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!

GRONINGEN, Netherlands

Just when I think I couldn't possibly surprise myself further....!  Remember last week when I started backtracking and found files basically untouched in my archives?

Almost exactly THREE years ago, before Astrid and I bought our Granny Towanda (Daihatsu Cuore car), we took 2 trains in February 2010 to Groningen, some 120 miles to the NE of us.  It was an all-day affair for us and our biggest trip after my arrival to the Netherlands the previous December.

Not only did I make no post of that trip whatsoever here on this blog, I didn't even have a tag word for Groningen.  Today I will make up for that lost cause!

The 1866 Groningen train station, for starters, is called the cathedral of the winged wheel.

 The statue of the horse and its owner (“Uncle Loeks’ horse) has been there since 1959.

First impressions are always important, of course.

Straightaway from the train station you walk across the city canal to city center.

You can see how cold it was...in February.

You know me and spires.  This was the first one we saw.

It belongs to the Aa Church from 1247!

Sadly, it wasn't open that day.

Whenever we walk to any city's center, we always get impressions.

That was the first day I ever saw snowdrops with my own eyes!

Within minutes...another spire.

This one is from the University of Groningen, founded in 1614.

It's one of the oldest and largest universities in the Netherlands and was voted its best in April, 2012.

The mother of all spires in Groningen, however, is the Martinitoren (Martini Tower) of the Martini Church.

Right there on the market square, it dominates everything.

You should know by now that I also love clock towers and sundials.

B I N G O.

Before doing anything else, we bought tickets and climbed the 1469 tower.

That's where I got my classic views of all the landmark spires...as well as the market square.

And, oh, I even got the windmill there in the background, far, far away (top center above)!

Lucky for us, the Martinikerk was open!  It's Groningen's oldest church, from 1225.

Much of the wall and ceiling paintwork has been preserved.

The choir dome of the church is 25 meters tall, surrounded by mural stations of the cross.

I could have spent LOTS of time there and would love to go back one day.

Another fabulous spire is from the 1602 Provinciehuis, seat of the provincial government.
It's a stone's-throw away from the Martinikerk, in the same neighborhood
  as the beautiful churchyard houses (Martinikerkhof), top above.

And lastly, at the end of our day, another spire is from the Jozefkerk, 1885.

 Officially, this is the Cathedral Church of Saints Martin and Joseph...

...which is why the St. Martin statue (middle left above) is in this church.

 The legend of Martin of Tours, b. 316-397, is well worth a read:  While a Roman soldier, he cut his cloak in half to share it with a beggar...and later dreamed the beggar was Jesus.
Those random acts of kindness...really do count!

On that inspirational note, it was time to head back home,
with impetus to get back to the Winter Olympics from Vancouver, February 12-28, 2010.
We visited Groningen on February 20, 2010!

First Wedding Anniversary: Part III

Even by now, before you begin reading Part III of our anniversary weekend over 5 February, you know we had the time of our lives, staying at this windmill B&B in the NE part of The Netherlands.

That's what my post is on at Vision and Verb today: the time of our lives.

In Part I a week ago, I told you about the windmill part of the trip, 125 miles from home. But we went the long way, through 6 of The Netherlands' 12 provinces, to get there. That 'getting there' part is what I end the series with in today's post.

In Part II this past Thursday, I ended the trip with what happened after breakfast that Saturday when we left the windmill for home. Again, we drove the long way home, going north to the coast before driving back south through 3 more provinces. In the end, we drove 390 miles through 9 provinces.

Here's the funny thing: for Astrid, who has lived in this small country (relative to America) all her life, driving through the 9 provinces was almost like my driving through 9 different states in America. The geography, architecture, and language change in much the same way. It's quite astonishing, to be honest. And this is when I realize how compact Europe is compared to my own growing-up experience.

Anyway.

You know how we get started on a trip and almost immediately think about where we're going to stop for koffie met appeltaart!

That would be in Lemmer, just across the border from Flevoland province as we entered Friesland. Talk about another world! But I'll get to that in a minute.


