When I told Otto that I wanted to celebrate my 78th birthday in Alphen with him and his family, he said, ok then I will pick you up from Backershagen and we can visit some flower fields on our way to Alphen. First we had a cup of coffee in my apartment and we exchanged (alcoholic) birthday presents, as his birthday had been one week earlier. He gave me a nice Glen Talloch whisky glass with my nickname Kwai Loh Stuivenberg engraved in it. Click on the right photo. The glass should be filled with whisky to make the inscription better readable, but tt was too early to start drinking ;-_)
We made a detour through the “Bollenstreek” on our way to Alphen, and saw quite a few hyacinth and tulip fields, although the main season had not yet arrived. It was Easter holiday, quite a few tourists. Officially it is not allowed the walk inside the flower fields, but not everybody followed this rule.
We arrived in Alphen around lunchtime. Here are two pictures of the family house, front and back. I was not born in this house but spent my youth there, until I went to Amsterdam to study. Many memories.
Of course the interior has changed over the years. We had a festive Easter brunch with Nina and two of their sons, Aswin and Xander..
The garden in front of the house in a kind of Japanese style is beautiful and often admired by passersby
After lunch Otto and I drove and walked around in Alphen. We visited the cemetery, where our parents have been buried We took some time to clean their grave and plant some new shrubs.
Just a few snapshots of places in Aphen. Left the Hefbrug, right a view of the Old Rhine river
Left the Nutsgebouw,(1894), during my school days I have watched my first movies there. Right the modern city hall (2003)
From 1955 until 1961 I was a student at the Christelijk Lyceum in Alphen. The school has moved to another location long ago, but the building is still there. Right the entrance through which I must have passed numerous time. Nostalgia.
Some more pictures. I don’t know the background of the artwork at the left. The right statue is the war memorial for WWII. It was a beautiful spring day.
Finally we had a look at the countryside around Alphen. The countryside of my youth, I still find it quite attractive.
Back home Nina had prepared a delicious meal. Xander, one of my nephews, has recently started playing the flute and showed us the progress he had made.
Just before I left, Pascal, the oldest son, arrived and of course a picture had to be taken of me with my three nephews. Aswin (left) and Xander (right) are identical twins, for many years I could not distinguish between them. Now slowly there are some differences.
I went back to Backershagen by train. A very nice day.
I went by train to Utrecht where I met my friend Yolanda at the station. The plan was to have lunch and then walk around in the town a bit. Yolanda had chosen a nice place for lunch, the Landhuis in de Stad (Country house in Town). From the station we walked about twenty minutes, passed a windmill and a nice bridge. It was a beautiful day.
It was a pleasant restaurant with good food and a friendly service. Many people had their food outside in the garden, but I preferred with my “tropical blood” to sit inside.
After our lunch we walked back to the town center. We passed an impressive building, the former location of the Royal Dutch Mint and again the windmill, actually a sawmill, Houtzaagmolen De Ster ..It was a peaceful walk
To reach the center of the old town, we had to pass the Hoog Catherijne shopping center.. The left photo shows this center with the Catherijnesingel. In 1970 this waterway was filled in to create a motorway, but recently it has been restored. The right photo is taken inside the shopping center, the water of the singel is flowing under it, and part of the floor is glass. Very nice design.
When I mentioned to my ex-colleague Rene that I would visit Utrecht, he told me that I must visit the Public Library, housed in the former Main Post office of Utrecht. So that is what we did. Utrecht is an attractive town, I visited the town a few years ago: Utrecht, 2019 .Notice the original way of building a canal-bike 😉
Passing the Oude Gracht (left), we reached the Neude square in the town center. with the Public Library. The Main Post Office was completed in 1924 and designed in Amsterdam School style by architect Crouwel. The post office was closed in 2011.
The central hall of what is now the Public Library is breathtaking. On one wall a gigantic clock, on the other wall the Royal Coat of Arms
Beautiful statues and decorations.
Free access, you can just pick a book from the shelves, sit down and read or study
You can charge your mobile by cycling ;-). Right a collection of old phones.
After spending quite some time in the library. Yolanda brought me back to the station. Here are some very typical Dutch pictures. Bicycles everywhere and a public urinal
In 2015 I visited Alkmaar after my brother Arie and his wife Ineke had moved there. I wrote a report about this visit. During our city walk I discovered a few buildings in Art Nouveau/Art Deco style. This time I tried to explore more. Using the Internet I had found several interesting locations, marked on this Google Earth map.
I arrived by train and started from the station. First destination was the Wilhelmina School in the Doelenstraat, built in 1903 in Art Nouveau style. Taking pictures in narrow streets is not easy, but I managed to take a close-up of a tile panel in Art Nouveau style.
Next stop was at a former coal shed at the Kanaalkade and a former cheese warehouse at the Houttil. Both designed by the Alkmaar architect P.N. Leguit in 1908 and 1905 respectively. Of course they are now used for a different purpose. The right picture shows an Art Nouveau detail of the cheese warehouse.
