Updates

Week 36 of 52

When we got off the tram at the Leidseplein in Amsterdam this morning to meet some friends for breakfast, we discovered this 30-foot tribute to Steve Jobs tacked up on the side of a building. No doubt similar signs of respect and gratitude have appeared around the world. If you live in an urban setting pretty much anywhere, all you have to do is stand in a busy area, make a 360-degree turn, and you will see iPods, iPhones, iPads, and other creations that exist because of this man’s vision. Pretty powerful.

Besides using Apple products since almost the beginning (Harrison began using the original Apple II computer in 1979, his main computer is still a Mac, and we both have iPhones), we had a couple other connections with Steve Jobs. Some of you have heard these stories, but they are good ones, and this week we think they are worth telling again.

Harrison went to the Stanford Business School with many bright, interesting and beautiful people. One of his classmates in the year after him was a woman named Laurene Powell. The school often attracted top business leaders to give talks, and Laurene attended one with Steve Jobs. Steve was sitting in the front row of the auditorium waiting to speak, and Laurene introduced herself and let him know that she had won the business school contest in which the prize was a lunch with him. They exchanged contact details and set up the lunch. Well, they had lunch, soon became serious, ended up getting married, and by all accounts had a wonderful 20+ years together.

The twist to this story is that there was no contest. Laurene made it all up! You have to admire her ingenuity and bold self-confidence.

Like many Stanford MBAs, Laurene became an entrepreneur and launched a couple of small businesses. A few years later when Stanford’s Entrepreneurs Club wanted to have an event where a group of current students who wanted to become entrepreneurs would have dinner with a group of graduates who had become entrepreneurs, Laurene offered her home in Palo Alto as the venue. Of course, her home was also the home of Steve Jobs.

At the time, Sharene owned her bed & breakfast reservation service, and Harrison was involved in that business and his own entrepreneurial interests, so we were fortunate enough to be invited to that dinner. We arrived and a young woman who introduced herself as Lisa (we learned it was Steve’s daughter for whom the ill-fated Lisa Computer was named) ushered us in. The home was beautiful but they hadn’t gotten around to buying furniture yet, so we sat on cushions on the dining room floor and ate dinner on a big comforter! Steve came in and we all traded questions and answers and shared our experiences. An unforgettable evening… we especially loved watching Steve and Laurene interact with each other.

Thank you, Steve Jobs, for a very nice evening and, oh yes, for making our lives better.

Speaking of connections…

Mary Lou and Ben on Utrechtsestraat

A SEATTLE CONNECTION!

As you have seen from our weekly updates, we have not been bored or short of company. When you choose an interesting place to live, you can always be assured someone will visit.

Harrison has known Ben, a consulting engineer from Seattle, for over 40 years. For several years they were officially competitors, but in the small world of broadcasting they always saw themselves as professional colleagues and have remained good friends.

One of our first dinner parties on this year’s adventure was at the home of Ben and his wife, Mary Lou, during our stay in Seattle last winter. We got to see Ben and Mary Lou again a few weeks ago when they came to Amsterdam for Ben to attend the annual IBC Conference and Exhibition, one of the world’s largest broadcasting trade shows. We had a couple of dinners together as well as a private showing of our beloved Taylor Camp film, and Ben was kind enough to get Harrison a pass to the gigantic IBC exhibition hall.

Janice and Walter in front of the Concertgebouw

A FRENCH CONNECTION!

This past week, our friends Janice and Walter came from France to see us for a few days. Although they live only a few hundred miles away, they hadn’t spent much time in Amsterdam so their trip was a wonderful getaway. Janice is American (although she has been in Europe for 32 years), Walter is German, they live in France, work in Switzerland, and they have a son who speaks English and German at home but French at school. Talk about diversity!

Janice is a violist with the Basel symphony. We knew we had to get her together with Connie, another professional violist, who you may recall lives in Amsterdam with her husband Sape and has been featured in these updates a couple of times. Where better to spend an evening than the world-class concert hall, the Concertgebouw! No violas in this performance, though; we heard an evening of Brazilian jazz featuring legendary harmonica player Toots Thielemans who, at age 89, blew the audience away.

We had a wonderful time with Janice and Walter and we thank them for coming to see us!

Harrison, Sharene, Randy and Kathy at the Pancake Corner

A HAWAII CONNECTION!

This morning we met Kathy and her boyfriend Randy for a breakfast. Randy is CEO of an IT company in California and is in Europe on business. It was interesting to hear “CEO-speak” again; we haven’t heard that very much since we started on this trip, but it’s something you never forget! Randy is an impressive guy and like most CEOs he juggles a lot of plates and was often interrupted by calls on his cell phone… another reminder that we are happy not to be that busy but we enjoy watching someone else do it so well.

We have known Kathy for about 10 years; she also owns a condo at Kihei Akahi on Maui. Kathy has her own vacation rental company, Maui Vision, so we have worked together over the years. She’s also an accomplished artist, so after breakfast they were off to the art museums!

Old friends, new friends, good times

A NEW AMSTERDAM CONNECTION!

