With 18 days in Europe starting in London, passing through the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium, it seemed fitting that Paris would be the final stop.  I arrived in Paris with 3+ days left, a fair amount of time to explore and eat my way through the French capital.

By most quantitative measures, Paris is the world’s most touristed city, so I’ll spare a lot of the details surrounding tourist attractions which everybody is probably already familiar with anyway.  What I was equally interested in were Paris’ neighborhoods, ethnic enclaves, transportation systems, and of course the food.

But nonetheless, let’s start with the basics.  I spent my first day visiting the requisite tourist attractions, of which Paris has many.

When I was about 10, I saw the Sears Tower for the first time on a family trip to Chicago.  For some reason, I had always envisioned the Eiffel Tower to be of comparative stature.  In fact, it’s quite small (by standards of 21st Century architectural tallness), but no doubt an architectural masterpiece.

Ascending to the top would have necessitated several hours of standing in line, so I opted to appreciate it from below.

Next on the list was the Arc de Triomphe.  If I hadn’t known better, I probably could have been convinced that the Arc was located along the Third Ring Road of Beijing, as it was completely surrounded by Chinese tourists taking snapshots.

Also on the list was the Louvre, the world’s premiere art museum.  More than a museum, the place feels like a compound.  It’s absolutely gigantic, and one could literally spend a full week looking at all the exhibits.

As I discovered, this is not a museum where you can get much out of a casual walkthrough.  To truly appreciate the Louvre, you need to do some homework, figure out what you want to see, where it’s located, and how to get there, because otherwise the magnitude of the collection is simply overwhelming.

The Centre Pompidou is one of Paris’ more aesthetically pleasing modern landmarks, and the public square in front is prime for people watching.

After 2 weeks of exploring cities, I was already a little cathedraled out.  But fortunately the best came at the end.

Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral is a stunning specimin of Gothic architecture, and completely open to the public taboot.

inside!

I’ll let the images do the talking.

Paris is centered around two islands in the Seine River, Île de la Cité and Île St. Louis.  This was where the medieval city first emerged and today is the oldest remaining part of Paris.

Paris is often billed as “the world’s most beautiful city” but in this regard, the area along the Seine was underwhelming.  To me, it looked like a bunch of cement, lacking much architectural ingenuity.

The islands, and the areas surrounding them do make for good wandering and exploring territory however.

Vendors along the Seine sell locks, which couples purchase and then attach to the bridges to affirm their love…I guess.

I spent a couple hours trekking through the area until everything (especially my pictures) started to look the same.

There were several streets on the islands which were somewhat reminiscent of a medieval city (minus all the souvenir shops).

Negativity aside, the area surrounding the islands is worth checking out, but Paris is a city of neighborhoods (or arrondissements if you will), and it would be a big mistake not to get outside of the central area and explore some of the less touristed spots.

…and Paris’ phenomenal metro system makes this easy to do.

In all my travels, Paris might be the most subway accessible city I’ve ever visited.

The Paris Metro doesn’t have the world’s longest network, the most stops, or the highest ridership.  And it definitely doesn’t have the best infrastructure.  But what makes it so useful is the sheer density of trackage and stations.

There is hardly any destination in Paris which is more than a 5 minute walk from a Metro stop, and there was rarely a time I waited more than 1 or 2 minutes for a train to arrive.  I was literally bouncing from one end of the city to the opposite end several times per day, and rarely spent more than 25 minutes in transit.

The trains themselves are old and rickety, especially by European standards, and most run on rubber tires as opposed to steel wheels.  Paris city planners have seemed to prioritize comprehensiveness over modernity, and the result is a system with both character and utility.

…and the occasional abandoned subway station

Paris is also served by an extensive commuter rail system as well as long-distance rail links all over Europe.  Trains link up to one of 6 terminals such as Gare Du Nord (above).

Inside the station, the long-distance and commuter lines link directly with the Metro providing seamless inter-modal transportation.

Well, now that we’ve covered tourist attractions and transportation, let’s get to the neighborhoods!

Through dumb luck, the neighborhood where my hostel was located, Montmartre, fit my expectations of Paris closer than any of the areas I had listed on my itinerary.  Alive with cafes, street life, a touch of bohemia, and narrow winding streets as opposed to the broad boulevards crossing much of the city, spending evenings in Montmartre was my favorite way to experience “Paris.”

Thanks in large part to Baron Haussmann, Paris is one of Europe’s more architecturally monotonous cities.  Montmartre provided some departure from the typical form.

Most buildings rose 4 or 5 stories, with commercial activity such as cafes, bakeries, vegetable shops, and the occasional Turkish schwarma shop on the first level.

Here are some residences in the typical Haussmann-style apartment blocks

The Montmartre neighborhood lies upon the slope of a precipitous hill, which provides for fantastic vistas looking North.

Few neighborhoods in Paris can be found which are not inundated with cafes.  Cafe culture is simply the way Parisians role, for lack of a better way of putting it.  While many cafes are also full service restaurants, Parisians often sit for hours, at all hours of the day, chatting with friends or reading the newspaper with no more than a cup of coffee or a coke.

more random city shots…

Paris is a hotbed for international migration, but it’s easy to miss this fascinating aspect of the city if one sticks to the tourist trail.  I spent a good day and a half exploring some of these ethnic communities which generally surround the central core of the city.  While immigrants generally live separate from the native population, at casual glance there appears to be more mixing among the various immigrant groups than tends to happen in North America, and one example of this is Belleville (above).