Then it was time for lunch. It was still a bit chilly, but I found a nice terrace where I had a “broodje kroket” , a typical Dutch snack.
Next I went to the Tourist Office (VVV), housed in the Waag to ask whether they had more information about Art Nouveau or Art Deco buildings in Alkmaar. They did not. The traditional cheese market would only start later in the year, but a friendly volunteer took a picture of me as a “cheese bearer”. Already quite a number of tourists.
I continued my walk to the former department store of V&D, completed in 1927, Amsterdam School style with Art Deco details.
Het Kasteeltje (The Little Castle) was built in 1901 and is probably the most striking example of Art Nouveau architecture in Alkmaar. A real gem, here seen from across the Nieuwlandersingel.
Here a few details of this beautiful building.
The main destination for my walk was the Nieuwlandersingel. Along this “singel there is a concentration of capital villas, built in the beginning of the 20th century.
Not easy to take good photos. Here are a few facades
And here are some details of Hofdijkstraat 2, corner of the Nieuwlandersingel, a villa built in 1907 in Art Nouveau style
The Emmakwartier , behind the Nieuwlandersingel, was the first neighbourhood built outside the city walls in 1890. Until then it was not allowed by law to build outside the city walls! Many beautiful mansions in this quarter, Here are some pictures
At the end of this architecture walk I walked back to the city center for another snack and a glass of wine.
During my visits to the Netherlands my friend Inez and I always try to organise an outing. Sometimes a longer trip, like in 2018 to Brugge, this time a day trip, with a mixed destination.
A former colleague of us is now living in Slikkerveer, a small village not far from Rotterdam. Piet and his wife Helma invited us to visit them and suggested that we should combine it with an excursion to the world-famous windmills of Kinderdijk . After lunch they would show us some modern architecture in Rotterdam.
Inez and I met at Amsterdam Central and took the train to Rotterdam. It was tulip season and from the train we saw several flower fields.
Left picture: The façade of Rotterdam Central Station, an interesting modern building. Almost all railway stations in the Netherlands have rental bicycles, simple sturdy models. Not easy for me, because I am used to hand brakes and these had coaster brakes (terugtraprem in Dutch, I had to Google for the English word).
It was beautiful weather, with our bikes we cycled to the river Maas and used the Waterbus to go to Kinderdijk. Here is a picture of the Waterbus, no idea why a Dutch bus should be named Blue Amigo.
The waterbus is part of the Dutch public transport system and a very nice way of traveling in Rotterdam. Left the iconic Erasmus bridge, right the Willems bridge.
On our way we passed a very unusual ship: Noah’s ark, built by a fundamentalist Christian businessman, who believed in the literal truth of the Bible.. Years ago I visited an exhibition on this ship, an amazing experience. Now temporarily closed, final destination Israel;
We left the bus in Alblasserdam and soon passed the first windmills of Kinderdijk. There are a total of 19 windmills, built to pump water out the low-lying Alblasserwaard polder into the rivers, World-famous and I had never visited them!
With the blue sky the windmills are a photographer’s delight. Some are still operational, although their work has been taken over by modern diesel pumps.
There is a visitor center where we had coffee.
When I talked about Kinderdijk with family and friends, everybody knew about the famous windmills, but almost nobody had actually visited them! I will go again with Aric on our next Europe trip.
From the visitor center a ferry took us back in a few minutes to Slikkerveer. Piet and Helma are living in a former warehouse of Smit Slikkerveer, now transformed into spacious apartments
We got a hearty welcome, were shown around in their loft and had a nice lunch.
After lunch they joined us with their bikes on the Waterbus back to Rotterdam. We passed many modern buildings on our way. Left the Headquarters of Unilever BV (2007), right the iconic building De Rotterdam (2013).
We parked our bikes at the Veerhaven and walked around.
This is the Parklaanflat (1933) one of the earliest examples of a stacked building, with (in this case seven) luxury apartments one above the other.. Now we are used to apartment buildings but then it was a novelty. Right the monumental entrance.
We continued to the entrance of the Maastunnel (1937-1942) . Left one of the ventilation buildings, right the entrance for pedestrians and cyclists. Beautiful expressionist architecture.
Piet had been using the tunnel often when he was a teenager, and was eager to show me around.
After we had explored the tunnel it was time for a beer.
After our beer we decided to call it a day, although Piet and Helma said there was much more to see. We have to come back. Here is a last view of the Rotterdam skyline.
Cycling back to the station we passed the Depot of the Boymans van Beuningen museum. Spectacular with its reflecting walls.
fThe Boymans is closed for renovation, the Depot should be interesting to visit. In the reflection you can see Inez and me in the center 😉
As it was getting a bit late we decided to have a beer with some snack food before taking the train. Near to the pub we saw this controversial work of art, called Santa Clause, but commonly called ……… by Rotterdam people. Find out for yourself.
It was a rewarding trip, full of variety. Here is a Google Earth screenshot, where I have marked the various points of interest.
