Our Zeeland Province Vacation

 

Exactly a month ago it was Springtime in Woudrichem (my last post)...and now it's Summer!  Just days before Spring was gone, the entire Netherlands went through a heatwave, while we we on our Monday-Friday vacation in Zeeland Province, NL.  More on that later but it was our first vacation since October 2019.

We needed this!

First, let's get oriented: 

Here's the Netherlands, situated at the North Sea, with Germany to the east and Belgium to the south.

The 2 red pentagons are Gorinchem (right) and Burgh-Haamstede (left), our destination.

See all those fingers/islands?  That's Zeeland Province, a huge tourist hotspot.

Our destination was a total of 117 km (73 mi.) without stopping.

But stop we did, in Brielle (near Spijkenisse), just 65 km from home.

Day 1(a), Monday, June 14:  Brielle, NL (South Holland Province)

We were there to finally meet up with Marjolein, a friendly photo blogger who follows us both.

Finally we saw her face to face and ended up liking her even more than expected.

Don't you love when that happens!

Before eating lunch with her, we visited Brielle's St. Catherine's Church.

[Astrid's collage]

Day 1(b), Monday, June 14:  Burgh-Haamstede, NL (Zeeland Province), our hotel base

That Monday, June 14, was the day after my 76th birthday, where we celebrated the occasion

out on the terrace of our Fletcher Hotel, with a wee visitor joining us.

It was just what the doctor ordered.

And without wasting any time after dinner, we walked from 8:30-9:30 through the dunes

to the North Sea, straight from the hotel, approximately 1 km each way.

We didn't want to wait!

Remember that we were near the longest day of the year, so we had time before the sun was gone.

No sunset, sadly, because of the cloud cover, but it was exactly what we wanted to see.

[Astrid's collage, manipulating the top-left image to make it look darker]

Day 2, Tuesday, June 15:  Zierikzee, Zeeland Province (Schouwen-Duiveland island)

Our destination was the charming little city of Zierikzee, first visited with brother Nelson in 2018.

We had a leisurely day driving a 79-km loop from Burgh-Haamstede south across the Oosterscheldekering storm locks at the Neeltje Jans Delta Works, then across the north shore of the small Noord-Beveland island below us, east to the Zeeland bridge (the longest bridge in the Netherlands at 3.123 miles), whose drawbridge was up!  That took us north to our island, where we walked around Zierikzee and ate lunch before heading back west to our hotel.

[Astrid's collage includes the photo of us that Marjolein took on Monday!]

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped to get close-up pics of Burgh-Haamstede's lighthouse.

The one bottom-right was what we had seen from the dunes the night before.

Day 3, Wednesday, June 16:  Renesse to Bruinisse, Zeeland Province (Schouwen-Duiveland island)

 

As we left for the day, we stopped for these beauties just outside of Burgh-Haamstede.

Because of the heatwave, we weren't surprised they were gone when we returned later.

Our goal for the day was to drive from west to east across the island and back again,

stopping wherever we wanted along the way.

Renesse was the first stop and gave us the unexpected surprise of a gay-welcoming church midweek. When they found out my dad was a pastor and my mom an organist, their 82-year old organist climbed up to the organ and played for us, bringing tears to my eyes.  The Protestant Jacobuskerk is is from 1506.

Astrid took this video, unbeknownst to me at the time.  I'm so glad she did!  

He's playing Psalm 84 from their hymnal.

We ate lunch in Brouwershaven, near it's lovely town hall (top-right),

before ending up in Bruinisse, known for its mussel farms and giant mussel statue.

Astrid is always a good sport.  My Partner in Crime!

[Astrid's collage]

Day 4, Thursday, June 17:  The Beach and Burgh-Haamstede

Our last full day was spent near our home base, with 2+ hours on the beach.

We aren't sun-worshipers, especially since I have skin cancer and need to take care.

But it was important to BE there and experience the sea again.

In the distance you can see the Oosterscheldekering storm locks, which keep the North Sea from reclaiming the Netherlands.  The poles in the water do the same thing, keeping the sand in place against the currents.  

Leave it to the Dutch, who often say that God created the world but they created the Netherlands!

After eating lunch near the beach, we drove into town to check it out.

Its 13th century castle wasn't open but it was good to at least see it...and the church, from 1506.

[Astrid's collage]

Day 5, Friday, June 18:  Willemstad, North Brabant Province

Long before we started our vacation, Astrid already knew we would go home another way

in order to stop and visit Willemstad, once getting off the Zeeland islands.

It has a citadel walk that was perfect for the end of our trip, with a good place for lunch.

Like Gorinchem where we live, it's canons remind you of why they have citadels.

[Astrid's collage]

We arrived home that day at 4:35, in time for our community's patat-truck supper.  HA!

We do know how to make time for what's important!

It's been a while since I've collected weathervanes but after finding the elephant, a first,

I couldn't resist these others from the trip.  I remember it took forever to find cats before.

Then suddenly I find two within a week...and a good fish.  I was a happy camper.

And while out-n-about, in the heat of the day, there were the flowers!

On last Saturday, the day after we returned home, our temps fell back to "normal," 

hovering around 60° F on our balcony ever since.

It's now SUMMER, the way I like it!  (Did I mention I don't do heat well?)

