Sunny Amsterdam and the beautiful Haarlemmer(dijk)straat

 

There is something magic in Amsterdam. This city has soooo much charme: once you start strolling though its narrow streets,  while watching out not to be hit by a bike and making sure you dont fall in a "gracht" (canal) while you take a picture! Adding some November sun and amazingly blue sky and you have a perfect combination for beautiful view and fun pictures! So last Saturday we headed to Amsterdam and enjoyed the breathtaking buildings& their colourful details in the Haarlemmerstraat (which is said to be one of the non-tourist shopping street with tons of cosy cafes, designer shops and restaurants). Close to the street there is also the organic market of Amsterdam, which takes place every Saturday, on the square around Noorderkerk... Fresh produce, majestic architecture und reflections in the canal made this walk and visit simply great experience!

The old harbour of Hoorn

 

A walk in the old harbour of Hoorn is a must. There are plenty of beautiful boats to look at. Middays some fishing boats are coming back and I was lucky enough to be present while a boat was putting its catch (several nets of crabs) in the pots.

The boat with wings (as on the picture above) is typical for the Ijsselmeer. When the wings are up the boat may pass through very shallow water and canals.

In the middle of the old harbour the previous city gate ("Hoodftoren") welcomes the visitors and the floating vessels.

Plenty of birds are present too... Some of them are even doing fish-check once the fishing boats are left empty:-)

Skating on frozen canals in the Netherlands...

Some colleagues told me they did not remember (in the last 20 years...) a winter as cold and white as this one in the Netherlands. Last year (and to be more exact in January 2009) was the first time the Dutch canals were frozen (again) for the last..... 12 years!!! Why is it so surprising-well some decades ago this was happening every winter in the low lands...

But to come back to last and (of course!) this year! Young and old (and even the Queen-if one may trust the press) put on the skates and went on ice. Does not matter the skates: on ice I have seen next to the well-known figure- and ice-hockey-skates also the very famous here Dutch "noren" (speed-skates: the one on left side, picture above). A Swedish colleague impressed me with the Skandinavian version of speed skating: the one without a shoe and very funny form, on the right side in the above shot.

Snow-ball fights were also possible...But the minus-temperatures lasted only a bit more than a week and the ducks are happy now to have again water!

Jazz in de gracht=music on water in den Haag!

Dutch people are really creative!
Yesterday I attended a very unusual jazz concert, the "Jazz in de gracht" in den Haag...it was on water! The different jazz bands were moving from one scene to another by boat:-)
All concerts were held within one canal and every 20 minutes a new boat with a new band was arriving...

Spring is in the air of ... Den Haag and Rijswijk!

I could finally smell it! The green, fresh and unmistakable taste of spring is in the air...Its been around for some weeks now, but yesterday one could enjoy it 100%: with sunshine and lovely blue sky!!!

Trees and bushes are in blossom, ladybugs are flying around, some birdies are singing, some others are already taking care of their new born little ones.
In the last pic I got one duck just after it had caught a fish for its little one:-)

Northern Dutch beauty: Schiermonnikoog

The sun was shining right into my eyes and it felt almost like summer.
Sitting in the outside bar of the Hotel "Graaf Bernstorff", I was enjoying watching the happening in the tiny center of the (only) village on the island. Busy crowd in front of the only supermarket here and the traffic jam of bikes...
It took us 3 hours drive and 1 ferry transfer (45 min) to reach the furthest northern island of all 5 Dutch Waddeneilanden: Schiermonnikoog...a national park, carfree piece of land (16x4km), and on the top sunshine + 18-20 degrees for the long Easter weekend...

Within 48 hours we biked between sand dunes and 2 lighthouses, met plenty of birds (there are wild pheasants running all over), visited a cheese farm, enjoyed the sun...In the ShellMuseum/Schelpenmuseum we had a great chat with Thijs, the owner of the museum, a local, who collects shells and snail houses more or less all his life. He has very impressive collection of shells from Western Australia too.

I also learned something new that day: the soo common for the Netherlands razor clam/Atlantic jacknife clam/lat. Ensis directus (on the last photo) was brought to (Northwestern) Europe via some big American ships in the 1978-1979. I still regard it with big respect as this specie does not exist at the Black sea coast, the coast I grew up with as a kid:)

Some more pictures from the island (translated from Frisian Schiermonnikoog means "Island of the Grey Monks") are to be found here.