The Trip that was: October 3, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019

 2010

Maudurodam! The only place you can tour the entire country of the Netherlands in an hour or two! It's the country in miniature, all the major landmarks are in 1:25 scale. 

Silly bird, it's a train station, not an airport!

It's Golden Earring in concert!! Radar Love, any one??

It's a nightmare photo, isn't it?? The fish are real. Promise. 

Suicide mouse!!  All these miniature places make  for funny photos. 

Scheveningen-- the Dutch seaside resort.  And if you can pronounce it, you're doing better than I am!! I've been told that during the war, the Nazi's would ask people to pronounce the word Scheveningen.  Non- native speakers  don't pronounce it correctly.  They could weed out anyone the Dutch resistance was hiding.  Click the link  to hear someone Scheveningen. 

That evening, we had another fantastic dinner on the beach at Katwijk. This time at Strandpaviljoen Westerkim .

2017

We stayed in Vierhouten, where Dutchboy's sister has a caravan.  We were treated to an overnight stay at a hotel, rather than in their caravan! Lovely little place. 

Kasteel Ruurlo.  Part of Museum More, one of my favorite museums ever!!  This part of the Museum collection focuses on the evolution of the work of Carel Willink.  Willink described his work as imaginary realism. In later life, he began a relationship with his muse, Mathilde de Doelder, who was 38 years younger.  

Mathilde.

The dress from the painting,  by designer Fong Leng. 

Ortus (New Birth) by sculptor Miriam Knibbeler.

Zutphen.

2018

October 3 is a special day to be in Leiden! It's Leiden's Ontzet! Ontzet celebrates the two days in October that ended the Siege of Leiden, 1573-1574,  by the Spanish.  There's a big carnival, a huge market, a parade through the streets of Leiden, everyone eats hutspot (potatoes, carrots and onions mashed together) and smoked sausage called rookworst. The night of Three October, just before midnight, there's a huge fireworks display. 

Images from the Ontzet parade.

Leiden is a college town, so they also have weird things that students do during Leiden Ontzet.  One of those things is canal jumping (fierljeppen or slootje springen in Dutch!). 

There's much more of  this

Than this!!

A sample of the Ontzet fireworks.  The music they choose is always interesting..

2019

After returning to Amstelveen from Bakkeveen, we awoke to find the windshield in our rental Audi had cracked! Not the best way to start a day.

Dutchboy said the crack wouldn't get worse, so we might as well go ahead with our plans to go to Muiden   Remember Muiderslot?? It's in Muiden! The surrounding area is worth exploring-- on a beautiful day. But it's best explored when you're not worrying about the cracked windshield on a rental car when you had declined the rental agency's insurance! (PS. The car thing turned out all right.  We had to pay a deductible, but our Mastercard insurance paid the rest. Tip: Check your credit card agreement to see if your rental car is insured. You usually are!)

The Trip that was: October 2, 2010/2012/2014/2015/2016/2017/2018/2019

2010

AGAIN in Delft! We go every year.  It's just so pretty. 

This time, we are visiting the Prinsenhof.

The Prinsenhof was the home of William the Silent (Willian of Orange) and he was assassinated here in 1584.  His murder was the first political assassination that happened with a handgun.  The bullet holes are still in the wall.  They weren't THAT large, but people kept poking, rubbing and chipping away at it, until they were finally covered to protect them. 

Dramatic re-enactment. 

We always have a tosti and coffee at this little sandwich shop.  I can't even tell you the name-- we just know it when we see it.  Inside the tiny space there is a garden of tropical plants, and two parrots. We went back one year and there was only one parrot. And last year, there were none.  

2012

Ah. Here we are back in the Teyler's Museum in Haarlem.  In the newly renovated library. So beautiful! 

2014

On the last days of our trip, when Dutchboy's father was well, we would travel to the North of Holland and spend the day together. On this day, we went to Hoorn. 

KoepelKerk , also known as The HH Cyriacus and Franciscuskerk, was built in 1882. It was open that day, so we wandered inside. It's in the process of being restored.

On the last evening of our stay in the Netherlands, the family used to come over and there would be snacks and food.  The last few years that we did this, I did something like this.  A thank you for a lovely stay, and a gezellige avond. 

         2015    

ROTTERDAM!! 

This cool aquarium photo was taken at The Kunstal, I believe. 

While this was taken outside Boijman van Beuningen. Calm down and don't worry. Everything will be fine. 

While this photo, taken in the sculpture garden, means we're screwed. 

This is the Markthal!!  I want to live here.  I adore Amsterdam, but the thought of my apartment being in the walls of a market place filled with amazing food, wine, and shops sounds like a dream! Except, ya know, that was before the whole covid thing. 

Those black squares? Apartment windows. You can read more about the architecture and living arrangements here. 

2016

This was a unique opportunity for us to visit Radio Kootwijk.  It's a small town in Apeldoorn, in an area of the Veluwe. The building was built in 1918 to house a short wave radio transmitter that allowed communications with Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).  It was in service for five years before better technology took it's place.  In those five years, because of the isolation of this giant transmitter station, a small village sprang up around it.  At the end of World War II the Germans blew up the transmitter, but it was rebuilt, only to be destroyed for good in 1980. This was a fantastic trip for Dutchboy.  He was hanging on every word the tour guide spoke. I think he smiled the entire time. Except when we were freezing outside in the cold drizzle waiting for the tour to start!

He's taking it all in, eating it up. 

I was just glad I wasn't out there. 

I do adore the floor.

More about Radio Kootwijk. 

2017

Back in Arnhem for another look at the OpenLucht Museum!

This time there was an area where you can practice your stilt walking.  I suppose they have this because farmers used to use these to walk on flooded marshy ground.  Seems like death trap to me.  Just look at Dutchboy. You know this isn't going to end well.  There is a video that has him almost stepping into the iron grate to the right of the photo, and me screaming like a banshee at him, but I will spare you that. 

On to more bucolic settings. 

2018

This is one of those frustrating things that comes up when you've got so many vacation photos.  I KNOW I took a video of the clock on the Gouda City Hall, but apparently I've deleted it off my iCloud. ARRGH!!  So, have photos of Gouda instead. 

 

Why, yes, that is a public urinal outside a very, very old church. And yes, SOMEONE is using it. 

This one of the most mesmerizing things to watch that I've ever seen.  It was a special exhibition at Museum Gouda.

And don't you love this fanciful tearoom?

 2019

We viewed a wonderful exhibition at the Drents Museum in Assen!  And, like most museums in the Netherlands, the museum cafe was lovely. And had tasty hazelnoot schuimgebak (hazelnut meringue cake).  But it was bittersweet, because we were saying goodbye for this trip, to our very good friends in Bakkeveen. 

On our trip home in our rented Audi! I took video of the Dutch countryside.  And in the second video, a rainbow appeared! 

Tot ziens!