Tulip Mania

Tulip mania or tulipomania was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble.

We took a train to Leiden and then a bus through the heart of the bulb-growing region of Holland to the Keukenhof, near Lisse. This huge garden is only open mid-March to mid-May, has 9 miles of footpaths (I converted the kilometers for you, reader!) and 4.5 million tulips in 100 varieties. We took out our camera and the rest is history.

Amsterdam

After a buttery, delicious bakery breakfast (during which both servers commented on how much we were eating - that's European customer service for you!), we walked through outdoor organic produce markets and the canal network to the city's top museums. One museum featured Dutch artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Jan Steen. There was also a "tulips on paper" room and a collection of Delftware. We noticed the lack of nudity in the artwork and read many allusions to Protestantism in the art guides. The clarity and detail of faces and gauzy lace was just spectacular.

"Flowers in the shoe?"

The next museum was devoted entirely to Van Gogh (which is supposed to be pronounced gutturally: "Van Gochhh." (Which reminds me of the way they say Gouda: "ChhhOWda.") We loved this museum because it traced the development of a single artist, especially since Van Gogh transformed his style so drastically. For example, we saw a still life of a pair of shoes which he painted during his early, Dutch period. He was actually once a "normal artist!" The colors were brown and dark. Displayed next to this painting was another pair of shoes from during his Paris years. These colors were bright blue and purple. I am a huge Van Gogh fan, so we got up close and savored the brush strokes, bits of empty canvas, and bold colors. Daisy slept!

Below, I captured another image that I would have never dreamed up. Anything goes in this city. We then saw a jogger wearing white socks on his hands to keep them warm. And then a shopkeeper plop down a chair and stool in the middle of the pavement to enjoy her coffee and newspaper in the sunlight. Our theory is that the legality of things like prostitution and marijuana trickles down to smaller things: you can ride a bike without a helmet and even sit on a couch on a bike without a helmet; you can make your own sidewalk cafe; you can make do with what you have and no one's going to shake their finger at you. (Unless you order too much at a bakery.)

We then visited the Anne Frank house. We could see the cramped, make-shift rooms where the families were kept hidden and there were videos, quotes from Anne's diary, and objects throughout the rooms. In Anne's old bedroom, sweet pictures which she had pasted on still clung to the walls. There were head shots of movie stars, postcards, and other clippings - I particularly remember a nature scene with a caption, "The Lark's Song." Seeing this last image, with the black curtains shutting out light in her small room, and remembering her years without freedom and her ultimate death in a concentration camp moved me to tears.

We bought a copy of her diary, which I've never read. I've learned that there are different versions: Version "a" was her first go at the diary. Version "b" is her edited copy, which sprung from a news announcement requesting 1st hand accounts of the occupation, to be published at a later date. Anne added pseudonyms, rewrote certain sections, and left out what she thought would be uninteresting. I can just imagine her dedicating herself to this project! Finally, version "c" is Otto Frank's version (her father, who alone survived). He left out unflattering family tales and other things he deemed too personal to publish. Our copy is version "b" with the original names from "a" and 30% more "c" than before!

The exterior of the Anne Frank House

We then met my old friend from Anaheim Vineyard, Brooke Christensen. Brooke moved to Ohio (the Columbus vineyard) during high school, but then we reconnected as freshmen at Wheaton. She is now helping to plant a Vineyard church in Amsterdam and has been there almost 2 years. We learned from her that only 5% of the city attends church. She is learning Dutch and is actually leading a small group in Dutch! That sounds way harder than teaching a kid piano lessons. Daisy was overjoyed to play with Brooke and swing from our arms down the streets of the Jordaan neighborhood.

Haarlem, Holland

Although we are only two hours by train from Amsterdam, we have been saving this trip for springtime (you'll understand why when I post our Keukenhof pictures). Daisy and I left on Friday morning and spent a half-day in Haarlem before meeting Chris at our hotel in Amsterdam that night, after work. The Iceland volcano ash was halting air travel, and our trains were both so packed with people standing that the train personnel didn't even bother checking tickets. Frederic, the person we rented a flat from, said that he had 9 cancellations for that night because of flight delays.

Haarlem, Holland gave its name to Harlem, New York back when New York was still New Amsterdam. Like Amsterdam, it has canals, brick buildings, and even a red light district. Daisy and I came to see its beautiful central square, its church, and the Corrie ten Boom house.

Here's the scene: Daisy is sleeping soundly in her buggy. I am striding into town, trying to decide what I'll eat with my coffee as I relax in the quaint central square I had read about. Slowly, I realize that the music is thumping louder and louder, and that I'm hearing more and more choruses of screams. As I turn the corner, my hopes plummet as I take in the massive carnival whipping up the peace of quiet square. There is hardly any room for sidewalk seating! Daisy wakes up due to the screeching and it's on to plan B.
We seek quiet in the old church and I can't stop gasping at the huge, steely floor-to-ceiling organ with baroque ornaments. Daisy even starts repeating me: "Oh my gOODness!" When it was built in the early 1700's, it was the largest in the world. Handel, Mendelssohn, and a 10-year-old Mozart have played this organ. It is also mentioned in Moby Dick as the author describes the inside of a whale's mouth: "Seeing all these colonnades of bone so methodically ranged about, would you not think you were inside of the great Haarlem organ, and gazing upon its thousand pipes?"
Next, we make it to the Corrie ten Boom house for an hour-long tour. Daisy likes walking up and down the very steep staircases and nibbling raisins. I hear the story of Corrie's protection of Jews in "the hiding place" but I'm even more captivated by her message of forgiveness, even after half of her family dies in the camps, and her simple, humble, practical, child-like faith. About this picture: Corrie's family built a fake wall in Corrie's bedroom. They were careful to reproduce water stains on the same wallpaper, and made the wall really go down through the carpet. They stuck a pantry on the left. The refugees would hear a warning buzzer, dive into the lower section of the pantry and pull down a door, leaning against it so that it would sound solid if knocked. (It was never discovered; the hole in the wall is just for tourists to see inside better.)
Haarlem has a renovated windmill. We ended up seeing multiple windmills while in Holland, much to my delight.
My first glimpse of the superior level of creativity the Dutch achieve with their bicycles. Not to mention their footwear.

