Life: Idiotropic

Time for some travel!

The drive up towards Amsterdam was relaxing and beautiful making the two hours time go very quickly. Once we got out of our local area, we were able to enjoy miles and miles of open fields with perfectly spaced trees planted as property lines with walking and biking trails running along them. There were a lot of bikers out that day being the first really beautiful rainless day in weeks. The pastures, filled with black and white cows and fluffy sheep, were striped with many narrow parallel canals that reflected the sky as if there were blue and white ribbons adorning each field. As we got closer to Holland, we saw more and more old style windmills just littered around among the fields of cows as if they were nothing out of the ordinary. There, they are so frequent, that they don’t seem quite as extraordinary, yet they are all so beautiful and picturesque – the perfect picture of traditional Holland. The skies were blue with scattered cumulous clouds – a refreshing change from the previous rain and a lovely backdrop to the scenery.

We were heading towards our lodging first not knowing exactly where it was, but that it was right in between The Hague and Amsterdam making travel to each very easy. There is a wonderful web site that lists all the farms in The Netherlands that have rooms for rent and bed and breakfasts as well, so, in search of more affordable and more interesting lodging for our weekend up north, I looked up a few places and found one with space available. She worried that it would be cramped, but was ok with our 8 bodies in her apartment. Other than a photo on the website, I really had no idea what to expect, but hoped it would be nice.

Our GPS took us off the autobahn through a small town, along a beautiful canal lined with house boats. Other boats moved slowly up and down the canal many waving the Dutch flag. Walking trails lined either side of the water with walkers, bikers, and people roller blading filling them as if it were a holiday. I really do enjoy seeing the people here utilizing the outdoors so much. It is such a nice lifestyle. Turning from that town we drove through more canal striped fields of cows, saw more 19th century windmills, then entered the small village of Aarlanderveen. The village is essentially one small street just a few blocks long with houses on either side. They had a little beer stube, a tiny grocery, and a Toyota dealership (yes, that struck us as odd too). On either side of the tiny street were tiny canals that often branched off on either side of people’s homes surrounding them on three sides, sometimes even to the foundation, with water. Some areas were green with algae, but ducks, geese, and other water fowl swam along, some playing and some sitting in their island nests built carefully in the middle of the waterways. To get to any home you had to cross a small bridge. Our van felt horrifically large crossing over and I think I held my breath just a little. We pulled into the parking space in front of the address that we had booked for the weekend. On the left were a small vegetable garden and a caged chicken yard. In front was a large barn with farm equipment inside. To our right was a long brick house where we would stay with beautiful flower gardens in front of it. The brick house used to be horse stables and it stretched out on both sides. One side was occupied by the neighbor who had his own driveway and gardens. On the other side was the family home and in the middle was our little apartment. Klaus came out to greet us. He, being Dutch, spoke near perfect English making it very easy to communicate. He showed us to our place. Walking through a tidy storage room with well used wooden shoes by the doorway, we entered our apartment to see a very steep narrow staircase on our right. Upstairs were two bedrooms and two bathrooms. One bedroom where Dad and Angie stayed had a view out to the fields and a nice double bed and small table. It was small with the slanted ceilings, but nicely decorated and very clean. Opposite that room was another, a bit larger, but also with those roof-slant ceilings and a nice large window looking out to the gardens. It had three twin beds and two bookshelves and a large built-in shelving unit making it very nice for all our stuff. The owner, knowing we had a lot of children (having four kids here is rare – we might as well have twenty as odd as we look with four), put out a baby bed and two small mattresses on the floor. It was wonderful. The odd thing about our room was that it had a sink in it! So we could brush our teeth in our bedroom. The two small bathrooms were closets. One was just large enough for a toilet and sink and a size 10 or smaller body. The other next door housed a sink and a shower. Downstairs was a studio style room with living area, dining area, and kitchen. It was small, but very nicely put together and comfortable. A patio door let out to a seating area outside along a canal and we were told that the girls could use their large trampoline in their portion of the yard. From the patio we had view of three windmills. Two (which I didn’t see close up) were on their property quite a ways away. Klaus owns and runs an active sheep farm. He had 90 ewes and 120 lambs and, well, he doesn’t raise them for wool. They were cute though. It was nice to stand out on the patio and enjoy the view with the sheep munching away and the windmills turning on the horizon. One morning we even caught a glimpse of a blue heron right outside our door sitting on the edge of the canal.