You know how annoying it is when you go to a romantic, charming, quiet restaurant and there is a group of people at a nearby table laughing loudly and having a great time? Well, that was us tonight! Thanks to Kathy and Randy, we had the opportunity to share a lovely dinner at a neighborhood restaurant and meet two of their friends who live here in Amsterdam.

Manouk and Tony both work in theater, television, and movies (Manouk being an actor, Tony a former actor now coach). Another “connection” on this amazing trip.

And that’s how it goes… people ask us how we know so many people in Europe, and it just happens organically. We thank Kathy and Randy for taking the time to visit and introduce us to interesting people, sharing their aloha half way across the world.

Wishing everyone a great week with lots of interesting connections.

A hui hou,
Sharene and Harrison

Week 35 of 52

We left Amsterdam this past week and flew back to Switzerland for a few days to get our visas extended so we wouldn’t be considered illegal aliens!

After months of work on Amelia’s end talking with the Swiss immigration department, and loads of paperwork from us and Amelia, Switzerland decided we were not high-risk individuals after all (it took so long and so much effort, we aren’t sure what they thought), and in the end they granted us our requested 90-day extension beyond the standard 90 days of a tourist visa to the Schengen Area of Europe. Without Amelia’s efforts and perseverance, we’d be packing our bags and getting on a plane back to the U.S. right about now.

With that new page pasted in our passports, we are now legally able to stay in Europe as planned until the beginning of January 2012.

We won’t bore you with all the details, but if anyone is interested in spending more than 3 months in Europe… talk to us first!

In Aarau

On Sarah's Terrace

The immigration office is located in the cantonal capital of Aarau, on the Aar or Aare River of crossword puzzle fame. Amelia’s sister, Isabel, gave us a tour of that picturesque city and served as an effective translator and bureaucrat interface for us at the immigration office… thank you Izzy!

Sharene enjoyed some gardening on Sarah’s terrace in the wonderful Indian summer and had so much fun getting dirt under her fingernails again! (Note the mountains in the background… your first hint we are in Switzerland, not the Netherlands.)

Harrison, Amelia, Sharene, Isabel, Samantha and Phil

We ended our stay in Switzerland with a dinner party where we met Sarah’s sister Samantha, who had just arrived from New Hampshire for a visit.

Sammy entertained us all evening with her hilarious stories and great facial expressions. She’s a wonderful storyteller and we think she missed her calling as a comedian or politician!

Back in Amsterdam, Frank (or Captain Frank as we call him) invited us out on his boat for a canal ride on Saturday. The weather was a fantastic 75 degrees (that’s 24 C to the Europeans) and the canals were packed with boaters! We took lots of photos of all the traffic in the canals, but we loved this one of the houseboat… look closely and you can see that the “green” plants are actually upside down glass bottle sculptures.

Captain Frank

Houseboat Art

So another Sunday brings us to the end of another week. Although the sun is out, we can definitely feel the season changing into fall and it’s pretty exciting since we haven’t experienced fall for a long time.

Wishing all of you a beautiful autumn as we head into October.

A hui hou and mahalo Switzerland for letting us stay!

Sharene and Harrison

You would think after two months in Amsterdam we would have seen most of the sights. But since our dear friend Sarah hadn’t been to Amsterdam since 1973, we waited until she arrived to see Amsterdam’s largest church temporarily filled with 300 naked mannequins and scores of unique bridal outfits! Sarah was managing editor for a corporate Swiss magazine in her last job, so we asked her to follow in her daughter Amelia’s footsteps and write for us: so here’s Week 34 from Sarah’s perspective… Enjoy!

Sharene and Harrison

Week 34 of 52

Thirty-eight years have passed since I was last here as a college student, but Amsterdam’s charm and the palette of stunning visuals have hardly changed. The architectural details, water and what Sharene and I have called “humpy bridges” make the city something almost like a total work of art. The exhibition of bridal gowns partially pictured above is no exception: Amsterdam couturier Mart Visser, in his role as church warden for 2011, designed a flashy extravaganza to mark “The New Church” as having been inextricably associated with weddings throughout its 600-year history. The silver-painted mannequins acted as bridesmaids in a show that speaks as much to fashionistas as it does church historians, museum preparators and a public hungry for fancy dress. What a way to use a space!

Infinitely humbling, though, was our visit to the Portuguese Synagogue later in the week. When Nazi Germany invaded Holland in 1940, there were some 120,000 Jews living in Amsterdam, a figure that had been reduced to about 15-20,000 after the war. Why this remarkable synagogue remained undamaged is a mystery, as the building was certainly an exception in what was occupied Holland. As visitors, we had to pass through a security system of two locked doors and glass before admission, reminding us that even today, the world is still so sadly subject to conflict around religion. The sounds of hammering and electric saws, the synagogue’s restoration project, were much more positive.

Actually, the sounds of construction are pretty much all around us.The canal boat owners are forever repairing bits of their property, and the care the city shows all its monuments and invests in its cultural offer are impressive. Harrison and Sharene’s apartment is within two tram stops of dozens of historic houses and fine art collections, including the superb Rijksmuseum, where I spent that one summer working on a Rembrandt paper. The Concertgebouw, which houses one of the world’s finest orchestras, is another 10-minute saunter away.

