{"id":2829,"date":"2020-03-21T10:51:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T09:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2829"},"modified":"2020-03-21T11:11:52","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T10:11:52","slug":"week-10-zagreb-and-amsterdam","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2829","title":{"rendered":"Week 10: Zagreb and Amsterdam"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first week of March was likely my last week of travelling for several months. As I post these images (on 20th March), I am confined to my home, only allowed to leave the house for food, medicines and other basic necessities. So it is nice to take a look back at normality, just a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

10_1<\/strong>
\nI was leaving for Zagreb Monday morning, so I made sure to do a nice ride on Sunday, knowing that I would spend much of the week in meeting rooms. The light around Busot was beautiful, with a combination of dark clouds and sunshine:
\n\"1150792\"<\/p>\n

10_2<\/strong>
\n\"1150785\"<\/p>\n

10_3<\/strong>
\n\"1150791\"<\/p>\n

10_4<\/strong>
\n\"1150794\"<\/p>\n

10_5<\/strong>
\nOn Monday morning I flew to Zagreb via Munich, arriving at my hotel in late afternoon. This was my first visit to Croatia, and as always on such occasions, I was eager to go out and explore the city. So after installing myself in my room, I walked towards the city’s main square in Upper Town, passing the impressive train station along the way:
\n\"DSF5848\"<\/p>\n

10_6<\/strong>
\nI continued my walk through a nice park with an impressive arts pavilion:
\n\"DSF5851\"<\/p>\n

10_7<\/strong>
\nShortly after taking the previous picture, I reached one of my planned destinations, a bar called Bacchus which I had learned about from the Lonely Planet guidebook I had read on the plane. There were quite a few people in the outside seating area:
\n\"DSF5856\"<\/p>\n

10_8<\/strong>
\nBut I went downstairs and discovered this wonderful space. I really liked it, despite the fact that much to my surprise, smoking was allowed–apparently in Croatia restaurants are smoke-free but bars are up to the proprietor:
\n\"DSF5900\"<\/p>\n

10_9<\/strong>
\nEven though the name suggests that Bacchus is a wine bar, the focus is very much on the excellent local beer:
\n\"DSF6100\"<\/p>\n

10_10<\/strong>
\nAs I kept on walking, I passed this poster; clearly, the issue of Catalan separatism has been noticed in Croatia:
\n\"DSF5857\"<\/p>\n

10_11<\/strong>
\nTrg bana Josipa Jela\u00c4\u008di\u00c4\u2021a, Zagreb’s main square, was quite lively:
\n\"DSF5870\"<\/p>\n

10_12<\/strong>
\nI walked a bit further north to see the cathedral:
\n\"DSF5876\"<\/p>\n

10_13<\/strong>
\nThis narrow alley seemed made for a nightime photo:
\n\"DSF5884\"<\/p>\n

10_14<\/strong>
\nOn Tuesday morning, we started a two-day meeting of the representatives of the EU member states. Here, Harrie from the European Commission is giving us an update by video:
\n\"DSF5887\"<\/p>\n

10_15<\/strong>
\nMy colleague Blanca, working during a coffee break:
\n\"DSF5889\"<\/p>\n

10_16<\/strong>
\nDuring lunch, I took a brief walk in the neighbourhood around the hotel. A typical scene from the former Communist capitals, old, somewhat dilapidated houses next to a modern international hotel:
\n\"DSF5892\"<\/p>\n

10_17<\/strong>
\nUS cultural influence, in evidence here too:
\n\"DSF5894\"<\/p>\n

10_18<\/strong>
\nA detail of our hotel:
\n\"DSF5897\"<\/p>\n

10_19<\/strong>
\nAfter the meeting, we had a social dinner at a restaurant a couple of km from the hotel. We provided a bus to take the delegates to the restaurant, but Blanca and I chose to walk, partly so as to visit Bacchus again. This resulted in a photo of me, taken by Blanca, with a somewhat funny face:
\n\"DSF5899\"<\/p>\n

10_20<\/strong>
\nAt the restaurant, Nino, a Croatian law enforcement officer currently working in our office as a Seconded National Expert (and a great guy in every respect), entertained Stephanie and Blanca after dinner with some card shark tricks:
\n\"DSF5917\"<\/p>\n

10_21<\/strong>
\n\"DSF5919\"<\/p>\n

10_22<\/strong>
\nOn Wednesday, we finished the meeting at lunchtime and then had an organised walking tour of Zagreb. The guide was knowledgeable and spoke good English:
\n\"DSF5934\"<\/p>\n

10_23<\/strong>
\nAt one point of the tour, we took what is billed as “the world’s shortest funicular”:
\n\"DSF5942\"<\/p>\n

10_24<\/strong>
\nWe passed a statue of St. George having slain the dragon:
\n\"DSF5970\"<\/p>\n

10_25<\/strong>
\nThere are some very long pedestrian tunnels under the old city:
\n\"DSF5975\"<\/p>\n

10_26<\/strong>
\nDuring the walk, I noticed some radical environmental graffiti:
\n\"DSF5969\"<\/p>\n

