Part 1: 8/30-9/6 - Arnhem
A reciprocal home exchange brought us to Arnhem, a medium-sized town about an hour away from the city. It was one of those happy surprises that we probably wouldn’t have otherwise discovered. We were on the border with a national park called Hoge Veluwe, originally set aside as a game preserve and still home to many deer, wild boar, fox, badger and birds. They have a small natural history museum, a good sized art museum and a huge sculpture park included in admission. The Van Gough collection at the Kröger Müller museum was worth it alone, not to mention the other big names in impressionism, pointillism, cubism, and modern art.
We enjoyed a picnic in the sculpture garden and a quick visit to the other museum which focused on local fauna and water supply. Then took the free bikes out on the trails, where we could look out over vast fields of purple heather and spotted some distant deer.
Flat, dedicated bike paths are perfect for me since I never got used to city street riding, and I am not even that comfortable on a more busy bike path. Luckily there were bikes at the house, so we got to take those around the local paths, to a nearby beach where I swam on our one really hot day.
We also went to nearby Nymegen, the Netherlands’ oldest city that dates back to Roman times. It had been mostly destroyed in Allied bombings, but the ‘lower town’ (maybe just a few inches lower?) mostly survived and had some interesting blends of Gothic architecture from when it was ruled by Catholic Spain, and Protestants’ additions of brick and wood. We had lunch at the country’s oldest brewery, too.
Nathan got to see one more Dutch town, Utricht, whose castle grounds featured a real hedge maze.
Part 2: 9/6-11 - Amsterdam
He also got the chance to scope out Amsterdam on his own for a couple days while I was off on a last minute business trip. I got home late Saturday night, with just enough time to get to stroll back from the train station to our place.
We had Sunday to explore together. We had previously visited many of the main sites in the center, the Anne Frank House, the Heineken Brewery, and all the pretty squares, so we decided to follow some local tips from our hosts this time. First we went for a coffee at the public library, whose cafe looks out over the city.
Then we took advantage of the city’s free ferry system to cross the Dam river to Amsterdam-Noord. We saw some interesting architecture and an even more interesting renovated industrial wharf. There were hotels in strange structures like a boat, a trolley car, and a crane. There was a whole shipping container artists’ village and a beach bar/restaurant where we got some more drinks, a local beer and a local favorite tea infusion, which is just hot water poured over thinly sliced fresh ginger.
We then took the ferry to another part of the Noord district, stopping at 2 different breweries and one more ferry home for dinner.
We could only escape for short excursions during the week as I had a lot of work to catch up on. We got to check out a couple of local markets and went by the local food stalls to try small bites all the Dutch specialties. Smoked eel on a roll, raw herring with onions, bittenballen (basically fried balls of gravy), stroopwafels (Caramel sandwiched between two cracker-thin Dutch waffles) and some spicy bites from former trade routes through Indonesia and Suriname.
We didn't go in, having seen enough incredible art on our last stop, but walked past the Rijksmuseum and through its manicured gardens, and some other quintessential Amsterdam views, between rain showers on the last day.
Then it was off to the US! Hard to believe we are returning after so long. A little sad that that this adventure is over, a little excited knowing we were able to do it while working full time, and could thus do it again, and very happy to get the chance to catch up with family and friends back in the states. Next stop, Boston!