May 17th, 2012
A short guide with things I would recommend to do if you’re visiting Amsterdam soon:
Great places where we had great meals and or drinks:
Amsterdam tourist information on I Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum
I Amsterdam
EYE Filmmuseum
Scheepvaartmuseum
Stedelijk Museum
May 15th, 2012
The famous Stedelijk Museum (Museum of Modern Art) in Amsterdam is undergoing renovation and rebuilding since many years. After this summer, the museum will be re-opened.
A complete renovation of the Stedelijk’s historic building, designed by A.W. Weissman and dating back to 1895, has converted virtually all of its program spaces into galleries, enabling the first comprehensive display the Stedelijk has ever mounted of its permanent collection, widely acknowledged to be among the world’s most important collections of modern and contemporary art and design. The dynamic new building—designed by Mels Crouwel of Benthem Crouwel Architects and measuring 10,000 square meters (98,400 square feet)—will provide new space for the Stedelijk’s renowned and influential temporary exhibitions, as well as a host of new amenities. The innovative design also re-orients the entire museum to face onto Amsterdam’s Museumplein (Museum Plaza), activating a vital public space that is shared by the Stedelijk and its neighbors: the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw.
More: stedelijk.nl
May 15th, 2012
Het Scheepvaartmuseum (The National Maritime Museum) in Amsterdam
Het Scheepvaartmuseum (The National Maritime Museum) is a museum located in Amsterdams. The museum is housed in a former naval storehouse, ‘s Lands Zeemagazijn or Admiraliteits Magazijn, designed by the Dutch architect Daniël Stalpaert and constructed in 1656. The museum moved to this building in 1973.
The museum is dedicated to maritime history and contains many artifacts associated with shipping and sailing. The collection contains, among other things, paintings, scale models, weapons and world maps. The paintings depict Dutch naval officers such as Michiel de Ruyter and impressive historical sea battles.
The map collection includes works by famed 17th-century cartographers Willem Blaeu and his son Joan Blaeu. The museum also has a surviving copy of the first edition of Maximilian Transylvanus’ work, De Moluccis Insulis, the first to describe Ferdinand Magellan’s voyage around the world.
Moored outside the museum is a replica of the Amsterdam, an 18th-century ship which sailed between the Netherlands and the East Indies. The replica was built in the years 1985-1990.
After an extensive renovation in 2007-2011, Het Scheepvaartmuseum reopened on October 2nd 2011.
The magic roof, inspired by sea maps
The Amsterdam
More: hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl
May 14th, 2012
Eye Film Institute Netherlands seen from De Ruyterkade
The new EYE Film Institute Netherlands was opened 6 weeks ago in Amsterdam. It includes a cinematography museum formerly called Filmmuseum, founded in 1952. Its predecessor was the Dutch Historic Film Archive, founded in 1946. The museum was situated in the Vondelparkpaviljoen since 1975, and in 2009, plans were announced for a new home for the museum on the northern bank of Amsterdam’s waterfront, near the Central Station. It was officially opened on April 4, 2012 by Queen Beatrix.
More: eyefilm.nl
May 12th, 2012
The swedish national football team is preparing for the European Championships this summer in Poland and Ukraine. Which Swedish player is in shape for the tournement? A swedish newspaper has an overview:
3. Andreas Isaksson – PSV Eindhoven
Olof Mellberg – Olympiakos
Jonas Olsson – West Bromwich
Behrang Safari – Anderlecht
Kim Källström – Lyon
Sebastian Larsson – Sunderland
Samuel Holmén – Istanbul
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – AC Milan
Johan Elmander – Galatasaray
Tobias Hysén – IFK Göteborg
4. Johan Wiland – Köpehamn
Pär Hansson – Helsingborg
Martin Olsson – Blackburn
Andreas Granqvist – Genoa
Anders Svensson – Elfsborg
Pontus Wernbloom – CSKA Moskva
Emir Bajrami – FC Twente
Christian Wilhelmsson – Al Hilal
Ola Toivonen – Psv Eindhoven
5. Daniel Majstorovic – Celtic
6. Mikael Lustig – Celtic
May 11th, 2012
2012-05-11 - Amsterdam Amstel
2012-05-11 - Amsterdam Amstel Halvemaansbrug with Munt tower
2012-05-11 - Amsterdam Oudezijds Voorburgwal
2012-05-11 - Amsterdam Groenburgwal with Zuiderkerk
May 3rd, 2012
Today, 8.000 young salmons were released today in Strömmen in central Stockholm. The 150 gr fishes will swim out to the sea and will return grown up in two years time.
