This is a very typical way kids are brought to school - not with an SUV.

Last Day in the Netherlands

The weather didn't offer us any reprieve on our last day in Amsterdam. It was a cool and rainy day. Aside from packing and doing a little grocery shopping, we stayed home. For the evening we had decided to go out for an Indonesian rijstavel, typically, a wide assortment of prepared spicy dishes that include meats, poultry, fish, shrimp, vegetables and rice. It's not unusual to have twenty or more dishes.

Unfortunately, Elliot had a scheduling conflict and couldn't join us - he was attending a Dutch language class. The first restaurant we went to, Coffee and Jazz, had a good reputation. But after nearly being forced to first order a wine to go with dinner (and not having beer on the menu), we opted to go elsewhere.

The second restaurant had a totally different feel to it. Tempo Doeloe was warm, full of chatter and had the sound of clinging beer glasses. And there was one empty table for four left. We were happy.

It's a good thing that we had brought a big appetite

And this was only an order for two!

Rijstavel without a beer is like having a Mexican dinner without a Corona! It's just wrong.

We had a superb mean and needed the long walk home to settle all the food we had eaten. We had opted not to ride bikes because of the chance of rain.

The following morning, we got up early, said our good-byes, gave hugs and left for Schiphol. Two flights and a drive from LAX - a mere 27 hours later, we drove into our garage. Home!

The drawback about taking a long trip - coming home to a pile of mail. 

The Netherlands

Amsterdam

Saturday morning, Maarten drove us to Amsterdam’s Pijp neighborhood, where Meredith and Elliot live - they had prepared a delicious Turkish-styled brunch, with a variety of dipping sauces, olives, breads, tomatoes, cheeses, jams, honey and coffee. What a feast.

Our Turkish brunch at Meredith and Elliot's

Afterwards, Maarten left for home and the four of us went on a bike ride along the Amstel river. At one point, we took a small ferry across the river and continued riding the bike trail on that side.

Stopping at a wind molen on our bicycling tour along the Amstel River 

A ferry ride across the Amstel River

The view from the other side is always better

The next couple of days of our stay we went to an open air farmer’s market where we shared a Hungarian bottle of champagne, we bicycled across town to the Winkle Cafe, (reportedly it has the best apple tart - served with a big scoop of heavy cream, and window shopped.

At De Winkle enjoying apple tart

With a delicious crust and tangy apples, the cream complemented it perfectly.

A walk along one of the many canals in Amsterdam

This cheese shop smelled sooooo good

Checking out the smoked fish at the market

One of the more colorful vendors at the market

Elliot and Meredith riding back from the market

Diane riding along the canal

On Tuesday, we met Maarten at the Rijksmuseum. It had gone through extensive renovations and just recently had reopened. We saw master pieces of classical Dutch painters including Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Gogh, a beautiful (and large) ship model, ceramics, furniture, intricate 17th century doll houses and much more.

The entry hall to the Rijksmuseum

Rembrandt's Night Watch 

More Rembrandt

This model of a 16th century Dutch war ship was about eight feet in length

Poppen huizen display (doll houses) were really the in thing
among the elite Amsterdamers in the 16th and 17th century 

A van Gogh self-portrait

After the museum, we met Meredith for lunch and enjoyed some croquettes and beer, then Diane and I walked further into the center of Amsterdam and dropped in at Wijnand Fockink jenever (Dutch spirits) for a sampling. We then headed home to M&E's. Another satisfying touring day. 

Wijnand Fockink Jenever Tasting Room

The Netherlands

Sneek

In the morning, we took a drive to one of the nearby lakes. About ten minutes away, Sneekermeer (Lake Sneek) generally is full of sailboats plying the waters back and forth. But today, with this kind of blustery weather, even the Dutch tourists stay home. There are a few private yachts out sailing, but everything else looks closed. I did spot saw a beautifully retrofitted canal boat for sale. It was more than I could afford. We proceeded to return to Sneek.

One of the few yachts sailing in the brisk wind

A seven stateroom beauty for sale

There isn’t a whole lot to do back in Sneek when it’s rainy and cold. Diane decided to stay in and give her foot a break and catch up on email and work. Maarten and I decided to visit the much touted model railroad museum of Sneek.

One of the displays at the railway museum

The museum is located at the town’s railway station and is quite provincial. We and a few others got a tour from an old railroad buff, who gave us a good history of the railroad in the Netherlands and in Sneek while pointing out miniature trains in a display cabinet. Upstairs there were some elaborate train displays where trains chug around miniature mountains, towns and so forth. After all, it was entertaining.

We walked around the village stopping by to appreciate the architecture of the Sneek Theater with oddly-shaped windows. It lies along a small canal with weeping willow trees that have a pleasant effect on the entire scene.

The theater with its wacky shaped windows

We then proceeded to the town’s historical water tower that was built in 1908 and afterwards walked through the Waterppoort Tower (Watergate Tower). This tower is the only part left of an old defensive wall that ran the circumference of Sneek. It allowed boats to enter the canal leading into the town’s center. We watched the draw bridge next to the Waterpport open for a boat to pass through.

The 1908 water tower

The Waterpoort Tower

Nice reflection from some of the houses along the canal

The Waterpoort (Gate)

On Thursday, we went to the local maritime museum - the Fries Scheepvaart Museum. It turned out to be much more than just a maritime museum. Of course, there were model ships, boats, ship building, fishery displays and other things related to the maritime industry. But there were displays on period lifestyles, ceramics and a number of other items relevant to life in the 19th century in Sneek. We really enjoyed it.

A large model of one of the canal boats

A model of one of the popular race boats

A mock-up of the living quarters of a canal boat

After a light lunch back at our B&B we walked to the oldest gin producer in Sneek, Weduwe Joustra (Widow Joustra). The entry gives way to a comfortably arranged shop with wine casks, wine bottles on wooden shelves and Dutch gin (genever) displayed.

A sampling of the tastings

No sooner had we walked in when the shopkeeper asked us if we wanted to taste genever, to which we responded - YES! She pointed us up the narrow stairwell. Once there, we were surrounded by bottles of gin, sampling glasses and no host. The idea was to sample anything you wanted on your own. It became obvious to me that alcoholics had not discovered this little gem of a place!

Needless to say, we had a fun sampling and tasting all the varieties of gins and then decided on our purchases. Definitely a worthwhile visit.

The village of Workum

On our last day of our Friesland adventure we veered west to Workum, where Maarten had suggested going to an art museum by a Dutch contemporary painter - Jopie Huisman. Not only was the village quaint, but the work by Huisman was unusually good. Huisman went through various stages in his artistic career, including dealing with the consequences of WWII. At times he seemed to have a lot of fun with his paintings, but usually he chose more serious subjects from everyday life, often objects such as shoes, a coat or a hanging pair of pants. He also did various self-portraits that were very interesting.

We drove through a couple of other villages, including the fishing village of Makkum and then headed over to the 30 km dyke to cross over to the western part of the Netherlands.

Our last stop was Medemblik, a small town dating back to the 1200’s with a leaning tower and a castle. The town has quite a history of warfare and strikes by pirates. Eventually, to better protect themselves, the citizens built a wall around the city.

The land captains always know best 

M

Medemblik

Kids in school having fun sailing, kayaking and playing.

Today it is a tranquil seaside community with lots of yachts. We took a long walk, watched elementary school kids practicing sailing and kayaking and did a little shopping along the way. We headed back to Purmerend when it started to rain.

Lots of sheep around this place particularly along the banks of the levees.