Belleville is home to many ethnic groups including one of Paris’  two largest Chinese communities.  Paris does not have an area specifically labeled “Chinatown” but rather has several small Chinese enclaves scattered around the city.  Most of these enclaves are heterogeneous with immigrants from around the world living in close proximity.  Case in point:  Just across the street from this shot was a tasty Lebanese sandwich shop, where my Argentinean cum Parisian friend Pablo took me for lunch.

Probably the most interesting ethnic neighborhood I explored was Goutte d’Or in the 18th Arrondissement, commonly known as Paris’ “Little Africa.”

Generally speaking, Goutte d’Or seems to be a neighborhood which native Parisians avoid and are afraid of.  I was told by multiple people not to go there.

Most of the storefronts cater to Paris’s African immigrant population.

Taking a jaunt through the central market of Goutte d’Or is an easy way to forget you are in Europe.  Most of what I saw in this market felt straight out of West Africa.

Goods hawking, shamans for hire, the sale and slaughtering of live animals, pretty much anything flies in Goutte d’Or.

Here are a few more shots of Goutte d’Or and the 18th Arrondisment.  To see the “other” side of Paris, I strongly recommend a trip to this fascinating area.

Another hotbed for immigrant activity is the St-Denis district which is home primarily to Moroccans and Turks.

The broad avenues and free air restaurants make St-Denis an excellent place to enjoy a schwarma or kabob.  Like Goutte d’Or, this was also an area which local Parisians appeared to be afraid of.  Just south of St-Denis, I inadvertently discovered another Chinese community, as well as a vice district where prostitutes stand in front of buildings showing off their goods to perspective Johns.

While prostitution isn’t legal as it is in the Netherlands, it is quite out-in-the-open in Paris, albeit confined to specific vice districts.  Quartier Pigalle is Paris’ most famous of these vice districts with the main streets lined with sex shops and massage parlors.  Along the side streets, prostitutes can be seen displaying themselves to passersby.

The concept of a “suburb” is very different in Europe than it is in North America, and Paris is a prime case.  In North America, we tend to associate suburbs with affluence, native populations, and low residential densities.  In Paris (and much of Europe) on the other hand, suburbs are often the home of the poor, the down and out, and recently arrived immigrants.  This is implied in the connotation of “banlieue” which is the French approximation of “suburb.” They also are tend to have residential densities similar to the city centre, as opposed to the urban sprawl which dominates the North American suburban landscape.  Parisian suburbs look very different from the Haussmann-esque architecture and streetscape of the city centre.  For example, high-rise residential buildings such as these are generally only built in suburban districts.

This is partly due to laws which restrict the types of buildings which are allowed in the city centre.  Notice the striking architectural difference between these shots from those above.

My friend Yahan Chuang is currently conducting doctoral research on the banlieue district of Aubervilliers, just outside of Paris proper.  Originally a site of textile production and wholesaling run by Ashkenazik Jews, the area has rapidly turned over and is now home to mostly Chinese garment wholesalers from Wenzhou.

The area is starting to emerge as a sort of suburban Chinatown.  Notice the street name.  Just across the street, I found a street vendor selling 王老吉 (a popular Chinese tea drink).

These are the wholesale shops where garments are sold (only in bulk) at rock bottom prices.  Unlike in North America where most Chinese business owners are either from the areas surrounding either Guangzhou or Fuzhou, the entrepreneurs in Aubervilliers are almost exclusively of Wenzhou extraction.

more garment shops

A typical street scene from outside Aubervilliers…not the image people usually conjure when they think of Paris.

got bling?

Here are a few more random banlieue (suburban) shots.

Well, if you’ve made it this far, I appreciate your attention, and I’ve saved the best part for last, because Paris is a foodie’s paradise.  I think Samuel L. Jackson sums it up pretty well in Pulp Fiction when he says “They got the same shit over there that we got over here.  It’s just the little differences.”  There isn’t much food in Paris which would be unfamiliar to the typical American.  The difference is in the overall quality of ingredients and preparation. Take this tart for example.  I could buy something which looks just like this at most bakeries in Chicago.  But in Paris (and I’m generalizing of course) it’s going to be made with finer ingredients, no preservatives, less sugar, and fresher raspberries. Each morning I enjoyed delicious tarts, breads, and pastries for breakfast.  On several occasions, I made the mistake of buying baked goods at night and found they tasted quite different than they would have just 10 hours earlier.  Baked goods in Paris are made to be consumed within a few hours after leaving the oven.  This focus on freshness sacrifices longevity, and the result is obvious the minute it hits your mouth.

And one item which shouldn’t be missed is the crepe.  My friend Pablo emphasized to me that there are 2 kinds of crepes in Paris:  the ones bought from street vendors and the ones eaten in sit-down restaurants, of which he recommended the latter (pictured above).  Crepes come with a wide variety of possible innards, and restaurants specializing in crepes offer many permutations of meats, cheeses, and vegetables to go inside.

There is no shortage of good finger food in Paris, and I could have easily spent 3 days there without picking up a fork.

shopping cart corn cobs, a popular snack in ethnic neighborhoods

Without looking at the next picture, see if you can guess where this shot was taken?  When you give up, scroll down.

Yup, it was taken at a McCafe, the requisite pastry shop located in most Parisian McDonald’s.  Parisians indeed love their baked goods, even when patronizing the Golden Arches.

Again calling on the wisdom of Samuel L. Jackson, I had long known that “In Paris you can buy a beer at McDonald’s.”  Consider me a sucker for all things Pulp Fiction related, but I had to give it a try.  Sure enough, they do sell beer at McDonald’s in Paris.  But the part they don’t tell you in Pulp Fiction is that they won’t sell you a beer unless you buy something else.  Hence the P’tit Wrap to go along with my can of 1664, which was incidentally one of the worst beers I’ve ever tasted.

