"Bakenessergracht"

Today I want to tell you a bit about the city I live in: Haarlem. I'm standing here on a bridge of an old Dutch canal called "Bakenessergracht". It's located in the city center just far enough from the busy shopping areas, so it's very peaceful and quiet. People often walk alongside this waterway on their city stroll. A woman notices me when I'm setting up my tripod on the old cobblestones. She's curious about what I'm doing. I explain to her how I want to take a picture and why I like this part of the city. And what follows is a conversation about our mutual love for the city and all its old buildings. Just like the crooked warehouses, we are standing next to, that almost seem to tip over to the side at any moment.

I've lived in this beautiful city now for 5 years, and after a period like that, you tend to forget that it's quite special to live in such an old city with so much history. It's like walking through a museum. You can compare this feeling I get when going on a one-day trip to a major European city. Life seems just a little bit more special in that one moment when you first gaze your eyes upon the Eiffel-tower in Paris or St. Mark's Square in Venice. But of course, the people that live there also get used to their city. Can you imagine? That the citizens of Venice don't look around in awe anymore when they walk around on St. Mark's Square, or that the residents from Paris don't look up at the Eiffel Tower anymore?

It doesn't matter where you live. Eventually, most people get accustomed to their surroundings and it starts to feel less special. But for me, something interesting happens when we are heading towards the summer again. Things start to feel new and interesting again. Even the same buildings in Haarlem I've seen so many times. So that's why I'm writing about this I guess. To appreciate the city I live in again, just the way I did when I first walked through these old & narrow streets. What's also fun about the old city center is that its street layout is all over the place. This is why I can still get lost after 5 years of living here and discover new tiny details during my city strolls.

Where do you live? And what's special about it?