Upon arrival..

..at Groningen Central Station.

View from the train

Apartments near Groningen-Europapark trainstation. Photo taken from the train.

Entrance door

A grand entrance door of a house in the city of Deventer.

Village view

View into Stationsstraat, in the village of Musselkanaal.

Watching

A photo from one of our walks this Summer in the Westerwolde region. The group carefully watched us passing by. I'm sure they were happy to be in the shade that day!

I'm linking to Saturday's Critters.

Still red

Still lots of unripe blackberries here, photo taken during our hike last Sunday. It might be the second time this season however that blackberries grow - thinking of the long warm Summer we've had.

Anloo

Coming from Gasteren we had this view towards the village of Anloo, in the province of Drenthe.

Hummingbird hawk-moth

Every now and then we spot one -or sometimes two- hummingbird hawk-moths (kolibrievlinder in Dutch) on the buddleja in our garden. Apparently our warm and long Summer attracts them. It's amazing to see them behave like actual hummingbirds.

We tried before to photograph them, it's not that easy as they are very agile and don't stay long at one place. I made these photos today.

At a safe distance..

..but looking VERY sweet and cuddly. These two and the rest of the herd of Highland cattle were behind a fence in the Drentsche Aa Nat.Park.

Sunday hike

Both images are from our hike today in the Drentsche Aa National Park. Starting in the village of Gasteren we explored a variable landscape with forests, fields of grass, streams..

..and heath with sandy paths.

Coneflowers

With the wonderful late Summer weather here, we are still enjoying the colourful coneflowers in our garden. Have a nice weekend!

The former border

From January 1, 1993 the European Union is a customs-free territory. This barrier at the former border between the small villages of Bourtange (The Netherlands) and Neurhede (Germany) reminds us of the days that it was very normal to stop and be asked for a passport or identity card. I can remember that very well.

The barrier is now a kind of monument and is placed next to the road. The sign says "closed between 10pm and 6,30am". So during these hours it wasn't possible to cross the border between the Netherlands and Germany on this particular road.
Both photos were taken from the German side; the text is in German.

A small square

.. in Deventer.

Garden ornaments

We passed by the Garden Ornaments Farm in the village of Schoonloo yesterday afternoon and stepped in to have a look. And well, they obviously come in all sizes, shapes, and materials! I doubt the sphinx was for sale though..  ;)

.. but there were a lot of other -more manageable- things in the back garden.

Yellow and blue

This former warehouse sells presents and home accessories.

Door and decoration

This wonderful piece was above a entrance door.

According to the house numbers, quite a lot of different people live behind this door..   It must nice and light in the entrance hall with those windows, don't you think?

The brushes shop

As the guided city walk in Deventer was on a Saturday, a visit to the famous Deventer brushes shop at the Menstraat was included - it has opening hours on Saturdays only, and occasionally on Sundays too. The shop window shows part of the merchandise...

 ... that consists of more than 150 different kinds of brushes and brooms.

Founded in 1860, it is the oldest shop of Deventer. Until the 1950s the brushes and brooms were manufactured in a workplace behind the shop, but after a fire only the shop was left - and has been in business since today. The lady behind the counter was happy to tell us all about it!

An alleyway

in Deventer.

The black cat

This gable stone picturing a black cat (in old Dutch:  D'SWARTE CAT)  was on one of the monumental buildings at the Korte Assenstraat in Deventer.

Deventer city hall

The facade of the Deventer city hall, seen here from the courtyard, shows 2,264 unique finger prints of 2,264 inhabitants of Deventer. Moulded in aluminium they form an eye catching wall.

It makes a unique view I think, and it's a nice idea to express the city's engagement to its citizens.

Deventer manhole cover

To be honest I had never taken much notice of the manhole covers during earlier visits to Deventer, but they are worth having a closer look at!
Can you see what it says on the first line? Once you figured that out, see how the letters mix and turn until the person standing across you can do the same ..

Enjoy your Saturday :)