On 30 March I flew from Malaysia to the Netherlands, I wrote a report about it: Perdana View => Backershagen I stayed in the Netherlands six weeks in which I visited family and friends and took more than 1000 photos. It will take time to write posts about the trip, the first one in three years! On 11 May I flew back and I decided to write a (short) post about it, mainly about the rules and regulations related to COVID-19.
When I booked my trip in February, Malaysia was planning to reopen its borders, which they did on 1 April. The new rules were: a negative PCR test, less than 48 hours before departure, a negative Antigen test within 24 hours after arrival and 5 days in home quarantine. Acceptable for me, although of course I was not happy with the PCR condition, as it meant that I could only be sure that I could fly, one day before departure.
So I was really relieved when the Malaysian government announced that from 1 May, the two tests and the quarantine were no longer needed. Only proof of full vaccination and you needed to have the Mysejathera app installed on your mobile. This app contains all your vaccination details and for my flight I had to create a Traveller Card in the app. Which I did.
Of course I still had to limit my luggage to less than 12 kg. And I had to clean the flat (and the fridge) in Backershagen, as it would be empty for many months. Left picture, doing the last laundry, right picture, collecting my stuff.
KLM advised to come to the airport at least three hours before departure, because of extra COVID checks. As usual my brother Pim brings me to the airport and after checking in we have coffee and a snack. But not this time. At the check-in counter I was told that I had to proceed through security check and passport control to gate E1 where they would check my Covid documents and issue a sticker. Also they only could give me a boarding pass for the flight to Singapore. There I had to go to a transit counter and get a boarding pass for the connecting flight to KL. Fortunately they were willing, after some discussion, to check in my cabin bag and take it straightaway to KL. Flying is no more what it was before 😉
So I had to wave goodbye to Pim from a distance. At the E1 counter officials were checking whether I was fully vaccinated and had a Traveller Card. As I was early, there were only a few people queueing. I got my sticker and they told me the departure gate, E9. Finally I could relax with a Cappuccino and a brownie.
When I passed E1 again on my way to the gate, there was a big queue with slow processing. Good that I had been so early 😉
It was a full flight, continuing to Indonesia after Singapore. At the airport and in the plane face masks were still compulsory.
After take off at 9:45 pm, dinner was served. No first round of drinks anymore, and no cognac with the coffee. One ridiculous detail, there was an announcement asking passengers to remove their masks only after everyone in a row had been served.
New for me was that passengers had access to WIFI during the flight. Full access for a fee, but one hour texting was free. So I used WhatsApp to text a friend, I am now flying over Rumania!
I was worrying a bit how to get the boarding card for the connecting flight. But when we exited the plane in Singapore, a lady was waiting with this paper in her hand. She guided us to the terminal and transit counter where again my documents were checked and a second sticker was put on my passport.
The flight to KL takes only about 45 minutes.
I was wondering what kind of COVID-control Malaysia would have at the KLIA airport. The answer: nothing at all. Apparently the checking in Amsterdam and Singapore, resulting in two sticker, were enough. Surprising.
There were long queues at Immigration, but there was a special counter for Diplomats and MM2H passengers, with only a few people waiting.. And I didn’t have to wait long for my luggage!
KLIA arrival hall was rather desolate looking.
The whole procedure was so fast, that I had to wait a few minutes for Aric. On our way back we stopped for food, my favourite hokkien mee. In the middle my passport wit the two stickers. And to the right a photo that shows me, tired but happy: Back home.
There are two places I call home, Perdana View in Petaling Jaya and Backershagen in Amsterdam. Most of the time I live in Malaysia, once or twice a year I stay for a couple of weeks in the Netherlands. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic it was almost three years ago that I visited the Netherlands. In the picture below the apartments are indicated with an X, left Perdana View, right Backershagen.
In February I decided to book a trip to the Netherlands from 30 March until 11 May. I was fully vaccinated, including a booster shot. The Netherlands were opening their borders and Malaysia was planning to do the same. I only needed a negative PCR-test, taken less than 48 hours before my planned departure.
The weekend of 20 March I had visited Taiping, see my report Taiping, March 2022. On the last day of my visit I had been in close contact with a Covid-infected friend and although I should be immune, I was a bit worried, so I did an antigen self test, which was negative. Still I was nervous when on 28 March I went to my GP for the PCR test. Relieved when I received the negative result the next morning. Left the antigen test, right the PCR test
Because of the uncertainty, I only started packing after I received the negative test result, one day before departure! When I booked my ticket, I expected that, being a KLM frequent flyer, I was entitled to one piece of cargo luggage (23 kg) free of charge. But my level was too low, so I could only bring 12 kg cabin luggage. I managed to take only essential stuff, of course I had warm clothes in Amsterdam. The last evening I could relax in our roof garden 😉
In the past KLM had a direct flight from KLIA to Schiphol airport, but nowadays I first had to fly to Singapore. When I booked my ticket, I had a Singapore Airline flight to Singapore (20:40-21:50) with a connecting KLM flight (23:35 – 06:50). Perfect, less than a 2 hour transit in Singapore.
