Sand Art

 

Such a sweet sand art sculpture on the sidewalk in Haarlem!

But that is NOT what this post is about...

SAND:

On Wednesday we took a 35 minutes drive to the coast, arriving at the beach town of Katwijk, on the North Sea.  We entered an underground parking lot, with the pedestrian entrances/exits well disguised as the sand dunes that surround the area.  

Before the day could begin, needed to stop for the all-important cappuccino.  This cute place was one of the few open at 9:30 a.m. - beach life starts later I guess.

The plan for the day, at the suggestion of our house traders, was to hike on the sand dunes trail to the next beach town, Noordwijk aan Zee, and then walk back along the water.  It ended being about 4 miles each way and made for a fabulous day.

As we approached Noordwijk, the trail was flanked with Beach Roses (thanks to sister-in-law Marianna who told me that if you take photo on your iPhone and then hit Info while viewing the photo, there will be a link to "look up plant").

Another cute beach town, we walked up and down the main street with shops, restaurants, and most shops having sidewalk sales.  

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then headed to the beach for the walk back.

The beaches at each town were packed with vacationers, but the stretch along the dunes was much quieter.  With our flip flops off, we waded in the water most of the way.  We sent a hello (via a What'sApp photo) to Jim's cousin, Andrea, in Skerries Ireland which is on the other side of the North Sea.  We will be with her and the other Irish cousins at the end of our trip.

I communed with nature again this morning, exploring another nearby park:

ART:

On our walks to the bus station in Amstelveen, we keep passing the Cobra Museum of Modern Art, and I had been curious about it, so decided to visit there this afternoon.

It is a beautifully designed, small museum featuring artists from the Cobra art movement - of which I knew nothing about.  Don't recall that being covered in my college Art History class.  Assuming that there are others, like me, who don't know the history, the museum does a great job of explaining the shift of artists who started in the European art world, but then became influenced by the art and culture of the middle east, Northern Africa and later South/Central America.  While many artists and works were in the regular display, the predominance were by Corneille (1922-2010), one of the founders of the Cobra Movement.  Just a few samples:

The special exhibit, on the second floor, featured artists from Morocco and was titled "The Other Story." I was very impressed with the audio tour.  Instead of one narrator, there were 8 different ones - some artists, others were art curators, poets, journalists, authors, cultural anthropologist, and an interior designer.  At each station, another one spoke and talked about their culture, what the art meant to them.  All beautifully written essays and poems.

The two photos below are of a room done by Dutch Moroccan interior designer Mina Abouzahra and she was the one who spoke about her culture's influence on her designs.  Another one of the narrators also spoke about the importance of the room for guests and how these rooms were where he first learned about art because that is where his family would keep their special treasures.

The big museums in Amsterdam get all the attention, but I found this one to be a hidden gem.

We look forward to Alex's arrival tomorrow morning!