Walking to all of these tremendous sites made me aware of another Dutch phenomenon: the loose boundaries around personal privacy. Typically, the canal houses have stories that house separate apartments. On the lowermost floor, windows opening out onto the street offer unhindered views of families doing whatever families do: enjoying their meals or checking their calendars. The take on private space in my “native” Switzerland is an entirely different kettle of fish!

The picture opposite shows two very happy campers at the Royal Institute of the Tropics, which falls into the category of ethnographic museums. Featured among the exhibits there was a “Music of the World” area that was no less than an audiovisual delight. While I followed the drumming tapes and learned more about the differences among the world’s stringed instruments, my two mesmerized hosts focused on the ukulele video and enjoyed some of the sounds of home.

On my last full day in this pulsating little city, we went to the Carre Theater just across the Amstel in the afternoon to hear David Sedaris, the humorous novelist and NPR great, whose reading had us all in stitches. Then after supper, we hurried off to the Concertgebouw for a concert by the young virtuoso Russian pianist, Alexander Romanovsky. Imagine: the audience gave him a standing ovation even before the break! For my part, having wanted to visit this spectacular hall (1888) for years, I was over the moon to do so!

Music aside, though, the most lasting memory of Amsterdam this trip will be the lovely bicycle ride we three took in the Vondelpark. Sharene expertly maneuvered her bike through Saturday traffic over to the shop where Harrison and I could rent ours, and we all headed out for an easy ramble on wheels. When I last visited at the end of the hippie era, the Vondel was the “Needle Park” of the city, and my impression of it was that everyone there was in granny glasses and buckled down over their hashish pipes. Not so this time! Instead, young families, bikers, skaters, and even oldies like us proliferated, and the mood was entirely carefree for other reasons. We even got in a few games of Bananagrams after our picnic lunch, which — even though Harrison beats me every time by a long shot — made for the perfect Saturday afternoon!

Biking in Vondelpark

Bananagrams in Vondelpark

In conclusion, I can only add that Amsterdam with these two expert Bananas has been better than ever! And, as Sharene and Harrison always say, a hui hou!

Sarah

Week 33 of 52

Nico and Annemiki serving a plate of fresh oysters

We love Amsterdam so much, we haven’t had much of a desire to go outside the city. But when our dear friend Sarah arrived last Thursday and extended an invitation to see her friend and well-known Dutch artist, Annemiki Bok, we headed to Centraal Station and hopped a train out of town.

Annemiki and Nico were the consummate hosts for our weekend filled with fantastic art, architecture, food, wine, and delightful conversations. We had hundreds of visitors over our 10 years in Hawaii, and the past 33 weeks we have been the guests of many wonderful hosts. Having been on both sides, we can honestly say Annemiki and Nico raised the level of hospitality to a new art form. We were showered with generosity from the moment Nico picked us up, and the positive, creative, and loving energy was abundant as Annemiki welcomed us into her unique home.

Annemiki's House

Annemiki's Kitchen

And what a unique home it is! When the Catholic Church in the Netherlands decided to consolidate and sell its church building in the small town of Espel, Annemiki knew it was the place she wanted to call home. She had the vision to transform this large space into a home, studio and office with lots of windows, high ceilings and, well, SPACE! Her artistic mind extends far beyond the canvas as she has created a beautiful and functional environment for living, entertaining and painting, and she even has a two-bedroom bed and breakfast loft!

We could go on for pages about the architecture of her house and how she designed the spaces, but the essence of Annemiki Bok is her art and words can’t do justice to that, so we invite you to browse her website AnnemikiBok.nl to admire her artwork.

Annemiki's Studio

Indian Summer

Kenneth Snelson’s “Needle Tower II”

On Sunday, we all piled into Nico’s car and drove to the Kröller-Müller Museum, a world-class art collection and outdoor sculpture garden. The museum is located in the center of National Park De Hoge Veluwe, a park of over 13,000 acres east of Amsterdam. In keeping with Holland’s bike-friendliness, you can pick up one of 1700 free White Bikes throughout the park and drop it off at one of the other locations.

We started off outdoors, taking a long walk through the sculpture garden with its eclectic mix of sizes, shapes and themes. With Harrison’s background in broadcast towers, he was particularly fond of a work called Needle Tower II, a structure over 100 feet tall made of aluminum and steel wire that doesn’t look strong enough to stand up, but has been in place for over 40 years so clearly can withstand high winds. The sculptor, Kenneth Snelson, was not a structural engineer but still created a fascinating structural concept mixing flexible and rigid components that was later named tensegrity by Buckminster Fuller.

After walking through the sculpture garden we went inside the museum and were treated to hall after hall of fabulous art and famous artists, and lucky us to have Annemiki, an accomplished artist, and Sarah, an art historian, to share their perspectives! The Kröller-Müller has the second largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and many of his best works are here, so it was nirvana for us van Gogh lovers.

By the end of the day we were on complete sensory overload, but very happy knowing we had all just been part of a wonderful weekend away.

Separated at birth?

K-piece

So, now we know. The people, the culture, the scenery, the attractions outside Amsterdam are just as incredible as inside the big city.

