Thursday, May 12, 2022

 This was e our last day in the Netherlands. We walked around downtown Amsterdam again and ate "the best apple pie in the world" according to a man in Dulles airport.

It was good.

The interior of the Amsterdam Centraal station. And the exterior.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

 The road to the Kasteel de Haar in Utrecht. This had the most unique way of slowing traffic.

This is a reconstructed castle from about 1500. The original castle had only a foundation and a little of the sides remaining. The reconstruction was completed by architect PC Cuypers in the late 19th century with all the then modern conveniences. The castle was willed to Baron van de Haar and restored using the money of his wife, Helene de Rothschild. They lived in the castle part of the time and had famous people at their parties. Some of the visitors have been Brigitte Bardot, Coco Channel, Roger Moore.

Note the fine literature on the bedside table.

There was a wedding taking place on the grounds the day we were there.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

 We started  our day in Harlingen, NL. There is a lighthouse that was in use from 1922 - 1998. It was built in the deco-style and is used as a hotel today.

There is a large harbor there with many sailing boats. 

Following are pictures of the reconstruction of a 1596 ship. There is more explanation in the blue sign.

 

We ended our day taking a 2 1/2 hour "silent boat" ride through the canals of Giethoorn. It was a regular sized row boat with an electric motor. Jeff "drove" the boat. It also went through a nature preserve.

Monday, May 9, 2022

 All of our travel up to now has been by public transportation: train, tram and bus. It has been very easy (especially when Jeff has the routes, times, maps, etc on his phone). This morning we got a car and headed north to the province of Friesland. There is a bridge called Afsluitdijk that was built on a newly built dike that was built to protect the Netherlands from the North Sea. 

The dunes and the North Sea.

We saw a lot of tulip fields on this trip. I later learned that 60% of all tulips are grown in Northern Netherlands. I also learned that they cut the tulips for whoever to have the flowers then later dig up the bulbs. The large part of the bulb is what is packaged and sold as bulbs to be planted. The remaining smaller bulbs that are attached is what is replanted in the fall for the next spring's flowers.

We  lunched at the Lazy Lemon in Leeuwarden. A store selling groceries had eggs for sale. The eggs were stacked outside on the sidewalk. Then we walked through a tiny town, Blessum, with a very old church.