Brugge

22/6

A morning smile is inevitable when we wake fully rested, in the company of our favourite people, anticipating a delicious breakfast and a new adventure on our doorstep!

This time on foot and with raincoat, we set off for the walled & moated compact 11th century medieval town of Brugge - a favourite of the G’s pre-kids & a tourist mecca. 

New for us are many traveling young people in year-end excursion based school groups as well as the newly independent late teen especially from America.  Wil’s theory is that it is all about the chocolate, chips & beer!  Ridiculously pretty canals, mossy walls & bridges and old brick narrow buildings with gables all decorated with coloured or gold piping, like on a cake, are almost common place in the Lowlands but for me, the town’s uniqueness is in the rich historical flavour imparted by the clusters of Begijnhoven and Godshuizen.  

The former are UNESCO listed ‘peace cities’ where widowed, single or religious women live/lived taking vows of poverty - lay sisters.  Originally, widowed women gathered together after their husbands were killed in crusades.  Benedictine nun’s joined them.  The houses are typically brick (as there were no stones to build with here & wood was a fire hazard), about 3 stories high, narrow and whitewashed with modest gables. They encircle large treed ovals with a chapel at one end and themselves are walled.  The Godshuizen were built by the large number of wealthy textile merchant inhabitants of this prosperous city for the less privileged.  

Exquisite soaring spires and towers topped with all the usual gold bits (cocks, mermaids, crosses, ships, horses…) are particularly plentiful presiding over beautiful central markets as well as offering ‘commas’ at the turn of every cobblestoned-bend.  And kitsch as they are, beautiful nags pull tourists around in carriages, their clopping hooves in rhythm with the chiming (up to 47 bells) of the carillons.

The wind, rain, & sun seem to scroll every 5 minutes.  Just bought this morning E5 brollies already buggared after a powerful gust of wind.  In a downpour, Wil seizes on a fritewinkel (chip shop) and we huddle over a mound of (quite ordinary really) fries ‘til the sun comes out again.

In a ‘flooding’ or desensitization session for Jen, we cram as much crap as we can into a few hours and head for Choco-Story.  Yes, there’s a demonstration and tasting of their world famous pralines at the end BUT there’s also a terrific 3 story museum on the story of the cocoa bean & industry.

Homework piece.

We saunter through more tree-lined parks & past ancient romantic canals toward Ed to unwind after another exhausting day as tourists!? Fruit for dinner!

Back at Ed the kids do a quick bit of writing, the adults blog, have a coffee and a read, then the kids venture out to make movies and search for the boat lady’s dog which is hell-bent on killing a rabbit.

After a light dinner of fruit and yoghurt with the evening looking clear blue sky we jump on the bikes to circumnavigate the egg of Brugge.  A stiff cooling breeze at our backs we find the bike path, watch some dumb guy talking on his mobile riding his bike cross a road without looking, get T boned by a car, thrown to the ground, the driver mad by the time he gets out to help the guy because by now the idiot’s standing up still carrying on the phone conversation!  The driver is looking at the dents in the front of the car, we ride by and soon are passed by the same jerk on his bike……...on his phone still! 

Onwards around this immeasurably beautiful/quaint city’s moat/canal and we come to the St Anne Quarter where there’s a line of windmills standing atop dike like hills, 

then as we cross the top of the “egg” we are back on the cobble stones, 

cause of Kel's "Brugge Bottom"

fording pretty little bridges over labyrinths of canals and alleys, dawdled our way a bit extra-egg but then meandered back to the square over the central station with some fantastic sculptures:

The  back into the centre which we found at 2000hrs to be a lot less crowded than earlier - spirits soaring with what we are so fortunate to be taking in.

Brugge Belfry

The wind (and TomTom in my pocket a la Tom Thumb) took us home to Eddie for a wipe-wash and a read and a very contented zizz.  Left the bikes out anticipating a morning raid on egg central for a coffee/hot choc.