We thank Sarah, who is with us for one more week, for the introductions, and we send our sincere hartelijk dank je wel (heartfelt thank you) to two beautiful people who offered us a memorable trip up the Holland countryside.

Wishing all of you as much generosity in your life this coming week as we turn the page from summer to fall.

As always, a hui hou!
Sharene and Harrison

Week 32 of 52

…We Live In the Second Best Location in Amsterdam!

The best location goes to Sape and Connie who live at the intersection of the Prinsengracht canal and Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, one of the most picturesque spots in all of Amsterdam. They have owned their apartment for over 20 years and were kind enough to host a delicious dinner for us in this very Dutch home. The apartment is very wide by Dutch standards because it spans two adjacent buildings, one built 100 years ago and one 200 years ago.

The most fascinating part (to us non-natives) is the spiral staircase from the ground-floor entrance up to their place on the 3rd level. Dutch stairs are really something amazing, with incredibly steep and tiny steps. After the scrumptious dinner of soup, lamb, couscous, a fabulous cheese plate and, well, a few glasses of wine, we said our goodbyes and slowly and carefully made our way down the staircase. As we got to the bottom, Connie comes running down the steps to see us out. As we stood there in awe, she reminded us that they have been doing this all their lives, but we found it a feat worthy of Olympic status! Dank u wel Sape and Connie for a wonderful evening.

Our mussel dinner

Our mussel dinner

One traditional Dutch dinner party was a delight, but we were fortunate enough to be invited to two! So off we went to have a feast of mussels at our friend Hanneke’s along with Frank, our friend, tour guide, historian and resource for all things Dutch! Hanneke is a wonderful host and we had a great time with lots of laughs. She served us the best the North Sea had to offer by presenting two HUGE pots of mussels she had lovingly prepared for us along with other goodies. (She admitted mussels when in season are her favorite food in the whole world!) Mahalo Hanneke; you give the expression “Dutch Treat” new meaning!

Charlie Chaplin accompanied by a live symphony orchestra… an amazing close to Week 32!

After we arrived in Amsterdam in July we dug through every arts and entertainment brochure we could find looking for events to attend during our three months here. We found a few in the “don’t miss” category and bought tickets. One that we wouldn’t have classified as “don’t miss” but looked vaguely interesting was a showing of Charlie Chaplin’s silent film Modern Times, with music provided by a full orchestra. We bought tickets and didn’t think much more about it until we showed up last night.

Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ

Wow, we had no idea what a rare and special event we had signed up for! The film was an excellent print of Modern Times shown to a sold-out audience on a large screen in the gorgeous Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ, with music performed by the Brabants Orchestra directed by Timothy Brock. Turns out that Brock grew up in West Seattle when Harrison lived there in the 1970s and now lives in Olympia, Washington. He specializes in conducting and composing concert-hall works and scores for silent film, and he restored the music for Modern Times and other Chaplin films with the blessing of Chaplin’s heirs in France. We’ve watched silent films for years and have seen many of Chaplin’s, but seeing one on a big screen accompanied by a full orchestra is like watching Harry Potter on an iPhone and then seeing it in a 3-D IMAX theater. It just blew us away!

Chaplin was an extraordinary talent across many dimensions; we hadn’t realized that he composed the music to Modern Times (and his other later films as well) himself. Restoring the music was a fascinating project that Brock talks about here. He conducts this type of performance from time to time around the world but mostly in Europe; we feel very lucky to have caught him. (Note to Gig Harbor Rick: get Timothy Brock to guest-conduct the Tacoma Symphony in one of these performances!)

As we write this on 9-11-2011, we know many are recalling the sad events of ten years ago. The world has changed since then, but we still believe there is good in most people. We have hope that the next 10 years will be a time of healing and progress for the United States and for the world.

As always, a hui hou, and many thanks for letting us share our year with you.

Sharene and Harrison

We got lucky again! Sarah’s oldest daughter (and Isabel and Hallie’s sister) Amelia hopped a train in Paris (where she was attending a conference) and 3-1/2 hours later landed on our doorstep in Amsterdam. We got to keep her for six days and since, in addition to full-time university studies, she is Managing Editor for the European Heart Journal, we figured she ought to be able to polish off this week’s update without breaking a sweat! She said, “Sure!” and so we have a guest author for this edition. Probably a good thing because all we would do is blabber on about how smart, interesting, beautiful and wonderful she is. So here is Week 31 from a different perspective!

Week 31 of 52

Harrison, Amelia and Sharene moving into the new apartment on the Amstel canal.

Lieve Vrienden,

You know you have made it home when you are greeted on the train tracks at Centraal Station with open arms by Harrison and walk in the doors of a stylish Amsterdam residence to the smell of a delicious meal cooked by Sharene. This happened to me on Wednesday evening of this past week. The days since have been filled with cultural highlights galore, excellent food (all Sharene’s doing), various adventures involving bikes, a surprise visit, helping Sharene and Harrison move to a new apartment (see their view at the top of the page), and lots of laughter and good conversation.

Pachelbel et al.