It so happens that Lemmer is a water-sports town of approximately 11K population. In the wintertime, if/when the canal freezes (the one here and right outside our café window!), they have the Pronk Schaatsen festival (literally 'flaunted skating') when the skaters skate as couples and in groups wearing their old-timey costumes, as seen in the following video:


Astrid and I have already committed to keeping tabs on this each winter so that we can go back when the canal freezes. This is so incredibly soulful to me...like sleeping inside a windmill B&B!
If you pay attention, some of the boats in the video are the same as in my images. They're Lemmer boats made there. It's part of their industry, much of which is also about fishing.


As we left Lemmer, there were two things Astrid had Googled to see: the lighthouse (yup, that's what it is, above-left) and the Lemster sea lock with its 2 rounded towers at the entrance to the harbor from the IJsselmeer, dating from 1888 (bottom-right above).

Now. Look at this. It blows me away!

Only 8 miles north from Lemmer, we got out of the car in Woudsend/Wâldsein, a small town of about 1300 citizens on the Slotermeer (lake), still in Frieseland. Very nonchalantly, Astrid started to tell me about when she was 17, at university, and was teaching students how to sail in this very spot. They would dock here to eat lunch before heading out to meet the other boats from the sailing school.

BTW, in the Friesland province they speak a different language that isn't easily understood by the rest of the country. Notice the middle image above that has both the Fries and the Dutch name of the city. It reminds me of countries like Ireland that use both English and Gaelic in their signage.


The reason why Astrid was able to teach sailing was because her dad taught both her and Sander (her two-year-older brother) how to sail when she was 12 (left image above). By age 17 (right image) she was a pro, teaching students at sailing school.
You get a feeling for why this woman to whom I'm married amazes me!

While driving the backroads this entire trip, you can just see my eyes trying to take everything in. The farmhouses, for instance:

This still astounds me.
See how the roof tiles change in color or how there are clear sections to the entire farmstead.
The smaller part is the house where the family lives. The larger part is the barn where the animals live. The farmer only needs to open a door from his house to step inside his barn!
If you think of severe winters, it sure makes sense to me.

The two main cities Astrid wanted me to see before the windmill B&B were Lemmer and Sneek (pronounced 'snake'), 13 miles from each other.

Any city that has a water tower this handsome is a must, as you know by now.

But it is the waterpoort (gate) of Sneek, from 1613, that is its most famous landmark.
So famous, in fact, that an entire line of clothing, Gaastra, uses it as their logo for nautical gear.
See how close the water tower is (bottom-right image above)!


How could you resist such a model from every possible angle!


Inside or out, she's a beauty if there ever was one.
HA! The waterpoort isn't bad either! :)


Can you imagine living in this city of 33K people and seeing this every day. Ho-hum.
See how even Granny Towanda tries to take it all in!

Once we could tear ourselves away from the port, we took a walk around the city center, of course....

...first to the Martinikerk from 1498 with its carillon of 50 bells....
(no entrance possible that day)


...followed by the Stadhuis (city hall) from 1550, going through façade restoration....


...and various other city impressions which we take to heart, as you know.
Every province has it's own flag and this one (top center) belongs to Friesland, the province before you drive furthermost north into Groningen, where we found our B&B...on a very windy day.

Before leaving Sneek, Astrid had one last mission:

A Friesland bakery!
Known for its suikerbrood (a loaf of baked sugar bread with cinnamon added) and dúmkes (taking it's name from the shape of the thumb, a butter cookie with anise flavor and whole almonds), Astrid just had to buy both.
I don't need to tell you they're both long gone.

By this time we were ready and eager to find our windmill B&B 44 miles north of Sneek. We had already had a full day and were ready for some R&R at our B&B, which is Part I of this 3-part series.

In those two days, look at all the weathervanes we saw...


...along with our prerequisite water tower, lighthouse, and gevelstenen!

So when I say we had the time of our lives, how could you possibly not believe me! Remember, I talk more about this at Vision and Verb today.

Thank you for taking the time to see this trip through my eyes. It was totally worth a 'First Wedding Anniversary' celebration. We really did have the time of our lives.