Kids with lanterns, old churches
Back in Alkmaar, The Netherlands...
Peace work at IFOR is both active and challenging for me, as I need to interact with people from all over the planet, people who are interested in getting involved with the organization. I've just finished the Fall issue of our quarterly publication IFOR in Action and have already begun work on the next edition. As for off-time, I recently shared with Katie O an experience I had that exemplifies what life is like outside the office here in Alkmaar.
One evening I had taken a walk along a loop that traverses the Centrum Alkmaar and passes through the "old quarter." By chance, I came upon what appeared to be an endless procession of children parading on the sidewalk. I think every kid in town must have been there, and half of the adults, who were lined-up along both sides of the streets observing. Each child was carrying a short stick with a colorful lantern dangling from one end, and each group of children had a unique lantern theme: cheese, ghost, skeleton, etc. I followed the procession of nearly 2,000 participants for a quarter mile through the lamppost lit, thousand year old, narrow cobblestone streets, weaving in and out of the crowd, until I reached its final destination.
The groups, thus representing various primary schools, were being announced and greeted by the mayor and other dignitaries, who were festooned with silver garlands around their shoulders, as they paraded into the Waagplein (plein=square), a town square buttressed by the picturesque Voordam (a canal) and some of the best restaurants. Alkmaar was the first city in the Netherlands to be freed from the Spanish occupation, a major turning point in the Eighty Years War and what also gave rise to the expression, "Bij Alkmaar begint de victorie" (Victory begins in Alkmaar). All this happened on "8 October 1573," which now explains the above event on 7 October: a Relief of Alkmaar Association program held each year on the eve of the Alkmaar Ontzet.
There are many stone structures dating back to the 14th century near my flat, and many canals dating back to the 9th century. From my 3rd floor Dutch windows I can see the huge, gilded, ornate steeple of Sint Laurenskerk, as well called the Grote Kerk (large church). It contains the early-Renaissance tomb of Floris V, Count of Holland and many other prominent figures entombed in its slab-stone ground floor, and just a few blocks away is the Waag, or Weighing House, built around 1390 and still in use as a demonstration exhibit during the Saturday Alkmaar Cheese Market reenactment and street market. Mixed in with the grand, old churches and historic buildings of Alkmaar's Town Centre are surprisingly many trendy shops and restaurants. I counted fifteen cafes in a row on just one side of a street that's a meer block long. Canals and small boats everywhere, from the canal at the end of my street I could easily take a float trip to Amsterdam or to the North Sea, that's actually only three miles away.
Of course, Amsterdam, only twenty kilometers south/west of Alkmaar, is also full of historic churches. Marion, who was visiting IFOR from Salzburg, Austria, and I toured the Begijnhof, a 14th Century abode for pious women that "didn’t want to take the nun’s veil," but wanted to care for the sick and elderly. We also saw the Nieuwe Kerk on the Dam and the Oude Kerk, one of the oldest stone structures in the city, and toured the Bloemenmarkt and Paleis op de Dam (Royal Palace). Later, we took one of Amsterdam's lingering, afternoon canal-boat excursions, winding through the city.
Peace work at IFOR is both active and challenging for me, as I need to interact with people from all over the planet, people who are interested in getting involved with the organization. I've just finished the Fall issue of our quarterly publication IFOR in Action and have already begun work on the next edition. As for off-time, I recently shared with Katie O an experience I had that exemplifies what life is like outside the office here in Alkmaar.
One evening I had taken a walk along a loop that traverses the Centrum Alkmaar and passes through the "old quarter." By chance, I came upon what appeared to be an endless procession of children parading on the sidewalk. I think every kid in town must have been there, and half of the adults, who were lined-up along both sides of the streets observing. Each child was carrying a short stick with a colorful lantern dangling from one end, and each group of children had a unique lantern theme: cheese, ghost, skeleton, etc. I followed the procession of nearly 2,000 participants for a quarter mile through the lamppost lit, thousand year old, narrow cobblestone streets, weaving in and out of the crowd, until I reached its final destination.
The groups, thus representing various primary schools, were being announced and greeted by the mayor and other dignitaries, who were festooned with silver garlands around their shoulders, as they paraded into the Waagplein (plein=square), a town square buttressed by the picturesque Voordam (a canal) and some of the best restaurants. Alkmaar was the first city in the Netherlands to be freed from the Spanish occupation, a major turning point in the Eighty Years War and what also gave rise to the expression, "Bij Alkmaar begint de victorie" (Victory begins in Alkmaar). All this happened on "8 October 1573," which now explains the above event on 7 October: a Relief of Alkmaar Association program held each year on the eve of the Alkmaar Ontzet.
There are many stone structures dating back to the 14th century near my flat, and many canals dating back to the 9th century. From my 3rd floor Dutch windows I can see the huge, gilded, ornate steeple of Sint Laurenskerk, as well called the Grote Kerk (large church). It contains the early-Renaissance tomb of Floris V, Count of Holland and many other prominent figures entombed in its slab-stone ground floor, and just a few blocks away is the Waag, or Weighing House, built around 1390 and still in use as a demonstration exhibit during the Saturday Alkmaar Cheese Market reenactment and street market. Mixed in with the grand, old churches and historic buildings of Alkmaar's Town Centre are surprisingly many trendy shops and restaurants. I counted fifteen cafes in a row on just one side of a street that's a meer block long. Canals and small boats everywhere, from the canal at the end of my street I could easily take a float trip to Amsterdam or to the North Sea, that's actually only three miles away.
Of course, Amsterdam, only twenty kilometers south/west of Alkmaar, is also full of historic churches. Marion, who was visiting IFOR from Salzburg, Austria, and I toured the Begijnhof, a 14th Century abode for pious women that "didn’t want to take the nun’s veil," but wanted to care for the sick and elderly. We also saw the Nieuwe Kerk on the Dam and the Oude Kerk, one of the oldest stone structures in the city, and toured the Bloemenmarkt and Paleis op de Dam (Royal Palace). Later, we took one of Amsterdam's lingering, afternoon canal-boat excursions, winding through the city.
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