Multiple Bridges

Amsterdam, 2008

These rows of typical stone bridges in Amsterdam joins bridge seekers at Sunday Bridges and pleasant places at Scenic Sunday.

[SkyWatch] Take Off

No matter how many hundreds of planes I've boarded, I never fail to feel the wonder of the take off. Airports and long flights long ago lost their glamor for me. But the take off is different. 

Those few minutes from taxiing down the runway to when the 385-ton metal box on wheels defies gravity, lifts off the ground, and soars into the sky, leaving an increasingly distant world below, are simply magnificent.

This was my take off from the airport in Amsterdam last Friday as I headed home to Manila. It's my contribution to SkyWatch Friday.

taxiing

lifting

climbing

climbing

soaring

And that little bridge crossing the canal joins Sunday Bridges.

Painted Dishes

Satellite dishes, that is.

I saw these funky painted dishes on an apartment building in an "ethnic" part of Amsterdam. What a marvelously creative way to color your world.

 Amsterdam, 2011

 [click to enlarge to see more colors!]

Linking to fans of color at Mellow Yellow Monday and Blue Monday.

A Public Private Moment

These bridges in Amsterdam are linked with the communities at Sunday Bridges, Scenic Sunday and Shadow Shot Sunday.

Amsterdam, 2008

Drawbridges in Abcoude

Today a mere 20-minute train ride from the center of Amsterdam, and even less time by car from the international airport, is the small village of Abcoude. In times long gone by - think 9th to 15th C - it was a place where rich families from the big city had their second home, one with a small plot of land to grow their own flowers and vegetables. For me its importance lies in it being the home of a much-loved cousin and her two darling daughters.

This charming old Dutch village boasts three drawbridges: the Dorpsbrug over the Gein, and the Hulksbrug and Heinkuitenbrug over the Angstel. Here I post the two on the Angstel, but don't ask me which one is which... I didn't know when I took these photos that I would one day post for Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges.

Abcoude, The Netherlands, 2008

View with the drawbridge going up:

This canoe can calmly be paddled under the lowered bridge:

A pleasant walk on that footpath along the Angstel gets us to the second, smaller drawbridge:

For more links to bridges, just click on the link. Click the photo for enlarged version.