York, Scarborough, and Edinburgh - April 2010

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Great Britain: Edinburgh

Welcome to Edinburgh - our first view from the train station. What a tall, grey jumble. (I really like the unique Crown Spire of the cathedral.)

Part of Edinburgh Castle.

At the gate of the castle; Daisy and Chris are flanked by statues of Robert the Bruce and Sir William Wallace. We really liked seeing the "Honours" and the Stone of Scone, but weren't able to take pictures.

In the Great Hall of the castle, period instrumentalists and dancers put on a great show, and Daisy and I had front row seats. It made me wish that I could have that job! Apparently, this is the kind of event that Daisy can sit through.

Listening to the amazing bagpipe and drum corps in the New Town.

Our visit would just have not been complete without the beautiful, sunny hike around the Salisbury Crags, below Arthur's Seat. We enjoyed a "Scottish Highlands" experience without having to leave Edinburgh!
Snowy peaks could be seen in the north and south.
Muah, I love you!
Yes, bonding with my new scarf.
A nice family photograph.

Great Britain: Scarborough

We had talked - joked - about coming to Scarborough for a long time. We are so happy to have seen it. It's a great little city with a historic castle, a lighthouse, and 2 beautiful bays - the carnival-like South Bay and the less built-up North Bay. Here is one of our first views of the castle wall on top of the hill, as we were walking into town from the train station.
We really liked our bed and breakfast on top of the cliff, steps from the castle and with a view over the North Sea. The owners were super, bringing Daisy special kid dishes and serving us a private afternoon tea in the parlour. We all enjoyed our furnishings - I began to think that Daisy might be ready for The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe.

After our breakfast (with a cute "7 Dwarfs" toast rack for Daisy...she concluded that Snow White must be around somewhere, too, and from then on called the vaguely similar woman decorating the hearth "Snow White"), we made our pilgrimage to the castle.
It felt very huge and ancient. We learned a lot about the history of the castle, which I can try to condense here, especially for those of you with Scarborough blood! Experts have dated pottery found on the cliff to 2000 BC, and they display other artifacts that suggest two distinct periods of habitation, 800 BC and 500 BC. There are remains of a Roman signal station (380 AD), where they lit those fires that could communicate disaster up and down the coast. Vikings were here and Scarborough ("Skardi") is mentioned in several Icelandic sagas.

The castle has ties to royalty! In 1154, King Henry II decreed that all royal castles become his, and he invested huge sums to build up Scarborough's tower, the keep. In the early 1200's, King John spent more on building projects in Scarborough's castle than on any other castle in the kingdom. In that time, kings were mobile and would move their entire possessions around their lands to different cities and homes. John, Henry III, and Edward I used Scarborough Castle as royal lodgings several times. The last king to stay here was Richard III in 1484 while he was busy assembling a fleet to resist the invasion of Henry Tudor, later Henry VII.

In the Civil War (1640's), Scarborough became a Royalist stronghold against the Parliamentarians and there were terrible battles here.

Later, the castle was used as a prison, and a notable prisoner was George Fox, founder of the Quakers.

After this, Scarborough became known as a fashionable spa town and resort, and sea bathing was the new "in" thing.

Early in the First World War, Scarborough's town and castle were fired upon by German warships arriving through the thick morning fog. 17 civilians were killed. "Remember Scarborough!" became a rallying cry across the nation.



Unexpectedly, we were able to tag along with part of a Good Friday procession through the castle grounds. Our voices chimed in with the other lusty ones in an unfamiliar hymn. A good memory.


Anne Bronte is buried at a cliff-side church's cemetery near the castle. I read Agnes Grey in preparation for our trip. I really liked it, especially since I knew her sister's Jane Eyre so well, and could compare the stories of the young governesses.


The Beaches:
Here's a picture of us walking on the North Bay. All this sand was covered with water in the morning, and it would quickly go out during the day. Though we are no strangers to beaches, the army of seagulls, diving and screeching, had us in giggles the whole weekend. We saw families playing cricket, lots of dogs, and bundled up kids.

Beach-side Huts:
A landmark of the beaches were these adorable rainbow huts you can see behind us. People apparently rent these and can store stuff like grills, chairs, bikes, whatever.


And I forgot to mention: fish and chips! We had quite a lot of that, too, sometimes even with tea.

Great Britain: Castle Howard

Oh yes...the unexpected, long train ride...
Castle Howard - another misleading use of the word "castle." It is a huge estate, a noble family's home since the 1700's, and the Howard family still lives there (get this: the kids' names are Merlin and Octavia!). They have some great art, porcelain, and library collections displayed, but the main draw is just the amazing harmony of the beautiful architecture and the vast, serene landscaping. Not to mention the peacocks. They also do a lot of farming and gardening on the property. I read that it's over 1,000 acres.

Brideshead Revisted, a book turned movie about a wealthy family who lives in a large home called Brideshead, was filmed here. We made sure to watch it before we visited. So it was almost like REvisiting.



In every room, friendly guides told us about what room we were in and what was special in it. It seemed really personal.


We saw at least 5 peacocks roaming the grounds - and we heard even more squawking to each other over the fields. I got so excited and took about 100 pictures of one who gradually shook open his feathers and spun in a circle for us!