Here are some random notes from my Amsterdam stay. Lodging/Location: I chose the Owl Hotel for my home base while in Amsterdam, a choice based almost entirely on the reviews I found on Trip Advisor. Located only 2 blocks from Leidseplein and a 10-minute walk from the art museums, it was a convenient delight. The room was impeccably clean, comfortable, & quiet, the staff was very courteous & helpful, and the complementary breakfast was plentiful & t...

Haarlem was lovely. It's too bad it was closed. Monday morning I took a 15-minute train ride across Amsterdam's suburbs to Haarlem, an old, elegant town near the Dutch coast. Exiting the station and walking toward village center, things seemed oddly quiet. Even though it was nearly 10:30 AM, almost all the shops seemed closed, pedestrian and auto traffic was minimal, and the only activity seemed to be an occasional repairman working on a house or storefront. Wh...

Hello, Blogonauts! Touring Europe in general, and Amsterdam in particular, encourages learning how World War II shaped both the continent's boundaries and its citizens self-understanding. I visited several of the Amsterdam sites that keep the memory of that time alive. In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded The Netherlands, which until that point had been neutral in the war. In order to limit further casualties after the Nazis bombed Rotterdam, the Dutch government ...

Hello again, Blogonauts! The Dutch are known worldwide for their contributions to the world of art. I am am a withering failure as art aficionado, but I enjoy learning about it. So I have devoted much of my Amsterdam trip to wandering through galleries with an English audio tour held to my ear. On Saturday I visited the Rijksmuseum (pronounced "ryks-museum"), which is currently under a major renovation. They have transferred the most important works of the Dutc...

When it comes to interesting reading material, I think I know what my readers want: High-brow, low-grade smut. So in the interest of consumer service and blatant pandering to the lowest common denominator, here it is: Freud referred to the "id" as the part of personality that experiences primitive, unrestrained urges. The id is essentially your internal guttersnipe (and you know you have one). However, if acted upon without discretion, such impulses often produc...