Thursday,
Off on a bit of a tour of North west Holland today, we started in Dokkum and parked the car next to a bridge over a canal. We’d just got out of the car and made a cup of coffee when a bell rang and the bridge went up. 5 boats came through, a couple of sailing boats and a few power boats and it looked like a nice way to travel. A bunch of old guys were sitting on the water’s edge next to the bridge catching up on the goss, watching the boats go by and enjoying the sunshine. Yes, it’s not raining today, some clouds but pleasantly warm so no need for the umbrella but sunglasses required. Dokkum is nice little village with winding streets and lots of bicycles, canals and little bridges. The people are friendly and it seems that even in little villages there seems to all the necessary requirement to live a good life. The town halls and council offices are generally large and well equipped and there’s always a library and sports/entertainment complex. It would be quite easy to fit right in...
On to Leuwarden and had a wander around the streets there. Parked next to a canal with boats/barges that were being used as houses. They are all connected up to services and had the obligatory bike parked on board and some boots/clogs near the door. Walked round to the Church of St. Boniface and then onto the main shopping strip that went up both sides of the main canal. Saw the town hall, the weighing building and an old tower that had a fair lean on it. I got asked to participate in a survey (for visitors to the city) and let them know that the parking was OK and that the information was OK, but they did need to do some work on providing public conveniences. There is a distinct lack of public toilets in Holland and if you find one you have to pay for the pleasure. It’s a bit sad really, we haven’t even seen many picnic places on the highways either. Seems like they want visitors to go to shops/retaurants and pay for a coffee or a meal and then use the toilets there.
Then onto Franeker and its famous Planetarium (showing the positions and relationships of the planets and moons solar system) built by Eise Eisinga over seven years in his living room. Well, the manifestation and display was painted on and came through the ceiling of his living room, but all the mechanism was above that on the roof cavity. This planetarium has been running non-stop except for a short time when Eise was away (during the French Revolution) and is an amazing piece of work (about 35000 visitors a year). To make the solar system fit in his ceiling he had to make the scale of one millimeter equalling one million kilometers, he was some mathematician. The construction is of wood and steel and there are large disks with 10,000 hand made iron pins in them to act as gears and teeth to make it all work. As well as the current positions of the planets in relationship to each other, there are other dials which show the phases of the moon and time of sunrise and sunset. The mechanism has never been adjusted and all that has to be done is to reset the weights that drive the clock every couple of weeks. Also visited the old town hall and a little building that was built in 1635 on a bridge on the edge of a canal and it also has a significant lean.
Then we headed further south and across the the Afsluitdijk which is the 35 kilometer dyke built in 1932 that keeps out the Waddenzee (with the north east islands between it and the North Sea) and created the Ijssel Meer. We then headed towards Amsterdam and then east and crossed another dyke that divides the Ijssel Meer and the Markermeer, and onto the polders which are the reclaimed land that was created around 65 years ago. We visited the small fishing village of Urk which has a monument to fishermen (and boys as young as ten) lost to the waves (210 of them between 1985 and 1904). A crazy little old town that seemed not to have a straight street, they meandered all over the place but made it very interesting. The street here are usually very narrow and there’s lots of stopping to let the traffic through as there are also parked cars. Even on the roads between the villages it’s tight (particularly out of the towns) and it’s a bit scary driving close to the edge of the road with a canal right next to it just waiting for you to drive in!
Then on to Marknesse to visit Wilfred and enjoyed a nice meal with him. Wilfred visited us 18 months ago and we were able to show him and his friends around Cape Otway. The town was all decked out in bunting (like all the houses had flags and there were lights and signs up everywhere) as they were celebrating the 65th year since the foundation of the town )population 4500). There is a week long party with a fun fair in the middle of town and a town wide volleyball competition with 28 teams (made up from residents from a particular street) that Wilfred’s street won. Then it was back onto the highway for an hours home to Grypskerk through Drachten. We’re all feeling a bit tired and will have an easy day tomorrow.
