Amat victoria curam!

A magical use of space, light, water and decoration: That's Alhambra. Although dating from the 12/13 century it is impacably restored and its craftmanship still dazzles the eye.

We travelled to Andalusia, Spain to wander around in this ancient land. We first visited The Alhambra in Granada are were taken away by the sheer variation of tiles used in the Palacios Nazaries. 

While I am eagerly waiting for my new CB1000R to arrive end of June Honda Amsterdam was so nice to lent me a bike for fun and to ease the pain: A Honda FMX. A sort of ‘Super Motard’ this bike is quite something else then I am used to: much higher seat , no pk's (a mere 38) but a aggressive styling.

Ingo and I went on a motor ride to Texel, an island in the Northern part of Holland. The weather was not so good, but hey: it didn't rain so it was good enough for us.
It was my last ride on the Honda Hornet 600 I rented this week.

1.    Mel Torme
2.    Sarah Vaughan
3.    Shirley Horn
4.    Billie Holiday
5.    Ella Fitzgerald
6.    Diana Krall
7.    Frank Sinatra
8.    Lou Rawls
9.    Doris Day
10.    Julie London

Marijn and I had a day at the beach (at Bloemendaal - the orginal Bloomingdale) to discuss exciting new ideas we have.

I visited Kees in Drenthe yesterday with the Honda 600 Hornet I rented. It was a long ride (4 1/2 in total) but absolutely worth it. It was nice to meet his family and see the wonderful place he lives in the (far) east of The Netherlands near the German Border. The have afunny dog a mix of a poodle and a labrador.

Germany unveiled a memorial Tuesday to the long-ignored gay victims
of the Nazi regime, a monument that also aims to address discrimination
today by confronting visitors with an image of a same-sex
couple kissing.

The memorial - a sloping gray concrete slab on the edge of the
Tiergarten district in Berlin - is a deliberate echo of the vast field
of smaller slabs that make up Germany's memorial to Jewish victims of
the Holocaust, opened three years ago just across the road. Nazi Germany declared homosexuality an aberration that threatened the
German race, and convicted some 50,000 homosexuals as criminals. An
estimated 10,000 to 15,000 gay men were deported to concentration
camps, where few survived. Ingar Dragset, a Norwegian designed the memorial with Michael Elmgreen of Denmark. I am not sure what to make of it. I guess I have to see it myself first. :-|

New pictures from Erwin Olaf of the Dutch Soccer Team.

A couple of weeks ago Eddie and I went to Ten Kate Motor Cycles in the East of Holland to watch the new CB1000R (I already had ordered it - so maybe handy to have a look as well :-) )
When I viewed the latest entry at the Dutch Motor Forum I found myself caught on this picture of Remon, Who likes the CB1000R too and made some pictures that morning.

On what would have been the slain gay rights leader's 78th birthday, the
city of San Francisco unveiled a monumental statue of former Supervisor
Harvey Milk in the rotunda of City Hall today. Finally after more then 30 years!

The Radio 4 clasical music top 400 brought me up an idea: from now on I will try to have a personal Sunday top 10 list. Because I am still in the classical music mood - the first list is:

4. Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa

5. Copland - Billy The Kid

6. Tsjaikofski - Ouverture 1812

7. Richard Straus - 4 letzte Lieder

8. Sibelius - Violin Concerto

9. Mozart - Piano Concerto K482

10. Heine - Es treibt mich hin (Lieder)