My favourite photograph

I could say that the most important picture to me is one that was taken at a train station in Belgium when we went to visit my aunt and cousins that lived in Brussels. I don’t remember the date exactly but it was in the year 1996, the only thing I do remember is that I was on vacation.

In the photo appear mom, dad and me.

I like this photo because my whole family appears on it, and to me it represents the happiest times we had –before the “storm” came- going on a “tour” (we visited Belgium and then went with another train to Spain) through Europe. I liked the experience, although as a child I didn’t knew the real meaning of going to museums and visiting touristic places like the monument of San Cristobel in Spain, it was funnier to me to buy a lot of candies and stuff at Duty Free.

Amsterdam

A city I know very well is Amsterdam.

My parents lived there, but my entire mother's family lived here in Santiago so she wanted to give birth to me in Chili.  When I was three months old, we returned to Amsterdam. We lived in Amsterdam till I was twelve years old, then we came to live here definitely.

The things I liked the most was going to museums and the “Kalverstraat” because it was the street of the stores, I also liked when a “Kermis” (an outdoor fair or carnival) was placed on the “Dam” (it’s the square that divides the Kalverstraat in two and where a giant monument is placed, it’s located in the center of Amsterdam), as I child I found it very entertaining.

As one of the most touristic cities, there are a lot of people from different countries (there are places where you don’t see dutch-looking people), people are quiet relax, they’re not so stressed like here, but what I did not like is the discrimination between them.

About the economic activities, tourism would be the most relevant, also the multiple services like hotels, museums (like the Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh’s museum) restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financial and business services.

What architecture respects, the several city buildings Architecture was based using elements of gothic and renaissance, and the old centre was formed by rings of canals and residences that because of lack of space, were mostly narrow and brown. Towards outside of the city there are houses that have a modern style.