DOMA...and Shouting from the Rooftops

I have to say something here, of course, about what happened last Wednesday, June 26th, in America, with the striking down of the defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). 

First of all, a few weeks previously The Doma Project published my/our personal story.  What happens if Astrid and I want to retire in the United States?  NO CAN DO...prior to last Wednesday. 

That was then; this is now!

Simply by virtue of our legal Dutch marriage, I can now sponsor Astrid for a green card in America from this day forward.  Hallelujah.  One small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind.

  And, yes, that's why I'm shouting from the rooftops today.
(image from Passau, Germany) 

However, it's just a step...because even though we are now considered married in America, we are NOT recognized as married in 37 states, including Michigan and Georgia, where we would want to retire, 
if it comes to that.

And THAT's what my post is about at Vision and Verb today....

Neighborhood Demolition: Part I

It's been six months since I wrote about the bats being released in our neighborhood.  Remember that?  It was a big deal...preparation for the tear-down of the housing units around our retirement complex here in Gorinchem, Netherlands.

A lot has happened since then!  So, let's continue....

The hazmat suits came out when the asbestos roofs were torn down right next door to us.

We didn't know if we needed to be scared or not!  It's use is banned now, as you know.

This one face/man deserves his own collage because he's pivital to this entire project.

Not that I know the specifics but I do know he's been there from beginning to end.

Let's call him Homer, since that's in his e-mail address.

He works for GERB. St-Nicolaas B.V. in nearby Dordrecht.

And at this point, he's tearing down all the boards that had been put up to keep vagrants out.

Cohorts in crime!  They have worked hand-in-glove in every phase.

I love to watch how things work...like unloading these huge dumpsters.

In the meantime, salvage crews came in for the tiles.

This particular guy was more dirty than dirt.  What a job!

 See how they figured it all out.  

Make a slide and keep those tiles from breaking, at all costs!

Gotta love the Dutch!

But don't ask me why these tiles weren't salvaged.

They were tossed every which way on our side of the street.

Another crew was tossing out from the inside.

If you're someone who likes to tear things down, this job's for you!

Now, as a review (see, it's like you've already visited us!)...that's our retirement complex on the left
with the narrow street that separates us from the tear-down buildings on the right (now all gone)...

...and here's that far-right building getting a strip job.
See the plastic awning top-center?
That takes you behind the building to our parking garage.
That's how close everything is to us.
And yes, that's Homer and his glove-mate!

Part I:  Like with so many other things in life, prep work has to happen before the real action begins.  Almost everything you see above happened before we left for America at the end of August. By the time we came back 2 weeks later, the steam shovel was out wreaking havoc.

To be continued.....

The Oslo Opera House

Totally worth a post all on its own, as you will see: the Oslo Opera House!

Friday, April Fool's Day, was our first full day in Norway, after spending Thursday night at Diane and Renny's. It was cold but SUNNY. That was the day we took a 2-hour cruise on the Oslo Fjord to see the city from a different perspective.

Seeing the Opera House from the water was worth the entire mini-cruise!
Completed in 2007 (a year after Donica and I were there), it is like an enormous glacier sliding into the fjord. White granite combines with Italian marble to create the illusion of glistening ice. The sloping roof angles down to the water like a jagged chunk of ice.

On Sunday, 2 days later, when we went with our Oslo Pass to visit this incredible structure, the fog made of it a mystery to behold.

But first, before entering, we got distracted by the swans and ducks,
navigating on and off the ice for the bread crumbs being tossed to them...


...but not for long, because it was the Opera House we were there to see...if we could!
THIS is what welcomed us. THIS is what beckoned us to enter.


You actually do find the main entrance, even in the fog.
And just like that, you come in from the iceberg cold to the warmth of light (through windows that are 15 meters high) and oak 'waves' that curve/flow around the room.


Wall panels, like the one Astrid is putting her arm through, are illuminated from the floor and from behind with beams of white and green light. The lights fade in and out, creating shifting shadows and the illusion of slowly melting ice.


Diane really wanted us to take the Opera House Tour, approximately one hour, so thanks to her, we did! All tour guides work in some capacity or another there at the House. Our guide is an opera singer and was just delightful.


So, back behind the scenes, we entered the world of the opera and ballet.
The props, the sound system, the nuts and bolts of putting on a performance.


The costumes (which we found out after a few snaps were not to be photographed)....


The sewing room: "We don't make mistakes; we do variations."


And finally, the heart of the House, the main theater, seating approximately 1,370 in a classic horseshoe shape. The tour didn't take us to the ground floor but what we saw from above was convincing. Diane saw The Nutcracker there this past December and said it was incredible.


While we didn't see a real ballet while there,
we saw enough evidence to believe it happens!

That was the behind-the-scenes tour. Another "totally worth it!"


Then we went outside to play....


...and to see the famous "She Lies" iceberg sculpture sitting out in the water nearby, a sculpture made of stainless steel and glass, 12 x 17 x 16 metres, floating on its axis in line with the tide and wind.


At the beginning of this post, you saw the Opera House from the ground. Here you see if from the roof...the only Opera House in the world where you are able to walk up to and on the roof.


Two posts ago I showed you Diane and Astrid up there on the roof....
(the wall surfaces remind me of Braille)


Look who else was there! Two brothers, Daddy, Mommy and their dog.
There are no guard rails on the roof. Seriously. But there are signs to remind you that the roof has many steps and may be slippery. That should do for any tiger, right?


Even though it was still foggy by then, we could see a lot...and how high we were!
That's Astrid's mirror image on the bottom left (above).


One last reminder, as we were leaving, that the ice was not safe.
The little children had it down pat.

See why this had to have its own post. It ranks up there with some of the best architectural treasures I've ever seen, including the Opera House in Sydney. And that's saying a lot!