Archive for the I might, at some point, start categorizing my posts. Category
Architecture in Paris
January 22, 2012 by Jeff.
church in square:
the arch:
la defense (a planned business community and shopping center, conceived in the 60s and built over the past four decades):
notre dame de pentecôte (wholly different than the one I visited earlier in the day):
inside the other notre dame:
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Amsterdam
January 22, 2012 by Jeff.
Beyond the neon red lights and the sweet smoke wafting from the coffee shops, I found a beautiful small city with magical row houses set upon canals and a people as open and friendly as one might hope. The last city on my itinerary, I was a bit tired but found my first bit of hope in a fellow traveler. Within minutes of checking in, I began talking to an Aussie who was also travelling through Europe for his first time. After ordering a bit of dinner from the hostel’s bar, we journeyed out across the city. The red light district was jarring. I’m accustomed to women soliciting on the street or on craigslist; yet, here prostitutes, perch in storefront windows as if some sort of candy. More disturbing was just how many storefronts had their lights on but the curtains drawn. Despite the tapping on the glass, we made our way across town to a bar where we sat, talked, amd watched people as the effects of the brownie I ate earlier began to kick in. Walking back we noticed swans swimming in the canals. This is my perspective:
My second night in Amsterdam I stopped at Paridiso to catch Cymbals Eat Guitars play a show. The venue wasn’t super-crowded and the fans seemed eager to listen to the music. Before and after, I stopped at a local bar and chatted with a bartender about life in Uganda vs. Amsterdam. A great conversation and one of the highlights of my trip. The Van Gogh museum was also pretty hip.
The openness and acceptance of the Dutch people is astounding. At times, they seemingly just look the other way, as with the sex tourists, while, as with me, sometimes they just greet with open arms. fantastic. Oh, and all the bikers and bike lanes just rock.
A church crowded between houses:
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art changing the urban landscape
January 21, 2012 by Jeff.
On Boxing day I fled the warmth of Uganda for the frigid civilization of Europe. In three weeks I traveled to London, Manchester, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. I stayed with a sister and a friend and met a few new ones at hostels along the way. Most of my time was spent eating copious amounts of food and darting in and out of museums. One can find the most pretentious in Paris and the best curated in Amsterdam, although I feel that the Tate Modern does indeed deserve an honorable mention. None compare to the collection of Pop Art and Impressionism at MOMA/NYC. I found myself drawn to the street art in Paris and Amsterdam, however. It shows how a city landscape can evolve. Sometimes the beautiful overtakes the ugly and just as often that beauty is marred.
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wabi-sabi_stacked
December 19, 2011 by Jeff.
one thousand square feet on a hill.
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THE PEARL OF AFRICA
July 25, 2010 by Jeff.
My journey is at an end, the tale has been told.
The reader who has followed so faithfully and so
far has a right to ask what message I bring back.
It can be stated in three words:
concentrate upon Uganda!
[Uganda] is alive by itself. It is vital, and in my
view, in spite of its insects and diseases, it ought,in
the course of time, to become the most prosperous
of all our East African possessions, and perhaps the
‘financial driving wheel’ of this part of the world.
My counsel plainly is – concentrate upon Uganda!
Nowhere else in Africa will little money go so far.
Nowhere else will results be more brilliant, more
substantial or more rapidly realised.
Uganda is from end to end a ‘beautiful garden’
where ‘staple food’ of the people grows almost
without labour. Does it not sound like a paradise
on earth? It is the Pearl of Africa.
From ‘My African Journey’
By Winston Churchill (1908)
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