Another Five Years!

Not that I ever worry about it, but it's actually a big deal when my renewal comes up for my staying/residence permit here in the Netherlands and it happens.  We both celebrate!

On December 5, 2019, I celebrated 10 years of residence here in Gorinchem where we live.  My first staying permit was for 1 year, followed by a 4-year permit and then my first 5-year permit.  It was time now for my 4th permit and, for the first time, to be picked up in Den Haag/The Hague.

Our appointment was for this past Wednesday, so off we went and made a nice, rainy, windy day of it.

Right outside our parking garage stood the Nieuwe Kerk, completed in 1656.

More on it later but I LOVE how Astrid does the research to find the perfect spot for parking.

Not knowing exactly how long it'd take to find our important destination,

we set off to find the government building and THEN stopped for a latte macchiato.

We were an hour early!

Being early meant we had time to get the lay of the land.

Right around the corner was Den Haag's Central Station (train).

Here you see it farther out, showing Den Haag's coat of arms, their city's official symbol.

Vrede en Recht = Peace and Justice.

Den Haag is the seat of government for the Netherlands 

and hosts the International Court of Justice.

Almost every skyscraper/building we saw that day was in the center of government activity,

all right there at our fingertips.

We could have spent hours observing every little thing.

See what I mean?

The Hague has traditionally been a city of storks, thus the stork on the coat of arms and as the logo of the community.  In the Middle Ages they were domesticated to remove fish remains at the fish market and nested on the buildings around the Binnenhof and in the area of the Groenmarkt and were seen as bringers of luck and prosperity.

  But I digress.

It was time for my appointment at the IND Loket (ticket window)

IND = Immigratie-en Naturalisatiedienst = Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Once my number was called, I was in and out by the actual time of my appointment, 11:30.

The coffee house and IND (behind and to the left) were both in this courtyard.

Remember when I said it was a windy day? YUP.

But back to the skyscrapers as we left the IND office.

The Ministry of Justice, Affairs and Security....

City Hall.

What a beautiful skyline!

[credit:  Wiki]

 If you squint, you can see Gemeente Den Haag = Municipality of The Hague.

Moving right along, as we head back to the car...

...we see the Nieuwe Kerk again.

This time we hoped it'd be open to visit before lunch.

But alack and alas, it wasn't.

However, at least the gate was open for us to walk around.

The Old Dutch words across the front = The Word of the Lord is Everlasting.

Notice the city's coat of arms again, with the lion and stork.

Now, let's celebrate!

This was Astrid's treat, so very happy for this permit being yet again a done-deal.

It should have been MY treat but she insisted...and I was in heaven.
(And yes, there were enough leftovers to take home!)

I realize it's strange to end such a day with this, but...

don't you just love how sometimes you don't need words to describe what you're trying to say!

Zeeland Province, Netherlands

Ready, get set, GO! And don't forget to put your seatbelt on.

A week ago Saturday, Astrid and I drove 310 km (192 m) roundtrip from home to Zeeland province in the SW corner of The Netherlands. See those brownish fingers in the bottom-left image (click to enlarge)? That's Zeeland with its many islands, much of which is below sea level. Our main goal was to spend time in two cities: first in Goes and then in Middelburg, the capitol of the province. But we also wanted to island-hop by way of the dijks and bridges, all part of the Deltaplan, one of the wonders of the world. Leave it to Dutch engineering. But this is one of the things they're known for: "God created the world but the Dutch created The Netherlands."

Goes was first and gave us one of our biggest treats of the day with its two-for-one main church: the Maria Magdalenakerk. If you Google for images of this church, it will show you two different churches that face each other across the street. On each church is the same name but one is the protestant church and the other is the Roman Catholic. We're sure there is more to the story but for now, these are the two churches from both viewpoints:

On the left, you see the RC church, taken at the corner of the protestant church.
On the right you see the protestant church, taken at the corner of the RC church.

First, the protestant church, with some more views.


And inside the protestant church.


Then across the street to the RC church (in the bottom left image you see both churches again).


And then inside the RC church.

It so happens we were there at just the right time because both churches were preparing for a musical festival. In the protestant church there was a small chamber concert going on, which we could have stopped to listen to for several minutes longer than we did. Both of us were in heaven. In the RC church, a choir was rehearsing. The acoustics in both places were out of this world. When we got home and talked about it later, we made the decision to make sure we find such a church nearby during the holiday season where we can listen to some of the great music of the world in such an environment...maybe Handel's Messiah!

That was Goes. We could have turned around and gone home right then and there! We even got some splendid sun for a few minutes, especially during our late morning koffie and appeltaart, sitting outside where we could see both edifices.

But on to Middelburg we drove, another 27 km further...the capit0l of Zeeland province.

