Free Walking Tour of Amsterdam

Tour of: Arab Cultural Institute

talk about technology:
it is possible to sit in the middle of a roman amphitheater,
a place where gladiators battled,
the oldest monument in Paris,
and get WiFi.
fo' free

the cages for "exotic" animals

Arab Cultural Institute:

The guide (who is also SUPER cool) also teaches my methodology course and will teach a course on "french cinema today" that I plan to take. He made a great remark about the building:

In response to the petroleum crisis, each country responded in their own way:

England increased trade with the Middle East, and the US supplied them with arms.

And what did France do?

Build a cultural center.

again, I was drawn to the angles and the light.
I love searching for all of the mini triangles in this pic.
It's kind of like that game in highlights magazine
(did you get that as a kid?)
that had a picture with tons of little pictures in it
(a carrot, a paintbrush, scissors, switchblade, weapons of mass destruction...)

the windows were modeled after cameras, I believe. but someone in my group
pointed out that the hexagonal shapes could be a reference to France
(because it is in the shape of a hexagon. sort of.)

the inside.
they close automatically with sun

looking down

the view from the tippy-top.
you can go out onto the deck

the view from the bitty (?)- bottom.
apparently architects don't tend to care too much about the basement,
but this one was special because he did.

I know that these are quite brief, but I have so much to share and so little time!

Love,

alexandra

ps I am trying to get used to alexandra, because that is the name I am going by here. A little weird/sophisticated huh?

Tour of: The Marais

imagine building this without modern day machinery...

a building from the 12th century.

"In memory of the small children of this preschool
deported from 1942-1944 because they were Jewish,
innocent victims of the Nazi barbarianism with the
complicity of the Vichy government.
They were exterminated in the death camps."

a building from the 12th century. or 13th.
but I think that it was 12th.
The dark brown is wood.

This made me think of madeleine: wasn't that the
book with the house covered in ivy in Paris?

all the angles, the shapes, the shadows.
it almost looks like there are three ladders:
the real one, the shadow, and the stone and edge of the building.

they found this wall when they were building the metro.
old paris used to be at least 3 feet under newish paris.
there is a courtyard behind the gates where you can be on
the same level as "old" paris

sometimes it bothers me when there is modern art in an ancient space,
but I felt that this really fit well.
The building was from the renaissance;
the courtyard was made of stone so that the residents could hear
when a horse/carriage approached.
 This was in stark contrast to the buildings (from the beginning of this post)
from the 12th century, when you were right on the street
and there was no privacy.
I like this mole because it represents today in a place from yesterday.
that and it was pretty damn cute and funny to see a huge mole in a manicured garden.

swiss chard in a garden in paris!!

triangles

I love how the grounds are so manicured,
but then you have this ivy that is
uncontrollable.

The Marais is definitely up there with my favorite places in Paris.

love, 

Alexandra