Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

☰

Amsterdam and London — 7, botanical garden and other photos

2010-12-19

First, some pics for the previous parts, since I got fresh ones for the museum night.

Two men in glasses are walking down a narrow staircase with wooden railings and a red carpet. The man in the foreground is wearing a dark sports jacket, and the one walking behind him is holding the railing.

Stairs at the hotel

Autumn park with tall trees whose leafless branches are brightly lit by the sun. City buildings are visible in the background under a dramatic sky with dark clouds and clearings. 

Wandered off to the wrong place View of a wide river with houseboats and various buildings on the banks, including modern offices and an old brick tower. Dark thunderclouds loom over the landscape, but sunlight breaks through from the left, illuminating autumn trees and the water.

Amstel River

 In a dimly lit room with film-covered walls, an image of a swarm of small dark elements is projected onto a large white screen. A person lies on the floor in front of the screen, surrounded by audio speakers and wires.

Carbon dioxide flies at Optofonica

A dark car with an open hood and driver's door stands indoors on a green covering next to a massive carved wooden portal. Shards of glass are scattered on the stone floor in front of it, an overturned wooden chair and an orange bag with writing lie nearby.

An installation in an old church

A gymnast in a white leotard performs an acrobatic trick on suspended white aerial silks. The performance takes place in a dark room with columns and candlesticks, resembling a cathedral.

Artistic acrobatics on bedsheets in an old church

A bronze statue of a smiling boy in shorts with his hands on his hips stands on a stone pedestal on a city street. Behind it, old buildings with shops on the ground floors, red and white awnings, as well as people on a bench and parked bicycles are visible.

Basically, we wanted to visit a cheese-making farm (it's free). But we didn't make it in time, because we were walking around Spui looking for Begijnhof, and by then it was already 4 PM.

White market stalls are located on a paved square among trees with partly green, partly withered foliage. People are strolling around the square, and old multi-story brick buildings are visible in the background under a gloomy sky.

 

A bronze statue of a woman in traditional historical attire stands on a green lawn in a courtyard. In the background, there is an old brick building with white arched windows and benches along the wall. 

This is inside the Begijnhof garden

Facades of European-style brick residential buildings with large multi-pane windows, in front of which grow sprawling leafless trees against a cloudy sky.

 Bottom-up view of the corner of an old red brick building with cream-colored decorative elements and large arched windows. Bare tree branches are visible against the blue sky.

Two dark metal plates lie on the cobblestones, forming an open book. On the left plate, yellow letters in English say 'A TRANSLATION / FROM ONE LANGUAGE / TO ANOTHER', and on the right plate, the corresponding text is in Dutch in darker letters; autumn leaves are scattered around.

An excellent piece of modern art

A plaque reading "A translation from one language to another" in two languages.

Pleasure boats are moored at piers with waiting people on a city canal. Old buildings, illuminated by the bright sun with strong glare, are visible in the background. 

This is Centraal Station, the central station

Trains, trams, buses, and even little steamboats depart from it

A huge number of parked bicycles along a city street, where pedestrians walk on the sidewalk against the backdrop of modern multi-story buildings and a passing tram.

Nothing even needs to be said about the bikes  People in winter clothes are standing in line and using self-service terminals in an underground passage or at a train station. On the right, a girl in jeans and a jacket is interacting with an ATM screen; a yellow bag with writing sits on the floor next to it.

Ticket machine

 Entrance to a MacBike bicycle rental and repair shop in a brick building in Amsterdam with a bright red door and the inscription 'brains travel on bikes' on a white wall. A classic street lamp and several parked bicycles are in front of the entrance.

The sign says "brains travel on bikes"

A large old olive tree with a thick, knotty trunk and silvery-green leaves occupies the center of the frame. In the background on the left, a city street with cars is visible, and on the right, a large brick building with arched windows.

 A modern multi-story red brick and glass building with many windows, located under a blue sky with clouds. In the foreground, a curved low building with a ribbed metal roof is visible, and other city buildings are on the sides.

Since we couldn't make it to the farm, we decided to swap it for the Horticus Botanicus botanical garden. The oldest in Europe, by the way.

A large glass greenhouse on the bank of a canal with wooden fencing near the water, surrounded by autumn trees and city buildings with a small arched bridge in the distance. 

The garden, as it turned out, is only open until 5 PM, and we got there at 4:30. A bummer, but they sold us the tickets for half price (3.5 euros instead of 7, I think). In general, a lot of museums are only open until 5, both in Amsterdam and London.

Large pampas grass bushes with white fluffy inflorescences against the background of autumn trees and fallen leaves.

It's nice and cozy in the garden, only your glasses fog up because of the high humidity and heat (in the closed greenhouses)

 A large pampas grass bush with tall, fluffy white inflorescences and long, curved bluish-green leaves against the background of autumn trees. IMG_2445 A tall tree with a dense golden-yellow autumn crown rises against a blue sky with light clouds. The facades of city buildings, surrounded by other trees and shrubs, are visible in the background. IMG_2454 A decorative pond with a concrete rim reflects leafless tree branches and a cloudy sky against the backdrop of an autumn botanical garden with greenhouses. A street stand depicts a close-up of a light-colored insect's head with a large green compound eye and antennae. The stand is located in an autumn garden with yellow trees and green bushes, reflecting a brick building on its surface. A large tree with a light-colored trunk climbed by thin aerial roots and dense dark green foliage. A glass structure, possibly a greenhouse, is visible in the background. A massive scaly cycad trunk in a clay pot against a background of green palm leaves and large greenhouse windows. Two decorative arrangements with miniature trees resembling palms or cycads are placed in pots with stones and moss. One tree has a pink inflorescence, the other white; behind them is a blue wall with a frame of botanical illustrations.

 A man with glasses looks into the eyepiece of an old wooden device, pressing a button labeled 'Push' with his finger.

Didn't see anything, probably broken

A man in glasses and a dark hooded jacket stands in a greenhouse among large exotic plants. A tall agave in a wooden tub is visible in the foreground, and many palms in the background. A metal spiral staircase with mesh steps and railings surrounded by green plants inside a greenhouse.

 Two men lean over the railing of a metal walkway in a large greenhouse, looking at the dense vegetation below, with one of them holding a brown object.

We left the garden and went wandering around downtown again.

A night city canal with swimming swans and ducks, illuminated by bright neon signs on buildings reflecting in the dark water. 

This is the red light district, for some reason with sudden swans

A multi-tiered bakery display case filled with a variety of sweet and savory pastries. In the background, hands are visible packing a purchase.

A bakery on the central square (Dam Square)

Two men in glasses are sitting at a table in a cafe; one is taking a selfie, and the other, propping his head with his hand, is showing the 'horns' sign.

My mug is a bit gloomy, I agree. Alas, I often get depression, bouts of misanthropy, and other pleasant things. Living somehow. But with difficulty.

Ctrl + ←
Ctrl + →
To contents Ctrl + ↑