A Week at a Time: June 4-10, 2011

The Saturday before last (the 4th), Mr. Traveler and I headed into Amsterdam to check out FOAM, the photography museum. They were running an exhibit called Antiphotojournalism, which highlighted trends in  photojournalism. I will have to admit that while many of photos were very powerful, I didn't particularly enjoy the layout of the exhibit. The photos were positioned either right above or right below my eye level, which left my neck in a constant straining position. The number of photos displayed was also overwhelming, as each had an accompanying description. I think the photos would have made a much larger impact on me if I could have sat down and flipped through a book containing them instead.

After we finished at the museum, we poked our heads in at the Amsterdam Historisch Museum. It had been sitting on my list of things to do for a while, so it was finally nice to get it checked off the list. The museum depicted the history of Amsterdam through a series of artifacts, artwork, and explanations, divided into centuries. There was quite a bit to see, but going with the museum-light approach (i.e. not reading most explanations), we made it through pretty quickly. Even though Mr. Traveler was a little less than thrilled at the prospect of the museum, by the end even he seemed to think it was worth the stop.

Before we headed back to Utrecht, we made one final stop in one of the many beer stores around the city. Mr. Traveler spotted a rather old bottle of Rochefort, one of his favorite beers. As he pointed it out to me, the guy running the store commented that at 8 years old, the beer was just hitting its prime. (The date on the bottle is actually the expiration date, which is set for 5 years after the beer is bottled.) Mr. Traveler decided to take the gamble and purchased a bottle. After tasting it, I'm still not sure whether I would call it expired or aged. While it still tasted like a Rochefort, it had lost much of it's carbonation, and therefore texture.

June 4 - Expired or Aged?

Sunday, Mr. Traveler had an away game, and instead of sitting around the house, I decided to make another trip into Amsterdam to check out the Sunday Market, which showcases the work of local artisans. While I went in search of some crafty goods, I found that most of the crafty items weren't really my style. I did, however, find plenty to appreciate in the form of locally produced food. I ended up bringing home a few different flavors of fudge, some tapenade, and a loaf of bread. Next time, I hope to bring Mr. Traveler, as I know he would have enjoyed checking out the different wines, olive oils, and other offerings of the vendors.

June 5 - Sunday Market

Monday night, I made the trip into Amsterdam for the fourth time in as many days. This time, it was to see the tUnE-YarDs, a show for which Mr. Traveler had bought tickets months in advance. The show was phenomenal, and I was completely impressed with Merrill Garbus, the singer, percussionist, and innovator behind the music project. I don't really know how to explain the music, so if you want to know more, I would suggest a quick search on YouTube. I didn't want to drag the camera to a concert venue, so instead I snapped a rainy day picture out the door before we left.

June 6 - Rainy Day

Tuesday evening, I went to the IWCU Summer Social in Driebergen at Landgoed Kraaybeekerfhof. I really enjoyed visiting with the ladies over dinner and drinks. However, before that, I spent most of the day cleaning, so I'm left with a sort of sad picture of a sponge for the day.

June 7 - A Sponge

On Wednesday, I don't remember exactly what I did, which to me just says I had a pretty relaxing day. I did take a short walk to snap some pictures and also ordered a new point and shoot camera to replace the one that went kaput.

June 8 - Purple

Thursday, I was excited when a ring at the doorbell around 10am brought my new camera, less than 24 hours after I placed the order. I was pretty excited about the fast delivery, and snapped a few pictures of the new camera to document my new toy.

June 9 - Fast Delivery

On Friday, I brought the new camera along for an IWCU walk from Woudenberg to Amersfoort. I enjoyed trying out the new zoom (my previous camera was a little smaller -- and thus more pocket friendly -- but it only had a 4x zoom as opposed to the 10x zoom in this model) and snapping pictures along the way. For the first part of the walk, we were primarily hiking through fields. While most did not contain livestock, we did encounter a flock of sheep in the middle of one path. We all took a few moments to snap some photos before walking right through the middle of the group. The sheep reluctantly moved off the path and let us continue our journey.

June 10 - Close Up of a Sheep