23/6

Gorgeous sunny (always windy) morning - in no rush. The only sounds are tinkling boat mast moored on the canal outside our ‘upstairs’ bedroom window. Poor Jeff’s rib is sufficiently irritating to prohibit a pre-breakfast run so I head off alone. The early morning gives a very different glimpse of the cosy town cocooned by circumferential tall rustling poplars & water before us tourists swell the place to bursting and strip it’s true quiet character.  A few enticing wee attic windows are pushed open a fraction letting puffs of wind billow out their lace curtains.  It’s so pretty, ancient and important that it seems incredible and even strange that ordinary people with real lives occupy these heritage homes.  Sometimes I miss the routine, easy nooks of home with my slippers & dressing gown and kitchen.  I amuse at how one of the things I anticipate returning to on these long trips is cooking!  If I peer through homely windows on my runs and see folk mooching about, coffee mug in hand, stabs of intense envy pierce me right in the middle. Anyway, the run is incredible with such charming paths and scenery.  I return to my indescribably precious family who greet with with rumpled, pink cheeks and doey morning eyes.  I couldn’t be luckier.

After our delicious breakfast & coffee and an enjoyable session of maths, we cycle to the markets picking up wurst, dried fruit & buckles for the camera bag.  Like a magnet, the town centre pulls us back in for a last look and a hot Belgian chocolate before we climb in our magical bus for yet another adventure.  The cows are fatter & bigger, the roads are as bad as QLD outback tracks, there are no criss-crossing waterways/canals/ditches & there’s an amazing fine yellow-green grassy crop with small purple flower atop that is so fluorescent in colour that it almost hurts to look at it.  Must find out what it is.

Madurodam - little Netherlands, an into Belgium

21/6 a day at Madurodam

Awoke to a fine, warm morning in Delft and headed out for a family exercise with mum running ahead around the lake, dad walking (nursing sore rib) with the kids on their bikes conjuring stories of the Beany Kid vs Dutch Fairy running relay around the lake.

After breakfast al fresco style we headed off to Madurodam near the centre of The Hague, along swirling superhighways that fully disorientate you as they spin and dip and incline - the IPhone Tom Tom screen looks like a kiddy drawing with intersecting circles everywhere.

Madurodam in Scheveningen (that’s a tough one to pronounce for Aussies) is an   entertaining interactive small scale model depiction of Netherland’s highlights focussing on man’s contribution esp in engineering innovations to keep the water out.

Maeslant Dam

Schipol Airport

Wouda Germaal!  world's biggest functioning steam engine

Amster Dam

Some things we learnt:

Dutch invented so much - telescope, microscope, the cassette tape and the compact disc (Phillips), they export expertise in engineering, design and architecture, in fact their biggest export product.

They are the biggest exporters of vegetables in the world, and sell 45 million flowers/day!

Of the iconically Dutchie foods tourists love the choc sprinkles on bread most and raw herring with onion the least, the opposite of Jen!

They are a real cycling nation - the 1st fietspad (cycle path) was built in 1882 in Utrecht.  There are more bikes than people and the vast majority of trips < 4km are done on bikes - c’mon Aussies!

Kel relished all the little things, Wil loved the doing things and overall it was an apt way to spend our last day in this very fine country that has surprised us in so many ways - we love it!

From Madurodam the plan was to head south to the Oosterscheldedam’s haringvlietslius which is a daring engineering feat that has largely locked out the furious sea but allows the gentle ocean in to maintain the ecosystem.  9km long, a dam in the ocean, 3km of which retracts upwards to allow the tidal movement, except when it gets angry, then they just shut it out by lowering the walls.  Drove over it, noticed a beach to our right on the North Sea which was crowded with people despite the heavily over cast sky and near gale force winds - those Dutchies do get out! 

Just kept on driving through a tunnel under the sea where on the other side, TomTom directed down a bunch of small country lanes. Wil noticed that all the number plates had a B on them - we were in Belgium!

Noticed 2 more things - the roads are rubbish (spoiled in Holland) and the skies opened up - the rain hammered down for our last 45 min into Brugge where we stopped in a council ‘aire’ for the night, Jen cooked a Tandoori fish (fantastic) and we planned our walking (Wil dissents and wants to ride) tour of Brugge tomorrow, the centre of which is only 2km away.  Nice community motorhome stop amongst trees and on banks of large canal full of expensive boats.  Oh and how long will we stay in Belgium??  A few days?  Maybe a few weeks.