Surely by now you get the picture of why we always visit the churches everywhere we go!
When you see a tower such as this from several vantage points around, you are drawn like a magnet. This is Middelburg's 1568 Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) with its Lange Jan (Long John) tower from the 14th century. Actually, it's an Abbey with 3 churches all connected by the Lange Jan tower.


What we usually do, once we get our bearings, is try to find any door of the church that's open. Usually it's the main entrance but not always. In this case we never got inside because there was a reunion going on for the Snoek family within the courtyards of the Abbey. The outside architecture for us was to die for, and since we had already been inside the churches of Goes, we took advantage of a horse of a different color altogether: the historic costumes (klederdracht)of the Zeeland province within the Abbey courtyards.


Astrid tells me that's gold and red coral...the wealth of the family, worn for the world to see.
These were the welcoming committee for the Snoek relatives from all over the world. And we just happened to get in on some of the action, lucky us.


That's when we found out the church wasn't open, but the Abbey's inner court with herb garden was, so we walked along the inner passages and went inside.


As you see, Astrid was in heaven...and so was I, watching her.

From the church/Abbey, we then headed to the market square for lunch...and this is where my mussels collage from last post comes in. Remember? That restaurant overlooked City Hall:

City Hall in Middelburg just happens to be the main building of Roosevelt Academy, ranked as the top liberal arts college in The Netherlands for the third time in four years since its inception in 2004. Not bad! Remember the collage of the college guys from my last post? Bingo. Their school.

After a great lunch, tummies full, we strolled around a bit more till we headed back to the car to continue our Zeeland island-hopping on our way home. There's always something to grab my attention, of course.

Then it started raining cats and dogs! Astrid was so upset that I didn't really get to see the Neeltje Jans Delta Park at one spot connecting two of the islands. Astrid calls it the 8th Wonder of the World...because it is! But I assured her it was perfectly okay we couldn't see it then because otherwise we'd never get home! And we now have a good excuse for going back.

We did see 3 more water towers this trip as well as a light house, so my collection is growing:

And two more special windmills...from Zeeland province:

See, I told you to put on your seatbelt! I'm such a glutton for these trips.

**********

Change gears now because this Friday Astrid and I will fly back to Atlanta where we will be till the 26th. School has its Fall Break next week, so we're both taking advantage of it. We'll take grandson Nicholas (now 10) to the Cumming Fair, carve pumpkins, celebrate birthdays and enjoy the North Georgia mountains, in the same cabin as last year. We'll also spend time with friends south of the city.

Hooray for vacations and breaks! I'll be keeping my next date with Vision & Verb on the 18th, a week from today, so I won't be absent. Just not in The Netherlands!

Delft Lemonade

Once again, it's my turn at Vision & Verb. If you click there and also on my Shutterchance image today, you'll see two other views of this Oude Kerk (Old Church, 1246) in Delft, Holland...and why I have titled this Delft Lemonade.

Yes, THAT Delft. The home of Delft Blue pottery and Johannes Vermeer, one of the great Dutch Masters. Remember The Milkmaid and Girl with a Pearl Earring? It doesn't get much better than that. So, yes, it was important to me to see where he was buried here in this Oude Kerk, my first stop on my 3-hour photo-hunt.

See the plate with the Oude Kerk in the background? The gift-shop lady told me it is the view Vermeer had of the church from his studio window.

Johannes Vermeer, 1632 - 1675 (only 43 years)

From the Oude Kerk I walked the short distance across the market square to the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church, 1396) where I climbed the 356 steps to the top of the tower. From there I was able to take pictures of the Oude Kerk, which you can see in my V&V post. Don't you love how old this new church is! It blows my mind. Astrid says that Dutch royalty is buried here.

It was such a gloriously sunshiny day. It reminded me of why I love this country (not that I need reminding) with all it's history and incredible architecture. My mom loved stuff like this...history, especially. I think of her and wonder if she can see everything through my eyes, even as I see it through hers.

If you read my V&V post, you'll discover that I have now climbed the two tallest church towers in all of Holland. The first one, in Utrecht, I climbed with Astrid 2 years ago. She was missing this time so one day we will go back so that she, too, can climb it. You know how it is with things in your own backyard. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside for you to discover it.

If you want to see more, here's my photo album of Delft. I do these more for myself than anybody...for posterity and the sheer delight of fresh lemonade!

And oh yes, in case you were wondering, we picked up our Granny Towanda yesterday evening. She's our Greenpeace baby, our impish Troll, our Grasshopper, our Kermit and our Elpheba...all mixed into one delightful addition to our family! If the weather cooperates on Saturday, we plan to take her out on her first photo hunt. Stay tuned.