But a few days before departure KLM rescheduled my flight “for operational reasons” Departure from KL at 2pm with Jetstar Asia and from Singapore with KLM at 23:05, resulting in about 8 hours transit in Singapore. How to spend that time? The departure of the KLM flight half an hour earlier was probably the reason, to change the connecting flight from KLIA.
We left Perdana View early at 10 am and that was a good decision because KLM had not notified me that the Jetstar Asia flight would not depart from KLIA but from KLIA2, the former Low Cost Terminal. Nearby KLIA, but still a hassle for us and a bad move of KLM.
I was pleasantly surprised by the service of Jetstar. I think they were not used yet to KLM travelers. They decided to accept my cabin bag as cargo luggage and directly transfer it to Schiphol, so I didn’t have to carry it around in Singapore. I had to show my negative PCR test, that was all. There was time enough for a nasi lemak 😉 Passing Malaysian immigration was smooth.
When boarding started, they invited me to came forward first, for the first time in my life I entered an empty plane. And during the short flight (less than one hour) I was one of the few passengers who got a muffin and a bottle of water. Kudos for Jetstar
Thorough fogging of the plane and not a full flight.
In Changi airport I noticed the departure time of 23:05. Eight hours to spend. I had visited Changi Airport in 2019, admired the famous Jewel, but now I was in transit. However there are an amazing lot of things to do while in transit. You can even make trips to the city while staying in transit! I only visited the gardens in Terminal 1. There are three of them.
From left to right the Artifical Tree garden, the Waterlily garden and the Cactus garden.
I bought a book and found a quiet place to read.
I had dinner at the Burger King, quite good quality.
Many shops were still closed
Shock! The KLM flight was retimed to 23:35, the original departure time! So I could have taken the 20:40 SQ flight and saved 8 hours of time. The flight (from Jakarta) was unpleasantly full, but fortunately i had an empty seat next to me.
Usually the KLM flies from KL to the Netherlands over the Ukraine. Of course they did not because of the war in Ukraine, the plane went far south. As usual I could not sleep well. We landed early at 6:05 am, the pilot announced that the temperature was 1° Celsius with a chance of show.
Immigration was surprisingly smooth, no Covid checking at all. Nobody was wearing mouth masks. Because of the cold I considered taking a taxi, but finally decided to go the usual way, a ten minute train to Amsterdam-Zuid and from there a 15 minute walk home. I survived the walk, but it was bitterly cold.
Here I am standing in the lift to my apartment. Yolanda, Paul’s sister who has a key of the apartment, had bought flowers, a nice welcome.
As the apartment had not been inhabited for more than two years, I had to go shopping at the nearby AH. And have my first lunch, with cheese, herring and strawberries, of course.
It was a cold night, with snow.
Here are some pictures I took the next day.. Some daffodils were trying to survive. Real winter atmosphere.
I had to solve several problems that day. The prepaid sim card of my mobile had expired, I needed to buy a new one. My laptop had problems, I had to buy a new keyboard/mouse. And the central heating was not working properly. Not a nice start of my visit. But still I could enjoy a pre-dinner drink
And prepare my first, very Dutch dinner.
Saturday a guy came to repair the central heating. And a bicycle pump was deliverd after an online order. Because of course the tyres of my bike were completely flat after three years.
That Saturday evening, three days after coming home, I could finally relax and enjoy the tulips.
Sunset and view from my apartment Sunday morning. At least a bit of blue sky. But still unpleasantly cold.
More blogs about this trip to the Netherlands will follow
During my visits to the Netherlands, my siblings and I often organise a reunion, see for example my blogs De Nollen and Family Gathering .
This time it was not possible to find a date that was suitable for everybody, so instead I met my siblings separately. My sister Lous and brother Pim, I had met already with Aei Ling and Aric, see my earlier report.
On 16 May I visited my brother Arie, who is living in Alkmaar. During an earlier visit in 2015 he had guided me around in this historical town: Alkmaar. This time we visited the Broeker Veiling, north of Alkmaar.
Here is a Google Earth image of what has been called the Realm of the Thousand Islands. From the 13th century farmers have created these small islands to cultivate vegetables, like onions, potatoes, cabbages.
In 1887 the first vegetable auction took place, in the open air! In 1912 an auction building was constructed, built over the water, so the boats could sail through it.
The real auctions do not take place here anymore, but the building has been beautifully preserved and is now part of the Museum Broekerveiling.
The walls of the modern main building have been decorated with photos of the thousand islands and the giant cabbage in front of the museum is of course an obvious photo object 🙂
The museum gives an interesting history of vegetable farming in the region. There are interactive displays and videos of people telling about their experiences when they were kids. It must have been a harsh life.
The auction building is surrounded by “lighallen” (mooring halls) where the farmers could wait until it was their turn, to sail through and have their cargo auctioned.
Although the real auctions don’t take place here anymore, the atmosphere is still very authentic. The blackboards mention the name of the farmer, the weight and other specifics about the cargo.
No real auctions, but regularly demonstrations are given in the auction hall. For me it was the highlight of our visit.
