Veere, NL: The Last "Trick" of 2014

Hold that thought, which I'll explain at the end.

Most of you know that the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November is my hardest time to be away from family.  The way we've ended up "fixing" that is by Astrid taking that Friday off and having a long weekend to do something.  Besides, November 30th is the anniversary of our first meet-up in real life (2007), and December 5 (tomorrow) is the anniversary of when I moved to the Netherlands, on Sinterklaas (2009).

It's a good weekend to celebrate many things!

So, we decided to go to the Christmas market in Bruges, Belgium!  Lucky for us, Astrid found a 4-day, 3-night hotel (with breakfast) in Ostend, on the Belgium coast, 30 minutes west of Bruges...for a total of €154.  It was too good to be true.

But this post isn't about that.  This is about the day, Monday (yes, just 3 days ago), when we drove home and stopped in Veere, NL, in Zeeland Province.  I'm starting at the end, yes.

As we left Belgium, Astrid spotted the Kim Clijsters website advert (any tennis fans?).

And as we drove into the Netherlands from Holland, a windmill welcomed us HOME.

 Driving into Veere, our side-trip of the day, we came in and went out past this Grote Kerk from 1450,

in the middle of "rehabilitation."  We didn't even try to go inside.

We didn't want to stay long, eager to get home, but we wanted to get a feel for this small harbor city,

starting with the Tower from the sixteenth century, which once serviced as an Inn and coastal lighthouse. 

 It is now one of the oldest still-existing hostels in the Netherlands.

 It was freezing cold as we walked around the harbor.

It felt like winter weather had finally come to our part of the world!

We both had to "use the facility," so we stopped to eat at the Peter Bliek café.

Warm beenham sandwiches with hot latte macchiatos...just what the doctor ordered.

Then we went strolling around to see the magic.

This is the city hall from the 15th century,

whose carillon has been voted one of the prettiest in the Netherlands.

 Talk about charm oozing everywhere!

I "collected" the gable stones I found, of course.

And the weathervanes.  How could I resist!

After all that, we were back on our way home....

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Okay, now back to the last trick of the year!

A few of you know that I will have a left-knee replacement, scheduled for January 8th, allowing a full year's recovery (24 physical-therapy sessions) on my deductible (I'm not stupid).  It started with a volleyball injury back in 1971.  Two surgeries later, without any cartilage left, bone on arthritic bone...you get the picture.  It finally cried "UNCLE!"  Enough is enough.

So, we don't plan any other tricks trips for awhile, until I'm up and at it after the surgery.  The holidays are upon us, with miles to go before the end of the year.

In the meantime, I'll get three more posts done on the Belgium part of our wonderful long-weekend away:  Oostende/Ostend, Brugge/Bruges, and the longest tram ride in the world.  

Stay tuned!

Open Monument Day: Hoeven Abbey/Bovendonk

Remember how I mentioned (last post) that every September there is an Open Monument Day in the Netherlands when over 4,000 historic buildings and sites are open to the public free of charge?  Actually, that day, Saturday, has now become the weekend.  And because of that, we got to go somewhere on Sunday.

The village of Hoeven (pop. 6,500) is only 60 km from where we live here in Gorinchem, so even when we drive the backroads, you're talking about less than an hour's drive.  And you know us, we like to stop to see whatever is of interest along the way.

Like this city hall in Klundert, built in 1621, for instance.

Astrid LOVES doing the research to find these gems for our cameras!

It doesn't take long to walk around such a specimen and ooh and aah.

And since Dutch weddings are done at city hall, can you imagine getting married there?

While I'm at it, we saw other stuff, coming and going,

including that colossal basilica in the middle of nowhere in Oudenbosch (remember?),
just 15 km from Klundert.

But the weathervanes still take the cake for me.  I c a n n o t  resist them.

(To be honest, I don't think Astrid can either!)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

But now, the Hoeven Abbey, which was our goal for the day!  Here's an overhead view which I found on the internet:

You enter at the bottom.

 The ground was purchased in 1282 by the abbey of Cistercienser of St. Bernard.

From then till now, it lost its Roman Catholic church function, became Protestant,

and now is the Bovendonk conference, hotel, exhibition and event center.  

