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2003 Yearbook
Thursday, January 1
2003 was full of surprises, weatherwise. It started pretty cold, had
the warmest summer ever, the dryest summer ever, the coldest month of
October, and ended with a sunshine record of more than 2000 hours of
sun (whereas 1500 is normal). What will be in store this year?
So far, so good. After a very quiet New Year's Eve the year started with a wonderful white surprise. A couple of frisky hares playing in the back-ground completed the picture.
Friday, January 2
Two days ago the Municipal Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam closed it's doors for a major restoration. The museum had lost much of it's glory since Rudy Fuchs became manager 10 years ago. Fuchs is gone now, but today the museum sacked another architect and dropped another proposal. The museum won't open untill 2008. For modern art the Dutch will have to look in other cities, such as The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen and Eindhoven.
Today
we went to see the recently reopened Van Abbe museum in Eindhoven (
),
that hosts a marvellous retrospective of the versatile German artist
Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997) with a colorful variety of paintings,
drawings, sculptures, photographs and installations.
Saturday, January 10
As a relic from the primeval
forest which gave Holland (meaning: woodland) it's name, the 'Haarlemmer
Hout' in Tallotter's hometown is the oldest city-parc of the Netherlands.
In the 19th century most of the forest was turned into a landscape-garden
and many wealthy citizens built their home in the neighborhood.
One of these mansions was recently turned into a wok and grill restaurant. A wonderful place! Today we had a lovely dinner there at the invitation of Tallotter's father. On the occasion of which our six year old cousin drew Tallotter's portrait.
Thursday, January 15
A
good thing about this deteriorating economy is that politeness and creativity
have returned within businesses.
After years of sloppy service and louzy food at overpriced restaurants,
all of a sudden new initiatives seem to pop up overnite like mushrooms.
Behind this designer wall in the center of Amsterdam is a new yuppy
eastern style restaurant with the most adorable food: fish, vegetarian,
chicken and a lot of noodles. Blondbeard guided us to it, after a remar-kable
slutty afternoon in town.
Friday, January 23
A
weekend in the north of the Netherlands. We start our trip in the northern
city of Groningen with - as usual - a visit to the municipal museum
().
Always something new! Momentarily: "The Russian Landscape",
an exhibition with 19th century paintings.
Further on a couple of photographs from the permanent collection of the museum with the breathtaking portrait of a spastic young guy. Thru the eyes of the photographer we see the true person behind the handicap: a gorgeous, sensitive young man.
Saturday, January 24
Margreet invited us to spend the weekend in her cottage on Schiermonnikoog, one of the smaller islands in the Waddensee. Although we had been here before, we'd never expected to see such a vast salt marsh area. We love it. The roar of the sea and the emptiness of the landscape complete this instant meditation.
Sunday, January 25
Another day on the beach.