A VISIT IN THE NETHERLANDS

Our friend Karen Laino,former Marine, retired Navy, introduced us to some friends she had met when she worked in Belgium.  Margot and Ton van Osch  invited us to their home to spend a few days.  They live in Heerde and have built a lovely home there.  So we left on Tuesday and spent the evening with them and returned late afternoon on Wednesday.

Those red dots mark the area we were touring.

Margot had given me the train schedule , changes, etc. to take so we were all set.  Well - things didn't go as smoothy as possible.  You noticed I wrote they live in Heerde: however,when I was reading and writing down Margot's instruction I had noticed that we were to take the train to Zwolle.  I just assumed that was the nearest train station.  So we got off in Zwolle and of course we were early because we always allow plenty of time and so we just caught earlier trains.  I text that we were at the train station and we were going to wait for them in front of Albert Heins by the flowers.  We were sitting feeling so good when I heard my phone chirp.  I noticed that I had 2 messages and a voice mail.  So I looked at the message and it read" there is no Albert Hein at the train station in Heerde.  Where are you?"  Oops.  I finally was able to reach Ton on his phone explained that we were in Zwolle heading to the station to get a ticket to Heerde.  He advised that they would justs pick us up in Zwolle.  Probably a very smart thing for him to do.  Before too long we saw someone approach with a big smile ( Margot had promised that we would recognize them because they would have big smiles on their faces) and we determined that the smile belonged to Margot.  Introductions done we headed to their home to have coffee.

The drive to their home was beautiful, it goes through the National Forest.  They have a beautiful back yard that you look out on while sitting in almost any room in their house.  

It was just a little too chilly to have our coffee outside.

We settled in and after our coffee we headed out for a bike ride and  a litte lunch at a restaurant in the National Forest.  We have wanted to ride bikes since arriving in Amsterdam but after observing the flow of traffic and all the bikers we've decided to be cautious and not ride in the city.  We were excited , at least I was.  I don't know about Sharon.

Ton got our bikes ready.

Filled the tires.

Adjusted the seats!

And now we are ready!  Don't we look confident?

And away she goes!

It was fun although I will say at first I had a death grib on the handlebars.  Before long we were rolling along with confidence.  Then, some people stopped their bike in the middle of the path and it was on a turn.  Well, Sharon went one way off the path and I went the other way to avoid hitting them and their bikes.  At this point we lost a little confidence perhaps but we made it to the restaurant after a little stop and some readjustments.

Resting.

Just a "little" dutch pancake for lunch.  Yup, that's five - one too many.  An error had been made so they told us to just keep the one.  We tried to be members of the clean plate club but we just couldn't do it!  We did pretty well however!

We brought the bikes back and than drove through the village of Heerde and unto Hattem and Elburg.

Hattem.

                                 

                                        

               Here we are in  Elburg.  It's a small town which at one time was located at the coast of the Zuiderzee.  The Zuiderzee was drained partially in the first half of the 20th century leaving some smaller lakes.  There is a nice little harbor and little canals flowing through the town.

We had to stop and have a litte herring before we walked around.  Nourishment, so important.  Margot and Sharon passed up the opportunity but Ton and I indulged.

The Fishgate built in 1392.  The otherside is a lighthouse.

                                      

It was time to head back to a home cooked typical Dutch meal.  We had had a wonderful day.  We were lost and we were found, we biked and we fell, we laughed , we ate, we drank, we toured. We were ready to just relax.  

We were just sitting enjoying a little wine and commenting on the "neat" fireplace and because there was just a little chill in the air Ton decided we should have a fire.  No switch to throw  he built the fire from scratch!

Before long we had a lovely fire going and sat and enjoyed our wine, the fire and the view.  Soon Margot had the dinner ready and we adjourned to the dining room.

We had a delicious meal of red cabbage, mashed potatoes and a stew that is typical Dutch.  One of the ingredients is a cake which serves as a thickening agent and ingredients in the cake are spices  which adds flavors to the meat.  

