Park sign

A sign from one of the parks in Bruges, urging dog-owners to (in my own free translation) 'make a big deal out of all that is left behind and use a bag!', and fines are at least 50 euros if you don't.

Underneath the photos of the dogs are the names of the villages that belong to the municipality of Bruges.

I'm linking to signs, signs.

Queen Astrid Park

The bandstand in the Queen Astrid Park in Bruges.

The park dates from the 13th century and was a monastery garden for over 5 centuries. In 1850 the city of Bruges became the owner and it was decided then that it would become a public park. After the death of Queen Astrid in 1935, the park received it´s present name.

Bruges street art

Murals in a tunnel near the train station in Bruges. I could trace these back to a street artist called Jamezon.

This one -maybe a bit hard to see because of the shade- has a text saying: "Misery of emotion brings us to joyful memories of our lost love ones". It is signed at the bottom right by 'Daisone'.

I'm linking to Monday Mural.

Bruges beguinage

Back from a city trip to Bruges! This is the 'Ten Wijngaerde' beguinage, with its central courtyard lined with trees and side trees it retains a religious and social function. In 1998 this site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The white houses, the harmonious environment and the closed nature of this beguinage make it a very charming place and loved by tourists from all over the world. We had a look around here in the morning and (almost) managed to avoid groups wandering around :)

On a break

I am going to take a short blogging-break. Take care and see you soon.

Drentsche Aa river

Here we are standing (well, last Sunday we were..) on a wooden bridge near Haren crossing the 'Drentsche Aa', The river rises in the province of Drenthe, flows through the north east of our country, and eventually ends into the Noord-Willems canal not far from this bridge.

I'm linking to Weekend Reflections.

The Exloo sheep pen

The sheep pen ('schaapskooi' in Dutch) of Exloo is located in this barn in the centre of the small country village.

The Drenthe Heath Sheep ('Drents Heideschaap') is a domesticated breed of sheep originating in the Netherlands. It is raised primarily for vegetation management. During the day the flock of 200 sheep and its sheepherder can often be found on the Molenveld heathlands, for a photo I took several years ago click HERE.
Their website (only in Dutch) can be found HERE.

Parking for women

 We parked our car at the parking lot belonging to a hotel in Haren to start our hike last Sunday, and there I spotted parking spaces apparently reserved for women wearing shoes with stiletto heels? Hmmm. I checked on their website and found out that it's meant to welcome female business guests; this free of charge service includes courtesy gifts, a flexible check-in and a special and extra well-lit parking space close to the hotel entrance.

I'm linking to signs, signs.

Roots

One of the many giant trees on the Glimmen Home estate, near Haren. Do you ever wonder how far and how wide roots go underground? I do!

I´m linking to All Seasons.

Houseboats

A few houseboats close to the village of Haren. It may look like a quiet spot, but there is in fact a lot of traffic noise as right on the other side of the trees is highway A28 leading to Groningen city.

The Glimmen Home driveway

Did you ever dream of a 700 metres long driveway with oak trees on both sides? Have a look at this one! It belongs to the 'Huis te Glimmen' or the 'Glimmen Home', a monumental country house near the village of Haren. Parts of the house date from the 16th century, and though the house itself is private property, the estate is open to the public.

Taken from the same point as the photo above, but looking backwards.

Highland cattle

Our hike in the large and wonderful region of Westerwolde last Sunday went right through an area where a group of Highland cattle were grazing. They watched us pass by and posed for a photo without protest, I guess they are used to people walking by.

Though their horns are impressively big, they are known as generally good-natured animals. This one's a beauty, don't you think?

I'm linking to Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

Street magazine De Riepe

´De Riepe´ is a monthly street magazine in the north of the Netherlands and is sold by homeless people. The November edition contains an interview with Queen Máxima held by street magazine vendor Evert van den Brink. He sells the 'Straatjournaal', the street paper for Haarlem and the province of North Holland. Evert van den Brink was invited by our Queen at her home in Wassenaar, and they spoke about the common grounds between the street magazine and her work for the Money Wise Platform. Financial problems are of course one of the main reasons for people to become homeless. Evert van den Brink managed to put his life in order again by selling street papers.

To be honest I don't buy De Riepe (meaning 'the sidewalk' in dialect) very regularly. I really should though, part of the selling price (which is only eur1.80) is for the seller, in my case an always friendly woman near the entrance of one of our local supermarkets.

Hiking in Westerwolde

A photo from last Sunday, in the region of Westerwolde near the village of Sellingen. A mountain bike is coming towards us; though it's a popular area for mountain biking we only saw a few.

Weekday morning

The cycling path along the Atlantislaan in Stadskanaal was almost deserted on this November morning.

I´m linking to All Seasons.

Mosaic bench

This mosaic bench at the Hoofdstraat in Stadskanaal pictures the growth of the city after WW2. Philips opened a factory in Stadskanaal in 1955, which meant a lot of jobs and economical growth obviously. New residential areas came, as well as a theater and a library. In 2004 Philips decided to stop making products here and closed its factory.
On the bench are photos of a number of houses and buildings of that time.

Children of the local Gabriël Dam primary school put the tiny glass mosaic pieces on this bench.

I´m linking to Tom´s Tuesday´s Treasures.

PS. Happy birthday to my mom!

"Green" train

I happened to travel part of my journey last weekend with a so-called 'green train'. It's a project with which the Dutch Railways (NS) will make all their electric trains ride on wind energy from 2018. Wind mills are built more and more in the Netherlands. As the project is continuing, about half of the trains are already -as we call it- 'climate neutral' by now.

Instead of the usual yellow/blue trains that NS owns, they catch attention for their green train project by using this colourful design.

Waiting

Utrecht Central Station: the view from my side of the platform as I was waiting on my train yesterday afternoon.

Creativity Fair

Two impressions from my visit to the KreaDoe today. The Kreadoe is a huge and annual 6-day fair for everyone who loves ´handmade and DIY´, and it´s held in the Jaarbeursgebouw in Utrecht. The event is all about creativity and shows (and sells of course) the latest trends on crocheting, knitting, paper crafts, painting, home deco, scrapbooking, etc etc.
I brought home a few nice items for my crocheting and handlettering hobbies, so I'm pleased about that :)

And I wasn't the only one here today!

Boomkroonpad

The ´Boomkroonpad´ ('tree top path') is part of an Outdoor Centre near the village of Borger and starting point of a number of hiking and cycling trails. Here a spiral staircase brings you on a level as high as the tree tops -hence the name :)
We didn't go up this time but will do so on one of our next visits. So more photos another time!

More Autumn

Herd of cows

A little further down the path than the horse from yesterday's blogpost..

..was this herd of cows. They were all in the wide rural area that is located between the towns of Rolde and Borger.

The chuckling horse

 As if we'd just told her a good joke..

..she thought we were very funny :))
We passed this friendly mare last Sunday near the small village of Papenvoort.