Tidbits of Holland

Poffertjes – delightful treats, drenched in butter and powdered sugar (icing sugar for our British friends). 😋
Making poffertjes.
This measuring pole indicates the flood water heights. The water was as high as that red marker approximately 50 years ago. The dykes held the water back, with very limited damage to the surrounding windmills.
And you thought you saw the end of flower pics(?) Nope! 😉
Too magnificent to walk by without a photo!
And too cute to ride by this moorhen and fluffy baby.
We spotted many of these baskets in the canals.
Turns out they are duck nesting baskets!
On the prowl…
Looking over the canal – “if I were a big cat, I’d go after those seagulls down there!”
I just cannot resist a grebe!!!

Have you been waiting for these?

Visited Kinderdijk today – where we saw 19 preserved windmills built in the 17th & 18th centuries.
It’s been on our bucket list.
It did not disappoint.
Great fun to ride the path and look at them.
When people join together to solve a problem they can come up with some amazing ideas!
Really fascinating to learn how the Dutch figured out how to get water out of their fields and back into the canals to prevent flooding. The U.S. really should be talking to the Netherlands now before we start having those same issues.
This one built in 1740 – lovely!

Doesburg, Netherlands

The ground floor of the B & B where we stayed, was our host’s clothing design studio.
Sunlit breakfast room.
The way to our living quarters for three nights. Holland has very steep and narrow stairs since they are often space deprived.
The oldest restaurant in the Netherlands, operating since 1448. Food was great, too!
Biked for two days while in Doesburg. Sometimes on dykes above the farms and sometimes on beautiful paths like this one.
At one point we had to ferry across the river Ijssel. About a five minute journey😉
This was an interesting sculpture. We first spotted it when crossing an arched bridge. So we were looking at it in the distance and from a bit above. It looked just like the figures were following each other. But when we walked up to it, they were next to one another. A very interesting optical illusion.
This bell blown from the church tower by the Nazis in 1945, near the end of WWII. The inscription (loosely translated) is “When the clock stopped the bird of freedom flew”.
Another night, we were in a restaurant where this was hanging. The waitress told us that it was a photograph and actual townspeople had posed for it. I love that “Jesus” is a woman.

Before we move on from Otterlo

Started our day with this breakfast at Velo – Droom B & B.
The national park that we visited also had a wonderful sculpture park. This piece floated in the lake and sometimes looked like a mushroom to me…
and sometimes a swan or a duck.
At first we thought this one had nothing holding it together but on closer inspection there was some “glue or cement” in critical places.
The “beech tree” in the foreground is actually a sculpture but we nearly walked past it!
Murph thinking golf … and me?
yoga, of course!!!
Time to ride some more – fietspad = bike path. And the Netherlands has a bunch of them😉
This, my friends, is a sand dune to them. Anyone of you who knows our Sleeping Bear Dunes would have to smile at these 6 foot sand piles!
The fields were just covered with this purple gorse. Very pretty!

Otterlo, Netherlands

Velo – Droom (Bicycle Dreams), our B & B for the next two nights.
We rented bikes and rode through the Hoge Veluwe National Park.
Where they have 1700 white bikes that are free and available for people to ride in the park. (We rented so we could keep them overnight and explore a larger area)
Within the park is the Kroller – Muller Museum. The highlight is it’s Vincent Van Gogh collection, the second largest in the world.

We saw many fine drawings and paintings but this was my favorite work of art!

Before we leave Utrecht

Typical street scene.
Their version of “The Thinker”. I wonder what Auguste Rodin would think. 😏
Cathedral (Domkerk) – While originally Catholic, like many Dutch churches this became Protestant following the Reformation. This depicts the damaging effects of the iconoclasts that sought to destructively unclutter the worshiper’s communication with God. I found it particularly interesting because they tore God the Father’s face off too. This sculpture had been covered by a wall only to be rediscovered in the 20th century.
I find cloisters to be so peaceful, including this one!
Amazing sculpture that we ran across while exploring Utrecht.
“Oh the things you find, if you don’t stay behind.” – Dr Seuss
Close up shot of the whale. Love, love, love it!!!

Time to experience a bit of countryside

Biking out of town to see a castle – like you do, ya know – I spot this dotted line in the street. “Let’s go back, I need a photo of that!”
Can’t resist this mumma koot and baby ❤
De Haar Castle – built for a wealthy baron (ya think?) between 1892 – 1912.
This is the “little chalet” attached to the castle, used for entertaining guests!
After touring the castle and grounds we bike back to Utrecht passing many farms.
These grebes were such fun to watch. Evidently, mom/dad was trying to give this baby a strong hint that it was time to move out on it’s own 😉
Nice bike paths, keeping people off the roads and safe.

Hop the train to Utrecht (OO-treht)

Pretty cool exit/entrance to the train station.
Walking along a canal and through the park – getting to know our new neighborhood.
“As soon as I saw you I knew an adventure was going to happen.” – Winnie the Pooh
Many people out enjoying the canals and this beautiful day. (This photo for you, Shyla)
And so lovely at night!
Very romantic place to sit and have tapas for dinner.💕

More around Hoorn

If you grew up around Detroit, you probably visited Greenfield Village where Henry Ford had buildings moved to create an historic town. This is the Dutch version. Many homes from the 17th & 18th century brought by boat to make up the Zuiderzee museum.
The inside of one of the many homes we toured.
Watching these children make wooden clog boats was very cute. Look at that intensity on this little girl’s face!
This cart has wheels and you can push yourself or better yet be pushed. But really I just wanted this photo because of that precious little child!
Nice photo of the harbor and indicative of how many people sail here.
The top of the spire on the harbor master’s house.
Nothing to do with the Netherlands other than it was parked along a street here but oh my heart be still!!!