First the auctioneer explained the procedure. The starting price for a load is high, then the clock is going down and down to lower prices, until one of the buyers pushes a button in front of his seat. He will pay that price, so he must take care not to push too early :-). On the other hand, if he waits too long, another buyer will have pushed his button!
The Dutch expression is “veiling bij afslag”, when I searched for the English translation, I was quite surprised to find that it is : Dutch Auction !
We, the visitors, could bid ourselves! Of course not on huge quantities of onions etc, but on small bags of carrots, apples, strawberries, etc. I bought two pears, for 1.35 Euro, probably more expensive than in the supermarket. Big fun!
The lady auctioneer and the couple that played the role of farmers, gave a perfect, entertaining performance. She didn’t mind to have her photo taken with us, probably she will be in thousands of pictures..:-)
Back home, Ineke had prepared a Dutch meal, not with cabbage, but with asparagus. Delicious.
A few days later Otto, my youngest brother, visited me in my apartment in Amsterdam. We had dinner and, as usual, a long, interesting conversation about many different topics, like the universe for example 🙂
He stayed overnight and the next morning, after breakfast, we drove back to Alphen a/d Rijn, our hometown. We had lunch in the family house. The weather was nice, so in the afternoon we decided to go for a walk through the polders. When I was a teenager, it was my playground, a lot has been changed since then. Here is a Google Earth image with our walk in green.
We walked through beautiful polder landscape. Part of the polder here has been “given back” to nature. Lots of flowers everywhere. A coot was swimming around with a single chick, probably the rest had been eaten already.
Part of the walk took us to the Bedelaarsbos (Beggars Forest). Not much of a forest actually :-). Sixteen years ago, my siblings and I have hidden a so-called geocache here, Bedelaarsbos. The geocache was a small container, hidden in a hollow tree trunk. It was a popular geocache, found about 150 times yearly. Otto took care of the cache regularly, because I was living in Malaysia most of the time. When he told me that the hollow space was closing up, getting too small for the container, we decided to archive the cache, now four years ago.
I did not have the coordinates of the cache location, so we tried to find the tree trunk, using our memory…:-). Not easy, but we thought it might be the tree in the right picture. Later, checking the website, I found that we were right!
The Bedelaarsbos
Looking for the cache location
It was a pleasant walk, about 3.9 km.
There was still time enough before I had to go back to Amsterdam. Otto suggested that we could visit our parents’ grave. First we went to a garden center to buy some plants, because he said the grave was a bit barren.
The cemetery was established during the thirties of the last century, I had never noticed the nice sculptures at the entrance gate!
Left Otto as gardener, right the result of his work 🙂
At the end of the afternoon I took a bus back to Amsterdam
Ten days later I took the train to Groningen to visit my brother Ruud. During my stay in the Netherlands I always spend a few days with him, see for example my report Groningen 2018. This time he suggested to have a look at Blauwestad, a “new” village in the east of the province of Groningen.
During our trip we passed several “old” villages, where we took pictures of churches and windmills. The locations are indicated in the Google Earth map
Our first stop was at Harkstede. The church in this village was built at the end of the 17th century by Henric Piccardt, a fascinating character, adventurer and diplomat (the link is in Dutch). He built the church also for himself, beneath the church there is a mausoleum for his family, and he had his own study and library in the church!
Above the church entrance the coat of arms of the Piccardt family. The tower in the right picture is much older than the church, dating back to about 1250.
Next we visited the church of Slochteren. The original cruciform church was built in the 13th century, nowadays only the transept remains, with a separate church tower
A bit confusing. Anno 1650, but the inscription mentions MDCCLXXXIII = 1783.
In Schildwolde, the church tower, separate like in Slochteren, belongs to the original 13th century church. It is an impressive, 48m tall structure. The church itself was built in 1686 and is a simple hall church.
We continued to the Oldambtmeer, where we had lunch. The Oldambtmeer is an artificial lake of about 800 hectares in the Oldambt region. Compare the two maps below. In the center of the right map you can see the new village Blauestad.
2004
2018
A few pictures of the lake. Its purpose is recreation, for the population of Blauestad and the other villages around the lake.
Here is a part of Blauestad, still under construction. Not really a place where I would like to live, but probably perfect for people who love sailing, fishing etc 🙂
We passed two flour mills on our trip. The first was Stel’s Meuln in Harkstede. Built in 1851 as “grondzeiler”, a windmill where the blades almost reach the ground. Later raised on a platform to become a “stellingmolen”. This was often done in a built environment, so the blades could catch the wind better.
The other windmill is the Edens in Winschoten, built in 1763, the oldest windmill of the province Groningen. Raised several times because of the buildings, surrounding the mill. Looked very impressive.
Back in Groningen town, we finished the day with a nice dinner in restaurant De Branderij.
The next morning I took the train back to Amsterdam
During my last stay in the Netherlands, I visited Leiden and I was very enthusiastic about this historic town. This time I had arranged to have lunch with a friend in Utrecht and I decided to make it a daytrip, so I could explore another historic town.
Let me start with three images. First a map of Utrecht , drawn in 1652. The town is surrounded by defensive moats (singels in Dutch).
