Sunday in Amsterdam

No trip to Holland would be complete without a visit to Amsterdam. While the city is not huge there is a lot to do there and we really only scratched the surface during our day-long adventure.

The two main stops for us were the Anne Frank museum and the Amsterdam Historical museum, both very good, although the history museum surely exceeded expectations. We spent the rest of the day taking a canal boat tour and a walk around the center of town. Somehow we managed to avoid the red light district and the 'window shops'.

We were all impressed with the large number of canals, generally clean streets and alleys, and the public transportation system which was fairly easy to figure out, especially after going the wrong way once or twice!



Cora and the Anne Frank statue.
















Relaxing on the boat ride along the canals.




A view of Amsterdam harbor.

Art in the Rain in Veluwe

Our first full day in the Netherlands was spent at the Palais Het Loo near Appeldoorn and the Hoge Veluwe National Park, both just a few kilometers from our holiday park. After a trip to the market in the pouring rain we found the Het Loo outside of Appeldoorn, one of the former residences of William of Orange. It was a beautiful palace, garden and stables all restored and preserved in their original state. Outside there was even a tree painted orange in honor of the ruling family.

Hoge Veluwe is a large (for the Netherlands, rather small for anyone from the states) national park which surrounds the Kroller Muller Museum, an art museum devoted to unique works including those of Vincent van Gogh. The museum includes a large number of outdoor pieces of art which can only be described as 'very interesting'!

We finished up the day with a bike ride through a driving rainstorm and all got very wet. For the record, Elizabeth wanted to bike more while both kids said no way!



Mom in the gardens at Palais Het Loo, a hunting lodge (aka palace) used by William or Orange (aka William III King of England and the Netherlands).






Cora and Jacques at the Kroller Muller Museum.

Getting very wet while riding the free white bikes through Hoge Veluwe National Park.

Hitting the road in Holland

This past week we added another European country to our visit list with a week-long stay in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is Europe's most densely populated country and it exhibited this fact every day we spent on the highway - lots of traffic and slow travel. Our accommodation was in eastern Holland near Appledoorn and Arnhem at the Berkhorst travel resort park, a 120 cabin complex with a nice pool (free unlimited use, seen below) and some other activities, all of which were not included in the base price. All meals were eaten in at our efficiency 'flat' where we also availed ourselves of fine Dutch television programming!

Overall we had a great week and the weather, while a bit nippy, was pleasant more often than not. More pictures of our actual travels will follow.




Cora at the pool













Owen splashes down.














Outside our 'bunker' apartment in the park.