Water, Water, Everywhere

Knowing that my aunt and uncle were good planners and having too much to plan myself for all the other cities I was visiting, I trusted that their suggestions on places to go would be interesting and enjoyable.   We hit the road early the next morning ready to explore a few small towns recommended in their Michelin guidebook before crossing the northern dike and reaching Amsterdam that night.  After only a few days I was used to traveling by car again and enjoyed the freedom it allowed us.

We first stopped in the small town of Giethoorn where we decided to rent a small, ten horse-powered boat which we used to "cruise" around the canals for an hour. I absolutely loved the houses with their thatched roofs and well-manicured lawns and gardens.  Every one was worthy of a picture since they were all so happily situated on the waterfront and well maintained.

Near the end of our hour, Uncle Tim passed the boat's control over to me (even though I had never driven that kind of boat/motor before), which wasn't a problem as long as I was going forward.  However when we saw a new thatched roof being put on, we decided a few seconds too late that we had enough time left in our hour to take a few minutes to watch some of the process.  When I had to back up and steer into what amounted to the house's alley (driveway?), I was undone by the motor's tiller, having to twist and push it in the right combination to get the boat where it needed to go.  Let's just say that I'll stick to sailboats where the wind is your motor or to motorboats with a steering wheel.

The other two towns we stopped in, Sloten and Sneek, were fun to explore, but didn't provide exciting stories to share.  I did see my first real windmill (and then a bunch more as we moved farther into the Netherlands) and a cool watergate and its drawbridge.

The last leg of our journey was across the 19 mile long Afsluitdijk (Closing Dike) that keeps the North Sea from flooding the Netherlands.  The dike is one part of the North Sea Protection Works, which is one of the wonders of the modern world.  I have to admit, while I probably didn't appreciate the engineering feat as much as I should have, I got a kick out of being that close to the North Sea!

Me and the North Sea!

My Trip's Last Country

Arriving in the Netherlands (the final country of my trip) meant psyching up for another day of biking with Uncle Tim and Aunt Noreen.  We spent the day in Hoge Veluwe National Park, biking through varying environments -- grasslands, deserts, forests, etc. -- and visiting the Kroller-Muller Museum (my apologies that both names are missing an umlaut), a great modern art museum that has the second largest collection of Van Gogh's in the world (along with a bunch of other amazing works by Mondrian, Picasso and the likes).

The sculpture garden outside of the museum was interesting; it mostly included works that made no sense to me, even after reading the little sign in the grass nearby.  However the coolest was one that you were supposed to climb up onto and be part of the sculpture.

Van Gogh's famous 'Cafe
Terrace at Night'

After about ten minutes of wandering through the sculpture garden, Aunt Noreen and I had lost Uncle Tim, who moved at a much slower pace.  With some extra time, I introduced Aunt Noreen to my favorite museum game: which would you put in your house?  A fabulous way to not only see the art, but to really gauge your reaction to the pieces by deciding which you would want to keep or could best tolerate, depending on the room's collection.  We had a great time making (and debating) our choices.

We stopped into the other museum in the park, a small science museum focused on ecology and geology, but only for a short visit.  The rest of the day was spent on our bikes, upon which we covered roughly 20 miles, all of which were accident-free!

Free white bikes to borrow while in the park!

Happy travelers!