10_27<\/strong>
\n\"DSF5978\"<\/p>\n

10_28<\/strong>
\nDouble selfie:
\n\"DSF5985\"<\/p>\n

10_29<\/strong>
\nOne of Zagreb’s best-known tourist attractions is the Museum of Broken Relationships. It was set up by a couple who split up (but remained on friendly terms). The exhibits are donations from people all over the world. Some are funny, like this one:
\n\"DSF6011\"<\/p>\n

10_30<\/strong>
\nOthers are more poignant. These bras came from a woman who lost her “relationship” to her breasts due to cancer:
\n\"DSF6006\"<\/p>\n

10_31<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday, we had arranged a conference together with the Croatian intellectual property office. I had a first row seat which allowed me to take pictures of the speakers. This is Nino, our Croatian colleague:
\n\"DSF6039\"<\/p>\n

10_32<\/strong>
\nPiotr from the OECD speaks about counterfeit medicines:
\n\"DSF6043\"<\/p>\n

10_33<\/strong>
\nAfter the conference ended around 4 p.m. on Thursday, I quickly changed into casual clothes and walked about 3 km to the Museum of Contemporary Art, a place that Nino, my Croatian colleague, had recommended to me. Along the way, I crossed the river Sava. I liked having the opportunity to see parts of the city away from the centre and the tourists:
\n\"DSF6058\"<\/p>\n

10_34<\/strong>
\nOn the bridge, I saw another sticker supporting Catalan independence:
\n\"DSF6060\"<\/p>\n

10_35<\/strong>
\nI finally reached the museum:
\n\"DSF6093\"<\/p>\n

10_36<\/strong>
\nAs usual, I enjoyed a visit at a modern art museum. Quite a lot of it was striking; Croatia has had a difficult history in the 20th century, something that, paradoxically, seems to make the art more interesting:
\n\"DSF6070\"<\/p>\n

10_37<\/strong>
\nThe news:
\n\"DSF6085\"<\/p>\n

10_38<\/strong>
\nOn Friday morning I flew from Zagreb to Amsterdam. I had an 11-hour layover there, normally a hardship during a trip, but in this case it was a bit of a bonus, as it allowed me the opportunity to visit a city I know very well but which I had not visited for a few years. So I took the train from Schiphol airport and walked the familiar streets. This hotel was a place where I often stayed during the 1990s, when I lived in Brussels but had to spend a couple of days each week in the Netherlands:
\n\"DSF6108\"<\/p>\n

10_39<\/strong>
\nI walked from the Central Station towards the Dam Square. The street connecting the two is the Damrak, and it looked as I remembered it from my last visit, except that there was this very impressive new sculpture:
\n\"DSF6116\"<\/p>\n

10_40<\/strong>
\nA bit further down the street, I stopped at this place, where Dutch seafood delights such as herring and kibbeling<\/em> are sold:
\n\"DSF6145\"<\/p>\n

10_41<\/strong>
\nThis is Dutch street food at its best, a haringbroodje<\/em>. I enjoyed it enormously, a delicious mix of flavour and nostalgia:
\n\"DSF6142\"<\/p>\n

10_42<\/strong>
\nI finally arrived at the Rijksmuseum, which I was determined to visit. It is a bit like visiting the Prado in Madrid for me; the place is so big that I tend to go to the parts where there are paintings I particularly like. It is like seeing old friends again. Among them is of course Rembrandt’s Night Watch, which is now undergoing a restoration in full view of the public:
\n\"DSF6166\"<\/p>\n

10_43<\/strong>
\nOne of things I enjoy at the Rijksmuseum is to look at the faces in the portraits. I look into the eyes of people who lived 400 years ago; it almost gives me goosebumps:
\n\"DSF6182\"<\/p>\n

10_44<\/strong>
\nAfter my visit to the Rijksmuseum, I walked back towards the train station. On the way, I stopped at another place which I used to visit when we lived 45 km from Amsterdam between 2003 and 2007, the Kattenkabinet, a small museum dedicated to cat-themed art, housed in a grand old house on Herengracht:
\n\"DSF6193\"<\/p>\n

10_45<\/strong>
\nA painting of a cat that looks just like my late Taco:
\n\"DSF6192\"<\/p>\n

After visiting the Kattenkabinet, I walked to the Central Station, took the train back to the airport, and flew home to Alicante.<\/p>\n

10_46<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday morning, I was back on my beach, looking at the sand which had been blown into interesting shapes by strong wind while I was away:
\n\"1040356\"<\/p>\n

10_47<\/strong>
\n\"1040357\"<\/p>\n

10_48<\/strong>
\nA man was walking his greyhound; they walked down to the beach and he let the dog loose. Moments after I took this picture, the dog sprinted away, happily, and too quickly for me to catch on camera:
\n\"1040359\"<\/p>\n

More photos from Zagreb can be seen here<\/a>, and my walk in Amsterdam is further documented here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first week of March was likely my last week of travelling for several months. As I post these images (on 20th March), I am confined to my home, only allowed to leave the house for food, medicines and other basic necessities. So it is nice to take a look back at normality, just a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2755,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2829"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2836,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829\/revisions\/2836"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}