One of the cultural (and very unexpected) highlights of this week was a long morning spent at the Dutch Resistance Museum, where we learned about how the Dutch dealt with the Nazi occupation during World War II. This prompted the discussion of whether we might have taken part in the movement had we lived during this era, a question that will go unanswered. Other highlights included the Jewish Historical Museum, the Amsterdam Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art. In between all this cultural input we heard lovely street music (including the string quartet at left), enjoyed delightful park picnics, and discussed family history, how to make chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips (hard to find in Europe), and politics.

The Frank family’s pre-occupation apartment on the Merwedeplein.

Warm and dry weather has been a bit of an unusual occurrence so far during Harrison and Sharene’s weeks as residents of Amsterdam, so the two days of blue sky and sun were a true treat. Attempting to enjoy this good weather to the fullest, we rented bicycles and Harrison navigated us through the city as if he had been cruising along these canals for years.

We made one very memorable stop in front of the apartment complex where Anne Frank grew up — a very unassuming building overlooking a small park where she played. (This is not a tourist stop; finding this building takes a little research.) Knowing so much about her last years spent behind the infamous hinged bookcase, it was very moving to recall the years during which she lived a carefree life.

The big surprise of the week came after that long day of biking, when my dear husband Phil and his sister Stephanie suddenly popped out of the woodwork at a local cafe to spend two days with us in Amsterdam. This being Stephi’s first visit to this magical city (and I am not referring to any mushrooms here), we spent our first evening giving her a little tour. Our group of five enjoyed the second bike ride of the week, which was on canal bikes. We certainly didn’t break any speed records, but being on the canals allowed for a whole new perspective and the exercise made us feel better about the “Frietjes” (Dutch french fries) we enjoyed for lunch and the delicious Tibetan family-style dinner we had on Phil and Stephi’s last night here.

Stephi, Phil and Amelia

Canal-biking

Tibetan Dining

Tashi Deleg

Powerbocking, a sport we will probably not be trying anytime soon…

The new discovery of the week for Sharene has been Powerbocking — running and jumping on spring-loaded stilts — which she saw a girl doing on a small plaza. Harrison later found a YouTube video that takes the sport to an amazing level.

In turn, my discovery of the week is the fact that Sharene used to be a member of a “Water Garden Club” on the Big Island. This I learned during our trip to the Botanical Gardens in Amsterdam, where I also learned that it is ludicrous to visit botanical gardens with someone who comes from a place that calls itself the “Orchid Island”.

The Botanical Gardens’ saving grace: the back of a Victoria cruziana (one big lily)

While I am gently trying to bring this week to a close in writing on the couch of Sharene and Harrison’s new apartment at the intersection of the Amstel and Prinsengracht canals, I have just been introduced to yet another novelty of Amsterdam. A boat filled with men, fittingly labeled “DGIBs” (drunk guys in boats) by Harrison, floating down the Prinsengracht, singing at the top of their lungs completely off-tune. The Swiss in me immediately wonders whether there are any restrictions to operating a boat under the influence.

I remember reading in one of the newsletters that Harrison and Sharene chose Amsterdam due to the fact that it was one of “Europe’s unique and most fascinating cities”. It has been a very special privilege to further discover this place with two of the most unique and fascinating people in my life, and I feel lucky to have two more days to go. Thank you for everything!

Freundliche Grüsse / Liebe Gruess / Mes meilleures salutations / Ciao / etc.

Amelia

Week 30 of 52

“…Just Bad Attitudes and Bad Clothes!”

Great advice from two wonderful young ladies who have traveled more miles than most 25-year-olds. Lucky us, we were graced this past week with a visit from Hallie and Isabel, two of our three “adopted daughters” from Switzerland.

We tried and tried and tried and to find some fault with these two, but we just couldn’t see any, no matter how close we looked. They were full of life from the moment they stepped through our door. Even when we went to our favorite restaurant in the rain and found it closed, and the houseboat museum closed, and one of the canal houses closed, and the Van Gogh museum packed… (guess that’s where all the people went!), these two just twisted and turned and we went on to Plan B or C.

These twins are much more than savvy travelers. Between the two of them they speak Swiss German, German, English, French, Spanish, some Italian, some Russian, and Izzy even sings in Elvish with the Lord of the Rings! Oh yes, they are both accomplished musicians: classical piano, cello, a cappella; Izzy even picked up Harrison’s ukulele every free moment while she was here to see what this little instrument could do. They both play lacrosse in what spare time they have; in fact they had a game right before they hopped on the flight to Amsterdam! Hallie is in her last year at the University of Zurich studying psychology, and Izzy works for PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor and is also going to school to complete the Swiss version of a CPA.

Besides being beautiful, smart and charming, they know how to have a lot of fun. One night we went to a comedy club where Izzy was called up on stage and entertained the audience with an a cappella Beatles song, all impromptu and just as poised as can be. And check out the photos of our trip to Madame Tussauds; these two were not going to stay out of the picture. Shy they are not! These are just a few of the 30 or so photos we took of them in every corner of this very fun place overlooking Dam Square in the center of the city.

The New Mona Lisa

Ride, Hallie, Ride!

Save me Spiderman!

