Dutch Treat - Part II

Welkom bij Utrecht! 

An evening walk on a
country canal.

Welcome back to the land of windmills, tulips, and canals, ... oh, and of course where the colour "orange" takes centre stage.

With Tineke (at the seashore0

Our cousin Tineke, drove us all the way to Utrecht, to our cousin Karen's, for the next stage of our trip. 

We had just enough time to unpack, 

...and have a bite to eat

....before we were off  

...to see beautiful tulips and coastal villages. 

We simply had a wonderful day together!

About Utrecht

Situated in the heart of Holland, the city was 
founded over 1200 years ago by the Romans.

The "Dom" tower in Utrech

With almost 316,000 people, Utrecht is the fourth biggest city in the Netherlands, and the lively, beating heart of Holland

... all built around the Dom tower, the city's tallest building, yet it has managed to preserve its local character.

Karen, our cousin.

Karen and Charles

Karen is a wonderful hostess, a

proud citizen of Utrecht, 

and great story teller about its history. 

Her enthusiasm was contagious.

Marion, Linda, Ad, and Charles

Meet-Up

We were overjoyed to have had a chance to meet up with Marion and Ad de Cort, two travellers we had the pleasure of meeting in New Zealand.

We all had a wonderful time drinking, eating, talking, and laughing.

Basic facts about Amsterdam

A parking garage for thousands of bicycles

Who’s Riding All of These Bikes?

Many statistics regarding Amsterdam simply make you wonder. For example, there are over one million bikes within the city limits, yet there are only about 700,000 people in Amsterdam. This leads us to the top 10 weird facts about Amsterdam.




Amsterdam May Soon Disappear

The majority of Amsterdam is below sea level. At its lowest point, it is 6.7 metres below sea level. If climate change causes even a small increase in global sea levels, Amsterdam may go the way of Atlantis.

Note the slant of the house.

Amsterdam Was Built on Stilts

The entire city of Amsterdam was built on piles of massive stakes driven into the ground. These piles laid the foundation for every building in the city. Over 6,000 piles are used to hold up Central Station. Regular maintenance keeps these piles in load-bearing condition.

The Rijks museum has just re-opened.

Amsterdam Has the Most Museums in the World

When measured by museums per square metre, Amsterdam has more museums than any other city in the world.

Despite the "Dam" rain, Amsterdam
was a beautiful experience!

Amsterdam Has More Canals Than Venice

Venice is the most famous canalled city in the world, but Amsterdam with its 165 canals, is often called the “Venice of the North” .



What a visit!  A huge word of thanks to Karen for her incredible hospitality. We had a fantastic time.

Hartelijk dank, Karen.

And tomorrow we're off to London.

Until then!

Dutch Treat - Hengelo, Holland

A Dutch Treat

It was one of the busiest travel days in the European calendar, Whit Monday (Monday of the Holy Spirit) and the trains were plugged full. People and their luggage were everywhere.

But it really didn't matter! 

Tineke and Herman's beautiful house.

We were sparked. Soon we'd be in Hengelo, Holland with Linda's cousins, Tineke and Herman, and their family.

So let's meet the family:

This is Tineke, Linda's cousin,

her daughter, Birthe,

and Herman, her husband.

Next to his favourite car in the world, an Audi of course,
is Jan-Willem.  

Named after both his grandfathers, Jan-Willem, the youngest, is a tool and die specialist and will soon be studying to become a computer specialist in this area.

Kirsten and Caroline always have a beautiful ready smile.  On this day, it happened to be Caroline's birthday.

Kirsten has finished her studies in law and will be beginning a degree in Education in September.

Caroline has just completed her studies to become a gold smith.

And this is Birthe, the first of the four children.

She works in Herman's Custom Pharmacy and Hospital Interiors Business.



Everyone in the family speaks extraordinarily good English.

And oh yes, let's not forget Mads, the family dog.
His English is not so good, nor is his Dutch.
But still, like most dogs, he's still a master of communication.

We all had such fun.  Particularly interesting were all the discussions in the kitchen or around the dining room table.   It really did feel like home.

We were going to do some sight seeing but
first we had to get the Ol' Timer ready for action.

Did you know that the Netherlands was ranked first as the world's "happiest" country? 

That could be why our stay really was a “Dutch Treat”.   

The star of the show was Herman's Ol' Timer (a Citroen DS) which does get out from time to time. 
  

 The DS (pronounced déesse, French for “goddess”), is a green scarab-shaped, streamlined automobile. 

Herman and Tineke spared no expense showing us as much of the Holland they love as possible.


 And off we went!!!

Only as big as mainland Nova Scotia, its population of 17 million, but enjoys so much diversity and beauty that it's impossible to see and do everything during our stay. 

The Twente home completly  restored.

A highlight was our visit to Herman's mother's, the children's grandmother's beautiful home in the beautiful countryside of Twente. 

Inside the home.

Kirsten with her grandmother
in her beautiful restored home.

In an attempt to save its rich but decaying heritage, the local government leased out a number of its historical farm properties.  




Herman and his family took part in the program and are now leasing this property which they have since restored. 


 

Here we are at Twente Castle, just minutes
down the road from gramma's house.

The house and its land have been home to Herman's parents and whole family now for over a quarter of a century.

A front view of the "Twente Castle".

Hengelo is in the eastern region, in the region of Twente, where we found this beautiful castle.

The castle guard!!!!

  

There are so many ways to get around but the bicycle is certainly no cliché and a very popular mode of transportation.








Historically a factory town, Hengelo specialized in metal products while Enchede, a near-by sister town, specialized in cloth manufacturing.



Old Walls.... New Ideas

A mill in Enchede before at the height of the industrial period.