Baby lambs with their mother near the windmill in Aarlanderveen

Standing on our patio at dusk, sheep munching on the grass and the tiny waterway reflecting the colors of the sky. It is very serene - probably the perfect quiet get-a-way for someone wanting to reflect or pursue artistic endeavors like writing or painting. No wonder there are so many Dutch masters. The landscape is inspiring.

After a few minutes to relax and drop off our stuff, we left to explore The Hague. Just before we entered the city, our usually trusty GPS, Stella, decided to completely lock up and left us quite directionless without maps to guide us, so driving around the Hague, trying to find the Mauritshuis museum was a little challenge. The city is pretty in places, but a very typically big city, so there was traffic, of course, and just when I'd see a sign pointing us in the right direction, it would be too late to get into that lane and we'd make a big circle. Parking was abundant as far as the signs went, but parking signs littered all the parking along the side streets as well, so it was hard to find a parking garage. Eventually we did and it was just a short walk to the square lined with restaurants. Hungry, we found one. I think we all hoped and expected to find some "traditional fare," but talking to some Dutch friends later, I've realized that The Netherlands is much like the United States enjoying cuisine from all over the world. Very few restaurants actually have traditional Dutch food because, according to my friend, if the Dutch want Dutch food, they cook it themselves at home. The food was excellent though. We had mostly sandwiches, but the flavor combinations were really interesting and yeilded some tasty results. I don't remember now what I ordered, but I do remember that it didn't show up. I ended up with a salad, but as it turned out, it was a great salad. Greens and a prociutto style ham, but honeydew melon as well. I was surprised at the combination, but there was not a leaf left on my plate!

The square was large and beautiful. A large statue stood in the center. There were pidgeons all over the place and one standing regally on the head of the statue as well. Large flower pots filled with bright blooms sat nearby. All around were shops and restaurants with chairs and tables spilling out into the pedestrian only walkways. Menus sat on the tables designating which territory those tables belonged to... sit at the wrong table, you'll get food from the wrong restaurant. Side streets jutted off to show rows or bicycles crowding the sidewalks. Bicycle is the preferred mode of transport for those living within the city limits. On the other side of the square were some beautiful important looking buildings and a few large trees giving a bit of shade. Sitting there, at one corner near a tree was a thing we'd never seen before. My dad took this photo - and truly, I'm glad he did or you wouldn't believe it. It's a public urinal. Such a beautiful place and setting, I was a bit disgusted to see this. Seems to ruin the ambience. I'm just glad that we didnt' see anyone taking advantage of that little convenience.

At the far corner of the square was the archway to the palace and the Mauritshuis museum - our next destination. The Maruitshuis (http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?siteid=54) was originally a private home, but was given to the city upon the death of it's owner. It is not large, but is regal with beautifully painted/wallpapered walls in bold colors to show off the artwork. Now it houses the royal art collection - a relatively small collection compared with other museums in the area, but it boasts that it is the best of the best and it does include three Vermeer paintings including the well known, Girl with the Pearl Earring. The paintings were well displayed on the walls among old pieces of furniture in some rooms reminding us that we were walking through someone's home. The small home did lend itself to a warmer feel instead of the harshness of some museums large spaces and stark walls. The kids did ok through it. We had to shush them a bit, but they enjoyed the paintings as well. Tiara has learned a little about Vermeer, so she was the most excited to see those paintings and was upset that she somehow missed The Lady Writing. Elise enjoyed the air conditioning the best. At each window was a "bench," but that bench had slits in it that allowed cold air to come in. She wanted nothing to do with the art, but only to gaze out the windows at the lake outside as the air blew up her dress making her look like a little church bell. I enjoyed the paintings and what struck us all was the age of each one. So many of those paintings were 400 years old and more. These days especially I am in such awe of things that have endured so many years and so many histories - Here in Europe, especially, where history has been so dynamic for so long.

