Van Gogh Museum
This is my 6th day in Amsterdam. I visited the Van Ghogh Museum today. Van Gogh lived between 185301890. He lived 37 years only and left 900 paintings, 1200 drawings and hundreds of letters. There are only 200 paintings on display at the museum. He shot himself and died 2 days later. Some paintings are better than others. You can browse through the paintings online (there are computer screens). You can also examine books containing his art work in several languages except Arabic. Noone seems to care about Arabic, they only care about our oil, but not our language nor culture.

Vondel Park in Amsterdam
The Text and Context conference at the Vrije University in Amsterdam was over today. The sessions were over around 12:30 and afterwards we had a plain lunch are the cafeteria.

After I got back to the hotel, I walked down the street and found myself heading towards Emmalaan, then Vondel Park. People were bicycling, walking playing with there children, sitting on the benches, or having a picnic. So tranquil, so peaceful. You only hear the birds chirping and the crickets squeaking. Very cool. Flowers and roses, green grass, streems and ponds with ducks swimming everywhere. I took pictures of the reflection of the houses in the water and the roses. I sat on the bench and looked the houses overlooking the small stream and thought how lucky those residents are to have this paradise in their backyard. They can sit in the balcony or just open the window and listen to the trees, water and birds.

Philadelphia

On my last day in Phildelphia, I took a tour around the city on a double-decker. I got off by Independence Sqare where people gathered in the park. About 1400 boots of Amercan soldiers who died in Iraq were laid in rows with soldiers'names on them. Some people were looking ar the boots and tring to locate a relative or a firend. Parents and relatives who lost a loved one in Iraq gave speeches condemning the war and occupation of Iraq. It was said to hear them talk about their young children who were sent to Iraq. They cried heartfully as they would never see or hug them again. They are left with bitter memories.

A smaller section of the square was dedicated to Iraqis who also lost their lives are a rsult of the situation in Iraq.