 Because it's used as a conference center, it's not open to the general public,

which is why we jumped at visiting it on Open Monument Day.

Step inside and be amazed.

It was hard to know where to start, even at the very entrance.

We knew we wanted to see the chapel, of course, and eat lunch,

but the chapel wasn't open yet (recent service) and we weren't ready for lunch, so we walked around.

When we entered the courtyard, it all took my breath away.

Smack dab in front of us was the chapel...and the lunch tables...

and the chapel weathervanes....

And the cloisters clock, by architect Pierre Cuypers!
Gebruik den Tijd eer hij Ontvlied (old Dutch): 
"Use the time before it flies away."

Yup.

The cloisters.  The cloisters.

Okay, so they're modern now but couldn't you be a nun/monk there?

You'd at least want to go to a seminar, right?!

By then it was time for LUNCH.

As you know, many abbeys make their own beer, but because this is no longer an abbey per se,

this Magister beer is made for it by the Scheldebrouwerij in Belgium.

We are loving trying out new beers, can you tell?

On that wonderful note, totally satisfied, the chapel was ready for viewing!

Have you noticed how ornate the floors are throughout the entire abbey,

including the chapel!

I could imagine sitting at a service here.

As we left the complex, the same way we entered, the statue out front had new meaning for me.

I made up my own story for it:  Praise and Hallelujah.

A few yards further, near the gate, Mother Nature, too, was singing her praise.

It was that kind of day.

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As an FYI, Astrid and I fly to Atlanta on Wednesday for our annual 3-week trip to see my family and friends.  We're down to counting hours....!  :)  

HILVERSUM, Netherlands: Astrid's Birthplace

After we spent those couple of hours in Lage Vuursche (last post) back on May 31, we drove the 10 km north into Hilversum, the city where Astrid was born and raised.  (And yes, it's the same city where the victims of MH17 are being identified...but we didn't know any of that back then.)

Hilversum is a city of ca. 87K inhabitants...with it's city center, the water tower from 1893 (top-right),
the new city hall, where Astrid's parents married on July 20,1949 (top-left), etc., etc.
Oh, and Meddens (right-center) was where Astrid had her first full-time window-dressing job.

But that's not what we went to see.

We went to see the places important to Astrid's growing-up years.

First up was the Mennonite Church where her family of 4 were all members.

Neighbors outside told Astrid the place is now a meditation/yoga center.

Primary school was from age 6-11, within walking distance from home.

Secondary school was from age 12-16, a bike ride away.

The stories I have heard about what happened at those side windows!!!

But it was Astrid's house...where she was born and raised...that made my day.

We parked the car across the street and walked through the side driveway to the back of the house...

where we met the Bosnian lady who now lives there with her family.

We stood and chatted out back, behind the house, with Astrid catching up on the neighborhood

since her mom's move to a senior center around 1999.

 Much to our surprise, the lady invited us in to see the house!

We walked in from the back, through the kitchen...saw the basement, 

the toilet room (without wash basin or shower)...

...the living room, dining room, foyer, sliding door, wood floors,

much of which was exactly as Astrid's dad had planned and built in her youth.

What was NOT there when she grew up was the central heating with wall radiators!

Upstairs was exactly how Astrid remembered it.

Her bedroom was on the left, brother Sander's on the right, facing the back yard,

with their parent's room at the the front of the house.

The upstairs bathroom has a sink and shower...but no toilet, which is very typical old Dutch.

I'm still pinching myself about seeing this with Astrid, from 60 years ago!

The memories, the stories.  Her whole family life was here in this place...and I got to see it.

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It so happens that Hilversum has a museum and since we're trying to put our annual museum card to good use, we stopped in to see it.

It's in the old city hall where Astrid's parents actually got married July 20, 1949.

An "Oh My God" exhibition was going on at the time...

...asking the question, What do YOU believe?"

Of course, there were the other "normal" museum pieces, 

including information on Willem Dudok, the architect of many city buildings, like the new city hall.

 A lower floor had some bits-n-bobs to be seen....