After the slow wandering through the museum, we left to walk around the large square lake that sat outside it where we could see the backside of the Royal Palace just adjacent to it. The walk was slow and meandering. My dad and I took pictures every couple feet because it was just so beautiful. There was the Mauritshuis the the Palace, then the lake with a small island in the middle. White geese and ducks swam around. A tiny raft floated near the palace and a fountain spouted water on the far end. On the other side of us was a grassy park area, then a street and a row of beautiful old row houses that must be worth a small fortune. The photo of us shows the palace in the background. So much of Europe still has some form of royalty residing there. I hadn't realized it before, but it is real here. The Dutch have their queens and what is interesting is that for generations, the queens have married German men. The new prince, next to the throne has chosen a wife from Argentina, I think. And the people love it. They pride themselves on their multiculturalism. At the other end of the water by the palace, the railing was lined with planter boxes filled with beautiful bright red geraniums. These seem to be the favorite flower both there and in Germany as they fill planter boxes in windows on houses and on railings over canals and bridges. They seem to be everywhere and are always beautiful. I'd like some for my house, but I kill plants. Sadly, the green thumb missed me. In the background of the photo with the flowers, you can see the palace and the fountain and a tree in the middle of the island... then, in the center far background are three tall buildings looming up over the palace and the museum. They are in the background behind the square as well and give a beautiful modern contrast to the beautiful historic buildings as they are new and shiny and very showy. The twin towers, pointed with glass sides that reflect the sky are in contrast to the large green dome and the taller grey building that looks like the front of a cruise line from the front. A bit like Brussels in the aspect of such sharp contrasting architectural styles, Dad and I kept getting this view over and over as week took pictures of the area. Holland is a great place for roofscapes and we certainly enjoyed that one.


Walking toward the palace, we passed a stand with fried fish and french fries - a common fast food item in the Netherlands. An ice cream stand was right next to it. We entered the doorway on that side of the palace wall to find an open square with palace buildings on all sides and a large church towards one corner. Archways with colomns lined one side. Some doorways had signs for government offices. I think that part of the palace is an actual residence and other parts of for government use - kind of like the White House. The kids liked the fountain, of course. Buildings get boring for them, so they always fixate on water and ducks. Thankfully, Holland has a lot of those, so the kids all enjoyed this trip counting windmills and pointing out canals, fountains, livestock, and waterfowl everywhere we went. There was not a lot to see in that area. It was a palace and appropriately beautiful, but we didn't see any place where we could go in and be nosey tourists. The walk was enjoyable, but after the mornings drive and the museum and walk, we were all antsy to get back to the farm to relax. We all liked the Hague, but it is not a very clean city and though beautiful, I think Amsterdam is a much nicer city to visit.

That evening we took a walk looking for something open with food since we hadn’t brought any cold groceries. Nothing was open (being a Saturday evening - nothing is open except in the larger cities), but we did get to walk down to one windmill by a field of sheep and another field of cows. Those poor cows, growing up in cheese country, are big milk producers. We felt kind of sorry for them as they all looked like they were way overdo for a milking and it had to be miserable for them. We got up close and took a lot of pictures. The cows were very sweet. The windmill was built in 1801. At first I wasn't exactly sure of the date because the old number 1s look like Js. So the date looked like J80J. All the windmills we saw had that same symbol for the number one. Along the street that we stayed on some people had bridges that could raise and lower. We couldn’t figure out why. Since not all the bridges were moveable, it would be impossible to actually put a boat through down the canal, but a lot of people did have small wooden rafts next to their homes. Many roofs were thatched. Some with new thatching were very thick – may be 6” of tightly pressed straw. It wasn’t straw exactly, but it looked the same. The older ones were growing and looked a bit moldy on the top. I wonder how long that kind of roof will last? Dad and Angie did a lot of walking along that road on the early mornings and in the evenings while I got the kids to sleep. The area is beautiful, but the roads are so narrow that only one car really fits. When oncoming traffic comes you have to squeeze precarioulsy over as close to the canal as you can hoping that you don't tip over and tumble in. Dad and Angie got quite nervous with local traffic flying past them and not even moving over the tiniest bit. Those roads are even narrow enough that foot traffic is at risk when a car flys by.

Swans in the canal in Aarlanderveen, a very common sight in the canals in Holland. Flocks of swans occupy fields too, intermixed with the sheep and cows, sitting in the fields in large groups as if they were part of the herd.

A view of the Mauritshuis from across the water; Big face statue - one of many statues of all sizes we saw in The Hague.