Off on a bit of a tour of North west Holland today, we started in Dokkum and parked the car next to a bridge over a canal. We’d just got out of the car and made a cup of coffee when a bell rang and the bridge went up. 5 boats came through, a couple of sailing boats and a few power boats and it looked like a nice way to travel. A bunch of old guys were sitting on the water’s edge next to the bridge catching up on the goss, watching the boats go by and enjoying the sunshine. Yes, it’s not raining today, some clouds but pleasantly warm so no need for the umbrella but sunglasses required. Dokkum is nice little village with winding streets and lots of bicycles, canals and little bridges. The people are friendly and it seems that even in little villages there seems to all the necessary requirement to live a good life. The town halls and council offices are generally large and well equipped and there’s always a library and sports/entertainment complex. It would be quite easy to fit right in...
On to Leuwarden and had a wander around the streets there. Parked next to a canal with boats/barges that were being used as houses. They are all connected up to services and had the obligatory bike parked on board and some boots/clogs near the door. Walked round to the Church of St. Boniface and then onto the main shopping strip that went up both sides of the main canal. Saw the town hall, the weighing building and an old tower that had a fair lean on it. I got asked to participate in a survey (for visitors to the city) and let them know that the parking was OK and that the information was OK, but they did need to do some work on providing public conveniences. There is a distinct lack of public toilets in Holland and if you find one you have to pay for the pleasure. It’s a bit sad really, we haven’t even seen many picnic places on the highways either. Seems like they want visitors to go to shops/retaurants and pay for a coffee or a meal and then use the toilets there.
Then onto Franeker and its famous Planetarium (showing the positions and relationships of the planets and moons solar system) built by Eise Eisinga over seven years in his living room. Well, the manifestation and display was painted on and came through the ceiling of his living room, but all the mechanism was above that on the roof cavity. This planetarium has been running non-stop except for a short time when Eise was away (during the French Revolution) and is an amazing piece of work (about 35000 visitors a year). To make the solar system fit in his ceiling he had to make the scale of one millimeter equalling one million kilometers, he was some mathematician. The construction is of wood and steel and there are large disks with 10,000 hand made iron pins in them to act as gears and teeth to make it all work. As well as the current positions of the planets in relationship to each other, there are other dials which show the phases of the moon and time of sunrise and sunset. The mechanism has never been adjusted and all that has to be done is to reset the weights that drive the clock every couple of weeks. Also visited the old town hall and a little building that was built in 1635 on a bridge on the edge of a canal and it also has a significant lean.
Then we headed further south and across the the Afsluitdijk which is the 35 kilometer dyke built in 1932 that keeps out the Waddenzee (with the north east islands between it and the North Sea) and created the Ijssel Meer. We then headed towards Amsterdam and then east and crossed another dyke that divides the Ijssel Meer and the Markermeer, and onto the polders which are the reclaimed land that was created around 65 years ago. We visited the small fishing village of Urk which has a monument to fishermen (and boys as young as ten) lost to the waves (210 of them between 1985 and 1904). A crazy little old town that seemed not to have a straight street, they meandered all over the place but made it very interesting. The street here are usually very narrow and there’s lots of stopping to let the traffic through as there are also parked cars. Even on the roads between the villages it’s tight (particularly out of the towns) and it’s a bit scary driving close to the edge of the road with a canal right next to it just waiting for you to drive in!
Then on to Marknesse to visit Wilfred and enjoyed a nice meal with him. Wilfred visited us 18 months ago and we were able to show him and his friends around Cape Otway. The town was all decked out in bunting (like all the houses had flags and there were lights and signs up everywhere) as they were celebrating the 65th year since the foundation of the town )population 4500). There is a week long party with a fun fair in the middle of town and a town wide volleyball competition with 28 teams (made up from residents from a particular street) that Wilfred’s street won. Then it was back onto the highway for an hours home to Grypskerk through Drachten. We’re all feeling a bit tired and will have an easy day tomorrow.
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