Let me introduce you to Zwolle, the lovely little capital city of Overijssel. (A province whose descriptive name means “above the Ijssel river,” if you’re curious. And Zwolle is named for the minor contour- which in the Netherlands would likely be called a hill – upon which the city was originally founded: Zwolle is related to the English verb “swell.”)
First of many photos I’ll be showing you from the lovely island of Texel, off the coast of the mainland and the northernmost part of “Noord Holland” aka North Holland.
Both this photo and today’s Urban Entrances image were taken in the Klementinum, of which you’ve already seen the most famous interior location in an earlier post. I’ve read that the the Castle compound is Prague’s largest and most important historical zone, and the Klementinum its second largest. As always in Prague, curious and roving eyes will find something else fun or beautiful to view, just about anywhere, just about any time :-).
Rotterdam, one learns, is Europe’s busiest port and was until fairly recently the busiest in the world. It also has a long history of shipping, and in its urban center features both an indoor maritime museum (which I’ve not yet entered), and a living outdoor museum that you can walk through for free (as I did during the evening walk which yielded these photos), or do tours with information shared if you book and pay…I assume. Haven’t yet researched that part. And as you’ll see, some of the lovely older buildings did manage to survive WWII. I’m told that the one you see here was temporarily moved so that they could build a new tunnel under it, then brought back to its plot once the tunnel was constructed. Good engineers, these Dutch folks, eh?
These photos were both taken at Letna Park, site of the Metronome which featured in an earlier post. That’s why I get to call this entry Urban Garden. So many lovely parks and gardens to appreciate, in so many cities and countries :-).
Ok so it’s actually the world’s oldest artificial rowing course in the word, but it is connected to the water various other canals that you’ve seen before. In fact, you’ve seen the Bosbaan (forest course) itself in another post under more dramatic lighting conditions. This was taken last weekend during this year’s edition of the grand old Holland Beker rowing competition Quite fun to watch all the teams race past, though this was taken during a quieter moment between heats.
These doors and their details are all from inside one of the palaces to which our ticket gave us entry. It’s the same on that houses the window of the defenestration. 🙂
(so much world, so little time....) 