I got around a lot this week, mainly because I had to drive to Calais on Thursday to take my wife and daughter to the ferry to Dover, and back again to pick them up on Saturday. But first, earlier in the week I had to buy something in Utrecht one afternoon, so the first two images are snaps from that city.
Main
Main pedestrian street, contre-jour:
The alternates:
Alternate 1
Another snap from Utrecht:
The next seven images are from the drive home from Calais.
Alternate 2
My first stop was in Dunquerke. This is the beach from where over 300,000 British and French soldiers were evacuated in May 1940, under constant enemy fire. Four years later, these men crossed the Channel again to liberate Western Europe:
Alternate 3
There is a monument on the beach:
Alternate 4
Closer view; the “remembrance” poppies that one finds at hundreds of monuments and cemeteries scattered around Europe:
Alternate 5
These days, the beach is used for more peaceful purposes, thankfully:
Alternate 6
I continued on into Belgium. This is the “Flanders Fields” that have seen so much bloodshed in the 20th century, here near Westvleteren:
Alternate 7
I then stopped at the beach resort of De Panne. It was not exactly beach weather:
Alternate 8
Along the motorway in Belgium, a common sight; it is not a coincidence that the symbol of Brussels is a little peeing boy:
Thursday evening, with my wife and daughter safely in London, my son and I went into Amsterdam for a beer and dinner. The last four images are from that evening.
Alternate 9
Glorious late afternoon light:
Alternate 10
We went to buy some beer at The Cracked Kettle. Here is the owner:
Alternate 11
Across from The Cracked Kettle is the best bar in Amsterdam, Gollem. It has an amazing selection of Belgian beers, at least 10 on tap at any given time, including the magnificent Kwak. Here is my son enjoying a glass of it:
Alternate 12
We then went to have dinner at an Argentine restaurant and walked back to the car, enjoying the beautiful city. Life was good:
Hi Nathan,
Flanders Fields… You take us to places in Europe that are not on every
tourist’s schedule. I also appreciate the mix of B&W and various camera
formats you use. That catches the mood of a place. WW I and WW II battle-
fields seem so natural now. Nature doesn’t even record history. It only
ironically reminds us that war is foreign to the stage on which it is fought.
Or even where thousands of people are buried who gave their lives for a few
miles of it.
Best,
Bob
Comment by Bob Rosen — 13 January 2008 @ 22:20
Those are nice pictures of Amsterdam, Nathan.
Chris
Comment by Chris Barker — 8 June 2008 @ 09:46