No Windmills or Canals in DC

Typical canal houses

View of windmill from canal

Bicycles on bridge

Last windmill in Amsterdam

While looking at my photos from our recent trip to Amsterdam, Holland, I realized how unique that city was compared to Washington, D.C. We had ridden around that city on giant cruiser boats on the canals and saw things like windmills out the window. No such things in DC, for sure! I learned that Amsterdam was also the most densely populated city in Europe, even though there's only about 750,000 people living in that city. However, the living spaces are all small, the streets are narrower and they mostly travel around on bikes and trams. The landlady of the basement studio apartment that we stayed in said that a whole family used to live in there and the nook in the corner was the parent's bedroom and the closet in the back wall was the children's bedroom! That and climbing up the ladder stairs to the street everyday must have made life quite different than what we experience in 21st century D.C. Thank God for the New World!

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• Amsterdam - Sex, drugs, windmills and bicycles - Amsterdam, Netherlands (travelpod.com)

A Freedom Tower for September 11

View from Hudson River of  new Tower under construction

I was in NYC recently and we took a short cruise on the Hudson River to see the city. There was a Tour Guide on the boat who provided interesting details about what we could see onshore. I was surprised to learn from him that at the site of the World Trade Center Twin Towers a new tower was being built so I snapped this photo of the building under construction. The guide referred to it as the "new Freedom Tower."  I forget exactly what the tour guide said but one of the new towers would be 1776 feet higher which is either one foot taller or one floor more than the original Twin Towers.  I haven't looked this up so if someone reading this knows, please comment below. I think it's significant that this week there's a media frenzy about the mosque and Quran burning but surely the real story is the resurrection of a new huge tall building and its surrounding area, an incredible marvelous feat of engineering. This is evidence of growth and change that is taking place right before our eyes and that may be blinded by media perception wars. Truly, it is amazing that a new building is going up at this site and will be as high or higher than what was there before. It would be with trepidation that I would go up in it;  the tallest glass building I have been in is the (new) John Hancock tower in Boston, MA. That's made of the shiny blue glass and there are floor to ceiling windows in the offices from which you can see all the way out over Boston Harbor. So, if I have the courage, when this new World Trade Center tower is finished, I might go up in it. I bet the view will be fantastic!   I found an animation of what the World Trade Center zone will look like built up in the future. The "butterfly" building is going to be very curious and I look forward to the museum and all the other features they are planning. There is nothing really like this in Washington, D.C., and that's what makes New York so unique.

Sidetrip to NYC

Times Square

Ellis Island

Empire State Building

Typical Lamp Post

Freedom Tower Half Built

This past week we took a little trip to another city, the big city, the big apple, that is, New York City.. Last I  heard there were at least 8 million people living there and it felt like that. Everywhere you looked there were crowds and large groups of people going about their daily business, or eating or shopping or lolly-gaggling like us.. In comparison, the streets of D.C. seem almost bare!  And the streets just went on and on with little store fronts selling pizza, or clothes and handbags, gadgets, and luggage (just like the street vendors on the streets of DC!) and big store fronts selling Gucci, Versace, Michael Kors and all kinds of brand name expensive labels that I learn about from watching television and that I never buy (sorry Mad Men!). We took a cruise around Manhattan Island and passed Ellis Island and learned a little history about the millions that came through there. Where else can you also see the Empire State building from the river with a yacht passing in front of it! We also saw the site where they are building the Freedom Tower where the World Trade Center towers used to be. I had to admit I had some emotional flashbacks to September 11 seeing this construction site and found myself glancing at the scarfed women on board the tourist boat with us, to see if they had any reaction. They were dutifully photographing the Colgate clock on the NJ side of the Hudson River, however. We had a lovely time and prayed that NYC would last forever!