This just looks like a bad idea.

Here’s another peculiar French take on fast food.  These advertisements were literally everywhere during my stay in Paris.  I didn’t actually try a “Strong Bacon” though, nor was I able to decipher what the red specks on top of the bun were.

Yeah, yeah, I know.  It’s a Vietnamese sign, in a French-speaking country, but I still got a good chuckle out of this one.

I don’t know why, but I really like these big green crosses on every pharmacy.

To be frank, I found Paris to be overrated in regards to the typical reasons it draws visitors.  London has better architecture.  Amsterdam’s streets are more romantic.  And the central area along the Seine is so over-touristed (not to mention architecturally underwhelming) that I didn’t truly feel like I was in Paris until I started exploring the more peripheral arrondisments.  Paris does have a unique charm to it, and this is best experienced in the cafe and street life of districts like Montmartre.  I also found the ethnic and culinary diversity to be far more engaging than anything I saw in a museum or along the Champs-Elysees.  In these regards, Paris was one of the highlights of my trip.  One regret is that I was not able to see anything else in France outside of Paris.  Another is that I would have liked to have more time to enjoy French fine dining.  These was not a conscious choice, but rather the result of time constraints. Well, that concludes the Europe 2011 series.  I’m hoping to resume the Europe adventure in the summer of 2012.  Thanks for reading.

Like Bruges and Ghent, Leuven is another easy daytrip from Brussels.  Only 20 minutes away, via trains which run multiple times per hour, Leuven is close enough that its many of its residents commute daily to Brussels and vice versa.

Leuven is home to Belgium’s largest student population, and in addition to being essentially a commuter suburb of Brussels, has many of its own sites as well.

The University of Leuven, founded in 1425, is Belgium’s oldest university.  Here’s their main library.

Leuvenites play “Petanque,” a popular street game of French origin.

continuing on through the city centre

Leuven’s city centre is dense and compact and this entire series was shot within roughly a fifteen minute walking radius.

Leuven’ Oude Markt is one of the primary venues for entertainment.

This is the ideal spot to relax outside with a delicious Belgian beer.

Here’s the tasty beer my Belgian-American friend Daphne introduced me to.  It’s called Nondedju (triple), tastes like heaven, and is somewhere in the double digits on alcohol content.   I drank one bottle and was moderately intoxicated.

Above Oude Markt are also some of the finer examples of Belgian architecture I encountered.

One of Belgium’s most famous contributions to the world of culinary arts is stoofvlees, a beef stew slow-cooked with bread, mustard, and brown abbey beer…Highly recommended!

…and a shot of Oude Markt at night.

Leuven is just a hop, skip, and a jump from Brussels, so there is little reason not to include it in a trip to the Eurozone’s capital city.  Leuven provides many of the same Belgian cultural amenities as Brussels, but in a smaller, more-student oriented package.  It’s well worth a day trip, or possibly longer, for a break from the hustle and bustle of Brussels.  Had I more time, I would have stayed a week solely for the beer and stoofvlees.  Next (and final) destination:  Paris.

Bruges is only an hour train ride outside of Brussels, and after an early morning start in Bruges, I found myself with some extra time in the afternoon.  Ghent, Belgium’s fourth largest city, is a stop along the Brussels-Bruges route, so I decided to stop off and check it out.

Brussels and Bruges are the main tourist stops in Belgium, leaving Ghent comparatively less touristed.  Like Bruges, it’s primarily a Flemish speaking city, where French is only marginally spoken and understood.

Ghent has a lot of the quaint features of a little Belgian town which made it a worthwhile place to meander through for the remainder of the afternoon.

canals

majestic buildings

open squares

churches

cobblestone streets

more canals

From my admittedly surface vantage point, Ghent doesn’t have much which stands out over and above Brussels and Bruges, so it isn’t a place I would necessarily plan a trip around visiting.  But with its convenient location along the Brussels-Bruges railway (which runs multiple trains on the hour), there’s little reason not to get out and explore Ghent for a few hours.  Next day trip:  Leuven

So early Christmas morning, I decided to visit some of Chicago’s most heavily trafficked areas to see what they would look like in the absence of humanity. The video starts in Wicker Park, moves downtown to the Loop, then along Wacker Drive, and then up Michigan Avenue, then back to the Loop, and finally returning to Wicker Park. Enjoy.

Located in the heart of Flanders (the Dutch speaking province of Belgium) Bruges is Belgium’s premiere tourist attraction, and along with Amsterdam, often referred to as the “Venice of the North.”

A major trading center in the 12th Century, Bruges today remains one of Europe’s most well preserved Medieval cities.  Bruges is a big draw on the tourist circuit, and if you go, I highly recommend a) not going on a weekend, and b) going as early as possible to beat the crowds.

Bruges is a one-hour train ride from of Brussels, so it makes for an easy day trip from the capital.

Bruges’ high level of intactness makes it truly feel like a Medieval city at times.

Unlike Brussels where French is the primary language, most Bruges residents speak Flemish, the Belgian dialect of Dutch.

Here are some of the sites.

Bruges has also been a victim of its own intactness, and at times I couldn’t help but feel like the entire city centre felt like a gigantic tourist theme park.

Apparently Bruges is well-known on the Chinese tourism circuit as well.  I bumped into countless Chinese tour groups with their token colored hats and flag-toting leaders.

Bruges is world renowned for its canal network.  Although, after coming from Amsterdam and Utrecht, I was a little underwhelmed in this regard.

