Windmills, daffodills and porcelain?

I did tons of sightseeing this weekend (made up for the last 2 when I did none...)

It was a beautiful Easter long weekend here.  Saturday morning was really cloudy but the afternoon, all day Sunday and most of Monday made up for it.

I visited Kinderdijk - what is it?  It is a UNESCO world heritage site where there are 19 windmills built around the mid-1700's.  It is a small village with numerous waterways, dikes in Northern Holland between Amsterdam and Rotterdam.  See photos below - and yes, I took my first selfie! 

My little car....

 

Then it was off to Lisse where the bulb fields are starting to pop though I am a little early as the daffodils are the only ones open...

 

 

Then I went to the city of Delft to visit the original home of Royal Delft porcelain, De Porclleyne Fles - imagine it was founded in 1653 (now that is a legacy business).  It is in this factory where every piece of porcelain is made and hand painted blue and white.  It is very expensive in here...so I was careful not to break anything.  I found 2 pieces I really liked and they are tightly packed to send home this summer.  I needed more time in Delft to see the market square, 2 churches and the home of Johan Vemeer.  (I will plan to go again...)

 

 

 

 

 

This was Easter Sunday.  What a great day!



 



Off line for a while...

The past 2 weeks have been like a hurricane at work.  It is an extremely busy time here and there were also visitors with us so I was very tired and decided to stay home and just catch up on my sleep which wasn't a bad idea as there was a lot of rain in the past 2 weeks, particularly on Sunday.  It was very windy with a mild hail storm which lasted about 15 minutes.  Each evening the wind has been howling and shaking windows....Just like living off Semiahmoo Bay in White Rock!

Perhaps the best part of the last 2 weeks was March 23rd was my birthday.  When I came to work, there was some decorations on my door and above my desk (see below).  Then in the afternoon, my team and my management colleagues joined me for some birthday vlaai.  Everyone came to me and wished me congratulations, shook my hand, and it was very sweet.  I also received 2 birthday cards in the snail mail (thanks Gina and Sharon) and 1 e-card (thanks Leanna).  Dad and Frank called me too.  Nice to know friends and family are thinking of you when you are across the world.

As this is Easter long weekend, I will forge out again to do some site seeing to the North of Holland at Delft and a few other places.  Happy Easter to all!

Stay posted...

Mary

South Belgium instead

Sometimes the best plans go astray.  I found out I could not take the train to Cologne - apparently, there is construction work going on and the line won't be up until near the end of March.  I have also learned many gardens, castles, historical buildings are closed in the winter and only open up beginning in April.  This is making it a challenge to find places to see at this time.  But I only have a few weeks to go before it's April... I am realizing I need the entire weekend to visit an area or a city as there is so much to see so next weekend, I am booking a hotel room for Saturday evening in Brussels next weekend.

I decided to visit the southern part of Belgium, the province of Namur.  It takes almost 3 hours by car to get there and Belgium roads are not as well kept as in the Netherlands.  I visited the Chateau de Lavaux St. Anne.  I have seen several castles were they have a moat around them, and there are gardens directly on one side of these castles.  Here is the Chateau :

 

 

Then I visited the Abbey of Maredsous in Denee - it is in the countryside, rather isolated but the grounds are beautiful and the bells were ringing here every 15-minutes.  There is also a large center with a gift shop, cafeteria, and library on the site.  Lovely place.

I also went to a small town called Dinant but it was pouring rain by this time (left my umbrella in the apartment!) so I drove around but didn't take any photos so here are some images from the web - it is a spectacular site to see.  There is a citadel overlooking the town with a large cathedral church called Notre Dame at the base of the hill.  Lovely little shops and restaurants running along the river.  Amazing....There are saxophone sculptures all over the town as it is the place where the saxophone was invented. 

Beautiful weather today in Venlo

For a Saturday, it was a great day.  I ran some errands in the morning, walked around a little town near by called Baarlo, then in the afternoon, came home for a short nap (been keeping some late evenings during the week with work).

Right now, dinner is cooking in the oven (lasagna) and I saw this fantastic sunset from my deck so I took a few photos.  The pink sky looks actually better than the photo below.

 

Tomorrow, I am taking an early train to Cologne, Germany.  I understand that when you exit the  Cologne Central Train station, you are right at the steps of the world famous Cologne Cathedral. 

 

More photos to come.  Enjoy your weekend too!

 

Mary

 

  

 



View from my apartment ....

I have a 2-bedroom corner apartment on the 4th floor.  It has a closed in deck / atrium.  Here are some photos of my apartment overlooking the river Maas:

 

Some Castle photos...

I finally have downloaded some photos....See some of the sites I have visited on the weekends so far...

1.  Castle Groeneveld....

 

 

 

2.  Palais Het Loo....

3.  Castle Schaloen...

 

 

 

4.  Castle Oost