HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
ANDRE RIEU CONCERT – 11 JULY 2022
Posted on July 26, 2022
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Abstract
Posted on December 6, 2019
Thanks to PA for the Abstract challenge.
Voila – MB’s offering:
On first impressions, the above small section of a vaulted church ceiling seems abstract in appearance. On closer inspection, one sees the remains of religious murals, mostly long disappeared by the vigors and passage of time. MB took the above shot in July 2019 during a visit to the Selexyz Dominican Bookstore in Maastricht, Holland, easily the most beautiful bookstore that MB has ever visited.
The church was built by the Dominican Order in 1294. All went swimmingly for exactly 500 years until French Emperor Napolian invaded in 1794 and expelled the Dominicans from the country. Since then, the church has served as a parish church, a warehouse, and an archive. In 2007 some bright spark had the great idea to turn the building into the stunning bookshop that we see today.
One can make out a coffee shop in the area of the former church altar area (if one has a magnifying glass!) in MB’s below pic. MB tasted its wares on his visit and can recommend it highly. What better way to enjoy a freshly-smelling new book than sitting in an old church altar, drinking tasty coffee and munching delicious fresh pastries?! Absolutely none, if MB can answer his own question!
Weekly Photo Challenge – Variations
Posted on January 24, 2018
The endless variety that one thing can contain – is one of Ben’s suggestions for a take on this week’s Variation theme. Ben chose a shot from the Gouda Cheese store in Amsterdam.
MB has also decided to use Amsterdam for his theme shot, selecting another product synonymous with Amsterdam, and Holland generally – Tulips.
Just across the street (and canal) from the Anne Frank house lies Amsterdam’s Tulip Museum. MB and daughter MB2 happened to spot the Museum only on account of the fact that they could not get into the AF House due to the huge numbers of people already in the never-ending queue. But the Tulip Museum turned out to be the silver lining on the AF dark cloud. It’s a real pleasure to visit and to learn the history of the tulip, brought by invading Ottoman Sultans back to Turkey from Kazakhstan and elsewhere, then brought to Europe by diplomats based in the Ottoman region. The Dutch then made it their own, so to speak.
The fact that Amsterdam had a large wealthy middle class at that time (for reasons MB will not get into here) permitted much trading and investing in tulip bulbs, the iPhone of their day. The years 1634 to 1637 saw a frenzy of such investment which was referred to at that time, and since, as ‘tulip mania’. People were investing approximately 50% of the price of a premium townhouse in Amsterdam on a single tulip bulb, whose particular colour might have been considered rare at that time. Three years passed before everybody work up and smelt the coffee tulips. By then, large personal fortunes had been lost in the world’s first recorded financial bubble, as bulb prices collapsed to a fraction of their previous worth.
For the information of HX followers – anyone considering a trip to Holland to view (or photograph) Holland’s famous tulip fields, April or May are the recommended months to do so.
Shot from the museum:
Weekly Photo Challenge – Solitude
Posted on February 3, 2017
Weekly Photo Challenge – Anticipation
Posted on December 16, 2016
MB has mentioned his recent trip to Amsterdam with daughter MB2 in recent posts. And he now does so again.
On afternoon Nr 1 of the trip, MB & MB2 went on an organised food walking tour of the central canal district. One of the food venues visited was a shop called Van Stepele Koekmakerij – which makes and sells only a single type of (totally delicious) cookie. It is a dark chocolate biscuit cookie, served warm, with melted white chocolate on the inside. According to our lady food guide, the shop is owned by a Dutch lady who previously lived abroad. On her return to Holland/Amsterdam, she spent nine months perfecting the best cookie in the universe, before she opened the cookie shop. Despite pleas from some to expand the range, she has refused to do so. And no matter what time of day one visits the shop, there is a queue of punters out the door to buy the delicious cookie.
As both MB and MB2 are total chocoholics, it became a ritual in the following days to revisit the cookie shop for the daily fix. The ‘anticipation’ each day was palpable, as visits to museums and other sights were indulged in, for the only reason that it’s what’s expected when on a short visit to an historic city. But the real purpose of the day was only fulfilled when the two travelers felt the taste of the melting dark biscuit and warm white chocolate in the mouth, to loud sounds of “mmmmmmmm………….”.
MB just checked online and found a blog post dedicated to said shop – http://www.jadescapades.com/van-stepele-koekmakerij-amsterdam/
(Thanks and acknowledgment to Jadescapes blog for the above link).
Weekly Photo Challenge – Relax
Posted on December 2, 2016
MB & daughter MB2 came across this guy on their recent trip to Amsterdam.
A city cycle tour, with MB & MB2 on board, wound its way after some time out to the reclaimed polder farmland, some distance outside the city. Cycle guide Sam stopped the entire entourage in their cycle tracks when he spotted this heron resting, relaxed as you like, on a wooden bridge over a small stream. Faster than anyone could shout ‘grab your SLR’, MB had his 7D ‘click clicking’ and captured a number of shots before Mr Heron flew off to find a more relaxing spot, where annoying camera-guys like MB would not bother him.
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