Yesterday, I took my writer’s residence out biking to Amsterdam-Noord, that part of Amsterdam that usually gets treated as if it is parted from the main city by an ocean rather than by that former bay that is now known as Amsterdam’s bustling waterfront. I was on my way to my friend Martin, trainer – advisor – actor, who promised to help me out finding a new presentation formula for my school visits. I missed the ferry by seconds and had some time to kill waiting for the next one, when I spotted Amsterdam’s finest on the quay. My writer’s mind revved right up. What was Amsterdam’s finest doing on the waterfront? Were they on the look-out? On the look-out for what? Pickpockets? It…
Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing
Posts tagged “canal”
Navigating the Amsterdam canals after the Dutch National Soccer team beat Brazil in the World Championships 2010.
Tagged: Amsterdam, Boating, canal, Football, Mina Witteman, Orange, Westerpark, WK 2010, World Championships
What would you do if you found yourself in Amsterdam on a beautiful summer’s day? You could go biking. Yes, by all means. Biking along the canals would be fun, navigate your way around herds of out-of-towners, run red lights on your way to the red lights, slalom the ‘Amsterdammertjes’ on the sidewalks to let those skillful but ever hasty taxi drivers pass by. Yes, you could go biking. Or you could go for a stroll in Vondelpark, find yourself a teeny-weeny spot in between what the dogs and the ducks left the park, stretch out and take a nap, let your thoughts trail away on thick clouds of weed smoke that drift through Vondelpark on a summer’s day like this. But if the…
Tagged: Amsterdam, Boating, canal, Herengracht, Mina Witteman, Seven Bridges, Superman, Vondelpark
There they were again: the roofers. Early this morning Stripes arrived. He leisurely awaited the arrival of Orange. Sitting on the roof-beam Stripes divided his time between staring at the bright blue skies and the usual morning myriad of summery-dressed girls cycling by far below him. When Orange arrived they, again very leisurely, set to work. Yesterday they had a blast, up on that roof. The volume of their radio turned up, they were teaching each other the latest dance steps – Stripes’ got the rhythm, but Orange shows more creativity in his moves. After about an hour’s dancing under a scorching sun, they evidently earned a break and they sat down on the roof-beam, rolling what looked like a cigarette, but what turned…
Tagged: Amsterdam, canal, Herengracht, Mina Witteman, roof
When I look out of my window at Herengracht I see a fine example of recycling: a coot’s nest made of branches and everything else that floats in our canals. Every spring again it amazes me to see what we leave behind so carelessly and how these little black birds with their proud white facial shields re-use our garbage to build the perfect nest. This particular coot couple squatted down on a small wooden board, that my neighbor had tied to the railing, and set to work at full tilt. They’ve been bustling and building their nest for ages it seems, schlepping in more and more wrappers and bags, plastic bottles, branches, some of it considerably larger than life. A couple of weeks ago…
Tagged: Amsterdam, canal, coot, Herengracht, recycling
Mina Witteman 