Brother Nelson in the Netherlands

You already know I took last week off because of Brother Nelson's visit with us for a week.  The most important thing to say from the get-go is that this is a post about NELSON and not so much about what we did or where we went.  It is NELSON I want to remember here....EVERYTHING about him that I can have and hold for the days I will not have him....

To start with, I discovered, as we talked about it, that the reason why this was like meeting him for the first time was because when he was 16 (and I was 13), he started working at the local grocery store after school.  That means he wasn't at home.  And once he graduated from high school, he was off to university, graduated, and got married.

So THAT'S why this is important to me.

To give more scale, Nelson is the oldest of us 8 kids (I'm #3 at 3.5 years his junior) and he lives in Holland, Michigan, where there is a huge Dutch community.  It was time for him to see the real Holland!

SUNDAY, 14 January:

We picked Nelson up at Amsterdam's airport on his 76th birthday!

[He came alone because his wife doesn't fly.]

From there it was fun and games in Amsterdam.

Mid-morning we had a latte macchiato break in the Rijksmusem café.

It was the closest thing to actually being IN the museum.

And then we did the touristy thing, taking a canal-boat ride around the city.

It's what you do when you have time only for the fast-track of the city.

MONDAY, 15 January:

Because Nelson had minimal sleep while flying over The Pond, we took Monday to get settled in.

He stayed in one of our community guest rooms at night and spent the days with us.

Eating.  Drinking.  Watching the news.  Talking.

We even walked to Aldi together that day.

Each day he caught up on his family and politics...at my laptop or his iPad.

That's when I really started LOOKING at him.

And started recognizing ME in him...or him in me?!

TUESDAY, 16 January:

After the day of rest, we took our long-distance drive to the Zeeland province in the west of Holland.

Our final destination was Oosterscheldekering, 117 km away.

But our first stop was the Basilica of St. Agatha and Barbara in Oudenbosch, 64 km. away.

[Did I mention that our mom's name is Barbara?]

Astrid and I had visited the basilica in 2010 and knew Nelson would love it.  He did!

We ate an uitsmijter lunch in the quaint small city of Zierikzee, 62 km. from the basilica.

Afterwards we stopped to see the Zeeland Bridge, the longest bridge in the Netherlands (top-right).

It's actually the longest bridge in Europe, spanning 5,022 meters (16,476 ft.).

It was then another 20 km. to the Oosterscheldekering storm surge barrier (bottom-center).

It's the largest of the 13 Delta Works, protecting the flooding of the Netherlands from the North Sea.

It's 9 km. long and was built after the North Sea flood of 1953 when 2100+ lives were lost.

The Dutch said..."never again!"

WEDNESDAY, 17 January:

By now, understand how fun it was for me to watch Nelson, seeing what intrigued him most.

Astrid was well prepared to stop on a dime after all my weathervanes.  HA!

That day our favorite Loevestein castle wasn't open, so we went to Doorwerth, 70 km. from home.

We wanted Nelson to see a real castle.

We got there in time to first eat lunch.

Notice how much fun we had over our meals!

I could show you more of the castle but, remember, this is more about NELSON.

And ME in relation to him, my big brother.

From the castle, across the Rhine river, we spied the Driel locks 

and decided to go see them before heading home.

These locks are normally closed but if high water is coming in from Germany,

they'll be raised to prevent flooding.

Have you noticed that the Dutch think ahead in relation to catastrophes??

The world has much to learn from this country that is 26% below sea level.

THURSDAY, 18 January:

You know what they say about the plans of mice and men!

Suddenly, out of the blue, the Netherlands issued a CODE RED wind advisory.

It was actually Code Orange when we drove along the dijk to Brakel to check out the river level.

By the afternoon, 66 semi-trucks had flipped over and all train/plane transportation was cancelled.

The Merwede river reminded Nelson of Lake Michigan during a storm.

Astrid and I had never seen it so tempestuous!

Needless to say, we went back home and decided to change the schedule up,

to walk our Gorinchem city citadel wall that afternoon instead of the next day.

It ended up being a good plan.

And that evening we walked over to our favorite Malle Molen restaurant for supper.

FRIDAY, 19 January:

Our last full day together began with Kinderdijk...the magical UNESCO village of 19 windmills.

We had some of the best light of any time Astrid and I have ever been there.

It's only 29 km from home.

The mechanical screws were working overtime, pumping out the water.

I was glad Nelson got to see them operational.

From Kinderdijk we drove to Fort Altena in Werkendam, 34 km from Kinderdijk.

Our favorite Fort Vuren was closed because of a bat population they are protecting right now.

But Nelson still got the general idea from this 19th century fort about the Dutch line of defense,

going all the way back to before WWI.

That day we had lunch at the fort (top row).

Back home we went to our 3:30 Happy Hour, here where we live, to eat advocaatjes (middle).

And then for supper we ate Dutch pancakes at our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant,

out in the polder (bottom row).

SATURDAY, 20 January:

With a tear and a smile, and breakfast under our belts, we drove to Amsterdam in time for Nelson's noon flight back to America.  

I really do mean with a tear and a smile.  I know that this is probably the only time, first and last, that I will ever have like this with Nelson, the Elder of our Hart tribe.  I have a catch in my throat as I say it.  Trust me when I say I will have and hold it for the rest of my life.

THANK YOU, Nelson.  THANK YOU for choosing us.

We'll never forget it.

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!