Needless to say that during World War II, this manufacturing hub fell into the hands of the Germans.  

Its railways and industries then became part of the Nazi war machine and....


..... then a target of the Allies. 

Today, that same hall has been transformed
into a technical college.

During a raid in 1944, the heart of the town was accidentally bombed, killing several hundred people.

Both Hengelo and Enchede did rebuild...

A new start for Enchede and Hengelo.

....but in the end, the industrial base of both towns transferred out to lands of cheaper labour.

New vocations for the towns had to be found.

Miraculously, many of the old factories that closed, 
were not torn down.... 

....but rather integrated into the towns' new lives...
becoming museums, universities, high tech industries, and of course, homes and community centres.

Like Hans Brinker, I'm saving Holland

by keeping my thumb in the dyke.  

Some one has to do it.

Despite it's very intense population density of 466 people per square kilometer, Holland is very green and....of course, full of water.

The Netherlands (meaning “low country”) is a geographically low-lying country, a delta to three large rivers.  About 20% of its area and population are below sea level.

The water on the left of the dike is higher 

than the land on the right.

Surprisingly, most of this problem is man-made.

You see, Holland had no coal or forests to burn for heat in winter. Peat was the answer.

Centuries of extensive and poorly controlled peat extraction, lowered the surface level by several meters. 

To win land back, dikes, canals and pumping stations were the answer.

Five "Did you know that..."'s about Holland

1. The Nederlands is the largest beer exporter in the world.
In 2001, Dutch beer companies exported an astonishing volume of 1.3 billion liters of beer abroad. Half of that was shipped to the U.S.!

2. Dutch people are the tallest in the world.
With an average height of 184 cm for men and 170 cm for women, Dutchies are the tallest people in the world.

3. The Netherlands is the most densely populated nation in Europe.
With 487 inhabitants per square kilometer, the Netherlands has the highest population density of

4. Amsterdam is built entirely on poles.
Because Amsterdam's soil consists of a thick layer of fen and clay, all buildings are built on wooden poles that are fixed in a sandy layer that is 11 meters deep on average. The Royal Palace at Dam Square is built on no less than 13,659 wooden poles.

5. Turkish Tulips?
Tulips, tulip fields and flower bulbs are typically Dutch. Yet, tulips do not originate from the Netherlands. The first tulip bulbs were imported from Turkey to the Netherlands, where they proved to grow extremely well on Dutch soil.

And here are some people who made our days even brighter:

Charles, Herman, Henri, Kirsten, Margaret, and Tineke in Schoonhoven

Beautiful Schoonhoven

Peter, a school principal in Enchede,

who graced us with wonderful coffee

and a wonderful discussion about the 

Dutch school system.

Munsterhaus, where we saw some very 

expensive and most beautiful cars.

Tijmen, Caroline's boy friend, who along

with her spent a cold but profitable day at 

their booth in Schoonhoven.  Both are very

accomplished "prize-winning" gold smiths.

Karen, Tineke's sister, who came to join us

in Schoonhoven.  We'll be staying with her

in Utrecht next week.

More to come.

Until next time.

Bonn and the Rhine Valley (Germany)

A quiet city, Bonn 

Bonn, birthplace of L v B

Bonn, the uncontested birth place of Ludwig van Beethoven and once Germany's capital,.....  







....was our home for 10 days in May.

Roman ruins are everywhere.

Although Berlin is today's uncontested German capital, Bonn remains that little train that could!

Can you see three building styles?

Making good use of assets like the university, a plethora of conference centres, and the still-present secondary government organizations, Bonn has simply refused to lay down and play dead. 

River traffic on the Rhine.  At times, it's a wonder
that there aren't traffic jams.  They seem to get by.

 On the contrary, because of its many year-round cafes and summer beer gardens, admirers still call this little gem along the Rhine, Italy's most northern city.

It also serves as a great base for day-trips down the romantic Rhine River and other regions.

Just a normal Saturday at the market.

We loved the city but the Rhine Valley was extraordinary.

The youth hostel of my youth.

It was in 1971 that I first discovered Bacharach with its "Robber Baren" castle.  It still serves as a fabulous youth hostel, sitting high above the Rhine.

A Fachwerkhaus.
Isn't it beautiful?

Our afternoon there was full of surprises.....like these "Fachhaeuser",....

A village gate along the river 

...these magnificient town entry gates,.....

Settling a difference of opinion????

and, of course,...

........a Middle Ages Festival.

Wine at the castle at Sankt Goar.

Sankt Goar – The castle above this little Rhine wine village was a wonderful find for day's end.      "Zum Wohl!

 

Boppard – This is an underestimated little town. 

It even has surprise-fountains that lull you into looking at them, only to suddenly splash the curious cat with a mouthful of water.

In Koblenz, an old Roman settlement, where the Moselle and the Rhine meet,

Wine and a meal at the
Weinstube in Koblenz.

we had a wonderful couple of hours strolling the streets,.....

....eating ice cream

 enjoying the culinary delights of this "Weinstube".

The Cathedral in Cologne (Koelner Dom)

Cologne is a most uninteresting city, save for this incredible cathedral, the largest in Europe. 

Although it suffered seventy hits by aerial bombs during World War II, it didn't collapse, standing tall in an otherwise flattened city. 

The "Dom's" interior.

The reason: Its great twin spires are said to have been used as an easily recognizable navigational landmark by Allied aircraft raiding deeper into Germany in the later years of the war .  

It was, in effect, an unwitting but valuable asset for the allied pilots....and its survival insurance!  

In a few short hours, we'll be off to Holland where we'll be visiting cousins.

Until then.