This map is from 1856. Still not much development outside the singels
And here is a Google Earth screenshot from 2017. To guide the eye, I have marked the “singels” in blue and also indicated the locations where I have taken pictures. Click to enlarge. (I have rotated the GE image in such a way that North points in the same direction as in the old maps)
I arrived at Utrecht CS, the largest and busiest railway station in the Netherlands. To reach the historical town, I had to cross a shopping center to the Vredenburg square, from where I had a look at the TivoliVredenburg (2014), the modern music complex of Utrecht.
Utrecht Central
TivoliVredenburg
From the square I entered the Zakkendragerssteeg, mentioned for the first time in 1425 and reached the Oudegracht, dating back to the 12th century. In a few hundred meters from the 21th century to the Middle Ages 😉
The canals of Utrecht (Oudegracht, Nieuwegracht and a few minor ones) are rather unique in the world, very different from the Amsterdam ones. They have functioned in the past as an inner-city harbour. The canals were connected to the rivers Rhine and Vecht, and alongside the canals there were wharves, giving access to basement cellars, underneath the houses of the merchants.
Zakkendragerssteeg
Oudegracht
I crossed the Oudegracht (more pictures later) and walked to the Janskerk, founded shortly after 1040, built in roman style, but of course modified many times later.
Janskerk (after 1040)
I had no time to visit the interior, and continued to the hallmark of Utrecht, the Domtoren (Dom tower) built between 1321 and 1382. With a height of 112 m it is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. Work was being done on it during my visit.
On the Dom square I took a picture of the statue of Jan van Nassau, the younger brother of William of Orange, who has been instrumental in the signing of the Unie van Utrecht (1579), regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, during the war of independence with Spain.
Domplein met Domtoren
Standbeeld Jan van Nassau
The Academiegebouw on the Dom square looks old, but isn’t ! It was built between 1891-94 in Dutch Neo-Renaissance style.
Academiegebouw (1891)
Then it was time for lunch. I met my friend at the Rechtbank, in earlier days a courthouse, now a popular cafe. He was one of my first students when I was a physics teacher, and is now a physicist himself…:-)
De Rechtbank
AFter our lunch I continued my walk, crossing the Nieuwegracht to the Maliesingel. The Nieuwegracht (New Canal) is actually very old, built around 1390, but still newer than the Oudegracht (Old Canal), which was built in the 12th century. The Maliesingel is one of the moats, still surrounding the old town.
Nieuwegracht
Herenbrug en Maliesingel
In the past, rich people sometimes built simple houses for the poor around a courtyard. The Dutch name for such a compound is “hofje”, in Utrecht you still find an alternative name : Kameren. The houses consisted basically of one room (kamer). Here is the Bruntenhof (Bruntscameren), built in 1621.
Bruntscameren
I wanted to visit the Centraal Museum, so I walked back to the Nieuwegracht and the Lange Nieuwstraat. This “New Street” dates back to ca 1300, same as the Dorstige Hartsteeg. The church tower you see in the background, belongs to St Catherine’s Cathedral, no time to visit.
Nieuwegracht
Quintijnsbrug
Romantic 🙂
Dorstige Hartsteeg
Walking to the Centraal Museum I noticed a sign for The University Museum and the Hortus , the former botanical gardens of the University.
Hortus
Hortus Cafe
I spent some time in the University Museum. Interesting mixture of sometimes weird objects. As a physicist I was of course interested in the particle accelerator, in this case even more, because my friend told me that he had actually been working with this machine, during his research!
Malformities
Fetus
Ape and Human
Cabinet of Curiosities
3MV Van de Graaff-generator
Walking to the Central Museum I passed the Beyerskameren (1597), another charity project to give (free) housing to the poor.
Beyerskameren
The end of the Lange Nieuwsstraat is dominated by the Fundatie van Renswoude. Built in Rococo style in 1757, it was meant to provide education for “intelligent” orphan boys. The interior must be magnificent, but is only open to the public at specific times, like the Open Monument Day.
De Fundatie van Renswoude (1757)
The Centraal Museum is the main museum of Utrecht, founded in 1838. It has an interesting collection of “old” art, modern art, applied art, the history of Utrecht etc. For me it was the first time that I visited the museum. Therefore quite a lot of pictures.
Centraal Museum
Jessica Stockholder, 2014
J.H. Moesman, 1933
Many museums nowadays show their collection, combining the various art forms, like here: paintings, furniture, fashion. I really like this approach..
Of course the museum has lots of Rietveld furniture. The dollhouse is from the end of the 17th century and obviously not meant for children 🙂
Rietveld furniture
Antique dollhouse
Two examples of art mixing. Left 17th century portraits combined with a self-portrait by Carel Willink (1922). Right various forms of fashion.
Roelant Saverij (1576 –1639) was a Golden Age painter who lived a large part of his life in Utrecht.
Orpheus en de dieren, Roelant Saverij, ca. 1630
Pyke Koch 1901 – 1991 ) can also be considered an Utrecht painter. He and Carel Willink were the main representatives of Dutch Magic Realism. He was a perfectionist, his oeuvre is quite small, and I am always happy to find one of his paintings in a museum. The Centraal Museum has quite a few!
