The Old South - Amsterdam

 

 

A visit to the Old South, the Museum area in Amsterdam, is always a must.

 

 



 

 

Over the years we have worked out various ways of getting to that area of the city - all very interesting, and involving lots of canal admiring

 

 

 

 

Cleaning out the canals is serious business and we are always amazed at the number of bicycles that get dredged up

 

 

 

A quick stop at Rembrandtplein square, to say hello to the Nightwatch (you can see more about this here ).

 

Some of these canal houses are so meticulously neat and pretty

 



 

 

looking closer

 



 

 

 

The second boat on the left is a house - still in the process of being completed






The American Hotel, an Art Deco landmark in Leidseplein






fountain at the front






beautifully preserved building

 

 

 

 

with a gorgeous tower.

 

 

 

Then a walk through some of Vondelpark






Amsterdam's biggest park





and one that is used extensively






be it on foot, bicycle, rollerblades, or just for lying around in the sunshine

The beautifully restored Rijksmuseum. We did not visit this time, but you can see highlights of our visit last year here ,  here , here , and here

 

We walked through the 'tunnel' of the Rijksmuseum and reached Museumplein

 



 

 

 

and noticed that the pond is dominated by a new 'sculpture'

 



 

 

 

 

I can think of no other city that could carry kitsch with such aplomb

The fountain outside the Van Gogh shop

and another new addition: Bunny Parade

 

 

 

Museumplein is vast with the Rijksmuseum at one end and the Concertgebouw (Concert Hall) at the other, with the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk (Museum of Modern Art) in between

 

 



 

Lots of new things here this time,

including these,

which Ken had just to try out.

the Concertgebouw in the distance

 

 

 



 

and we headed for the Stedelijk to see the Henri Matisse exhibition

 

 

After the exhibition we came to sit here, one of our favourite things to do - there is always so much going on here

which this time, included the Bunny Parade.

Walking around Manchester

 

We spent three very enjoyable days in Manchester last week. It was our first time in the city and it was a place I'd always wanted to visit. My first real knowledge of Manchester came through the novels of Elizabeth Gaskell who described the appalling conditions of the working class when the city was a prosperous industrial town, a prosperity that was built on the hard labour of working people. Her novels depict working class life and the people involved in textile manufacturing. She described the awful working conditions, the unsafe machinery in the mills, the extremely low wages paid for hard work, the poor living conditions - all heralding a new form of urban existence and a new structure of social relations. She showed the contrast between the lives of the working people and those of the wealthy manufacturers. During that time Friedrich Engels did the same, but the solutions he proposed were totally different.

 

All the wealth that was created primarily by cotton led to a boom in related industries including banking and industrial engineering to service the textile mills. The whole of the landscape of the area changed. Further wealth was generated through the transatlantic slave trade and is reflected in the grand buildings especially in and around Mosley Street, Piccadilly and Portland Street. Some of this wealth benefited the public, as philanthropists donated money and artworks to local cultural institutions such as Manchester Art Gallery, and the Whitworth Art Gallery.

 

 

 



 

 

Our hotel was in Piccadilly Gardens, and this was the view from the hotel bar where we stopped for a drink during our first night.

 



 

 

 

Most cities have big wheels nowadays, but they're still a lot of fun

 

 

 



 



 

Close to the Piccadilly area this gorgeous Art Deco building, the Rylands building, dominates.  Grade II listed, it was originally built as a warehouse by the Rylands textile company and was designed by Fairhursts architects.

 

It's clad in Portland stone and features a decorative corner tower and eclectic 'zig zag' window lintels. The area was known for its markets and textile warehouses.

 

 

 

 

 

Another wonderful building in the same area is the one that houses Primark today. It was built in 1877, designed by architects Horton and Bridgford and was built in a French Renaissance style with a grand corner tower which has now been removed.

 



 

 

 

We ate in Chinatown during our first evening

 

 

and the Chinese Arch looked as good in daylight.

 We liked the decoration on this building in the Northern Quarter

and we could not work out what this contraption was which was just in front of it - a remnant of Manchester's industrial past maybe?

 

 

 

 

 

Facing onto St Peter's Square is the Midland hotel which was designed by Charles Trubshaw in an Edwardian Baroque style, and was built to serve Manchester Central railway station. It's a Grande II listed building.

 

 

 



 

 

The hotel had a 1,000-seat purpose-built theatre where opera and drama performances were staged, and a roof terrace where a string quartet performed. It was allegedly coveted by Adolf Hitler as a possible Nazi headquarters in Britain.

 

 

 

 

Manchester has some wonderful buildings



 

 

 

and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around.

 

This is part of the City Council building.

 

 

It was a sunny day and that helped enormously

 

the buildings seemed to glow. 

 

 

 

Through doing this blog I've realised that I have a penchant for corner buildings

 

 

 

 

as I seem to keep photographing them

 

 

 

 

We found another gorgeous Art Deco building on Deansgate, designed by J.S. Beaumont in 1939.

 

 

 

Here's another one, in a completely different style

 

 

 

 

 

I could not find any information on this one, but liked the form and the combination of pink and gold 

 

  

 

 

and I loved this one, but again, could not find out anything about it

 

 

 

 

We thought these two timber-clad buildings were extraordinary. 

 

 

 

The pub was packed during the day

and at night too.

Reminiscent of the Giant's Causeway? We thought so. The water

 

 

 



 

 

was 'fed' from here

The Urbis in Cathedral Gardens. Wow! Definitely my favourite building in the centre of the city. A pity about all the writing on the façade - it spoils its clean lines.

 

 

 

 

Designed by Ian Simpson Architects, it was completed in 2002.

 

 



 

 

The exterior consists of approximately 2,200 glass panes arranged in horizontal strips. The building has six storeys and a distinctive sloping form.



The entrance

 

 

 



 

Another interesting water feature in the same area

 



Art Nouveau on Bridge Street

 

 

 

 

Manchester Art Gallery on Princess Street.