A City of Many Faces

We arrived in Amsterdam, Holland and went straight to the Amsterdam Hilton known by some as one of the spots (the Queen Anne Hotel in Montreal was the other) where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a week long "love-in" for peace and tolerance. The next day we opted for the hop-on hop-off boat cruise along the miles of canals that weave through the beautiful city filled with impressive buildings, churches, synagogues, museums, and parks.

We explored NEMO (an extensive, interactive science museum), a flower market full of tulip bulbs and gorgeous blooms of all kinds, the Rijksmuseum (a classics art museum showing Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Vermeer), the Amsterdam Zoo and many streets and squares.

Everyone was on a bike. Bike paths ruled municipal transport. We worried more about getting run over by a bike while crossing the bike lanes than by a car or bus which were much fewer and seemed less menacing. The bikes were fantastic though; new, yet styled old fashioned. Many had big baskets or wooden crates stuck on their fronts.

Finally, we come to the "coffee chops" and "red light district". The former are laid back places with low profile couches with alot of zoned out young people hanging out. We almost walked into one called "The Green Room" thinking we'd get a nice salad for lunch, then thought twice once getting a glimpse of the scene inside. Coffee shops may or may not serve coffee, but rather offer smokes of the variety not legal in Canada. In the "red light district" there are actual lights located above doors to flats! We still aren't sure what the light on meant - come in or stay out- and neither of us wanted to test out a hypothesis.

Picking Blackberries in Port Meadow

We went on an outing with a friend Laura met from swimming, Rosie, and her family. A 20 minute stroll from our doorstep and we hit on a 440 acre green space along the River Thames called Port Meadow. As we approached the park, a field of green opened up and we could see lush foliage in every direction dotted with what we soon realized were free roaming cows and horses. As the story goes, in return for helping to defend the kingdom against the marauding Danes, the Freemen of Oxford were given the land in 1086 to graze their cattle and horses free of charge by King Alfred who founded Oxford in the 10th Century. The Freemen's collective right has been exercised ever since and certain folks are permitted to house their animals on these common lands.

The meadow is picturesque, enhanced by views of the Thames River (really a canal at this point), swans and other beautiful birds, colorful sail boats, and animals of all types. Wild blackberries are available aplenty for those brave enough to face the thorny bushes to pick them. And as is the case with all of Britain, a couple of pubs are placed at strategic points along the route. All in all, we really enjoyed this gorgeous, relaxing spot and will return many times to get away for the hustle and bustle.

A Bird's Eye View of Oxford

To get a skyline view of Oxford we climbed 99 steps of Carfax Tower, all that remains of the 13th century St. Martin's Church. We saw terrific views of the Radcliffe Camera - originally built to house the Radcliffe Science Center - it is now home to additional reading rooms of the Bodleian Library. Also visible at this height was the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral built between 1160 and 1200. Though considered a relatively small cathedral, it serves not only the diocese of the City of Oxford, but is the chapel for Christ Church College, the largest of all 36 colleges at Oxford University.