What I saw in June
Memories and sketches of the first ten days in June.
I will share some memories from last year. As I wrote before, and some of you will remember it from Twitter, I made 266 electronic sketches in 2020. These are the ‘alexnotes’ from the first ten days of June in 2020.
1 June 2020
Tårtan Cafe was close to home in Stockholm; I often had lunch here. Walk down a bit further to the right and you and at Slussen, where you can cross one of the fifty-something bridges in Stockholm and walk into the charming Old Town, Gamla Stan.
2 June 2020
It was Black Out Tuesday, a worldwide collective action to protest against racism and police brutality. On social media, users participated by posting a single photo of a black square alongside the hashtag #blackouttuesday.
3 June 2020
Some of you may remember my recent post about George Floyd. Where I wrote about this spot and the feelings that I experienced at that moment:
‘A few days after the murder, while protests took place all over the world. I looked at the pictures on my phone to see what I did on May 25. I had walked on the beach and sat on the dunes' warm sand on the quiet Dutch island where I lived. I love to go to that spot, where I feel the freedom of those wide deserted beaches and enjoy breathing the fresh air of the North Sea. The sharp contrast increased my feelings of anger and injustice.’
4 June 2020
I often walked past Kungsträdgården in Stockholm.
5 June 2020
One of the Shetland ponies in the Dutch dunes.
6 June 2020
You can still visit the small room of the asylum where Vincent Van Gogh lived in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It is fascinating to visit the places where famous painters lived and worked; the Provence has a lot to offer in that respect. If you like Cezanne, you can see the Mont St. Victoire or visit his atelier and house near the center of Aix-en-Provence. I also visited, years ago, Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Outside van Gogh’s Saint-paul asylum, you can see his famous olive trees, and when you compare the paintings with the area, you can almost precisely find the spot where he must have been working.
7 June 2020
This is in Leiden; the windmill is a replica of the kind of windmill that Rembrandt’s father probably owned close to this spot. I wrote about Leiden before in the article about William Bradford. I was born here and grew up in a neighboring village.
8 June 2020
9 June 2020
A street in Södermalm, the island where I lived in Stockholm.
10 June 2020
And this is not far from there, one of the many traditional houses that you can still find on Södermalm. Note the granite rocks that the house is built on. Some parks on this island look remarkably the same as Central Park in New York City, the same granite with the same glacier markings on those rocks.
Tomorrow, I will be traveling; there won’t be a newsletter on Tuesday. I wish you all a beautiful start of the week.
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Thank you for the beautiful June 2020 flashback Alexnotes. A favorite is the Shetland pony. The ponies that taught me how to stay balanced bareback (-:
Have a pleasant trip
The depth of your observation level is inspiring, yet I am American, and typically lack the historical perspective you provide, although I do attempt to see it.