Our Canaling Adventures: Netherlands 2011 Tuesday 21st June

Map showing Naarden to Rotterdam

We left Naarden at 7.30am so as to beat the winds that were expected today. We travelled back out the same way we had come in but then turned into the Ijmeer, which is like open sea. It was very misty and rainy and it was hard to see, but we travelled from channel marker to channel marker and made our way into Amsterdam via a very large Sluis.

It was very eerie and took a couple of hours. We knew the winds were getting worse later in the day so we left early. It was the wind or the mist!!!

This is all we could see out of the window!!

The Carr's following

The bridge we went under to go into the Ijmeer

We sailed through Amsterdam and turned into Hout Haven and down through 14 lifting bridges through the suburbs of Amsterdam. It was very pretty. It took a few hours as we had to wait for each bridge to open.

The big Lock (Orangesluis) entering Amsterdam waters

Me in the Sluis - Yes Getting wet!!!

A few cranes in Amsterdam

Bob waiting for a bridge to open

The bridge has opened

Canal near Aalsmeer

After 6 hours of driving we arrived in Aalsmeer so that we can visit the flower markets tomorrow.

We rode our bikes in the wind and cold about 5 km until we arrived at the flower markets – Flora Holland. The flower auction was a fascinating sight. There were dozens of tractors with flower trolleys swarming around the large halls. We watched through a glass window at the flower auction taking place. This is the largest flower auction in the world – the area under continuous cover is equivalent to 250 football fields.

The following information was given to us.

Number of locations                          6
Number of auction rooms                13
Number of auction Clocks               40
Number of Employees                     4500

Turnover per year 4 billion euro

Number of Flowers and plants        12 billion
Turn over per day                             16 million euro
Number of flowers and plants           48 million

The flowers come from many different countries and are despatched to many countries. Some are same day delivery. It was fascinating.

Flowers wating to be sold

The Auction Room

When we came out of the auction halls to ride home the weather had really turned bad so we spent the afternoon on the boat catching up on all our chores.

We hand pulled this over so we could get back to the yatch club

We left about 8.30am in the wind and rain again and headed to Leiden. It was a pretty trip through the lakes and canals. Holland is such a pretty place with all the water ways – it’s just the weather that ruins it.

We arrived in Leiden just in time for the German family (from Halle) – we met them at Parry’s beach in WA a couple of years ago. They drove about 3 hours to come and see us. Heiko, Edith, Tobias and Eric arrived with a tasty German cake and some more Storck chocolates and toffees. We felt very spoilt.

Edith, Tobias and Eric
We spent two days in Leiden. It was a bigger town than I expected and we had plenty to see. The weather was kind to us the first day so we explored. We spent some time in a windmill, where we climbed to the top where we had a great view of the town.

Penny and Tobias with leiden Behind
Saturday the rain came in again with a vengeance, so we travelled down to Den Hague in the boat - all six of us. It was a great experience for the kids. They stayed on the boat with us that night as they couldn’t get a third night at the hostel. It was very cosy with six on board but we all managed and had a great time. The Carr’s joined us for drink and so there were 8.

We were going to have an Australian barby but the weather was so bad we had Spaghetti Bol instead. We woke up Sunday morning to sunny day, cold but sunny so we all headed off to the city. We were in a yacht club about 4 km from the centre so we rode in to find out what was on in town. Our first visit was to the Mauritshuis museum. This housed many paintings of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Rubens etc, but the main attraction was the “Girl with the Pearl Earring” by Vermeer and the “Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolas Tulp” by Rembrandt.

We then rode 5km to the coast to Scheveningen ( the English Channel) where we met Heiko and Edith for lunch on the beach front. We had Kibbling and chips (little pieces of fish fried in batter) then we said our goodbyes. They had a 3 hour trip back to Halle in Germany. It was great to catch up and I am sure the kids enjoyed the experience of the boat. Tobias did some driving and proved to be a good “mate”. We have been left with a couple of drawings the children did on the boat, So cute.

Riding on the Beach front

The Beach

We then rode back into Den Hague and visited the Panorama Mesdag - a huge 360 degree painting of Scheveningen that was painted by Henrick Willem Mesdag, The panorama is viewed from a constructed dune with real sand and beach chairs. It was incredible. I really enjoyed the display, but no photos allowed so can’t show you.

The Peace Monument

We then rode around the corner to the Peace Palace. This is the home to almost all international organisations in the fields of peace and justice. We tried to organise a tour over this building but they couldn’t fit us in until July 11^th so we gave it a miss and just took a photo. We did look at the Eternal flame of peace encircled by the path of World peace consisting of 196 stones from 196 countries. Our stone was a gorgeous stone from the Pilbara area. The weather was improving – the sun was shining and no rain.

Festival in Leiden

We woke the next morning to plenty of sunshine and heat and the humidity was dreadful. That was Monday. Tuesday we woke to thunder and lighting then big storm, but by 11.00 that had past and we were now in humid hot weather until 7pm when the sky opened up again and as I sit here its pouring again. I really find this weather strange and not much fun – the only good thing is I don’t have to clean the boat!!!!

Monday we went on a tour over the Binnenhof. Through the centuries the Binnenhof has been the centre of political life. We went on a tour which took us through the Hall of Knights and the second chamber of parliament. It was all very interesting. Every year on the 20^th September the Queen delivers her speech in the Knights Hall and then rides around the city in her carriage. Princes Day represents the start of the new parliamentary year and the speech by the queen tells the public what is happening in the political year.

Lois and Russel in front of the Knights Hall

After leaving the tour we had lunch with the Carr’s and then went off in search of a another museum. Couldn’t find one open so rode home. Monday in the

Netherlands

is when most museum are closed.

We left the next morning for Delft and arrived in the pouring rain. After tying up we headed off to explore. We decided to do a few museums. One in particular was the Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles – Royal Delft. I expect most are aware of the Delft fine china. It was an interesting tour over the factory where the firing was done, then the painting room and the rooms of fine china. It was very expensive so didn’t come away with much.

Me surrounded by tiles from Delft

We spent a few days in Delft and then travelled to Rotterdam and stayed for a few days with the Dixons in their yacht club. We rode into Rotterdam and explored on bike the second busiest port in the world.