Posts In January 31, 2019
“The Medium is the Message“, the famous quote by Canadian scientist Marshall McLuhan, is the theme of the 7th edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival. The displays are mostly along the interior canals and designed to be viewed from the water as well as the shore. We’d seen several of the displays while walking through…
The Rijksmuseum art and history museum was founded in 1800 in the Hague and moved to the current Amsterdam location in 1885. It’s the largest and most visited museum in the Netherlands and annually sees over 2 million visitors. We spent much of our time there viewing the museum’s treasures, including Golden Age masterpieces by…
Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis for 25 months in a secret annex behind a 17th-century Amsterdam canal house. They eventually were captured and only Anne’s father survived the concentration camps, but her story lives on through the diary she kept that has been translated to over 60 languages. At the excellent…
After a whirlwind trip to the UAE and the US in late November, we spent December closer to Dirona in Amsterdam. Over a relaxing holiday season, we explored the city, completed some projects, and met with old friends and new, ending the month and year with a fabulous city-wide New Year’s celebration. Below are trip…
Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) on DAM square in Amsterdam dates back to 1408. That may seem pretty old, but it’s a century newer than Oude Kerk (Old Church). Nieuwe Kerk’s spectacular 17th-century choir screen was the first to be made entirely of brass and its panelled main organ, lavishly decorated with gilding, paintings and statuary,…
Isolating shore power from on-board electrical systems is important to avoid excess corrosion and, even more importantly, to avoid risk of shock in and around the boat. Two common approaches to isolation are galvanic isolators and isolation transformers. Isolation transformers have many advantages and often are installed in Nordhavns, but have one potential downside though:…
Christmas Markets, selling decorations, gifts, food, and drink, originated in Middle Ages Germany but now are common throughout Europe. A number of major markets are held in the Netherlands during the holiday season. Ice Village Amsterdam combines a market with another popular Dutch winter tradition, ice skating. An enjoyable 40-minute walking tour through central Amsterdam…
Amsterdam has 165 canals, more than Venice at about 150, with a total length of 31 miles (50km). The city also has three times as many bridges over these canals than Venice, 1201 compared to 409. Amsterdam’s canals were built in the 16th and 17th centuries as swampland was drained, a practice typical throughout the…
The day after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, we travelled half-way around the world to Las Vegas for the annual AWS re:Invent conference and made a quick trip to Seattle to visit with friends, catch a Seattle Seahawks game and pickup our mail. The full trip was a challenging one to pack for with such…
When we purchased our Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tickets months before the event, we debated between being at the end of one of the corners where the passing would be better, or at the start-finish line with a view to the pits and paddock. We chose the latter and were very happy with our choice—it…
One of the most exciting parts of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend of racing is the standing start. After the formation lap, all cars roll up to their respective starting positions and when the last car is in place and the safety car arrives at the back of the grid, the starting lights begin….
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River bar crossings require great care and in some conditions they simply can’t be safely crossed. Earlier this week, the crew of the commercial fishing vessel Mary B requested help from the US Coast Guard in a night crossing of the Yaquina Bay bar at Newport, Oregon. Sea conditions were reported to be 14 to…
Friday was the first day of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where cars were on the track, and the first that the grandstands were open. Our day started in the GP3 and Formula 2 paddocks, watching the teams and drivers prepare for their morning practice sessions. We watched most of the practice and qualifying sessions…
Thursday is usually the most interesting day on a major race weekend, as it is less crowded and we generally have more access to the facility and the drivers, teams and cars. The Abhu Dhabi Grand Prix was no exception. The grandstands weren’t even open on Thursday, so we spent much of the day in…
Our main reason for visiting Abu Dhabi, and the UAE, was to attend the final Formula 1 race of the season. Before the race weekend started, we did do a little sightseeing in Abu Dhabi, including visits to the magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grande Mosque and Ferarri World. Sheikh Zayed Grande Mosque is the third largest…
Dubai evolved in the 19th and 20th centuries on either side of Dubai Creek, north of the modern Downtown Dubai development. The buildings and traditional marketplaces there today, while oriented towards tourism, still give a flavour of what the city was like prior to its oil-driven economic boom. We spent a few hours exploring the…
We remember reading the news reports when Ski Dubai opened in 2005. An indoor ski resort in the middle of the desert is so over-the-top that we had to check it out. Located in the Mall of the Emirates south of the newer Downtown Dubai development, Ski Dubai is the world’s largest indoor snow park…
We were looking forward to visiting the ultra-modern, newly-built city of Dubai, but we also wanted to see the real desert while we were there. And not just a little sand, we wanted to see the endless dunes and Jennifer really wanted to ride a camel. We had an excellent seven-hour adventure with Platinum Heritage…