Although I bike past it several times a week, I guess I’ve not yet shown you the outside of Amsterdam’s Royal Palace, shown to the left here next to the 15th-century “Nieuwe Kerk,” so called b/c in the 1400s it was the new kid on the block after A’dam’s first 1306-built church, which as of this building’s opening became and has remained the “Oude Kerk.” The 1655 palace started life as a town hall – as noted in earlier posts about it. (And since their full time official residence is down in the Hague, this is really only where they do formal stuff that needs done in A’dam, I think.) I’ve sorta been waiting for the construction to finish before I took photos, but I liked how the setting sun lit this clouds on this evening, so here you go :-).
So even some of my Dutch friends aren’t quite aware of how much engineering has gone into the Rhine River over the years, once it enters NL out of Germany. So far as I know, from its origins in the Swiss Alps until both of its banks enter NL, it’s pretty much one river with occasionally a side channel so that they can make a lock on which boats can safely pass. (Think, for instance, of boats going past the Rheinfall which we’ve shown you in past posts.) Since NL is built on what would be the delta of this mighty river, it makes sense that it would branch out as it nears the north sea. In order to occupy and farm on this lowland, the Dutch over the centuries have adapted the natural channels into quite reliable shipping, boating, irrigation, and flood-control basins and channels. Above, you’re looking east to the point where the Rhine first divides up, with Germany definitely visible in the frame on the south side at least. The Waal – which carries most of the Rhine’s water over to the North Sea at the port of Rotterdam, with a name change or two en route — is to the right (south), and the Nederrijn (lower Rijn) is to the left (north)…although, for this particular stretch, it’s called the Pannerden Canal. It gets back to being called the Nederrijn a few miles upstream next to Westervoort & Velp, after the Ijssel branches off and carries more its water up to the North Sea via the various flood-control systems that have made the Ijsselmeer fresh rather than sea water, as explained in yet another past post. Anyhoo: while based in Velp I biked on down to see this spot of, for me, intense nerdly water-management interest. After all, the Rhine is a river I’ve known quite a long time and is certainly the most economically important river in Europe, being a primary reason Rotterdam remains one of the world’s largest ports. Just check out the barge traffic in the videos and photos below. And pardon my nerdlyness. Yeah, there’s also a museum in the old fort which I visited.
Delft Technical University’s Botanic Garden had a nature-themed sculpture exhibit placed in strategic locations along the paths and beds, when I visited Delft during the first week of my lovely stay-in-NL vacation last month.
As noted in an earlier post, I biked through the Veluwe Zoom national park as part of my lovely and, may I say, rather adventurous-feeling bike ride from Busloo down to Velp, which was the last of three places I spent the night during my lovely low-carbon week exploring the Veluwe region at long last. Above, the paved bike path on which I entered the park as we descended a lovely long hill from the Loenermark park just north of it. Below, pics of various other things I saw en route from Busloo to Velp, including one of the rougher-path places with my own luggage strapped into the basket in front of my bike. 🙂
I have an embarrassment of riches in terms of Amsterdam canal photos waiting to be shared, including above and several below from a lovely canal cruise Sam & I decided to do between the matinee and evening concerts on the last day of the Mahler Festival back in May, and a few taken during Barbara’s visit just before Sam arrived…then a few more from just my usual wanders by foot or bike around this lovely city where the days are becoming painfully, noticeably, shorter as we’re now within three weeks of the next equinox 😦
You’ve seen windows from the inside of that hunting “lodge” (term used in the sign about the bridge, below) yesterday, and will see more of it from outside in future posts :-).
The Kröller-Müller Museum stemmed from the collection of an early 20th century art collector (and manufacturing heiress) and her husband, who built themselves a lovey house on a lake north of where the current museum sits. Above is a main set of windows from their house, and below are some shots from the museum itself with various sculptures and windows plus another window from the house and shots from the house tour looking out. I’m back at work but for now still sticking with shots from the recent action-packed vacation even as work reabsorbs any extra energy I have :-).
I took this photo less than 24 hours ago at the lookout point called The Posbank, at the dizzying height of 90 meters above sea level in the Veluwe Zoom, oldest of NL’s national parks. I’d biked through the park from north to south Friday, en route to Velp where I spent Friday and Saturday nights. Quite amazing, really, that the fairly large city of Arnhem (capital of Gelderland in which I spent all my vacation) is only 10 kilometers away from this gorgeous spot which felt really rather remote, though yesterday morning quite full of walkers, bikers, and those who’d driven their cars up to enjoy the views and the well-positioned restaurant behind this photo.
Passed this lovely view en route both from Otterlo to Bussloo (Wednesday) and then yesterday from Bussloo down to Velp, final overnight location of this little jaunt.
(so much world, so little time....) 