With Barack

Izzy over Dam Square

In bed with Robbie

We don’t focus much on politics in these updates since you already get more of that depressing topic on a daily basis than you probably want. But since we just showed you a photo of President Obama, we wanted to insert a serious note. Most of our readers know we supported Obama in the last election, so naturally we have been sorry to see so little progress made in addressing the many problems faced by the U.S. One of Harrison’s best friends from MIT, Paul Schindler, has been writing a weekly blog called P.S. A Column On Things since long before they were even called blogs. Paul’s blog recently had a reference to an excellent commentary about Obama by Drew Westen called “What Happened to Obama?” Westen’s article does the best job we’ve seen of explaining the ambivalence many Obama supporters like us feel about his time in office.

Izzy sitting in her own private work pod at the library.

We even had fun with Hallie and Izzy at the amazing Amsterdam Public Library! Hallie kept saying she wanted to show us the library, and we were, to put it mildly, blown away. This is a six-story, truly state-of-the-art facility. It has a huge inventory of books plus every modern digital convenience, along with places to read, study, work, and even practice on a silent piano (with headphones). The top-floor restaurant has an incredible view looking back to the city. Thanks, Hallie, for encouraging us to go. Harrison’s mother, Agatha — a forward-thinking career librarian — would be impressed by the library and pleased to see young people who value it.

Heineken Boat

Ajax Stadium

We managed to get in another canal bike ride (we also did that when Cathy was here several weeks ago), and as you can see above left, you just never know what you will see in this city! Hallie made a trip out to the AJAX (pronounced i-yaks) soccer stadium, which is to the Dutch what Yankee Stadium is to New Yorkers. She didn’t get to see a game but she took a tour.

And we finally did make it to the houseboat museum where Harrison looks very happy posed with two of his favorite women.

When the crane operator pulled up this large “catch,” the crowd started applauding; he stood up and took a bow!

The underbelly of Amsterdam doesn’t have much to do with organized crime, excessive drug use, or corrupt government, at least as far as we can see and have read.

But there is a dark side… the huge number of bikes that get dumped in the canals! We just happened to run across this barge, which never moved from this spot in the 10 minutes we were there and kept bringing up loads and loads of bikes from the bottom of the canal. It was pretty shocking to see. We just wondered who does this and why do so many end up this way??

But to offset what’s lurking in the bottom of the canals, there is art everywhere! This is just one piece from an outdoor sculpture exhibit the city promoted during the summer months. You could take a 2.5-km sculpture walk and see lots of whimsical, interesting art without even stepping foot in a museum.

Here we are on our last day at one of the canal house museums. Thank you Hallie and Isabel for sharing Amsterdam with us! It seems very quiet here without you…

As we write this it is Sunday afternoon in Holland, about the time the East Coast is getting pummeled by Hurricane Irene. To all our readers there, and especially to Sharene’s nephew who is a pilot and flies all over the East Coast, we are thinking of you and, well, we guess there really is bad weather no matter the attitude or clothes. We hope by the time you read this, the worst has passed without much impact.

A hui hou and tot de volgende week!
Sharene and Harrison

Week 29 of 52

Yes, that is a YELLOW SUBMARINE! We spent last Sunday afternoon on an art walk to several open studios in the Western Islands, a part of Amsterdam that used to be warehouses and now is full of charming apartments, houseboats, and artists-in-residence. The art walk included a free canal boat tour, and in this city you just never know what you’ll see! The tour guide said the sub was formerly a floating brothel in Paris and was “asked” to leave; where else to go but Amsterdam?

We saw a number of studios on the art walk and met some interesting artists, but our favorite on both counts was sculptor Arthur Meijer. He creates phenomenal terra cotta sculptures of real and fanciful Mediterranean houses. The tall walls have tiny real window openings that you can’t quite see inside, so they make you daydream about the kind of life that goes on in these old buildings. The word “unique” is often thrown about when it’s undeserved, but we’ve never seen anything like this!

Our goal when we set out on this adventure was to stay long enough in several places so that we could live like the locals, and so far in Seattle, Boston and Amsterdam we have felt the pulse of our neighborhoods and have become residents more than visitors.

Sharene: I got a bike this past week and I’m in heaven! The city really isn’t that big — more like a very large village — and since there are bike paths on almost every street, it’s a fantastic way to get around. It’s been almost three months since I drove a car, so hopefully I won’t lose that skill, but while in Amsterdam, I am doing what the locals do and riding my bike.

Harrison: I’m also doing what I would do if I lived here — working on websites! Even though we sold Hawaii Holiday Vacation Rentals last year, we still have a number of business websites, including MauiHotels.com, HonoluluTower.net, and several others. I enjoy this work, particularly if I have a nice view when I look up from the computer. Even though I never have enough time to get really good at it — so these sites are pretty basic and still a bit dated — at least now they all work properly and have current information, which may actually generate a little income!

