Exploring Holland

• Robncarol's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Nijmegen - Wijchen

Trip Start Jun 30, 2010 Previous
Entry Trip End Sep 26, 2010 Next
Entry

  Nijmegen - Wijchen, Gelderland, Netherlands
Thursday, July 15, 2010

Wijchen – Holland                                                                           Wednesday 14th July 2010

Hello

This week has flown by so quickly.  We have had some very hot weather  but we are sleeping better now with a fan so it is not such a problem. We are in the routine of walking early and riding late when it is not so hot. We have also had storms and showers of rain when most unexpected. It doesn't cool down and goes away as quickly as it comes. Melbourne has 4 seasons in a day. Holland has 4 seasons in an hour sometimes.

We have enjoyed exploring a few of the local villages by car and by bike. On Sunday we sort of read in the paper that there was something musical at the old tower in a nearby village at 11am.  We packed a picnic lunch (everything is closed on Sunday) and set out on the bikes. It turned out to be their once a year open air church service at the Catholic Church. The old tower was the remains of their former church.  We decided to stay even though we couldn’t understand much. The music was great. They even had a song to the tune of 'Country Roads’ by John Denver. We had coffee afterwards and met some nice people. One couple took us back to see their dairy farm. It was most interesting. I knew cows lived in barns in winter but they were still in the barn in summer. They needed the land to grow food for winter. Maybe the cows will be allowed out next week (and we worry about caged hens). Seems very sad.

Saturday we caught the train to ‘s Hertogenbosch.  It was a 30 minute trip but we were told it was easier than driving because of the parking. We had a great day wandering around the old town with the self guided walking tour – it is all so old compared to Australia. We saw a wedding in the big old cathedral which was obviously very flash. The guests were all very well dressed. The wedding car was a decorated 2 door fiat 500 – very  different.

While we were waiting for the train we met a couple who told us about a special off peak deal where 2 people could  travel  anywhere in Holland all day for 30 euros. We have bought a couple of tickets and are off to Delft to use one tomorrow.  It seems a very good deal and much less stressful than driving.

Yesterday we went to de Hogue Veluwe National Park. We were mostly on the motorways and not driving fast enough for the locals but we got there okay (2 hours). We left at 8am and arrived home at 7.30pm so it was a long day. The park was huge. There are 700 white bikes available for everyone to use. As usual there were great bike tracks and we did a lot of riding. Surprisingly there were a lot of teenagers . They were riding bikes using their GPS to get around. We just got lost as usual. It was a property that originally belonged to a wealthy Dutch family. They built a beautiful hunting lodge which was open for tours. They also collected a lot of paintings that are now housed in a big gallery there. We explored the gallery (lots of Van Gogh) and also the large sculpture garden outside. It was all very different and well worth the visit. There was also an interesting museum showing life underground. We were very tired by the time we got home.  

Rob has been out finding someone to repair a puncture on my bike this morning. He couldn’t repair it because we couldn’t find a pump to fit. The pump fitted the very large regular bike there that I wasn’t prepared to ride. It was too high. I prefer the folding bike. He had the challenge of finding a bike repair place in the Yellow Pages which is only in Dutch. He succeeded so hopefully there won’t be any more punctures. It is very handy being able to ride everywhere. Parking is too much of a problem when you drive.

Sunday night when the big soccer game was on, we had dramas with the oven. We couldn’t turn the fan off and weren’t prepared to go out and leave it. We couldn’t follow the manual so called the neighbours for help. They couldn’t follow it either so it wasn’t just our lack of Dutch.  It eventually turned itself off by which time it was too late to go downtown so we watched the game at home. Everyone was very sad about the result. The orange decorations are still around. They even had orange cakes in the Bakery.  Rob bought an orange cap for 50 cents so he did his bit. The cap has come in handy too, especially when driving the car with the roof open.

Until next week.

Carol & Rob

Slideshow Share

Previous Entry Next Entry