On The Water, It's How We Spent Our Vacation ...

Our trip through France, Germany, and the Netherlands  had a constant theme pretty much the entire time.   There was a consistent focus on Water.    (Holland and the Netherlands are the same place, Holland is a more traditional name for the country)

Even up through the final days, we were either on the water or near the water, usually both.  The place we stayed for the last week in Holland was on a dike, or large berm, on the IJssel River.   On this entire trip, we were never far from the water. 

To be fair, these were inland waterways, often man-made.  Like the canals in France, the waterways in Holland are often engineered or converted rivers.  However, on the last day we were quite near the North Sea, in Haarlem Holland. 

There are so many things to do in the Netherlands, and we did our best to hit many of them.  The history of this place goes back for millennia, so there is seemingly no end to the historic features.

One such place was a small medieval village called Elburg, on the Drontermeer River.  It was a well-preserved town with buildings dating back several hundred years.  It's fun to walk among the streets of an ancient place like this.

 

I don't often put food pictures in the blog, but I couldn't resist this enormous plate of barbecued ribs we gorged on in Elburg.  Ken ordered it and we helped him finish, I couldn't believe we ate the whole thing!

 
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And that led to another canal ride!  What a surprise!  Only well ... this was actually a very pleasant surprise and even one of the highlights of the trip - the Geithoorn village canals.  

There is a bit of a story there.  We had a rather challenging time finding this hidden gem, and when we finally got there the weather had gotten a little cloudy and windy and cold.  

But we set out in a sixty year old wooden boat that used to haul cows around.  There were other options for the self-guided boat cruise, but we chose the slow, historical method. 

We immediately went out into a large lake and were buffeted by the cold wind, with increasing clouds.  And we were making slow progress in the boat, with others passing us left and right.  It looked kinda iffy for a while, but we had a good laugh.  

  


Turns out the trip eventually winds it's way into the village with small canals weaving through impossibly quaint Dutch houses, and the sun came out!  And at that point, our slow small wooden boat became a real asset, leisurely taking our time drinking in the sights of this delightful village. 

We returned to our canal house, but not without a ride on the ferry boat across the IJssell River.  In fact, we went out of our way to catch the ferry just to keep the theme going.  

This ferry was like the ones we see in Oregon that take local traffic across rivers.  Even got a couple of geese to pose for the picture! 

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The next day we headed to Amsterdam.  Our goal upon arrival was - guess what? - a canal ride.  This one was a commercial tour boat through the winding canals of the Dutch capital.  

 
It is a great way to see the city, but alas, we didn't have a lot of time, our trip was coming to an end. 

We made our way next to our final stop in the lovely little city of Haarlem.   There is a great central square and when we stopped for coffee, we were right next to the city hall.  There was a wedding going on and we had front row seats.  Fun times.

 

  
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And sometimes I exaggerate (really?).  Our entire trip was not on the water.  We did visit some things on land, Ha!  

We went to the Van Gogh Museum in the Dutch countryside and enjoyed many priceless works of art from the slightly demented genius.   

 

Vincent Van Gogh had a short but brilliant career (he died young), and like many struggling artists, was not really appreciated during his time.  He left a large body of work that is now one of the art world's most famous. 

And while on land, we also visited a particular favorite place (we've been to Holland many times) - a fantastic garden called the Fantasiem.  It is the work of one guy with amazing garden sculptures, and it seems like anything grows well in the rich wet climate.

All in all, it was a great trip.  Started out in France, and then a long week on the canal boat, filled with adventure and danger!  Well, a couple people in our group of friends were injured ....

And then we finished up traveling through the wine country of Germany and enjoyed the many things to see and do in Holland.  

Already thinking about our next trip ...