Since Bruges is so heavily dependent on tourists, not much happens in the city centre which isn’t related to the tourism industry.  Whereas in Amsterdam and Utrecht, the canal system is more integrated into the urban fabric, in Bruges the canals have little connection to the everyday lives of locals.

Not to take away from the scenery and architecture, which is indeed stunning.  But Bruges requires a little more imagination to invision what street life must have looked like back in the old days.

As a physical artifact, Bruges is a stunning and truly looks like a Medieval city.  From a purely architectural standpoint, it’s top notch.  But if you’re averse to heavily touristed and commodified travel experiences, Bruges may be a bit of a let-down.  This town entire town (or the city centre at least) is primarily centered on tourism, which makes the perception of any local flavor difficult.  It’s well worth a day trip from Brussels, but not more than that.  Next stop:  Ghent

After 6 days in the UK and 4 in the Netherlands, the next country on the itinerary was Belgium, first stop:  Brussels.  As the capital of the EU, and located in the center of Europe’s densest transportation network, Brussels has played a prominent role in the politics of modern Europe.  It’s also a great place to wander around.

Brussels is centered around a dense urban core.  Buildings old and new rise several stories above city streets.

Brussels is also very walkable, with several pedestrian malls in the city centre.

Its most famous site is the Grand Place (pronounced with a French accent).

The Grand Place consists of a square which is believed to have been a central market spot as early as the 11th Century.

The Grand Place has all the elements of a tourist trap, but nonetheless the architecture is quite magnificent, and outweighs the rows of souvenir shops which surround it.

The following images are all shots from different angles within the Grand Place.

Brussels (and Belgium as a whole) has a unique linguistic history.  Belgium is divided into the Flemish (Dutch) speaking region of Flanders and the French speaking region of Walloonia, as well as several small German speaking areas.   Brussels is geographically located within Flanders, and is traditionally a Flemish speaking city.  However over the past several hundred years, migration and social pressures have created a language shift, whereby Brussels has transitioned into being a primarily francophone city.  Today, while all signs are written in both Flemish and French, most of the language heard on the streets of Brussels is French.

Just around the corner from the Grand Place is Manneken Pis, another world famous Brussels landmark.  Literally “Little Man Pee” Manneken Pis has been continuously urinating in Brussels since 1619.  According to tradition, he is often dressed in costumes covering his genitalia, and sometimes reflecting themes of foreign dignitaries who are visiting Brussels.

Brussels is well served by its subway system, with several lines all leading towards a loop in the city centre.

With Brussels’ compactness, most sites can be reached in under 15 minutes on the subway.

Brussels has an interesting city centre, with several inner neighborhoods having experienced significant post-industrial urban decay.

Like most European capitals, Brussels does not have many large skyscrapers, such as those which dominate skylines in Asia and North America.  The Tour du Midi (above) is the tallest building in Belgium and sticks out among skyline.

But much of Brussels streetscape is 3 and 4 story dense urban development typical of European capitals.

Brussels’ most unique feature may be its ethnic heterogeneity.  Rather unique among European cities, Brussels’ immigrant communities (and poor communities generally speaking) tend to cluster around the city centre rather than on the outskirts.  I covered several large swaths of city centre, which felt entirely, well…un-Belgian, such as this dowwtown Moroccan enclave.

In Moroccan neighborhoods, the streets are frequently lined with these outdoor cafes where Moroccan men (I hardly ever saw women at these establishments) would sit outside, drinking tea and conversing loudly in large groups.

In addition to Moroccans, the largest foreign ethnic groups in Brussels include Turks, Congolese, and emigres from the rest of the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya).  After French, I probably heard more Arabic on the streets of Brussels than I heard Flemish.  Brussels’ ethnic mix makes it an excellent town to sample various foodstuffs from the Muslim and Arab world.

The hostel I stayed at was located in the Molenbeek district, home of one of Brussels’ largest Moroccan enclaves, and the Sint-Regimius Church (above), built in 1907.

Here’s a typical street shot from Molenbeek.  Most of the housing was occupied by Moroccans and various other immigrant groups from around the Middle East and Europe.  As a primarily francophone city, Brussels makes for a convenient draw for immigrants of the Maghreb, many of whom learn French in school in their home countries.

Brussels doesn’t have the volume of historical and cultural sites as other Western European capitals such as London and Amsterdam.  But it what it does have is a broad snapshot of the multi-ethnic metropolises of which many are presently becoming.  In this respect, and considering the amount of international organizations located within its boundaries, Brussels feels almost more like a world capital than it does the capital of Belgium.  Next stop:  Bruges.

Without checking Wikipedia, what’s the largest port in Europe?  I didn’t know either until about two months ago, but it’s Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ second largest city.  Also part of the Ranstad is a hop, skip, and a jump away from Amsterdam and Utrecht.

Rotterdam is an anomaly in the Netherlands, and Europe as a whole.  With nearly the entire city having been destroyed by bombing raids, Rotterdam has been rebuilt in a modern, futuresque paradigm, which in some respects looks more Asian than European.

Rotterdam does not have a compact city centre like Amsterdam and Utrecht.  Instead, it is spread out and centered around several high-rise business districts, which are home to some of Europe’s tallest skyscrapers.

Linking the various districts is the shiny Rotterdam Metro.

Unlike Amsterdam with its compact, walkable, bikable, city centre, getting around Rotterdam usually entails a ride on the Metro.

With large populations of Africans, Asians, and Arabs, Rotterdam is a polyglot city, filled with ethnic enclaves from around the world.  It’s hard to see from this picture, but this is a picture of the Chinatown, located just 5 minutes away from the Rotterdam Centraal Station.

