A is for Alkmaar

Not the Cheese Market was the name of the festival and speaking as one who never saw any cheese, I can guarantee the authenticity of that name. Alkmaar is just 25 minutes from Amsterdam and in some ways it bears some similarities yet in some other ways it had a way all of its own.

For some reason I got a lot of gifts through the window. Here is a bunch of wild flowers from genuine Alkmaar fields.

She came baring gifts including this one of an Alkmaar emblem, just to prove that there is a cheese market that goes on somewhere in town.

Check these artworks out.

And this is my friend who was born in Chile but lived most of her life in Holland, we had a great conversation about being at the margins of society and what it is like to feel like an observer. In fact, that was the theme of the day, observations.

Mean tats - Alkmaar styles

And in case real flowers aren't your style, here are some that will last a little longer.





These two are brother and sister, on holiday here but both on opposing windows, one of them sees north, one of them sees south. Imagine what it will be like when they grow up a little.

So this jigsaw turns up from my window, turns out it's from Yolanda who lives in Haarlem. Backtrack here a little bit. Haarlem is about 15 minutes south of Alkmaar and was just a name on a map that I randomly chose to stay on the way here, so I booked into the local youth hostel. Yolanda has worked there for 5 years (from memory) since training as a goldsmith so we had a conversation about what it is to make things and stop making things and what you do with that energy. Everyone has that creative energy I suppose, we just find different things to channel it into.

Then this turns up, delivered by Renate who also works at the hostel. There is one piece missing, I don't think it was intentional but it seems significant since Yolanda was not able to be there in person. So this is puzzle is a kind of tardas, a portal to another place.

Putting the LUX in LUX EM BOURG

It's been weighing on my conscience. I had such a great time in Luxembourg and then I never put the photos up to prove it. I won't go into why Luxembourg had a specific significance for me, but needless to say I wanted to like this place. And I gotta say, when I arrived the night before it weirded me out a little, it's not like any other city I've been to. I went to bar called Arts Scene which should have been called Absence of any Arts Scene, and a friend had told me that this was a town with a policy for not allowing buskers, despite it having at least two big bronze sculptures of street performers. So it was a little bit of a surprise when I arrived in my designated spot to find a steady flow of really interesting people most of whom weren't bankers or tax evaders (not sure where I got that myth from either) but people with quite a clear world view and interest in places beyond their castle gates.

This is the way to the Luxembourg Tourist Office, I don't know why I find that funny... perhaps it is a kiwi thing, you see Luxembourg is even smaller than New Zealand and in New Zealand people have about as much idea of Luxembourg as your average middle American has about some island called New Zealand "say, I think I heard of that, is it part of Australia". Well this is the tourist office, well at least it is the way to the tourist office, and in itself it holds some kind of mystery.

And here is me not far from the Tourist Office, somewhere near the Prince's digs I think, though he did not come to visit as far as I know.

I really wished I had taken more photos because now many of the conversations have completely escaped me. I spoke with a very interesting School teacher, a civil servant, a financial manager, a social worker (now that was interesting), a few students, a couple of artists and plenty of children who manage to flit between languages like most people flit between assorted sweets. I was even invited out for dinner but was unable to make it once I'd spent time packing everything up.

I will come back Luxembourg, I'm not sure when or how but you made a good impression on me. Perhaps this is the upside to preconceptions, you are left with a fresh taste in your mouth like toothpaste when you realise your mistake.

Well I have to mention the street performances that were also part of my time in Luxembourg, here are the 12 foot fairies who took elegance to new heights and below was the fire dancing troupe from France who put on a truly memorable show, I have never seen fire used in such a playful and 'liquid' way.