Pyke Koch
J.H. Moesman (1909-1988) was born in Utrecht and lived there almost all of his life. A Surrealist painter, the “Dutch Dali”. The museum houses a large collection of his works.
J.H. Moesman
I spent only about one hour in this museum, a next time I will stay longer, there is a lot to see, but I had to make my way back to the station.
The Nicolai church is located next to the museum. Its origins go back to the 12th century, the front with the two towers is still in the original Roman style. In 1586 one tower was raised to make room for a carillon.
Nicolaïkerk
Nicolaïkerk
A few more pictures of de Oudegracht.
Oudegracht
Vollersbrug
On my way back, I visited a few more “hofjes”. Lot of heritage buildings, a very pleasant part of Utrecht.
Korte Rozendaal
Andreashof
Tuinstraat, Hofje van Veelo
Springweg 102
But Utrecht is not only interesting because of its heritage. It is a lively town, with many cafes, restaurants and entertainment outlets. And there is a lot of Jugendstil in Utrecht, one of my architecturale favourites. But that will be for a future visit.
Zussen, Jugendstil (1904)
Springhaver
Voor Clarenburg
When friends of mine are visiting the Netherlands, I sometimes advised them to skip overcrowded Amsterdam and visit Utrecht instead. Now that I have walked around myself, I will keep telling them: Visit Utrecht!
My usual visit to the Netherlands started this time in a special way! During the first two weeks, Aei Ling, Aric’s sister, stayed with us in Amsterdam. As it was her first visit to the Netherlands, we showed her many of the Dutch tourist destinations. Here is a report.
Monday 15 April
We arrived early morning at Schiphol airport, took the train to Amsterdam Zuid station and decided to walk to my apartment, although it was only a few degrees above zero! Just outside the station we saw our first tulips 🙂
After a few hours rest (and having our first Dutch strawberries) , we went into town. It was cold but sunny and everywhere the “cherry” trees were in full bloom. Aei Ling would have liked to ride a bicycle, but I thought that would not be wise…:-)
We took the metro to the center of the town, the Dam square with the National Monument.
Back home we had our first Dutch dinner. Of course with potatoes.
Tuesday 16 April
We visited the windmills of the Zaanse Schans, one of the top tourist attractions of the Netherlands. Several of the mills are working and you can visit them. In this picture Aei Ling is standing on the jetty at the left.
Entering the village
One for the album
A sawmill
The windmill we visited
Climbing up inside
Grinding peanuts to extract oil
Aei Ling was fascinated by this swan
She had to try this giant wooden shoes
After coming home, we had another Dutch traditional dinner, mussels with fries. Yummie.
Wednesday 17 April
Our destination was the Muiderslot, one of the historical castles in the Netherlands. We took a ferry from Amsterdam, which lands at the castle itself, a very romantic approach.
The history of the castle goes back to 1280. In the 17th century P.C. Hooft, a Dutch writer and poet has been living in the castle, many of the rooms are furnished in the style of the Dutch Golden Age. It must have been many decades ago that I visited this castle, so it was a nice experience for me too.
The dungeon
It was my 75th birthday and I had invited a few people for dinner at the Zoku restaurant. A very pleasant evening.
Thursday 18 April
My sister Lous had offered to show us around in the tulip fields of North-Holland. We arrived by train, enjoyed their garden and had lunch with them.
The Keukenhof is the most famous flower garden of the Netherlands, crowded with tourists from all over the world. Not many people know about the Poldertuin in Anna Paulowna, a miniature Keukenhof, quiet and F.O.C ! We were lucky, it was a perfect time to visit.
There were so many species of tulips, daffodils, etc, that I kept taking pictures…:-)
After visiting the garden, Lous and Arend drove us around through the flower fields.
We visited one garden where you could pick your own tulips, for 25 euro cents per flower.
We had dinner near the beach, it was not cold, we could even sit outside.
We stayed overnight, enjoying a beautiful sunset.
Friday 19 April
The famous Cheese Market of Alkmaar was the destination for this day. Arend dropped us near the Waagplein, where the market is held every Friday morning. It is a colorful spectacle, attracting massive crowds of (mostly foreign) visitors. Background information can be found here.
It is a honour to become a cheese carrier and you need years of training. Each cheese weighs 12-13 kg, and a barrow carries eight of them. The market started in 1365 and the whole process is steeped in tradition.
Alkmaar is a beautiful historic town, where you could easily spend hours.
Enjoying a beer
St Laurentius church
Townhall
Buying a sunhat
Traditional barrel organ
We took a train back to Amsterdam and had a late lunch in the Pancake Bakery, one of Aric’s favourite eateries. And at home a late dinner with escargots. By the way, Aei Ling is drinking 0.0 % alcohol beer, getting more and more popular these days .. 🙂
Saturday 20 April
The Amstelpark is in walking distance from my apartment. Many years ago I had visited in this park the rhododendron valley, and after breakfast we tried our luck. It was a nice , easy 20 minute walk to the park, you can easily forget that you are in a suburb of Amsterdam.