There are so many things we love about Amsterdam. The city has 37 museums; so far, we’ve seen 12 of them and our goal is to see 36 of the 37 (we’ll probably skip the Torture Museum). We love the canals — 47 miles worth — and bridges… all 1,287 of them! We live on one of the canals and we watch tour boats and personal boats go by all day with people out enjoying this city. As we write this, boats are passing by our apartment with people waving. If it’s a nice day, the Dutch will be outside on the canal or having a coffee on their balcony. People here are happy! We have not run into one rude person. They enjoy life, they look healthy, and (thankfully for us and our indecipherable Dutch) they speak English well; even when they don’t, they are happy to try. We also love the streets. There are generally four lanes on the big streets and three on the smaller ones, but we don’t mean just for cars; besides the car lane there are almost always bike lanes, tram lanes, and/or bus lanes, and lots of space for pedestrians. The public transportation is superb; we rarely wait more than three or four minutes for a tram or bus. With the ease of public or bike transportation, there are just not that many cars, and we love that, too.

A few things about Amsterdam are different and we have learned to adapt. Ice (as in frozen water)… Europe is just not a continent that likes ice; their version of an “ice tray” is this flimsy plastic bag you fill up with water and then, when it freezes, you spend about 10 minutes extracting the little round cubes from the baggie. Wash cloths… no such thing here, they’re little mitts. Credit cards… it’s cash only here, or a Dutch debit card, thank you very much! Drinking water… just not a big deal here; you never see people walking around with water bottles, and if you go to a restaurant and want a glass of water, it’s usually 2 euros for a very small glass (and of course, no ice). Ice tea… you can find the sweetened kind from a bottle or can, but unsweetened, freshly brewed ice tea? Forget it. But these are all very minor inconveniences and such a small, small price to pay for having this wonderful experience.

Harrison: So how did Muzak change my life? You may remember from last week that Amsterdam dim sum restaurants open at 2 pm, so earlier this week we decided to have a dim sum dinner, which was accompanied by some of the worst background music I’ve ever heard: disgusting synthesized ’60s pop standards that sounded like instrumental versions of Barry Manilow on quaaludes! But as I was making some joke about Muzak, I realized: we’re here because of Muzak!

In 1982, I became Director of Radio Engineering for Westinghouse Broadcasting (now CBS) in New York City. Westinghouse had just acquired The Muzak Corporation and, since it was an audio service, they put me in charge of Muzak’s technical operations. Muzak may be a joke to many people, but it’s a worldwide operation with thousands of subscribers and a very large and complex music production and distribution system.

My first Muzak task was to fly to Switzerland and check out an exotic new music playback system made by the Swiss audio company Studer Revox. It was my first European trip and I knew no one. The managers at Studer Revox introduced me to the newly appointed president of their American division, a young man about my age named Hans Batschelet. Hans graciously invited me to dinner with his wife, Sarah. That was the beginning of my life-long friendship with the Batschelets that endures to this day.

And so because of Muzak, I have my love for Europe and some of my closest friends, so I shouldn’t complain too much about even the worst background music!

And so also because of Muzak, we are very excited that Hans and Sarah’s twins, Isabel and Hallie, have just arrived and will be with us this week. We can’t wait to share this wonderful city with them.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

A hui hou and tot ziens!
Sharene and Harrison

Week 28 of 52

The Little Girl Who Touched The World

Part of Anne Frank’s diary

In her wildest dreams of being a writer, Anne Frank could never have imagined that her story would become one of the world’s most widely read books, translated into many languages, the subject of movies and plays, or that she would be named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

On Tuesday a couple of weeks ago, we went to buy tickets to visit the Anne Frank House here in Amsterdam where she went into hiding with her family. To our surprise, the first available tickets were at 7:15 pm the following Sunday! Just over a million people a year go through this house; for those without advance tickets, the queue is lined up around the block starting early in the day. The museum turns away many every day because it simply cannot handle the volume of people coming to see this historic place.

Probably everyone reading this knows that Anne Frank and her family hid in the attic annex of her father’s company to keep from being sent to concentration camps by the Germans who occupied the Netherlands (and much of Europe) in the 1940s. The Anne Frank Foundation has created a moving memorial not just to Anne and her family, but to all Holocaust victims. Spending a few hours in the house where they lived in secret for almost two years, without being able to go outside, open a window, or make any noise, gives you a very tiny taste of what they must have endured. In the end, of course, they were betrayed, arrested and deported, and all but Anne’s father died in concentration camps. Sadly, Anne and her sister both died just weeks before the camps were liberated by Allied troops.

Personally, we were pleased to wait our turn and gratified to see so many people interested in the Anne Frank story. She was a little girl who loved to write, wrote well, and had dreams of a better life. She never got a better life, but though her tragedy is only one among the millions of Holocaust victims, her story has touched and hopefully taught many, many millions since.

Painting by Victor Brauner from the JHM exhibition

We’re actually living in the old Jewish section of Amsterdam. Just a block away from our apartment is the Jewish Historical Museum, which we went through yesterday. Our last name may be Klein, but we’re not Jewish so we have a lot to learn! We were impressed by the extensive array of interactive exhibits and information about the history, culture and customs of Judaism, from Passover to circumcision and much, much more than we could assimilate in one visit.

