Dani's Doubledutch

SPACES

danisdoubledutch — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:05:36 +0000

Oh my Lord! I’m so lazy in writing isn’t it! Well at least I should post some images for God sake! Alright, I think I can do that. Just about!

Well over the last weeks I have been working a lot a lot a lot and exactly in this place here. It is called SPACES and it is basically a huge building, I presume a very large old warehouse with a sot of courtyard on the ground floor and offices on the other floor facing onto the courtyard. mmm if you know what I mean. It has a lovely cafe’ where you can get all sort of lekker things to eat and a lot of space to chat, work, mingle and read. I find it extraordinary inspiring and a fantastic alternative to working at home alone. You always find someone to have a small chat with and it’s just a very nice designed, fancy environment.

Ode alla Giacomamma…

danisdoubledutch — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:43:44 +0000

I’m blessed to have many fantastic and very special friends, all living in different places, in Hamburg, London and all over the world, but I have one very very special friend that I’d like to introduce here. I’d like to dedicate this post to Ilaria, my other half. And as she says, if I were a man, I’d merry her! She is one of the most extraordinary and kind person I know and I love her for that. She is my best friend. She is always smiling and just can see the good in everything. She manages to give you strength and confidence in every situation. We smile together, we laugh together, we cry together. We don’t hear of each other very often, or not as much as we would like, but we know that we are there for each other whatever happens. We live two different lives, both extraordinary in their own way but each one manages to inspire and enrich the other one. While I am starting a new life in Amsterdam, she has a husband and two fantastic little children, Luca and Alessandro, which I had the pleasure to play with, cuddle and spoil while in Hamburg, where they all live.

God knows where life will take us but I certainly know that she will be right there next to me, supporting me and laughing with me. Well, this was just to say that I love her to bits, and that I hope everybody has somebody so special in their life

Grazie Giacometta !

Ilaria, Alessandro (Dadi) e Luca

Thoughts for the night….

danisdoubledutch — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:51:46 +0000

“He wishes for the cloths of heaven”

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.

(W.B.Yeats)

Sweet dreams everyone…

Ladies and Gentlemen, please give it up for… Camilla!!

danisdoubledutch — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:57:12 +0000

Uuuuuhhh yesterday was a great day! Woke up, the sun was out and I thought.. right! This is the day! And luckily Marc, new friend from Amsterdam, the high priest of A’dam cycling (check out http://amsterdamize.com), had the day off and kindly offered to be my consigliere on this highly important matter. Getting a bike! And of course not just one bike, oh no.. it had to be LE bike! So we went off to shop around. We first went to a second hand store near where I live and they had only one bike on offer. A one year old, pink omafiets which was great but didn’t completely win my heart. So we went off again to another store (there are more bicycle stores than bakeries here!) and there she was. Camilla! my future bike. Love at first sight. She is exactly what I love, très scruffy chic! Oh! we were made for each other.. she is a little bit old, a little bit scruffy, with a couple of bruises, but very sophisticated and worldly, and fun and cheeky! and of course.. black!.. very very stylish! I provided her with a nice (and bloody heavy) red necklace (new word for chain, as the chain is often more expensive than the bike here!) and off we went! And this is the start of our adventures….

After riding through the park we stopped for a nice white beer (Marc), tea with fresh mint (Me).. Camilla in the meantime was already charming Mr Freight… oh! I’m so proud of here! She is so very me! We still have some translations problem from Dutch to Italian, but I’m sure in no time we’ll become best girlfriends! Marc was probably wondering how he found himself with this lunatic Italian and thinking.. oh my God she is completely crazy! and I’m sure you can all sympathize with him! So just to remind you of what he had to go through here a video he made!! Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/6653678
Thanks Marc!!

I’m off with Camilla now… bye bye!!!

Amsterdamize sidesaddlewise

danisdoubledutch — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:22:30 +0000

I’m slowly discovering what’s truly Amsterdammy and last night I had a great first lesson! I went to the Twestival – the Twitter charity party – and met a couple of really nice people. Although the DJ line up was really incredible, the whole thing turned out to be a bit boring, so we decided to move on and hit another bar. That’s where I got introduced by Marc to the art of sidesaddling! Marc is a friend of my flatmate and a great guy, but rather cycle obsessed! Which is great of course and truly dutchy! He constantly takes pictures of people on bikes and in the space of over a year he managed to shoot well over 7,000 images! Probably of the whole population of Amsterdam! Twice. His images are amazing, have a look yourself on http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindcaster-ezzolicious/collections/72157603473820959/ well worth it!

Back to the the art of sidesaddling the A’dam way! Of course it’s not like I am used to do it on the streets in Italy! No. Of course not. A lady sidesaddles! Very elegantly you sit on the back of the bike, on one side (of course), and you cross your leg for balance! And guys… I love it! You can conquer the world from there! The wind blows, you don’t have to worry about anything and you just relax and let the city pass by… fantastic! I might as well get used to it!! )

Sidesaddle the A’dam way, by Amsterdamize

Streets

danisdoubledutch — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:59:02 +0000

On my way home…

De Hollandsche Manege

danisdoubledutch — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:54:19 +0000

My discovery of the day is De Hollandsche Manege, literally the Hollandish riding school. I was walking home and my curiosity took me around the corner and there it was. I was lucky to be able to assist to a class. It was really nice! I might have a go and fulfill my dream of learning how to ride a horse! Needs to be a patient horse though.. one of those that don’t make me fall off!!

http://www.dehollandschemanege.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=69

Vondelpark

danisdoubledutch — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:24:30 +0000

Yesterday, for the first time in two months (shame on me!!!) I went running again! Now there is no excuse anymore since my mum made me notice I put on weight and since I live close to one of the most gorgeous parks I know. In fact Vondelpark is, beside my own one, Hyde Park, one of the prettiest city parks I have been to! It is quite big and it has fields and water ponds and very large paths where (as you can imagine) there is one bicycle after the other! The Filmmuseum is also located there! A truly fantastic place! I’m amazed!!

ov-chipkaart… here I come!

danisdoubledutch — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:55:14 +0000

I decided at the very last minute, to go and see my parents in Nuremberg, Germany. A friend gave me the hint of an annual travel card for about 55Euro plus a sort of European travelcard for additional 15Euro. The first one would give me a discount of 40% on all trains in The Netherlands except from 4am to 9am from Monday to Friday, obviously to avoid the morning peak hours. The second one would give me 25% discounts on all European trains. Not too bad eh? The absolute crazy thing about this first card, called ov-chipcaart, is that it also has the function of an oystercard. For the whole of The Netherlands Every city I mean! How cool is that? I can travel by bus, train or tram with the same card. I just need to top it up with some money and there you go! All in one! I love this country! So organised! And so cute that when you get into the ticket office at the train station (Station Centraal), there is a lovely lady greeting you and asking what you need and directing you to the right counter. And if you need an international ticket, she provides you with a ticket with a number on so that you don’t have to stand in a queue for your turn but can relax on the sofa while waiting for your number to pop up from the screen! Of course if you buy your ticket from the counter instead of the Internet they ask you a booking fee, but hey! At the exit there is a sign with “have a nice day” written on it, positioned just on top of the door. What do you want more? And you already know which platform it is on without you needing to bend your neck like thousands of other stressed people and then rush to the train as if they were giving away holiday packages for free!! Needless to say that the train from Frankfurt was running late by about 30 minutes, but this is already another country!

Ohh and I was sitting right behind the driver! I kind of like this job! Maybe I should apply… me as a train conductor!!! ;o))

danisdoubledutch — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:48:15 +0000

…and here is my piece of clothing by the way!! I guess you see what I mean!