The next few pictures are shots from around central Rotterdam.

The European breakfast of champions

What I found most appealing about Rotterdam was the modern architecture.  I can’t say I’ve seen anything quite like it outside of Hong Kong and Shanghai.

European cities aren’t generally known for their skylines, but in this regard, Rotterdam was impressive.

Here’s the Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam’s most famous architectural landmark.

modern office parks

and even a wind mill for good measure

The district of Delfshaven is one of the few splices of old Rotterdam which survived the war.  There wasn’t a whole lot to see here, but for Old Rotterdam, this is all that’s left to offer.

Much of Delfshaven’s residential space has been redeveloped into these.  Even in a modern city, Dutch developers maintain urban density by keeping houses close together.

Rotterdam isn’t exactly a hotbed of tourism.  But as a wonderland of modern architecture, it provides a good foil to a European trip centered on the old and ancient.

I did Rotterdam in a day trip from Utrecht, and while I could have stayed longer, this felt like the right amount of time to soak up much of what Holland’s second city has to offer.  Rotterdam’s appeal is in the modern and not the ancient, and in this regard, the architecture is well worth the trip.  Next stop:  Brussels.

Utrecht is the Holland’s 4th largest city, and was the dark horse of my stay in the Netherlands. Part of the Randstad conurbation, Utrecht is a short, half hour train ride from Amsterdam Centraal.

Utrecht is known as the Netherlands’ college town, but there’s more to this city than just college students.  In  many ways, Utrecht feels like a smaller version of Amsterdam, but without all the tourists and commercialization.  Like Amsterdam, Utrecht has canals, “coffeeshops,” and red light districts, but on a smaller scale than the capital.

Utrecht is traversed by several canals which cut through the main pedestrian arteries of the city centre.

Many of the buildings are built next to the canals.  A door on the canal allows people to step out of their home and directly on to a boat.

Originally built as shipping lanes, thesedays the canals are primarily used for recreation.

Utrecht has a quaint, compact, city centre, centered around the Medieval Dom Tower.

Originally intended to be part of a cathedral, the cathedral itself was never finished due to lack of funds.  The tower was completed in 1382 after 60 years of construction, and remains today as the marker of Utrecht’s geographic center.

The Dom Tower attracts many tourists, but by in large, Utrecht is off of the mainstream Eurotour route.  It’s an excellent town to visit if you want to get away from the typical tourism circuit.

Unlike Amsterdam where organized religion was uncharacteristically absent from the city’s power structure, Utrecht has traditionally been the center of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands.  The grandiose Dom Tower was constructed, in no small part, as a visual reminder of the Church’s power.

Below and around the Dom Tower is the heart of Utrecht’s city centre.

Utrecht was one of the most well-intact old cities I visited on my trip.  The streets are full of old churches, houses, and canals, and everything is reachable via walking or bicycle.

…

Like just about anywhere else in the Netherlands, bicycles are ubiquitous in Utrecht.

“Wok to Go,” the Dutch take on Chinese fast food.  These seem to be almost as common as McDonalds in the Netherlands.  I didn’t actually go inside.

The Netherlands is a hotbed for delicious snacks and junk food, which is interesting because they have very few obese people.  Here’s one of my favorites, frites topped with mayonnaise, curry sauce, and chopped onions.

random night shot

English isn’t as widely spoken in Utrecht as it is in Amsterdam.  Most of what’s heard on the streets is Dutch, which has possibly the longest average word length of any language on the planet.

By in large, Utrecht’s most appealing attraction is its canals which line the main thoroughfares of the city centre.

What’s so impressive about Utrecht’s canal network is the way in which it has been woven into the contemporary urban fabric.

Utrecht’s canals are not rebuilt or museumified, rather they have been seamlessly integrated into the flow of city life.

When the canals were first built, they were used to ship goods to and from Utrecht merchants.  The doors along the canals lead to the basements of the storefronts along the street.  Goods could be delivered directly to merchants without interrupting the street traffic above.

Along Utrecht’s main canal several miles outside the city centre, is the Red Light District.

The Red Light District itself is literally on the canal, with a mile-long stretch of house boats available for prostitutes to rent.  Each unit has a window in which the women display the goods and oggle at potential customers.

Once a deal is made, the John steps onto the house boat, and the curtains are drawn.

A special dead end road runs along the canal so that motorists can drive up and down to scope out the merchandise.

Unlike Amsterdam’s De Wallen Red Light District which is as much a tourist attraction as it is a center of vice,the majority of the people in Utrecht’s Red Light District are there because they are legitimately looking for some evening company.

Utrecht is at the center of the Netherlands’ comprehensive high-speed rail network.  The 4 cities of the Radstad are so well-linked by rail that you could conceivably live in any of the 4 and commute daily to any of the other 3.

Trains leave about every half hour, and tickets can be purchased up until 10 minutes before departure making train travel through the Netherlands, at least the major urbanized part, seamlessly easy.

Utrecht is a can’t miss destination on any trip to the Netherlands.  It’s close enough to Amsterdam that it can be seen in a day trip, but it’s worth staying longer if you have the time.  Utrecht is an ideal place to kick back, relax, sip a beer (or smoke legal marijuana) in a medieval city centre overlooking 17th Century canals.  It doesn’t have as many cultural amenities as Amsterdam, but for a relaxing place to soak up Dutch culture and architecture, it doesn’t get better than Utrecht.  Next Stop:  Rotterdam

The first place my feet touched down on the European continent was Amsterdam.  Once the center of the world’s first modern capitalist economy, Amsterdam of today is a bustling Old World metropolis, full of both culture and debauchery.

