Apeldoorn and Vicinity, Netherlands

As I mentioned last post, it was a week ago that we went to Apeldoorn, 60 miles NE of us here in the Netherlands, for our first photo-hunt in over a month.

Guess what images I processed before anything else:

Yup. Weathervanes. I'm enamored of them.
All of these, except the one of the 2 gold horses, are outside of Apeldoorn.

Which is another way of saying it's the journey and not just the destination! Even though Apeldoorn was our 'hunt' of the day, we sure saw a lot before we got there...like these two water towers:

The one on the left is in Woudenberg, from 1937.
The one on the right is in Radio Kootwijk, from 1922.

In Woudenberg, our first stop, someone needed a potty break (not to mention any names), so since we always come prepared (when nothing else is available), how can you beat this:

I stayed behind with my camera, loving the Klompenpaden sign.
Klompen are wooden shoes, of course = wooden shoe paths.
Leave it to the Dutch!

Once back in the car, Astrid directed TomTom to Kootwijk, 15 km west of Appeldoorn, where we stopped for our prerequisite koffie met apeltaart. It's one of our coziest times of the day when we go out-n-about. Kootwijk was a typical medieval settlement for the 6th-11th centuries, so it was fun to walk around in the immediate vicinty to see something of the area....

...like this Dutch Reformed church from the 17th century.
Kootwijk means "sheepfold area," so the sheep sculpture makes wonderful sense.

Kootwijk is a farming community, with a nearby campground for summer vacationers.
Besides a group of kids biking through the village, we watched horseriders stop for koffie.
Gotta love the architecture, especially with the thatched roofs!

Then it was Radio Kootwijk, 5 km east of Kootwijk, with approx. 120 inhabitants. It was known as the "center of the world" for the Dutch in the 1920s because of its shortwave transmitter which connected them to their colony in the Dutch East Indies.

On a cloudy, overcast day, the main building appeared ominous and foreboding.
It was designed by a Dutch architect, Julius Maria Luthmann,
and was called 'Building A,' 'The Cathedral,' or sometimes 'The Sphynx.'
And yes, as you'd imagine, it was taken over by the Germans in WWII.


It's a perfect building for apocalyptic processing, don't you think?!

All of that before reaching our destination of Apeldoorn! Did I mention that my brother Jim married Wilma, whose parents came from Apeldoorn before moving to America in the 1940s. Wilma even has a sister buried in Apeldoorn, so I felt more connected to the city than usual.

We parked acrossed the street from the 1892 Grote Kerk, "one of the most important neo-Renaissance churches in the country, if not the most important."


It so happens that Apeldoorn is the city of one of Holland's royal palaces, which I'll get to in a minute.
The Grote Kerk serves as the "royal church," so it's not surprising that Queen Wilhelmina stands outside.
She was the Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 - 1948, longer than any other Dutch monarch.
"Outside the Netherlands she is primarily remembered for her role in World War II,
in which she proved to be a great inspiration to the Dutch resistance."


So when you walk into the "royal" church, you see the royal box!
It's at the back of the church (where you enter) and faces the altar.


As a Dutch Reformed church, it's wonderfully open and bright,
in stark contrast to the Roman Catholic churches we see.
Notice the chairs set up in front of the altar....


...look at how they are kept in order!
This is so typical of Dutch ingenuity. Ho-hum for Astrid.


And look at that high pulpit!
I wonder if it's used every Sunday, as well as the low pulpit?


We climbed upstairs behind the altar to find the organist who was playing from 2-4 p.m.
His tongue helped him play, of course, and was out more than in. :)

From the church we walked to city center to visit City Hall and the Saturday market, one of the biggest we've ever seen.

On the way, we passed a memorial to all the Canadians who helped liberate Apeldoorn
from the Germans during WWII. This is for you, Sham!

In the top-left image you see a corner of the very modern new city hall.
The old city hall is the typical backdrop to Saturday markets everywhere in Holland.


These are two different ladies in their klederdrachten = national costumes.
The top lady took off her jacket so I could take her picture. She was so proud.
This was the first time I have seen ladies in their klederdrachten at market!


From city center, we walked back to the car...with all shoes on...


...not seeing nearly as much as we wanted but enough to get a taste.

We had one more landmark to visit, before calling it a day...the Dutch royal Het Loo Palace ("The Woods Palace") which was the residence of Queen Wilhelmina till her death in 1962. Now it's a state museum. Queen Wilelmina is the grandmother of Holland's current Queen Beatrix.

Astrid stayed in the car while I took a few pictures of these Royal Stables.
That's all we saw of the much bigger palace site but at least we could say we had been there!
One day maybe we'll go back to see more?!


How's that for a way to end the day...in the parking lot of the Royal Stables.
It somehow seemed appropriate. And Granny Towanda did not mind!