Friesland

Saturday night when we returned from France, we realized that Garth had only two days left and we didn't have any plans. Anita volunteered to have Preston stay with them and let Garth and I go off on our own. Anita and I spent the rest of the night looking into cheap flights to Sweden, Berlin, Rome, Hungary, and anywhere else we could, but with no luck on such short notice. Next we looked into trains but they were too expensive and took too much time. Next we looked into renting a car which also was difficult because everything is closed on Sundays. We finally did find a car, so the next morning Rob took us to Eindhoven and we picked up our Ford Fusion and headed to the northeast part of Holland or Friesland. Rob had only been there as a child and Anita had never been there so they weren't able to give us too much direction, just some names of towns to visit.

The lady at the airport gave us directions on which roads to take to get us to Friesland and we headed out. We figured that if Garth's Uncle Paul could rent a car and get around in Europe we could too. We decided not to rent the navigation system with the car because we didn't even know what address to put in it. I think Anita and Rob were a little worried if we would do alright and so were we. We got a little lost just heading out of Eindhoven but finally got headed in the right direction.

WARNING: if you don't want to look at lots of pictures of scenery, you may want to skip our next two blogs. I think Preston was really happy he didn't come on this trip; Garth and I loved it but I don't think it was a teenager's idea of fun.

While I was busily scanning the map for the names of the towns we had been given I lost track of where we were and I thought we were further than we were. For the next twenty minutes we tried to get back on the road we had been on before I freaked out.

Eventually, we made it to the first town Anita and Rob had suggested, Giethoorn, or Green Venice. The village is built around canals and it was so beautiful with all the houses and restaurants and bridges.
There were lots of Dutch tourists and people floating down the canals in their boats and it was really fun to watch and to be where there weren't any American tourist. It is so easy to get around in the Netherlands because almost everyone in the country speaks English.

From there we avoided the freeways and just stayed on the small roads and made our way towards the coast. All the land we drove over was the polders or reclaimed land and it is filled with canals and lakes. At only one lake did we see a couple of people water skiing though. Otherwise people were just quietly moving down the canals with some occasional barges, too.

Next we made our way to Stavoren which is on the coast of Ijsselmeer Lake (it used to be called the Zieder Zee before it was enclosed with a new dike), it is the large body of water that divides the Netherlands in the north and is all fresh water now.

From there we avoided the freeways and just stayed on the small roads and made our way towards the coast. All the land we drove over was the polders or reclaimed land and it is filled with canals and lakes. At only one lake did we see a couple of people water skiing though. Otherwise people were just quietly moving down the canals with some occasional barges, too.

Next we made our way to Stavoren which is on the coast of Ijsselmeer Lake (it used to be called the Zieder Zee before it was enclosed with a new dike), it is the large body of water that divides the Netherlands in the north and is all fresh water now.

The road went along the coast and I thought we would be able to look out on to the shore, silly me! There is a dike along the coast. Garth is standing at the top of the dike and if you look in the background you can see all the sheep that cover the dikes keeping the grass cut. We never realized that most of this small country is taken up with farms and animals. As far as our eyes could see was green with agriculture. We just thought it was funny to see the sheep all along the dikes with gates every once and a while to prevent them from wandering too far on the dike.
I had to go down and feel the water to see how cold it was because wouldn't you think it would be cold? Well it was actually pretty warm, at least much warmer than Havasupi and we swim in that.
On the road again...... just wanted you to see the difference in the dike on the left and the polder on the right. That is another small village off in the distance on the right.
We stopped at a little village called Balk and had lunch. The canal ran right through the middle of town so we just watched people float while we at. All the canals and lakes are connected so you can just go forever from one side of Friesland to the other.

We finally made it to our next destination - Hindeloopen and where we would spend the night. It is a very small village and but has a very large harbor with a lock to the canals that go through the it. As we walked around we saw a lock and the man in charge had just hung his wooden shoe out to be paid and then opened the lock for the boats. You can see the pole with the shoe tied to in on the cement.
A view looking down into the village.
We walked along the dike and the shops and got a recommendation for a bed and breakfast for the night. There were a lot of people here, most all on bikes, and I was wondering if we would be able to find a place to stay in a village so small, but it was no problem. Most people were camping or staying on their boats.
The bed and breakfast we stayed at was just behind the church and we got the "garden room" which of course didn't come with air conditioning or a toilet or shower in the room but it was great none the less. You had to "mind your head" when you walked up the steep stairs but we enjoyed it and there was a nice ocean breeze all night.

We walked every street in the village at least twice by the end of the night but we loved it. There were only about 6 restaurants in the town and one was a Mexican one called El Paso, we decided not too try it. We'll stick to Mexican food in Arizona or New Mexico - we're a little picky. We opted for just a huge bowl of ice cream and was so great.
Just more pictures from our walks.

We walked out on to a pier to get a different view of Hinderloopen and there some girls who were still jumping into the water off the pier and it was probably after 9:00. You definitely wouldn't have caught me doing that - way too cold!
We sat on the dike and watched a beautiful sunset. If finally went down after 10:00. I have a whole series of photos of the sun going down but I just gave you the first and the last.
Since the sun had set, we walked around the village again checking out how things looked in the dark. Don't we look good! There is nothing better than a vacation.
It didn't look as thought the water in the canals even moved, they were so still. Around every corner it was another idyllic site. So many place looked like the Van Gogh paintings of boats and harbors.
You can see that the bridges light up and reflect in the canals.
Finally, we decided it was time to return to our bed and breakfast since we were the only ones moving around in the village; quite a difference from a couple of hours ago. Most stores are closed on Sunday and all stores and restaurants close early every night. Stores close at 5 or 6 and most restaurants close their kitchens at 9:00. That caused some adjustment for us.