De Hoge Veluwe NP, Kroller-Muller Museum and Delft

Out of Amsterdam Tom-Tom a-la-iPhone app says De Hoge Veluwe is 1 hour 15 away.  Our drive changes as the vast, worked delta plains grow more undulous and forest & trees obscure our distant vision. Ahhh. We arrive at the Hoenderloo entrance to the De Hoge Veluwe NP, the camping area has a plush facility block (spanking new feat of architecture), nice campsites spread around a meadow hemmed by trees, no sound but the birds, no smell but the clean air and sprucey foddery whiff of the forest undergrowth, outside the camp a large depot of the famous “witte fietsen” - free white bikes for visitors to the park.

We settle in to the site, cook a Poitke on the BBQ with a beer and a Vat69 (paid dearly for that!), wash up, wipe wash APC’s, and a long read into the extended dusk.

dice roll:

Jeff (natural wonder) - hard question! “God created the world; the Dutch created Holland”

Wil (man-made wonder) - De Hoge Veluwe National Park.  Nederlands largest.  It’s lush and green with the sounds of birds and contrasts strongly to The Dam

Kel (worst part) - there wasn’t one really but there was a badly worked up older lady who growled at me in the traffic on a crossing in the city.

Jen (best saying) - “infactually,” Wil’s neologism

18/6

A lazy slow wake-up, all dressed for exercise but a storm rolls in & we jump back into bed!  Thunder, lightning and brief heavy rain with puddles gathering ominously around us - concern about Eddie’s feet getting stuck in the mud.  Reassured however by the toilet block cleaner who says the storm will pass, the sun will shine at 10, and for the rest of the day, and the water will run away as we are sitting on sand!  And he was dead right!

Post breakfast and school, (Wil relishing his maths and getting so much more confident) we jumped on the bikes and headed out into the wilderness of trees and grassland, the riding so easy on a well maintained bitumen fietspad that winds it’s way through the trees, birds chirping all round, even over the odd undulation, the wide open spaces with nature as far as the eye can see harks comfortably to our own beloved land.  We treadle to the visitor centre in the middle of the park where countless school kids are parading about on the witte fietsen as their teachers try in vain to rein them into some order.  We see yet another Dutch bicycle invention - actually a bike that pedaled by an able bodied person pushes a wheel chair in front - naffy!

The visitor center impresses us yet again with it’s extremely well displayed depiction of the “nature” of the park.  In fact the story of it’s creation under the influence of the glaciers from the north in the last ice age, then the widely destructive influence of man over the last 2000 years, predominantly through farming.  Essentially they sucked it dry of nutrients on purpose!  They used sheep to do this.  They allowed the sheep to feed on the grasslands during the day, then brought them in at night to an area where they could collect the dung, which they transported to another area to grow better crops.  They ended up with a barren wasteland of sand (AKA a desert) which they tried to plough into the ground (unsuccessfully), then the winds spread it all about.  On top of that any tree that fell was quickly removed as they thought the fungi and insects that gathered on decaying trees was bad!  So the whole ecosystem was thwarted.

Then the Kroller-Muller husband and wife team turned up in the mid late 1800’s and bought the place.  They set about rehabilitating it and the result is ostensibly to our eyes a beautiful area of natural beauty, even if it is all at the hands of humankind.  (silly computer told me to write, “humankind” rather than “mankind”!)

Mrs Kroller-Moller became an avid art buyer and amassed a truly spectacular collection with the assistance of her wealthy industrialist husband.  Unfortunately they ran out of dough in the Depression and to safeguard her collection she donated it to the Dutch Govt on the condition they build a museum in the grounds of De Hoge Veluwe to house it.  Naturally they donated the farm too.

A coffee in the restaurant while the kids enjoy the adventure ground, then back on bikes we pedaled homeward with Wil deviating to bike-summit the hillocks and Kel keeping dad occupied with splendidly detailed stories of BK Land and it’s occupants.

