Fun driving in the Netherlands

Last week, I shared I planned to visit some castles in the Netherlands and so I did on Sunday.  It was a cold but sunny day.

As with any adventure, one should expect things to go not exactly as planned.  The first castle I went to visit was closed.  So onto the next....

The second castle was called Groeneveld Castle (www.kasteelgroeneveld.nl/).  It was quite cold but the place has fantastic landscape, a mote around the castle, and well, you can see the castle yourself at the website.  There is a small café open in an adjacent building, and it was packed on the Sunday afternoon.  The cool part of the café was there were tables next to some outdoor fires to keep visitors warm. 

The third castle was called Paleis Het Loo (https://www.paleishetloo.nl/) which is a royal palace located in Apeldoorn (about 1.5 hours from where I am living in Venlo).  It was huge and unfortunately, the gardens were closed for the winter.  Also they were doing renovations to the roof but it was still stunning.  There were also stables, formal restaurants, outdoor café, and a gift shop on site.  Amazing place and I think I might return in May or June when the gardens are open.  I am sure it would be a sight to see then especially with all the fountains bubbling too.  I can tell you I was really tired after all this walking and driving.

I have to say the roadways in the Netherlands are far superior to ours in Canada.  Makes driving very easy here.

Monday thru Wednesday, my colleagues and I had our global management days at a hotel conference centre about 65 km from Venlo.  It was very nice - it is a former villa with wonderful grounds.  The food was also very good.  We did a few team events, one of which was a new trend called "Escape the room" about solving clues to escape from a locked room.  It was a lot of fun and it lasts 1 hour per team.  Thursday and Friday we were back at regular work and on Friday evening, I visited another grocery store called Jumbo.  It reminds me a little of going to Thrifty Foods -  thanks to Terry for recommending it.  It is much improved over the other chain.  The quality of foods is better too.

Tomorrow the plan is to go visit the city of Delft, which is about 2.5 hours from Venlo.  It dates back to the 1700's so it is very rich in history.  It is famous for the white and blue ceramics associated with Holland.  Not sure about driving there...may have to park the car and walk around a lot.

Happy Valentine's Day to all (they don't seem to celebrate it here),

Mary

PS  I forgot to share that when I visited the bank to set up my account, they offered me coffee (a latte)!  Next time you go to the bank, ask about getting served a latte ...