My favourite spring flower
Park entrance
And lucky we were, the rhododendrons were in full bloom
Near the park a beautiful windmill is located, the Riekermolen (1636). Almost any time of the day tourist buses stop here., we had to wait a bit for a picture without people ..:-)
Before walking home we had lunch in the park. I had an uitsmijter, a visit to the Netherlands is not complete for me without this traditional lunch of fried eggs with ham and cheese on bread 🙂
Later we went out again, because a tourist visit to Amsterdam is also not complete without a visit to the Red Light district. Too many tourists, the ladies of the night are not happy about it and often close the curtains of their rooms.
It is actually a beautiful, old part of the town.
Crowded!
Old Church
St Nicolaas church
We had snack food at a FEBO outlet, a typical Dutch institution with vending machines for the different foods provided.
Sunday 21 April
Easter Sunday! My friend Inez had invited us for lunch. With eggs, that is the tradition.
In the afternoon we visited the Vondelpark where lots of people were enjoying the nice weather and even sunbathing. We joined them and also had a look at the Boomzagertje, a hidden jewel near the Leidseplein
The next day we took the train to Paris, where we stayed four days. I have written a separate post about it, Paris, April 2019, and continue this one, after we came back to Amsterdam.
Saturday 27 April
Koningsdag! The celebration of the King’s birthday is very popular in the Netherlands. Unfortunately the weather was not very favourable this year, cold with rain showers. But of course we went to town. The Vondelpark is a huge freemarket on this day, where kids try to earn a few coins by playing music etc. Pity that it was so cold.
Sunday 28 April
My friend Yolanda is singing in a choir and they were performing Mozart’s Requiem in the Dominicus church this Sunday afternoon. Before the concert we had apple pie in restaurant Winkel 43, supposedly the best apple pie in town 🙂
It was a beautiful concert, in a beautiful church.
After the concert we had a drink in a cafe nearby with Yolanda (left) and friends.
Monday 29 April
Aei Ling was flying back in the evening, still time enough for a last activity, a visit to Leiden. During my last stay in Holland I had “rediscovered” this beautiful town, near my “hometown”, see my report Leiden 2018
Only a few pictures here, to give an impression.
Then it was time to say goodbye. It was very nice to have Aei Ling as our guest!
In 1976 I started teaching physics at the Snellius school in Amstelveen. I was 32 year old and had just graduated from the Free University in Amsterdam. Left I am defending my thesis, right I am teaching my students, in a different outfit. And yes, my hair was long..:-)
Here is a photo of the school team in 1990-91. After a merger with other public secondary schools in Amstelveen, the school was renamed Nieuwer Amstel school. I am wearing contact lenses and have less hair.
Two years later. Can you find me?
This photo is from 1995-1996. I am wearing a brown jacket.
The next year, 1996-97, was my last regular teaching year. Here is my last “Lerarenagenda”, I still have the complete collection 🙂
The following years, until 2002, I worked part-time at my own alma mater, the Free University, on education-related topics. In 2002, at the age of 58, I became a full-time pensionado..:-)
So, it is more than 20 years ago that I was in daily contact with my colleagues, although several of them have become friends, whom I meet regularly when I am back in the Netherlands.
One of them told me in May that there was a plan to organise a reunion of pensionados, who had retired from one of the schools which now, after another merger, form the Amstelveen College.
The date proposed was 5 October, and I was so eager to attend this reunion that I decided to prolong my yearly visit to the Netherlands a few weeks…:-)
In the afternoon of 5 October I went to the Amstelveen College, the old Snellius school building has been demolished quite a few years ago.
The meeting of pensionados was well organised. About sixty of them were present, basically from the schools that had merged into the Amstelveen College, but more than half of them had been working at the Snellius, so there were many familiar faces and fortunately in almost all cases I still could remember their name 🙂
There was a short introduction about the present status of the Amstelveen College.
But of course the main interest of the attendees was social, meeting former colleagues and chatting about their shared past.
Left three colleagues who were already working for many years at the Snellius, when I arrived in 1976. The right picture shows me with a few colleagues of the former Casimir school, in the past the rival public school in Amstelveen.
It was a pity that there was no “official” photographer. In between conversations with former colleagues, I managed to take some pictures but they are not representative for the group. Here are my pictures.
During the meeting old photos , taken in the period 1976 to 1988, were shown on a big screen. They belong to the collection of Dick Vader, who worked at the Snellius during the 70s and 80s and who was (and still is) an avid photographer.
He has given me permission to use these photos and below you will find a selection, with persons who also appear in the color pictures above. It will be an interesting exercise to compare the two sets and find out the corresponding images…:-)
I have cropped most photos to show only one specific person.
Because most attendees were busy chatting with each other, many of them may not have paid full attention to the photo presentation of more than 500 photos.
That’s why I have put a representative selection of these photos in a separate album Snellius 1976-1987Â (text in Dutch)
It was a very successful meeting, worthy of a repeat.