I had to eat two helpings just to be sure I liked it!  

The next day we enjoyed a lovely breakfast that Margo had prepared and we were ready to go again.  This time the weather was not looking as promising as yesterday.

Such a lovely new kitchen!

We once again got in the car and headed to Deventer.  This is the town where the cake is made that is used in the stew.  The cake is called Bussink Deventer Koek and has been produced in Deventer for over 50 years.

Our journey took us over a dike and we looked down on land which is below sea level and is a designated  flood plain.  One does have to remember that much of the Netherlands is below sea level.  

The film A Bridge Too Far, had scenes taking place in Arnhem filmed in Deventer as Amhem itself had lost it's historic Center during the war.  

The little shop that makes the cake.

   The cake.

The building in the background once housed a very good museum which is closed now and they are "rethinking" it.  The city is an old city probably founded around 768.  It was important for its flourishing trade and because of its harbour on the river Ljssel, which was capable of accommodating large ships.  It was one of the first cities to have a printing press.

Everyone is standing by the old city wall.

They  are looking down at the harbor.  Oops, street now.  

We had a coffee and some lovely treats at a cozy little restaurant on the city square.  They had nice heaters so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the city center.

This little tray of goodies came with the coffee and a nice little liquor with cream.   Yummy.  Perfect to warm up with on a cool day.

Cute street - notice the umbrella's overhead. They were going all the way down the steet.

Very whimsical.

  Very deep discussion, I'm sure.  After coffee we went to walk around the "old town" area.  

We first went into a church that is no longer used as a house of worship but is used for special events.  This is true of many of the Dutch churches.  Congregations have combined and churches closed.  

Here we are takiing a photo break as we climbed the "mountain", (Bergkerkplein - Dutch for mountain).  I'm happy to report that we did it with out any problem.  If all mountains were like this I'd become a mountain climber.

                       

                          

An Old postal box!.

Wall art?

Notice the cute decoration over the door of this store which sells faucets, etc. 

The house, on the left, in the middle  was moved brick by brick to its current location.  The owner had liked the house when he saw it in another location and decided to move it to Deventer.

Deventer was once the mint for three Ijessel cities, Deventer, Zwolle and Kampen.  You can see the designation above the door.

We left Deventer and  headed to  Museum de Fundatie   which I have to say is in the middle of no where.  The museum is a 17th century castle  near the villages of Heino and 

Wijhe and was the former residence of the museum founder Dirk Hannema.  It is truly lovely. It consists of the art displayed in the castle and  the sculpture gardens.  

A dove house.Margot shared with us that Dove's were only for the upper class and woe to someone from the lesser classes who might indulge in this upper class delicacy.

The formal sculpture gardens.

The Marathon Man.

This is a sculpture of  Wilhelmina the Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherland from 1890-1948.  She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch.  Outside the Netherlands she is primarily remembered for her role in World War II, in which she proved to be a great inspiration to the Dutch resistance.

Through the canopy and 

into the woods.

                                

                          

                          

                             

                      

This marks the  burial place for the former owners pet dog.

Beautiful mushrooms!Back to the more formal gardens.

Beautiful "Flock of Rocks"!

Definitely got better!

We walked around the inside of the museum for a bit and it wasn't too long before it started to pour.  Perfect timing.  They had an interesting film exhibit which we sat and watched for a little bit.  All films were just a minute and a half.  One could sit for 2 1/2 hours and watch a different film ever minute or so.

We ended our afternoon with a nice cup of warm soup in the museum cafe.  By the time we finished it was time to head to the train station.  This time we left from Zwolle and we didn't have to change trains so we made it to Amsterdam without any problems and since it wasn't raining we walked home

It was a lovely couple of days.  It's so much fun to see a different part of the Netherlands and we were so lucky to have had such wonderful hosts to take us all over.  No worrys about getting on the right train, bus, or tram and the audio was synced perfectly to the sights :-).