Out-n-About Again

This week, Wednesday - Sunday, we have friends Bob and Peggy coming from Atlanta to stay as our very first houseguests. Astrid is working today but will take the rest of the week off so that we can give the big tour, packing as much in as possible to show where we live.

So, after our Apeldoorn trip 3 Saturdays ago, we've basically stayed put these last two weekends, except for backyard trips near home...like our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant out in the polder, 15km away...to see things through their eyes. It's been fun to plan each day.

Many of the canals right now have a carpet of kroos (= duckweed) growing on top.
Parents have to make sure small children/dogs don't accidently walk in!
But the ducks are in heaven because it's highly nutritious for them.
As Astrid says, they just open their mouths and vacuum it up!


If it's not kroos, it's wonderful sections of lily pads. This is that time of year!


Every once in awhile we see llamas...just like we do in America.
But look at the buck teeth on the right-hand fella! A face only Mama could love. HA.
I'm guessing they've learned not to walk into the kroos.


I love the polder. What is it about all that gorgeous space away from the city?!
Actually, some of the wealthiest homesteads are there....


...along with their weathervanes, of course.
This is the second windmill vane we've seen since I've been here.


Bob and Peggy will be intrigued by all the war bunkers around the area.
Some like this one are national heritage sites and cannot be torn down. They're Dutch reminders of both world wars and are called groepsschuilplaatsen (= group hiding/safe houses).
The steel hooks strengthen the concrete and held camouflage nets.


The Leerdam water tower from 1929 is down the street from the above war bunker.
I took its picture over a year ago but this time I was up close and personal.

All of that was two Saturdays ago...15km away from our back door.

This past week there was every bit as much to see within walking distance here within our city! You really do just have to get out and look, right?!

I wonder if this is the same fella from a couple posts back?
Can you imagine carrying your house on your back every time you go out-n-about?


I love the hollyhocks in bloom everywhere.
They grow wild here and are called stokrozen = stick roses.


I'm still trying to figure out my macro lens. Lots of experimentation!

It so happens this past week was the last week of summer vacation before the kids start school today here in the Netherlands (grandson Nicholas started 6th grade last week in Atlanta!). In many cities, the last week of summer vacation is day camp, as it was here in Gorinchem where we live. And that meant TIMMERDORP (= Hammer Village).

Ik hout van Holland on the above banner is a play on words.
Hout = wood. Houd = love. Both pronounced the same: "I love/wood Holland."

Besides all the water activities, the kids get to build houses out of wood supplied by lumberyards (like where Astrid worked last job). Every child brings their own hammer from home and helps build their fort,
often with a loft, supervised by adult leaders.
I didn't take pictures of the forts because I had the wrong lens (macro), but here's a video.


By Thursday, the kids were "over" their forts anyway, having too much fun with everything else.


All this took place at Buiten de Waterpoort (= outside the waterport) on the Merwede River.
It's where the war memorial stands...remembering those who never came back from the wars.


It's also where the water taxis come to ferry people from here to there.

Lots of nice benches to wait on till the right taxi comes!

Right there, over the shoulders of the family eating lunch, is the gate that enters the Lingehaven harbor into Gorinchem from the Merwede River (the same entrance for Sinterklaas on 5 December each year). Remember, this is a citadel city. Again, I watched through Bob and Peggy's eyes as a boat entered from the outside (top row of images below)....

...and then came through into the harbor (bottom row above).
There's a holding place big enough for 2-3 boats while one gate is closed and the other is opened.
And you can stand on top and watch the whole thing!


Talk about the life of Riley!
(click any image to enlarge, of course)

And then I came back home to almost as much excitement...a week of repairs to our sidewalks here inside our Lindeborg courtyard. See, sometimes you don't even need to leave home!

I told a British blogger the other day that all our brick/cobblestone walks/roads are "cemented" with sand.
It means they can always be pulled up very easily and repaired.
I love to see how things work here. Bob and Peggy will, too!

One last thing: did you notice that I tweaked my template a little bit? I decided to to give my Shutterfly photo book some shameless exposure on my sidebar. The only way I could get it to fit properly was to widen the sidebar.

So....there you have it. Enough out-n-about till another week!

A Zaltbommel Joyride

Some Dutch words you just have to twist your tongue around and then go on from there. Zaltbommel, a town just 11 miles away, is one of them. We've passed it often on the freeway and every time, seeing the tall church tower, have said we would stop one day. That one day was yesterday.

We've had so many rainy days since the New Year, not conducive for photo hunts. Taking advantage of being at home is nice but...you know us...we were getting antsy. When Sunday chose to be partly sunny on a windy, mid-40s day, we didn't have to ask twice. It was time to go. Because of all the rain, Astrid wanted to see how high the river was. The Merwede River borders one side of our town and is one of the freighter routes to Rotterdam. We had heard that the locals were going out to see how high it had risen, with unusual amounts of snow melting into the country from Germany, Austria and Belgium. Remember, God created the world but the Dutch created Holland! Holland is HERE because of the technology that keeps the water out. Think windmills...and the dijks.

Basically, a dike is a man-made raised stretch of ground, just wide enough to drive along, keeping the water from a river away from the 'dry' land on the other side. The Dutch have been reclaiming their land and building onto it for centuries. They don't talk about Dutch engineering for nothing!

So as we drove along the dike, from one small town to the next...on our way to Zaltbommel...we saw just how high the water had risen. Granny Towanda fell silent. She never once chided me for all the times I got in and out to take pictures. She knew this was important.


The narrow dike roads, as you see, are not just for cars! So whenever I get out, I have to always pay attention. Lucky for me, I caught this group of cyclists out of the corner of my eye and was prepared for them as they flew by. The top image above gives you a good vantage point for seeing the sea level on the right side of the dike. This is what they mean when they say much of Holland is below sea level: approximately 27%.


Life goes on as usual, of course, for those who don't have a clue....


...but trust me, those who do are diligent in their work to keep the system going.
These huge piles of willow branches are the subflooring of the dikes, giving them a solid foundation. They're also used for fences. It was comforting to see the supply...for the demand.

We're still trying to figure out what in the world this guy was thinking!
If you have a clue, please let us know. Is this his lookout point over the dike to make sure no looters come by sea to take away what rightfully belongs to him?


We're still on our way to Zaltbommel, remember, on this side of the river. Our side, that is. Just before it's time to cross the big bridge to reach Zaltbommel on the other side, we stop in Haaften to see what that ruin of a tower is all about, near the windmill (above collage). Once home, Astrid discovered it's the Goudenstein Castle, built, they think, at the beginning of the 14th century.


Then we see it: the big tower of the Zaltbommel church, across the river, and the bridge we will need to cross to get there. This is my first time, from this vantage point on the dike, to see there is also another tower. Once in town, I was able to get these close-ups (above) and then found out at home it's the Gasthuiskapel, the chapel from the hospital built in 1316. We didn't visit it this time...maybe the next time.




Our destination this time was the Sint Maartenskerk in Zaltbommel...St. Martin's Church, built in the 15th century. It's closed to the public in January and February, so we will have to go back, and will. We'll want to climb the tower as well, maybe during the springtime.

And so it was that we had our first Sunday joyride of 2011. Another windmill or two, a castle, a spire, a church clock and tower, some sheep, and even another weather vane and water tower. Noord, Zuid, Oost of West. North, south, east or west...it matters not to us. A joyride is a joyride and it's much of what makes us tick here in this dynamite of a country.