But it was the renovated interior of the museum that enthralled me with it's columns down to the lower floor. Whether looking down or up, I felt I was in a holy, meditative space. It's what I will always remember most about this particular museum.

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Next up, nearby Laren and its museum, all in the same day!

The Bolsward Christmas Concert with Martin Mans

'Tis the season!  And we're in it full blast (except, alas, without snow...yet).

Two weekends ago we drove south (A) to the Christmas market in the limestone caves of Valkenburg (an upcoming post), but this past Saturday we drove northeast (B) into Friesland, to our Christmas concert of this season in Bolsward.

  As Astrid says, we drove the entire length of the Netherlands in two weekends, 328 km (204 miles).

But I want to start with the Christmas concert first while it's still fresh in my mind.  We won 2 tickets for the price of one on the Dutch VakantieVeilingen auction site for the Christmas concert with Martin Mans in Bolsward.  You might remember that we did this last year for the Christmas concert in Amersfoort with Pieter Jan Leusink.  We've decided we'll do this every year, as long as we can get tickets for half price!

Since we chose a 3 p.m. afternoon concert, we decided to leave early enough for a small photo hunt ahead of time...first to Workum, 12 km from Bolsward.  After all the wind and rain a couple days before, we wanted to be near the coast to check it out.

 But first things first, you know!

A potty break and a koffie break...or in this case, a hot-chocolate break with gevulde speculaas!

 It's a pie-shaped tart/spiced cookie filled with almond paste, a Christmas specialty.

O.M.G.

And look at the quaint Pottebakkerhûs where we were served.
Sometimes you just have to be there...like seeing the little mouse tile near the floor in the bathroom!

Directly outside our café window, across the street, is the St. Gertrude Church of 1480,

with its free-standing tower.  This for a town of 4,000 inhabitants!

 The old weigh house and town hall are in the market square next to the church.
Everything is right at your fingertips, I always say.

And with a weathervane and a good gable stone, what more could you ask for!
It doesn't take much to make us happy.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

But it was Bolsward we wanted to see before the concert.  So back into the car to drive those 12 km...

It's a city with a population of c. 10,000.  How charming.

The stand-out tower of the city center is its city hall from 1614.
The dark image is from after the concert around 5p.m.

 City halls in Europe really do take the cake...apart from the grand cathedrals.

Speaking of grand cathedrals, just a block away from city hall we found this shell.
What in the world!

This is the Broerenkerk (Brother Church) built in the 13th c. as a monastery for the Friars.
It burned out in 1980 and has since been made into a national monument.

It's hard to describe what it felt like to be inside there...
but I couldn't help but think of how you can't put new wine into old wineskins!

 On that note, we found a place to eat lunch.
Did I ever mention that we always share half-n-half of what we get when we eat out?
In this case it was a farmer's omelet and a tuna salad.

By this point we had seen plenty of gevelstenen = gable stones...

 ...and all those things I love to "collect" wherever we go.

Impressions.  Imnpressions.  Impressions.

Even the oliebollen vendor was out selling his Christmas goodies.

 While walking to our concert, we passed the St. Francis Church from 1932 (bottom left)...

...and then saw the Martinikerk nearby, the protestant Great Church from the 15th century.
This was the day's destination.

It was almost packed by the time we arrived at 2:30p, half an hour early.
This was when I'd have to trust the 1200mm range of my new camera, I told myself.
I'm not used to sitting in the back of a church, but sometimes it does have its advantage.

 And I had plenty of time to look around...

 ...especially at the organ, just behind us, built by Albertus Anthoni Hinsz in 1781.

 I even captured some of the Urker men in back before they filed down the aisle to sing.
Now look at the concert program below...

 How cool is that, using the provincial costume of the Urker men for its program!

Urk is a municipality and town in Flevoland, south of Friesland, whose economy is based on fishing.
Martin Mans is the director of these fishermen singers...

...as well as the larger group of VOICE singers in black.
That's Martin Mans himself (bottom left), a man of many talents, including organ playing.

It was an incredible concert with acoustics to die for.
After the second piece of the program, God and God Alone, I was in heaven.
Tears in my eyes.  A song in my heart.  Joy in being alive.

And I knew we'll do this every year, somewhere, as long as we are able!