water. It was a beautiful day!

My takeaway was once again the architecture: tall connected buildings, fascinating elegant rooflines, interesting pulley systems near the roofltops and dramatic contrast of colors. 

Then it was time to head back to London under the English Channel on the Eurostar train system.

Traveling in Europe Part IV: The Hague

I pushed to add The Hague to our travels for two reasons; one, because it is the International Court of Justice and two, it has the Escher Museum. I. suspected that Hannah would really enjoy the works of M.C. Escher, especially because it is housed in a palace.

By this time we had become pretty good at hopping on to buses and trams, and our hotel was very near a tram that could take us everywhere we wanted to go. 

The Escher Museum was a lot of fun. The top floor had all sorts of interesting things to help one understand the way he might have interpreted the world.

Don't ask me how this works, but we were all in the same little space!

The other museum in The Hague that I sort of coerced the others to go to was the Kunst Museum. 

I really wanted to see the work of Piet Mondrian. Like many other modern painters, he started out painting more realistic work before he began what he is most famous for, geometric shapes using three primary colors. He influenced other painters, starting the De Stijl art movement in the Netherlands. That led to modern furniture, entire room designs and more.

So while I was enjoying the paintings on the main floor, Mike and Hannah discovered the basement. They called me and said I had to come see this place. And, boy, was it a hit for Hannah. 

There is a huge painting that you are invited to touch.

More fun is a bright yellow labyrinth with mirrors, seating and mysterious art. One could really get lost there.

The very best part for Hannah was the wardrobe provided in a spectacular mirrored area with beautiful lighting. She loved being royalty. 

If you look carefully, you can see me taking the photo left of Mike and Hannah.

This was definitely the highlight of The Hague for a 13-year-old. 

We were only 4 miles away from the North Sea, so it seemed crazy to not hop the tram and go take a look. That's where the crowds were, not in the museums

.

The North Sea beach and huge hotels.

It was surprisingly cold and windy, so we sat on an enclosed pier to watch the ocean. We couldn't believe people were swimming because we had been shivering while on the shore.

I will end this blog with a picture of the Peace Palace. This was built in 1913, funded by Andrew Carnegie. It was intended to bring peace to the world and end all wars. Now it is the seat of the United Nations International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. And wars? Unfortunately it did not bring an end to wars. 

Next stop, Amsterdam!