Emma: Day 1 and Overwhelmed Already

After almost 24 hours on planes we finally arrived in Amsterdam! It's my first time in Europe so I'm excited about everything: the buildings, the people, the culture - its fascinating. We ventured to CODA in Apledoorn and Marzee in Nijmegen - two amazing galleries in two gorgeous towns.

There are cobblestones everywhere! We kept noticing that when they need to do repairs or fix something, they just dismantle the pavement and then put it back together after. I really liked the idea that something can be so easily fixed and moved

I also really love the character that the cobblestones give Amsterdam itself and in Apledoorn/Nijmegan. I like that you couldn't really tell where the footpaths ended and bike lanes started (especially in the towns) apart from a subtle change in the pattern or level of the cobblestones. The other thing about Amsterdam that I find absolutely charming are all of the finishings on the houses. Every window and door frame is white (mostly), the balaconies and moulding are decorated, there are coloured tiles and bricks worked into the walls; they are mostly old buildings but have elements thay have been renovated and changed. It's also been interesting to see 

The galleries themselves had their own character but i found Marzee particularly striking.  I really liked the industrial, raw look of the gallery: The old pipes, concrete floors, galvanized steel stairs, exposed brick walls. When we were going upstairs someone said "shhh" because we wereaking noise on the metal stairs but my thought was that if they wanted us to be quiet they wouldn't have made metal stairs. I think it enabled us to talk more freely about the work in the gallery and to really explore every part of it. 

There is so much to see in the cities and in the galleries, so many artists and an entirely different culture. It's  a lot to take in, but I am loving it!