I am extremely sorry I was allowed only one hour there, because the musem closed at 5pm. I will have to come back, for the Van Gogh collection, the Dutsch masters, all the sculptures, and to spend much time in the amazing and somewhat disturbing natural park around.
Summer residence of the Royal Family for centuries. 17th century baroque castle, uber-neat gardens, giant park. What else?
Two days ago, I suddenly found myself in possession of a "Guide Michelin" about the Netherlands. My bike warned me not to open it: it knew I was going to sell my cycling soul to the Culture devil. When I realized there were several three-starred things around, I had no choice but to take a train to Deventer (halfway to my destination) to allow for detours and visits.
Deventer is another charming Hanseatic town which feels very animated, but in no way rushed.
- Penninckhuis, ornate facade, with a Charity statue that looks uncharitable
- Bussink's Koekwinkel, three samples of honey cake (Deventer's pride)
- De Drie Haringen (the three herrings)
- coloured umbrellas
- coloured shutters
- Waag (1528)
Welcome to the Netherlands, with all its friendly cycle lanes!
Just on the border between Germany and the Netherlands, in a place called Boutrange, stands a star-shaped fort, originally built in 1593 during the 80-years war and the Dutch revolt against the Spaniards who still occupied Gröningen. At that time the area was very marshy. In the middle of the 19th century, the fort had no more use: it was more or less taken apart and half-forgotten, until its potential as a "history place" became clear in the 1960s. Since tourists where Boutrange's last chance, the fort was then rebuilt and turned into a fine mid-18th century UNESCO-approved fortified complex, with a windmill and all. It looks quite nice on the map, and the thing is pretty, too.
Here is only a sample of the innumerable and magnificent monkey puzzles I saw on the way.
I hope I'm not boring anyone with either star-shaped forts or monkey puzzles.
I am now in Emmen, at Marianne's house: we had excellent rice with Indonesian dressing, and fun conversations. THANKS! I'm very happy to sleep inside, because last night it was very humid and I caught a cold...
Bremen was dressed in fog in the morning.
The wind, surprisingly, kindly blew from the East. I decided it was a sign that I should go to the Netherlands.
After Oldenburg I followed the küstenkanal, which was straight but not boring. The countryside looks familiar but different, perhaps because of the elegant wind turbines.
Here, people say "moin" to say hello. I love it.
I saw many adorable monkey puzzles. This one is quite big and dignified.
Autumn is coming to the top of the trees.
New flowers in the fields...
In Bremen it's all about the old and the new: see the two parts of the town hall... Then there are glass bridges between dignified stone buildings.
Close to the cathedral there is a lovely, tiny garden with "biblical plants".
My bicycle wanted to pose with "Bremen's musicians". I argued that this story was the most disappointing I knew: the listener expects music and gets cacophony. The bike said: that's the point.
A beach.
Sonja's balcony. And thanks for the glorious zucchini dinner!