Late lunch, mum for a run, dad for a 45 min bike thrash, kids spent a few hours playing around the park and riding witte fietsen, 

witte fietsen

leftover dinner and a shower, a long read for all.  It did stay fine and sunny all day, and the puddles did quickly soak through the sand to the water table below.

Tues 19/6

That rib is broken, bad sleep with pain very similar but not as bad as post segway adventure - no more 10BX or runs for a while.

Parental walk/chat (while the kids read) on a fine sunny morning through the open prairie like pastures, the mist lifting, spotted a bambi and a woodpecker, hankerings for the open spaces of home where the heart sings sweetly. Forgot how much we were missing it - more evidence of human adjustability.

Shower, routine but as ever awesome muesli/fruit/yoghurt breakfast with a mocha pot coffee, then some school (Kel a maths test) and onto the Witte Fietsen for a treadle to the Kroller-Muller art gallery.  The kids insisted on trying the Dutchie bikes and they are very comfortable, sitting tall with physiological lumbo-pelvic and cervico-thoracic angles.  And unbelievably soft, cushioned seats.  No gears, just foot brakes, a baby seat for the camera and backpack - easy riding!  Pedaled the path through the forest and vlei to the museum.

Entered the Kroller-Muller Museum which turned out to be one of the finest art experiences we have ever had.  

Magnificent setting, great building, incredible collection of pieces - the 2nd biggest Van Gogh collection after the Amsterdam Van Gogh.  Wil identified his favourite and sat down to complete a wee project,

you pop around a corner into the next small room and there’s another Vincent in the corner showing up all the more modern pretenders. Wil reckons Vincent is so full of engaging symbolism whilst the other stuff is”fed to you”. There’s also Renoir, Picasso, Signac, Seurat….. and then the sculptures, some indoors, most out, check out the swan who cruises elegantly with the breeze about his wee lake:

And how about this planker Mr Dicicco - kick your butt!

The Plank

And these white rocks, apparently viewed from above it’s a man, but no-one gets to see it from there!

Wandered the 65 hectare garden lapping up everything there was to see

funny lizard

This is a sculpture

Then browsed the shop with a great collection of art books for sale, had a snack at the restaurant, and back on the fietsen for a dawdle home via the De Wet memorial (some Dutch General who led the Boers against the Brits), 

the house (actually a holiday shack the Kroller-Mullers built for themselves) 

and the Foxgloves.

Back at the campground decided to stay another night, showered up, ‘stick’ salad for dinner and another long read. 

Wed 29/6

oldies mount the bikes in silence and scoot off in the soft colours of a new day for a ~ 1 hour+ fast ride through the length of the park whilst the babes sleep. It feels like  Africa but for all the swooping fietspads and lack of game.

Breakfast is even sweeter with a growling post exercise stomach and following a warm shower that leaves the muscles gently tingly.

Quick maths and off to Delft via the supermarket. We’re becoming expert at setting up, quickly getting the relevant low down and town maps before we ‘case’ the joint. A beautiful day shows off one of Holland’s finest canal towns. Johannes Vermeer painted his "Girl with the Pearl Ear-ring" here.  Many scenes from the 2003 film make it familiar.  Several enormous, wonky church spires topped with gold balls, cocks or crosses grace the rich open squares.  

Delft canal

After trickling about for a pleasurable hour or so, we head back to camp to wash clothes and join the growing masses of  European summer- holiday makers in ...a pool!

Internet facilities allow a bit of research, e-mailing and blogging before our treasured tradition of reading in bed.

Amsterdam again

15/6

No sun today, just light then heavy rain.  Inspired by news of John Dicicco finishing his first half marathon in incredible style as well as the example of tough, go-get-it Dutchies, we get the hell out of our cosy beds and go for a run.

A last, sad coffee with Paul & Judith.  They have been unbelievably generous with their time and friendship.  Great people.

No school today as we do a grocery shop, re-fuel and head back to Amsterdam (the only city/town we have visited twice this year!)- and TomTom to speak to a human face to face.