We had our most fun at the temporary exhibition of Jewish avant-garde artists from Romania. The exhibition, From Dada to Surrealism, includes more than 70 works of art from the period 1910–1938 by several Romanian artists. A world war, economic boom and depression, communist and fascist revolutions; it was a fascinating but difficult time and place to be a Jewish artist, writer, poet, or musician. Very interesting and appealing styles that we had not seen before or known much about. Surrealist, abstract, and expressionistic works, picto-poetry, and personal variations on Constructivism — nothing was too radical for them.

The Concertgebouw

Hugh Masekela

Following up on our great experiences at Symphony Hall in Boston, this week we got to hear a performance at the Concertgebouw, another of the world’s most renowned concert halls. The Concertgebouw is actually the second most visited concert hall (that must be true… we read it on Wikipedia). It was built in 1888 and just being inside is exciting enough! We were lucky to see Hugh Masekela (remember Grazing in the Grass?) perform there this week. We had actually seen him a few years ago in one of the least known concert halls in the world… the University of Hawaii at Hilo! We loved him both times; he puts on a fabulous, energetic show (how we hope we are as limber as he is when we get to be 72). We loved how he paid tribute to all the classical composers whose music has been played in this distinguished hall and how he felt very honored to share his music in this special place. Good music, great acoustics, a beautiful building and an appreciative audience — a very lovely evening!

Amsterdam Flower Bike

Hanapepe Flower Truck

We may be living in Amsterdam, but we are still Hawaiians at Heart. No matter where we go, little things remind us of Hawaii. This flower-filled bike prompted our memory of an old truck on Kauai (some of you probably remember seeing this down near Hanapepe).

We know there is beauty wherever you go. What there is NOT in Amsterdam, however, is Chinese dim sum for lunch, which we find very odd since there are dim sum restaurants. Dim sum is one of our favorite brunch or lunch foods and we have it whenever we can — one reason we have a condo right in Honolulu’s Chinatown. We’ve eaten dim sum all over the U.S. and Canada and it’s always been a late breakfast or lunch dish for the Chinese. If you get to a dim sum place after 2 pm they’re usually pretty much sold out. But the dim sum restaurants in Amsterdam don’t even open until 2 pm! We don’t get it and, well, we didn’t get it!

That’s it from Week 28. Wishing you all a good week and we’ll touch base next Sunday.

A hui hou,
Sharene and Harrison

Week 27 of 52

Another fun and interesting week in this amazing city. Although many of the locals leave to go on their annual August holiday, the city fills up with hundreds of thousands of visitors coming in for the biggest Gay Pride celebration around (even bigger than San Francisco, we think). Banners throughout the city, starting at the train stations and airports, welcome all who come to take part in the festivities. The entire city embraces this week with signs everywhere. Businesses and museums offer special events, the gay men’s choruses give a free performance, street parties abound, and then comes the crowning event: the grand canal boat parade! Over 60 wonderfully decorated boats float down the canals through the center of Amsterdam (is this where they got the name “floats”?) accompanied by loud pulsating music as about 250,000 spectators cheer from the adjacent streets. Throughout it all, you feel the hospitality, tolerance and pride from people of all shapes, sizes, colors and backgrounds having a good time and sharing in the celebration of personal freedom. You gotta love that.

Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade

Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade

No other city in the world takes a more tolerant or progressive attitude toward homosexuality and other personal freedoms than Amsterdam, surely the “gay capital of Europe” and for many years the gay capital of the world. A’damers are tolerant and progressive in many areas but in sexuality they are way ahead of the curve. Not only do they strive to give the gay community a separate voice, but they seamlessly accept gays and lesbians into their everyday lives and give them the same rights and benefits as heterosexuals with little controversy. They not only see but support what’s in front of all of us: many of our policemen, medical professionals, businesspeople, and soldiers — brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends and co-workers — are gay. So each year when they publicly recognize this branch of humankind, they end the week with a huge canal boat parade where they invite locals and visitors alike to come out and celebrate the diversity not just of homosexuals, but of people.

How boring it would be if we were all the same! The gay community is generally very colorful and a lot of fun, and this year’s parade did not disappoint! Some boats had political messages, many boats were sponsored by businesses showing their support (YouTube had one of the more colorful entries), and some were just plain fun, like the “Priscilla Queen of the Canals” boat. Representatives of the Dutch military showed up in full uniform bearing PROUD TO SERVE and DO ASK DO TELL banners. Boats full of police and paramedics, Christian and Jewish supporters, and representatives of the Dutch government followed right behind them.

Enjoy the photos, and to all our gay and lesbian friends and family… you would have been proud to be here; there was a lot of love and support and people in pink in this unique city this past week.

Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade

Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade

Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade

Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade

Besides participating in the Gay Pride festivities this past week, we rented bikes and rode about 32 kilometers (just 20 miles but kilometers makes it sound farther!). We are doing our best to take in all that Amsterdam has to offer. We spent most of our time riding in the Dutch countryside but got back to the city just in time to experience “bike rush hour”… sort of like a 15-minute E-Ticket ride at Disneyland (they probably don’t have those anymore, do they?)! No photos of that adventure; that would have been courting instant death!

Until next week, a hui hou and tot straks!
Sharene and Harrison