Amsterdam’s most defining feature is the ring of concentric canals which form belts around the old city.

Amsterdam was one of the world’s first cities to urbanize on an industrial sale, and its canals are the result of an extensive city plan enacted in the early 1600’s to deal with the city’s rapidly expanding urban population.

Amsterdam, and the Netherlands as a whole, also prides itself on a history of tolerance.  One physical symbol of this is the house (middle) in which Anne Frank and her family were hidden from the Nazis by their Dutch friends.

Another symbol of Amsterdam’s spirit of tolerance is the De Wallen Red Light District, now one of Amsterdam’s prime tourist attractions.  More on De Wallen below.

Amsterdam is one of the world’s most pedestrian-friendly cities.  With many of its old streets too narrow for any motorized vehicles to enter, pedestrian access has always been a major consideration for Amsterdam’s city planners.

Amsterdam also has one of the world’s most innovative multi-modal transportation systems, the central point of which is Centraal Station.  Opened in 1889, Centraal Station also forms one of the busiest inter-city transit hubs in the Netherlands.

Servicing the city centre is a web of trams which run on rails in the middle of city streets.  These provide the primary means of mass transit within the city centre.

Amsterdam also has a metro system.  But unlike North America where subways serve only urban cores and suburbs are entirely dependent on the automobile, the Amsterdam Metro is primarily used by suburbanites commuting to the city centre.

The development of Amsterdam suburbs generally follows extensions of the subway, with even the furthest suburban districts having access to mass transit into the city centre.

The majority of the Netherlands’ population lives in the “Ranstad” a conurbation consisting of the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Den Haag, as well as several small communities in between.  A high-speed inter-city train system links all cities within the Ranstad so that each one is in commuting distance of the other three.

With its concentric canal belts, boats are another way to get around Amsterdam.

But perhaps Amsterdam’s most conspicuous mode of transportation is its widespread embracing of cycling.  With a population of under 1 million, Amsterdam claims to be home of nearly half a million bicycles, with estimates as high as 30% of the population using bicycles as their primary means of transportation.

Chained to fences, sprawled along curbs, and tied to trees, parked bikes are everywhere in Amsterdam.

Most of Amsterdam’s streets also have dedicated bike lanes, grade separated from vehicular traffic.

Next to Amsterdam Centraal Station is what could quite possibly be the largest bike parking garage in the world.

Here’s a view of the bike garage from the side.  There are so many bikes in Amsterdam that providing ample bike parking is a legitimate challenge to city planners.

Creative methods, such as this underground bike parking garage, are often devised to create parking space for Amsterdam’s army of bicycles.

Amsterdam does a marvelous job of integrating all four primary methods of city transportation, with most major streets having separate lanes for pedestrians, bicycles, automobiles, and the tram.

Amsterdam’s most distinct physical features are its canals and tall, narrow, buildings.  When much of the city centre was being laid out, taxes were levied based on storefront space at ground level.  This encouraged building upwards, and has contributed to Amsterdam’s present urban design, which continues to harness the efficiencies of urban density.

Amsterdam’s high rates non-automotive transportation are facilitated by its high urban density which makes biking, walking, and mass transit convenient and efficient, while car ownership is unnecessary, and often more of a headache than a convenience.

Amsterdam, and the Netherlands as a whole, is also one of the flattest places on Earth, another convenience for pedestrians and cyclists.

With streets hardly wide enough for a bicycle and many buildings built directly on the canals, conceding Amsterdam to the automobile (which was done in most of North America, and even some of Europe post-World War II) would have necessitated bulldozing entire sections of the city centre to clear way for highways and parking.

There are spaces for automobiles in the city, but as shown by this picture, it isn’t exactly the most convenient way to get around.

Another fortunate point for Amsterdam was that although it was invaded by the Nazis in 1940, the city’s infrastructure remained relatively unscathed by World War 2.  Amsterdam was never subjected to the widespread bombings which leveled Rotterdam, and thus much of the old city remains, whereas Rotterdam had to be rebuilt from scratch after the war.

Amsterdam is also one of the most picturesque and historically well-preserved cities I’ve ever visited.  I spent an entire day wandering around and snapping random pictures.

Unique among European capital cities, organized religion had only a minor influence on the history of Amsterdam.  The city museum makes proud mention that Amsterdam was one of the first European cities to drive out the Catholic Church.  Thus, there are no opulent churches and ostentatious displays of power in the form of architectural monuments.  From the 1600’s onward, Amsterdam was controlled by wealthy Protestant businessmen who were more interested in making a buck than flaunting their power to the masses.

Even Dam Square, the geographic center of Amsterdam, is paltry by the standards of European capitals.

Regardless, it’s probably still the most photographed place in Amsterdam.  If you want to get your picture taken next to Halloween-skeleton men or a human statue, Dam Square is the place to be.

You can always tell how touristy a particular place is by how friendly the pigeons are.

hanging out at Dam Square at night

the Albert Cuypmarkt

The Netherlands has a relaxed attitude towards drugs, and “coffeeshops” in most Dutch cities sell marijuana.  The legal limit to own and carry is 5 grams, and most coffeehouses sell a wide variety of strands at prices listed by the gram.

