A Sunday Joy Ride

Yesterday afternoon, Donica and I had the time of our lives with James and Matthias...and little Jack...on their "new" boat of one week! Aren't we the lucky stiffs!

After a delightful hour of hors d'oeuvres in their apartment, within walking distance from ours, Matt went off to get their orange boat (a good Holland color :).

James is coaxing Jack to get into the boat, while Donica holds the leash. Today was Matt's turn to drive.

I was behind James all the way! HA! At this point we were on the Amstel River, which is Amsterdam's big flow-through waterway and very wide in relation to the canals.

For much of the ride, little "Jackie" found a friend for life, I think, in the arms of Donica. So cute.

It was a Sunday, mind you. So Matt had to navigate us behind many a boat, out having the same joy ride we were having, of course. In many cases, we simply had to take our turn in going under the bridges. He was a master navigator!

You see Amsterdam from a slightly different perspective, of course, when you're ON the canals. We've been on the much-larger tourist boats (for me, that was 9 years ago!) but the small boat is cozier and under OUR direction or whim.

Whether on the smaller canals or the larger Amstel (with the famous Magere Brug drawbridge in the background, originally built in 1670 and then renovated in 1969), it was a perfect day for a joy ride.

At the end of it, as we walked back to our apartment, Donica said, "When they get their new boat [something they're considering as an upgrade], maybe we can buy this one!" HA! I can see it coming. :)

The G8 Summit

Because I'm getting only limited news on the G8 Summit here in Amsterdam, on CNN International, I'm wondering how it's going this time around. I heard about the protests in Germany yesterday.

I was taking a walk in the early evening last Thursday (before flying home on Friday for the whirlwind trip) and came upon this building.

And I was thinking, what is this all about?! So I opened up their website, as seen on this banner. And here are some of the points I lifted out:

The participants in the Summit Conference represent the world’s eight mightiest governments, which help create the problems -- for which they then decide upon the so-called solutions.

1. The globalisation policies of the G8 make life unbearable for many people and provoke resistance. Ultimately globalisation is enforced by repression and military might. G8 means war. Globalisation forces people to flee their homes, to seek asylum.We intend to show the connection between the G8 and war and make our resistance visible. In an action of civil disobedience, it is our aim to clearly show our rejection of war and training for war.

2. The ‘Group of 8’ (G8) is an institution without legitimacy. Nevertheless, as a self-appointed informal world government, they make decisions which affect the whole of humanity. The policies of the G8 stand for a neoliberal globalisation and deregulation, economic policies oriented towards the capital returns of international financial investors and companies.

3. The world shaped by the dominance of the G8 is a world of war, hunger, social divisions, environmental destruction and barriers against migrants and refugees.

4. Globalisation in the interests of the majority of people requires a fair relationship between industrialised and developing countries, and means freedom, justice, social security, democracy and the conservation of the planet’s natural resources for the next generation.

If you go to this page, you can see what they promote as the solution/alternative to the G8.

In a nutshell, they are for the global freedom of movement and equal rights for all. They are against war, torture and militarism and the global state of exception. They are against the neo-nazis who try to present themselves as the “only real anticapitalists.” They are for the small farmers of the world who are being undermined by multinational corporations. They are against 40 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine. They are for climate justice.

Hmmm. If I were in Germany right now, makes me wonder if I would join them! What about you?