Jeff has found a really handy location at Camp Vleigenbos in North Amsterdam this time. Whilst it’s cleaner and smells of the nearby city park rather than pot, it still tells of A’dam’s drug troubles as evidenced by the UV blue lighting in the toilet block making it harder to see veins.

on the punt to Amsterdam Centraal

We jump on the bikes and catch the free ferry across to Centraal Station and spend the rest of the afternoon in theTomTom waiting room to learn……... they can’t do anything, it’s not their area, the devices are fixed at another location, they don’t have the authority to replace a device, they are not retailers and don’t hold any hardware…...GRRRRRR!  Large company group evil.  Actually they admitted that they just put it aside when they received it, didn’t log the job in and have only just started working on it - nice of them to be honest. 

  

16/6

Jammed in campsite, very noisy night - so much easier in Ed than Cozza in these situations. Nonetheless, we ask to move away from driveway a bit in the morning.

With much greater confidence in crowds today, we take the ferry across to The Dam & the Van Gogh museum. 

Some harbour pics:

The line up is impressive but for a moment the sun is shining so all is well. In a large, concrete block building we, together with thousands of others, saw his Peasant Meal series and more from his period in Arles and thereafter as well as the art of others he has influenced subsequently. So much painted in just 10 yrs and he only sold 1 painting in his lifetime.  I must say, the surroundings & conditions of the museum did less for my appreciation of his art than our previous viewings in the magnificent Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

The nearby Albert Cuypmarkt beckoned for an impromptu lunch of cheese, warm mixed nuts, dark nutty bread and juicy purple grapes.  Also cluttering the 100 year old outrageously busy market are souvenirs, flowers, clothing, the ever-present sex trade of sorts, bong shops… 

Amsterdam's answer to carbon issues

Wil’s dead keen to finish off with a typical Dutchie stroopwaffel (a thin, warm circular waffle sandwich smeared with gooey caramel syrup).  I cleanse the palate with a chunky whole smoked harring….mmmm!

With the sun still high at 1700, we took the slow road home past the flower markets full of stacks, racks and hanging sacks of bulbs, bent houses & bent people and through a strangely ordered chaos marveling at an impressive range different hair styles & accents. Chirpy, cute and highly complicated little tunes ring out from clusters of various sized bells in church spires that always make me look around for buskers with triangles & percussion.

Jeff (nong) stops to buy some scotch, riding out of the carpark of the shopping centre, 1 litre bottle in front left coat pocket, camera on back, sees a car zipping in off the road towards him, instinctively (back in Oz) swerves to the left and the car swerves to it’s right, near collision, Jeff swerves harder and skids landing on left rib cage on the camera, left hand still clutching the scotch - scotch intact, camera fine, rib re-broken or just badly bruised, ego in tatters!  All witnessed by Wil who says “dad the way you protected that bottle of scotch suggests you may have a problem” - and it’s Vat69!

17/6

The sun is peeking through but the wind is roaring.  No school or exercise today as we’ve planned a busy last day in A’dam. First stop, an enthralling and thoroughly educational visit to the Sheepvaartmuseum.  An almost theatrical display (short films orientated around the lives of 7 typical folk, great information panels, wonderful models and pictures of the naval fleet, 

Nice ship

a life sized outdoor replica of The Amsterdam about the Golden Age tells the impressive yarn of the VOC. 

The Amsterdam

harbour plan

The Little Dutchie Kib

The Nemo (kids science museum)

The Dutchies both positively & negatively, touched almost every continent in the world trading people, ideas & goods and filling in our knowledge of the globe & one-another. In the 17th century, The United Republic of the Nederlands was known as the ‘warehouse of the world’ and because it didn’t choose to feed an expensive monarchy and consumed less than it traded, became very, very wealthy.

VOC Stuff (Golden Age, 1602-1798), by Wilsen Conn

The success of the Dutch VOC (United East India Company - Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) probably owed to how much water the Dutch had and their skill in boat making.

They also had a mentality that was unique with voluntary poverty, choosing to trade most and consume least - thus grow their wealth instead of squandering it. 

On top of all of this, they also became the best globe-makers and cartographers. 

