Lage Vuursche, Netherlands

Believe it or not, we have not been sitting around doing nothing since returning from England mid-May, over two months ago.  HA!

In fact, we've made 3 trips, including museums, that I now need to catch up on.  First things first, we'll start with the Lage Vuursche-Hilversum-Laren trip we made the last day of May.  But because it's too long for one post, I'll split it up into bits-n-pieces.

Lage Vuursche is only 10 km south of Hilversum, where Astrid was born and grew up (yes, the same Hilversum where the MH17 victims from July 17 are now being identified).  Hilversum is only 55 km from where we live here in Gorinchem.

Often Astrid would tell me about the summer home her mom had in the woods near Hilversum.

She bought it a couple years before Astrid's son Jeroen was born in 1988.

She'd tell me stories about how he loved spending weekends there with his grandma.

So off we went, before anything else, to find the 9' x 18' cabin in the woods.

It actually was torn down somewhere along the way, after Mom died, by the campground.

Astrid was able to get the entire story from the very gentle lady with the bike, one of the recent neighbors.

And I got to feel the surroundings of something I had tried to picture many times.

From the campground, we walked into town of circa 200 residents!

We headed straight to the pannenkoekenhuis, De Vuursche Boer, for our koffie break on the main drag.

When you live in a village that small, it's easy to have a monopoly on where to eat.

 How charming!

In fact, just walking up and down the main drag you see charm oozing everywhere.

Did you see the Alexander 2013 (center image above)?

It so happens this sleepy little tourist village is now the home of King Alexander's mother.

Queen Beatrix abdicated her throne last year and is now Princess Beatrix.

She now lives in the small castle Drakensteyn on the edge of town (surrounded by woods).

 While you can't see the castle because of the woods and the locked gate,

you can see and visit the Reformed Church right next door.

The church wasn't open when we were there but the cemetery was.

We wanted to see where Princess Beatrix's son, Prins Friso, was buried.

So humble for now; what will it look like later?

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 Next up will be Hilversum, where Astrid was born.

I even got to see the inside of her house!

A Wijk aan Zee Meet-Up

Chalk up another face-to-face blogger meet-up!  The WWW keeps getting smaller and smaller...or bigger and bigger, depending on your viewpoint.

A week ago Saturday we drove 100 km to Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, on the North Sea coast, to meet up with Mr. and Mrs. Lifecruiser from Sweden.  HA!  Don't you like how we're known by our blogsite names!

So, the plan was to meet up at the Hotel Villa 'de Klughte' where the Lifecruisers were spending the night.  They're on a month-long trip of Europe now, north from Sweden to France in the south, and this was their stop for the day.

It so happens this charming hotel has been honored twice with a visit from Queen Beatrix.

But it has no lift, so Astrid helped Mr. L carry up the huge suitcases to the top floor.  UGH.

See the red Skoda and the Swedish licence plate?  Yup.  The real deal.

And the Lifecruisers themselves are the real deal and true lovebirds.

Like Astrid and me, they, too, met via the internet, but from the same country and town!

(click any image to enlarge)

It so happens Astrid and I arrived at the hotel an hour before they did,

so we went on our own photo hunt...first up into the dunes next door.

From up on high, we could see the Hoogovens steelworks on one side...

and the North Sea with its wind turbines on the other (see them, top right?).

And then, still rotating to the right, we saw the wee village of Wijk aan Zee in front of us...

with its two big churches.  Population 2,400.

But before heading down into town to see it up close and personal,

we chatted with another photographer, planning a scavenger hunt.

How fun is that!

Once down the dunes into town, we headed straight to the Dorpskerk...the protestant village church.

You can see it from almost anywhere in town.

And as with so many of these churches, the adjacent cemetery is visible to all.

 As we walked through town, we had to stop for an ice cream, of course.

We knew we'd be eating lunch once the Lifecruisers arrived so eat dessert first is our motto.

Astrid had already decided it was too late for our normal koffie break.  HA!

After ice cream, we were ready to see the catholic Sint Odulphus church.

Sadly, neither church was open to visit inside.

But the village-center fountain was, once the Lifecruisers joined us!

By then, around 1:30 p.m., it was definitely time for lunch.

How can you not love a wit bier (white beer) that sports a windmill glass,

especially when you get acquainted with bloggers you feel you've known all your life!

After lunch we headed to the beach, for which the town is known.
The only problem is if the sun isn't shining, the tourist business is way down.
But WE were there and didn't care.  Can you imagine owning a beach house there?

 As we left, we got some parting shots.
We had 3 very special hours with 2 new and very special friends.
THANK YOU, Mr. and Mrs. Lifecruiser!

And while we're at it, we saw one gevelsteen (gable stone)--bottom center...

...and 4 weathervanes.

All in all, it was a great photo hunt, blogger meet-up, and a day's car trip!
It really doesn't get much better than that!

Queen's Day in the Netherlands = ORANGE

Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) in the Netherlands is celebrated every April 30th, rain or shine.  The present queen is Queen Beatrix, whose real birthday is 31 January, but her mother Juliana's birthday was 30 April.  So the official Queen's Day is, yes, 30 April...unless it's a Sunday, when it's the 29th.  Got it?

Tomorrow Astrid and I fly to England for 6 days, which means I won't be doing a post here next week, so because April 30 was still this week, here's 2 posts in one week since forever and my first post ever on Queen's Day.  Let's just say I finally did something about it.

That's Queen Beatrix in the top-right corner above.  She's 74.

Lang leve de koningin = Long live the Queen.

The Netherlands has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815.

The monarchy is governed by the House of Orange-Nassau.

Thus the color orange on Queen's Day!  It's everywhere.

Orange takes precedence over the red, white, and blue of the national flag.
(click to enlarge to see the orange "banner" attached to the flag)

Young and old alike celebrate the day.  It's a national holiday.

It's also the one day of the year when you can sell all your junk, like one huge city-wide flea market.

First come, first served.  Just spread out your blanket and sell away.

Astrid and I bought 7 DVDs for €4 total, and a new Beatrix Potter book in Dutch for €,50.
How can you say NO to that!

(I threw in that too-cute dog on skates for fun.)

Besides the flea market, there are all kinds of activities going on.

This lady was advertising her sculpture classes.

You're never too young to earn a buck or two, right?

Astrid made sure we got the e-mail address for these 2 buskers.  

After all, she and I both played the clarinet in our day!

(And yes, we both wore our orange shirts on a gorgeous, sunshiny day!)

What was it Winnie-the-Pooh said:
"Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon!"

A little bit of something for everyone,
especially if you're not of Dutch heritage.

As you'd guess, this little family stole the show for me.
How can you not get into the swing of things on such a grand day!

By the way, this particular Queen's Day was maybe more festive for the Dutch than most.  More festive because of its sombre nature, if that's possible?  This past February Beatrix's 2nd son, Friso, was buried in a snow avalanche while skiing in Austria and has been in a coma ever since.  Few believe he will make it.  He's 43 and is married, with 2 daughters.  The Dutch came out en masse on Monday to show their love for the Queen and what she's going through.

Lang leve de koningin = Long live the Queen.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Update on our neighborhood renovation (remember the bats?): 

A week ago we were minding our own business when we heard a commotion outside.

All the glass windows/doors on ground level are now boarded up because...

yup, you guessed it.  They've run out of money and need to wait.

They're hoping the boards will keep out strays of whatever sort!
But now I wonder if the bats will come back to roost?

To be continued.....