Rainy day

View from inside the Groninger Museum across the city canal towards the Stationsstraat and bus station, on a rainy day last December.

Blue, red and black..

..on the Prins Hendrik bridge in Leeuwarden.

Island ferry

Back at the ferry at the end of the afternoon.

It takes about 40 minutes to the Lauwersoog harbour on the mainland.

Diepe Dolte

This water in Workum is named Diepe Dolte. The boat was probably on its way to the nearby IJssel Lake. It was a perfect day voor sailing!

I am linking to Weekend Reflections.

De Vlijt mill

Today's photos were taken from the Steamboat Quay in Meppel  -the boat you see on the right is (yes, once more :) ) the pancake ship. The mill in the background is called "De Vlijt" ("The Dilligence" in English), a smock mill in Meppel. It was rebuilt in 2002 on the octagonal brick base of a tower mill from 1859 that had been taken out of use in 1933.

In Dutch we call this type of mill a 'achtkante stellingmolen'. While googling for some more information I read that the base of the mill is used as living accomodation and office space, so it's not open to the public. The official De Vlijt website (in Dutch) can be found HERE.

Pancake ship

The Liberté was built in 1901 and has been a cargo vessel in the European waters for over 75 years. In 1993 restaurant owner Jan Vrielink bought the ship and brought it to Meppel, where it was transformed into a restaurant ship specialised in pancakes.

It's a real eye-catcher now at the Stoombootkade (Steamboat Quay) in the centre of Meppel.

Gloomy day

Happy to see the sun today after a few gloomy days with drizzling rain every now and then. I went for a walk yesterday and took this photo, with a houseboat on the left and a drawbridge just behind it.

Canal view

View onto a canal named 'De Kolk' in Sneek, seen from the monumental Waterpoort, or Water Gate.

And while we were standing there the bridge opened to let several boats pass. I will post some photos of the Waterpoort tomorrow.

Sneek maritime museum

The Fries Scheepvaart Museum is a maritime museum in Sneek, offering collections of old sailing ship models, naval paintings, and silver pieces.

This larger model was exhibited in a glass display, have a look at the details!

Vrangfoss staircase locks

The Telemark Canal in southern Norway is 105 km (65 mi) long and connects the towns of Skien and Dalen by linking several long lakes. A series of 18 locks make it possible to deal with a difference in elevation of 72 metres (236 ft). At Vrangfoss -where we took these photos- is a staircase lock that consists of 5 chambers and a lifting height of 23 metres. The Henrik Ibsen is one of two riverboats that travel with tourists on the canal during the Summer season.

It must be an exiting adventure going through the locks for those on the ship, but for us on the quay it was also a spectacular sight. The water made lots of noise and look how deep they were.

It takes an hour for the ship to pass the Vrangfoss locks.

MS Henrik Ibsen is a historic Norwegian diesel-powered ship built in Sweden in 1907, then named SS Styrsö. After being adapted to canal traffic, it arrived at Telemark Canal in 1992 and was renamed MS Henrik Ibsen after the former steamship SS Henrik Ibsen, which also operated on the Telemark Canal from 1907 to 1919.

The small boat

During our hike in and around the village of Zuidlaren earlier today we walked a while along the Havenkanaal ('Harbour Canal') and passed this nice small boat.

It looked old, though in very good shape. Maybe it belonged to the owners of the house there on the left.

Terrace on the water

Yesterday's photo had a boat restaurant in Delft, this photo shows another one. With a canal in front, and no room for tables and chairs on the pavement, a boat seems a perfect alternative for a terrace during the Spring and Summer season!

Pelserbrugje

This is the "Pelserbrugje", from which yesterday´s photo was taken. The Pelserbrugje (Little Pelser Bridge) is a drawbridge for pedestrians and cyclists across the Thorbecke Canal in Zwolle.

The bridge was built in 1974 and was named after the "pelsers" ("pels" is Dutch for fur, a "pelser" is an old Dutch word for someone who processes fur) who worked in this area in the 15th century.

Weekend Reflection

View across the Thorbecke Canal in the city centre of Zwolle.

I'm linking to Weekend Reflections.

Shrimpcutter TM26

This photo was taken from the ferry that took us from Schiermonnikoog back to Lauwersoog at the mainland, last Sunday. Just before arriving at the Lauwersoog harbour this boat went by, giving us a pretty view in the late afternoon sun.

Wondering what ´TM26´ meant I googled and found out that the letters TM stand for Termunterzijl, a small village in the north of the Netherlands. The number 26 seems sequential.
It´s originally a shrimpcutter named MEEUW ('SEAGULL'), built in 1911 in the Groninger village of Oude Pekela. It was motorized in 1928, claimed by the Germans during WW2, and from 1971 used for sport fishing and other recreational purposes. In 1988 the cutter was completely renovated.

I'm linking to Weekend Reflections.

Ferry reflection

Standing on the upper deck of the Stenaline ferry to Göteborg, we slowly passed this huge cruise ship just after leaving the quay of Kiel harbour in Germany. As you can see, all huts there had large windows and their own balconies, in which we saw our ferry reflect as we passed.
Photo taken last July.

I´m linking to Weekend Reflections.

Leeuwarden city-canal

This is the Stadsgracht ('City-Canal') with the Willemskade ('William's Quay') at both sides, located in the heart of Leeuwarden. On the right is the pancake-ship restaurant that I showed you earlier this month.

I'm linking to Weekend Reflections.

Enjoy your weekend!

Pancake ship

'Pancake ships´, floating pancake restaurants, can be found in various cities with canals all over the Netherlands. We eat our pancakes, known as pannenkoeken in Dutch, mostly at lunch and dinner. The ones served in a restaurant are quite large: 30 cm (12 inch) or so. Toppings and fillings can be sweet or savoury, like sliced apples, cheese, ham, pineapple, bacon, alone or a combination. Popular on top is sugar, or 'stroop': a thick suger beet-based syrup.

The photos show 't Pannekoekschip at the Willemskade in Leeuwarden. My personal favourite is a pancake with sliced apples and powdered sugar on top. How do you like your pancake?

The Story-Boat

During our city walk in and around the centre of Zwolle we also passed De Verhalenboot ('The Story-Boat') in the Thorbeckegracht. It's a unique entertaining as well as training location for both individuals and companies. They offer story telling theatre. give lessons in presentation techniques, organise story telling festivals, etc etc

MusSAILkanaal

Over a hundred cargo-vessels came to Musselkanaal this weekend for 'MusSAILkanaal'. With this event the village in the south of the province of Groningen celebrated 250 years 'Stadskanaal' (by which is meant the actual canal -'Cities Canal'-, not the town Stadskanaal nearby) as well as 400 years 'Semslinie'.
The Semslinie is a part of the border between the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe that runs from Wolfsbarge to Musselkanaal, right through the former Bourtanger Moor.

Both pictures are from yesterday evening. We were very lucky to have such beautiful Summer weather!