In the 17th century Amsterdam was the biggest port in the world and to this day is the 4th largest.

They traded through Russia Turkey and the Baltic, which brought them immense wealth.

The Dutch also created different boats for different purposes, such as the Baltic boat which was narrow and thus attracted less tax. There was also the classic Flute, which had a rounded front and hardly ever ran aground. It could also carry a lot of cargo.

Who founded New York? The Dutch. It was called ‘New Amsterdam‘ before the English took it.

The Dutch also brought Africans to America through slave trading. In fact(tually), they traded 500000 slaves between Brazil, Spain, America and England.

They traded in their produce in Brazil for sugar and nuts, (did you know brazil was named after the nut, not the other way round?) which were worth a fortune.

In 1602 they had a monopoly with Asia, as no-one else was allowed to trade with the East

There was a critical VOC trade route triangle between America, Africa and the Netherlands which consisted of slaves, sugar and tobacco.

Because of all the Dutch wealth, wars started at sea. Pirates slaughtered crews of Dutch ships and the English and Spanish attacked.

Slaves were often taken from Africa to Holland to be servants, and then shipped back because they would die in the cold.

These Dutch pursuits definitely helped form a national identity as cunning tradesmen with naval expertise, a historical presence in every continent and a language for clearing one’s throat.

In the early 1800s corruption finally saw the company become bankrupt. Strangely, the VOC name & trademark was bought by the Wright family in Margaret River,Australia in 1995.

                                                        

Wiser and invigorated, we make for the centre of this addictive town to track down a traveling reading stash at an English book store & have a last crazy coffee. Serendipity has it that as we walk into the book store, a captivating title beneath the cashier desk grabs my eye - ” The Dutch and their Delta” ...AND the author, Jacob Vossestein, happens to be upstairs for a book signing……..NOW!  We pop upstairs for a chat with this amazing ex-geography teacher.  What a privilege.

Back through the throngs of people, blindly pushing on in their own pursuits, maneuvering our bikes in our customary line through the tiniest potential gaps.

Relieved, we make it back to Ed.  And it’s Sunday.

The Dam on 1 fine Sunday afternoon

AMSTERDAM (by Wilsen Conn)

Slosh slosh slosh. The sound of the water soothed him. It washed through his head like a silk cloth, dabbing away at his troubles and stress.

‘Woah! Watch it matey!’ Someone called down to him, he had nearly rammed their boat.

‘Sorry!’ He smiled and payed attention to the waterway, navigating the city he knew so well.
As he passed the red light section, he smiled to hear that same American guy advertising. 

Every thing was so familiar. 

He passed by a bakery, and sniffed the air with delight, the warm smell of fresh bread made his stomach growl. 

He passed under a big public bridge, and chuckled at the absolute chaos. 

Cars screaming round the corner and reversing, bikes ringing their bells and angry yells of pedestrians.

Somewhere nearby, church bells started ringing out a sweet little tune and market store owners shouted the price of their produce.

Some crazy guys in a rickshaw yelled at a little family of four to speed up, and a guy on a motorbike revved his engine so loud the cobblestones shook.

Lots of people from tourists to homeless lounged on the grass in front of a statue.

He passed under a bridge and into the lush green part of the city. 

The birds chirped and frogs burped. The wind rustled the leaves and two kids laughed with delight on a flying fox. 

This was definitely his favourite part of the city.

It smelled fresh and... foresty after the recent rain.

He tied his boat to a jetty and jumped out. He found a bench and settled down to read.

When he finally got up, he checked his watch and jumped. 

He sprinted back to the boat, untied it and revved the electric motor, shooting off down the canal.

It was getting dark now, and Amsterdam is very different by night.

He shot past light neon signs, alleys with drunken shouts coming out and a throng of customers outside the red light section theatre.

He nearly smashed his boat on a big houseboat slowly chugging up the canal and swerved to avoid another. 

He muttered a quick ‘sorry’ and reaccelerated.

He moored his boat at his private jetty outside his house and practically sprung inside, savouring the peace and quiet.

He slowly got into his PJs, ate a quick dinner and flopped down into bed.