Six Degrees of Separation- Do you know this guy?

Man who lost his camera with over 2,800 photos in Amsterdam

**UPDATE** - They have found the guy!! The power of facebook!!

Facebook; you may love it, you may hate it, you may waste most of your days browsing through it, but one thing it certainly has going is that it makes the world a smaller place. The guy in the picture above lost his camera in Amsterdam this week..a camera containing over 2,800 images of his no doubt amazing trip throughout Europe. Some one has since then found the camera in a train station in Amsterdam  and has posted the photo above and the message  below, which has been shared over 13,000 times on facebook in the last 10 hours, in an attempt to track down the owner;

“My father in law found a red Nikon Coolpix camera on 2012-06-20 in the train at the station Amsterdam Amstel in the Netherlands. His photos show a trip throughout Europe from about 2012-05-07. Since 2012-06-15 he stayed in Amsterdam. We would like to give him back the camera and the photos. Please Like, Share and spread this photo around so we can give him back his camera! Thanks!”

 Losing a camera is bad enough but losing one with over 2,800 photos…that’s devastating. TRUST ME, I’ve been there and I felt like a little part of me had died.(You can read about my camera/ballon adventure HERE!) That is until some kind stranger found it, tracked me down and gave it back to me. And it felt like all my dreams had come true at once. So, can you make this guys dreams come true? Email anke.appel@gmail.com if you have any further information that could help. Let’s hope some really good Karma comes to the guy that found the camera too, just for good measure!

36 hours in Amsterdam

Where I’m living in the North of the Netherlands, Amsterdam gets a lot of stick. When I told my Dutch friends I was heading south to the Dam for the weekend to catch up with some friends from home I was catapulted with comments such as, “Ugh, I really don’t like Amsterdam”, “Too many tourists!” or “You’re better off staying in Groningen“. True, it is touristy and busy and seriously tacky in parts but it sure does have A LOT to offer.

First off, let it be said that my friends and I weren’t your average ‘Amsterdam tourists’; we weren’t on a stag or hen party; we weren’t a group of young lads looking for a bit of… and we did not even step foot inside one darkened coffee shop. On the flip side we also did not make it to Anne Frank Huis, The Van Gogh Museum or the Heineken Experience. In fact if we had not been staying in a hotel, you would hardly have guessed we were tourists at all.

We went shopping, we rented bikes and weaved our way down the canals, through the Vondelpark and everywhere in between. We lounged around enjoying cold glasses of rose wine while bathing in the sunshine, took long lunches and late dinners and just took in the general buzz and atmosphere of one of Europe’s smaller Capitals.

It is that ‘buzz’ that makes Amsterdam so special in my eyes. Everyone walking around at night with eyes wide open, taking in the bizarre sights of the red light district as mobs of guys and girls maneuver their way through the streets in an array of crazy fancy dress costumes, kilts and blow up dolls. Everybody feels at ease and chats to total strangers, laughing and cringing at the site before them. Everyone seems pretty chilled out and relaxed, nobody too drunk or too wasted, as far as I could see anyway.

36 hours in Amsterdam is way too short to do all that the city has to offer, but just enough time to get a feel for the city; to watch the boats maneuvering their way down the canals, take in a waft of smoke as the door of a coffee shop opens and closes as you pass by, enjoy a cold Amstel beer  in one of the quiet bars away from the centre and of course to get a glimpse of the ladies of the night in the famed red light district.

A kaleidoscope of color – Holland’s Tulip Fields

As soon as I got back to Holland on Sunday I decided to go on a little adventure to Keukenhof before returning to Groningen. Keukenhof is the home to Holland’s tulip fields, and is a truly breath taking site. I have never seen such a kaleidoscope of color, it was incredible. I walked around for hours, enjoying the afternoon sun and taking way too many pics! As they say, a picture tells a 1,000 words, so I’ll stop writing now and let the photos do the talking! Enjoy.

St Patrick’s Day in Holland

A Champagne breakfast

Cycling from bar to bar

Green face paint

Guinness and Bulmers flowing like water

Story telling

Cheesy jokes

Singing songs

A Club that changes DJs every 15 minutes

A great day…thanks to everyone who made it so fun!

The World’s Tallest Climbing Wall!

I discovered that the world’s tallest climbing wall is here in Groningen so went along to take some photos!

Time Lapse Photography

This was my first attempt at time-lapse photography on my Gopro. I set the camera to take a photo every 2 seconds, edited them on iMovie to playback in high speed, added some pretty music and VOILA!  

Lesson learned? Take more photos!! Oh and clouds are freaking cool!

My Wacky-Tacky Umbrella Camera

That’s right…I attached my super, awesome ,wide-angle, water proof GoPro camera to the top of a super wacky, tacky, green umbrella as an experiment and boy was I pleased with the results. Cause you know, I’m cool like that. Turned out to be a perfect way to get those high angle shots, especially as people kept looking up at the wacky-tacky green umbrella with a puzzled look, which made for awesome “up close and personal” shots of completely bewildered strangers!  

Mission accomplished.

I know it’s 7 minutes long (a lifetime, eh?) so feel free to skip about a bit…enjoy! 

The Dutch and Ice Skating

I would have to be living under a rock not to realize how much the Dutch LOVE their Ice-Skating. I always knew they were fond of their bikes, and after interviewing adventurer Jasper Winn a few years ago, and a few locals here in Groningen, I discovered they are also fond of roller blading but ice-skating was never something I associated with the Dutch!

Yesterday along side all the happy skaters gliding down the frozen canals, whizzing past house boats, speed boats and tall ships, I saw a site to behold! There were groups of people everywhere having BBQs in the middle of the canal. Sitting around on plastic chairs or even some with sofas, sipping ice cold beers while keeping warm next to a roaring fire…all on the ice! It was pretty mental! 

Sadly, with temperatures slowly rising and rain falling in place of snow, I’m guessing all the fun and games will soon come to an end! Then we have spring to look forward to and spring in Holland is going to be a tulip-filled heaven!

 

Walking on Water in Holland!

Today I came across a bizarre site…brave souls walking down (and skating on!) the canals in the city centre. Such an unusual site to see a couple skating past a huge boat! If this cold weather keeps up “The Eleven Cities” Ice skating tour is bound to happen. All will be announced in the Dutch Media tomorrow! Excitement!