Amsterdam coffeeshops come in a wide variety of themes, and in addition to marijuana, most sell soft drinks, coffee, snacks, and provide tables and couches at which to smoke.  Coffeeshops which serve alcohol are not allowed to sell marijuana, although they do allow customers to bring their own and smoke on premises.  If you’re looking for a place to drink coffee without the company of pot smokers, then you want to find a “cafe,” not a “coffeehouse.”  It should also be mentioned that most Amsterdam coffeehouses cater primarily to tourists as opposed to the Dutch, who as a whole (I’m making a big generalization here) don’t seem too interested in mind-altering drugs.

On the southern end of the city centre is the massive Vondelpark.

Being that Amsterdam is the world capital of stoner tourism, Vondelpark is chalked full of tourists taking full advantage of the Netherlands’ lenient drug laws.

It’s a beautiful urban park, and an ideal place to take a run, take a walk, or to stare at the trees for a couple hours.

pretty sure everybody in this picture is stoned

Like drugs sales, prostitution is also legal in the Netherlands and the De Wallen Red Light District is one of Amsterdam’s premier tourist attractions.

Prostitutes rent windows from which they display the goods to onlookers.  Johns walk up an down the street, and window shop (literally) for a hooker.

Pimping is illegal in the Netherlands, and therefore each prostitute is the sole proprietor of her own business.  Prostitutes are frequently tested for diseases, subject to protective labor laws, and also join local unions.

De Wallen is so heavily touristed that it feels like a Disneyland version of a Red Light District.  The majority of the people there are tourists walking around gawking at the sites of scantily-clad women posing in windows, as opposed to people actually looking for a “good time.”  (In case you’re wondering, I fell into the first category).

De Wallen isn’t necessarily unique in the Netherlands.  Every Dutch major city has a Red Light District, if not several.

In addition to prostitution, voyeur enthusiasts can enjoy multiple theatres providing live sex shows in De Wallen.

De Wallen is a site not to be missed in Amsterdam, granted some of it’s character (and much of its seediness) gets lost in commercialization.

Adjacent to De Wallen is Amsterdam’s Chinatown.

Like Amsterdam itself, Chinatown is small and compact, consisting of only two or three streets and the requisite restaurants and tourist shops.  From those I talked to, it seems like the majority of the Amsterdam Chinese community comes from Wenzhou.

The main tourist attraction is the Buddhist Temple.

inside the temple

Seeing as Indonesia was once part of the Dutch colonial empire as well as a major destination for Chinese emigrants, Amsterdam has many Indonesian Chinese restaurants.

I’m no expert in this field, and these are certainly not the best specimens, but the Netherlands also has a very active graffiti culture.

Most of the best work I saw was looking out the windows from high-speed trains (hence no pictures).  This above looks more like typical teenage angst.

The city of Amsterdam provides several free ferry lines across the IJ Bay to the outlying districts on the other side.

another view from the ferry

Though Amsterdam is arguable the birthplace of the modern industrial capitalist economy, by the end of the 18th Century the center of world production had shifted to England, and later the United States.  Amsterdam did however see its fair share of industrial buildup, and today is still home to many obsolete industrial spaces especially north of the IJ.

Many of these industrial spaces are now serving as a creative playgrounds for artists, architects, and urban planners.

…such as this collection of apartment units constructed out of old shipping containers.

…and a decrepit loading dock converted into an industrial artistic wonderland

The following group of pictures are all from the old loading dock.  I wasn’t able to ascertain whether the space was an officially sanctioned art project or an aesthetically pleasing act of mass vandalism.

Back on the Southern bank of the IJ again…In North America, we tend to associate the word “suburb” with expansive strip centers, low-density housing, and car-dependent transportation.  As energy costs have risen in recent years, the inefficiency of American suburbs has been exposed to a wider audience, and the smart growt movement and a revival or cities is well under way.  In the Netherlands, suburban development has stuck to a different paradigm.  Dutch suburbs are of comparatively high population density, are built in conjunction with mass transit, and facilitate mixed-use commercial/residential spaces.  There is little sprawl, and the suburbs remain integrated to the efficiencies of the urban core.

The Amsterdam Metro is designed to transport suburban residents from their suburban homes to employment centers in and near the city centre.  Construction of new suburban districts generally follows the development of the Metro system, with even the most distant suburban districts having access to the Metro.

Unlike their counterparts in North America, suburbs in Amsterdam are both pedestrian and cyclist friendly.  Due to efficient land use and population densities, most suburban destinations can be reached without the use of a car.

Here’s a typical suburban Amsterdam residential block.  Individual units do not have their own private outdoor space, as they would in suburbs in the US or Canada.  Instead, units are close together, and most open spaces are shared by the community.  Without the typical dead space endemic to North American suburbs, Dutch suburbs are able to maintain high enough densities to support mass transit systems and allow for convenient pedestrian shopping and entertainment.

all the while maintaining much of the greenery and quiet which make suburbs appealing

Suburbs in Amsterdam provide many of the advantages of life away from the city centre, while at the same time allowing for the advantages of dense urban living including energy efficiency, walkability, and mass transit access.  American urban planners:  take note!

Several miles south of Amsterdam’s city centre is the Zaidas, also known as  Amsterdam’s Financial Mile.

The Zuidas is the Netherlands’ foremost business district.  Its Zuid train station is expected to eventually overtake Amsterdam Centraal as the main point of departure for high speed trains to Belgium, Germany, and France.

Currently Zuid sits at the axis of 2 of the Amsterdam Metro’s 4 lines, with another being built, making it a central point of the Metro system.

Exploring Zuidas, you feel centuries removed from the old narrow houses and canals of the city centre.

The Zuidas is another fine example of Amsterdam’s superb urban planning.  Buildings are built up and not outward, there is little dead space between them, and everything is within a convenient stroll from the metro station.