May 2nd, 2012
Dit seizoen was de top in de Eredivisie een stuk breder dan de vorige jaargang. Ajax, FC Twente, PSV, Feyenoord, AZ en SC Heerenveen stonden geruime tijd binnen zeer korte afstand van elkaar. Lang was er daarom sprake van een heuse topzes. Woensdag mocht Ajax zich ook officieel tot de beste van Nederland kronen.
Ajax prolongeert door de overwinning het landskampioenschap. Na de felbegeerde derde ster van vorig seizoen, die een einde maakte aan een periode zonder titel sinds 2004, is nu dus het 31ste landskampioenschap een feit. Die titel is de vierde sinds de eeuwwisseling: in 2002, 2004 en vorig jaar was Ajax ook al de beste ploeg van Nederland.
Met de vierde titel in de laatste twaalf jaar moet Ajax PSV nog wel altijd boven zich dulden. De Brabanders waren zeven keer de sterkste, terwijl AZ en FC Twente in de voorbije twaalf jaar beiden één keer verrasten (2009 en 2010). Ook over de laatste tien jaar gerekend heeft PSV dus nog een titel meer dan de Amsterdammers.
May 1st, 2012
Valborg fire near Resarö Paviljongen
Vaxholms hembygds- och kyrkokör
Resarö Paviljongen
Valborgsmässoafton / Walpurgis Night
In Sweden, Walpurgis Night (Swedish: Valborgsmässoafton or simply Valborg) has more or less become a de facto half holiday. The forms of celebration in Sweden vary in different parts of the country and between different cities.
One of the main traditions in Sweden is to light large bonfires, a custom that is most firmly established in Svealand and may have begun in Uppland during the 18th century: “At Walpurgis (Valborg), farm animals were let out to graze, and ever since the early 18th century bonfires (majbrasor, kasar) have been lit to scare away predators.”
Singing traditional songs of spring is widespread throughout the country. The songs are mostly from the 19th century and were spread by students’ spring festivities. The strongest and most traditional spring festivities are also found in the old university cities, such as Uppsala and Lund, where undergraduates, graduates and alumni gather at events that last most of the day from early morning to late night on 30 April, or sista april (“The Last Day Of April”) as it is called in Lund and often Uppsala. More modern Valborg celebrations, particularly among Uppsala students, oftentimes consist of enjoying a breakfast including champagne and strawberries. During the day, people gather in parks, drink considerable amounts of alcoholic beverages, barbecue and generally enjoy the weather, if it happens to be favourable.
In Uppsala, since the mid-1970s, students also go rafting on Fyrisån through the centre of town with home-made, in fact quite easily wreckable, and often humorously decorated rafts. Several nations also hold “Champagne Races”, where students go to drink and spray champagne or somewhat more modestly priced sparkling wine on each other. The walls and floors of the old nation buildings are covered in plastic for this occasion, as the champagne is poured around recklessly and sometimes spilled enough to wade in. Spraying champagne is, however, a fairly recent addition to the Champagne Race. The name derives from the students running down the downhill slope from the Carolina Rediviva library, toward the Student Nations, to drink champagne.
More Walpurgis Night or Valborgsmässoafton
April 27th, 2012
Today, the press launch of the 2012 TTA Racing Elite League series was at Volvo Showroom in Stockholm.
After work, I went by the find out if I could see a glimpse of it. Unfortunately, all was already over.
But, behind the showroom, they we’re loading the cars back in their trucks and trailers.
Some pics show how powerfull and low to the ground these cars are. Should be amazing to see and hear these machines! V6 Engine with 420 horsepowers!
BMW (West Coast Racing), Citroën and Saab was also present during the press conference (see pictures from www.teknikensvarld.se).
Some more pics:
More information about the TTA series on www.ttagroup.se.
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