One reason Dutch urban planning works so well because it builds urban spaces for people, not for cars.  Even among the wealthy, most Amsterdam residents rely on a combination of mass transit, bicycles, and their own feet to commute to and from  the office.

and here are some more shots of the Zuidas

What’s even more impressive about The Zuidas is that technically speaking, it’s in the suburbs.  Yet the design paradigms implemented are those which are typically thought of being unique to high-density downtowns, at least in North America.

notice the bicycle parking lot in front

Whereas North American office parks commonly surround buildings with functionally useless greenspace, the Zuidas (and Amsterdam in general) makes wise use of its open spaces.  Rather than spacing out the buildings, they are built close together, allowing for convenient pedestrian access.  Open spaces are built in strategic locations, where they are accessible from many of the high-rises, rather than being spaced out, with several under-utilized open areas for each building.

When it comes to urban, suburban, and transportation planning, Amsterdam puts on a clinic to which the whole world (and especially the United States) would by wise to pay heed, the Zuidas being just one of the more recent examples.

If I had to pick one city from my trip which I would say is essential for any trip to NW Europe, it would probably be Amsterdam (with London a close second).  The city simply has it all: culture, history, art museums, public art, old architecture, ethnic food, parks, and partying, and a sophisticated transportation network to get you anywhere you need to go.  I stayed here a full 3 days, longer than anywhere else on my trip, and I’d gladly go back again and spend a week.  Next stop:  Utrecht

The last stop in the UK, before heading to “Europe” was Manchester.  Home of the world’s most valuable sports team and a plethora of industrial history, Manchester is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Leeds.

Manchester’s city centre is dense and compact, and built around Piccadilly Gardens (above) as its geographic center.

Like much of Northern England, Manchester urbanized rapidly corresponding with the rise of the Industrial Revolution, and much of its architecture reflects its blue collar origins.

In the latter half of the 20th Century, Manchester experienced many of the common problems associated with de-industrialization including poverty and urban blight.  But in recent decades, the city has seen a resurgence with many now jockeying Manchester as Britain’s “second city,” a claim traditionally held by Birmingham.

Of the 3 post-industrial cities on my itinerary (Birmingham, Leeds, & Manchester) Manchester has probably been the most effective in reinventing itself.  Today, it has a funky, alternative edge to it, and is rapidly emerging as a major European cultural center.  This is especially apparent in the Northern Quarter, Manchester’s booming boho neighborhood.

Manchester’s city centre was so compact and walkable I didn’t even need public transportation to get around.

Manchester, and much of England in general,  has peculiar weather.  When I first got off the bus, it was a bright sunny morning.  Within the half hour, the sky was grey and rain was slowly drizzling from above.  I went into a cafe to check my e-mail and Facebook, and by the time I finished it was sunny again.  I walked around for an hour before it started pouring.  I went inside to eat, and the sun came out.

My advice to anybody traveling in England:  Bring a day bag packed with a raincoat and multiple layers for different temperatures.  I probably changed clothes 3 or 4 times a day in Manchester and Leeds.

City Hall

5 minutes south of Piccadilly Gardens is Manchester’s Chinatown.

If I had to choose, Manchester’s Chinatown was my personal favorite of the several I visited in England, much less Disneyfied than the Chinatowns of London and Birmingham.

reminded me of the Chinatown in Boston

Manchester is a great place to explore old railroad and industrial infrastructure.

with the occasional touch of modernity

Like Birmingham, Manchester also has an extensive canal network which has been redeveloped in the post-industrial era.

Manchester has always been an important transportation hub in England, with the conflux of canals, railroads, and nowadays international flights.

Manchester has done a marvelous job redeveloping many of its former industrial zones into urban residential space while maintaining the historical character of the environs.  This appears to be an old mill building along the canal (notice the space where river previously flowed through) turned into condos.

One conclusion from my trip through industrial England is that British post-industrial cities have adapted more effectively to a post-industrial economy than most of their counterparts in the United States.

There are numerous reasons for this, but I’m thinking part of the explanation lies in the compactness of British cities, as opposed to the urban sprawl which has plagued the US over much of the last century.  With populations still concentrated around city centres, post-industrial British cities have not experienced the acuteness of urban problems associated with suburban exodus as have American industrial behemoths such as Cleveland and Detroit.

With compact, walkable, city centres, efficient public transportation, and high fuel taxes (gas in the UK routinely costs over $8 USD/gallon), British cities provide more incentive to remain in or near city centres.  Meanwhile American urban policy and design since World War II has generally encouraged movement away from downtowns and into the suburbs.

These old industrial buildings along the canal now provide high demand residential space, within walking distance from Manchester’s city centre.

In many ways, Manchester feels a lot like Boston.  I’m no architecture expert, but this looks a lot like South Station.

Switching back to the modern, this is Urbis, Manchester’s cultural exhibition center, and future home of the National Football Museum.

the new and the old

Manchester’s answer to the London Eye:  the “Wheel of Manchester”

busy Manchester streetscape

No trip to England would be complete without the token meal of fish & chips, washed down with a cool Guinness.

“There’s London, and then there’s everything else in England.”  This is how it was broken down by multiple Brits I encountered on my trip.  London is indeed distinct from the rest of England.  But as far as “everything else” goes, Manchester fits the role of England’s second city.  It’s the perfect mix of an industrial past and a hip, trendy, present, with many of the cultural amenities of a diverse, urban metropolis.  Between the weather, the blight, and the general greyness, Northern England can be a bit depressing, but Manchester is a diamond in the rough, and a town not to be missed on any trip through the UK.  Next stop:  Amsterdam