Quack quack..

Waagplein, Leeuwarden. While this lady was absorbed in her book, two ducks came from the nearby canal and approached her. They watched her -quack quack- waited for a while -quack quack-, came as close as they thought safe, quack quacked again softly to get her attention, but despite all their efforts she didn't look up and so that black bag that she was leaning on wasn't probably filled with bread after all..

Have a great weekend! :) 

Museum island

I'm standing on a footbridge here with the Groninger Museum on my right. The museum buildings are located on an island that connects the Central Station with the city centre. As you can see it's a colourful area, with a bright blue concrete walkway and blue fences. The photo with the stand up paddlers that I showed you yesterday was also taken from this spot, looking over the water to my right.

I'm linking to Good Fences.

Supping in Groningen

 Stand up paddle surfers, or 'SUPPERS', in the canals of Groningen this afternoon.

A bit tired? Cold feet? Or maybe he just stopped to enjoy the Spring sun..

Haren train station

Only 6 minutes from Groningen Central Station is this small train station in Haren. Each half hour you can hop on a train here, heading north for Groningen, or you can travel south to the city of Zwolle.

Wemeltje Kruit

This statue honours Wemeltje Kruit (1887-1963), a lady who was widely known because she spent her life going door-to-door selling goods that she carried on her bicycle. Whenever she travelled to another village she appeared in the local church on Sunday morning, so people knew she would be coming that following week.
Wemeltje Kruit lived in Gasselte; first in a caravan and later in a small house near a campsite. After her death the house became a holiday-home. The statue at the Kerkstraat was created by Bert Kiewiet, and pictures her alongside her bicycle as many people knew here.

At the exhibition

I'm still not very comfortable doing it, however I am going to try to photograph people more often as I admire my fellow photo-bloggers who do, and do it easily..
This is from a while ago, at the Groninger Museum.

The little white church

'Het witte kerkje' ('The little white church') in Gasselte dates from the 13th century. Gasselte, a village in the province of Drenthe, has always had 2 parts: the Grotenend (north-east of the church) and the Lutkenend (west of the church). In the Grotenend were the larger farms of the rich and influential families, while the rest of the villagers and craftsmen lived at the Lutkenend. The church was literally in the middle.

From the archives #60

Rome, Italy (2009)

This horse was standing patiently in front of the Panthéon as his boss was waiting for tourists to take them for a carriage tour through the city.

Have a nice weekend! :)

Witches' broom

I photographed these witches' brooms ('heksenbezem' in Dutch) against a blue sky on Easter Sunday near the village of Norg. These dense masses of shootgrows, resembling a broom or a bird's nest, are a disease or deformity where the natural structure of the plant or tree is changed.


I am linking to Skywatch Friday.

Groningen Central Station

Seen from across the water of the Zuiderhaven. On the right is the white horse sculpture ('t Peerd van ome Loeks) that I showed you earlier this week.

Sign for fresh fish

This plaque called 'De Klok' ('The Clock', or maybe better 'The Bell'?) at Tussen Beide Markten near the Vismarkt (Fish Market) in the city of Groningen was replaced here in 1929 but originally dates from the 17th century. According to tradition, a bell was rang on this spot as a sign to let everyone know that fresh fish from Zoutkamp had arrived.

Linking to signs, signs.

Peerd van Ome Loeks

This white concrete sculpture in front of the Groningen Central Station is called 't Peerd van Ome Loeks, local dialect for Het paard van oom Lucas, or Uncle Lucas' Horse in English. It is regarded as one of Groningens symbols, that got its name from a local folk song with the same title. The sculpture was created by Jan de Baat in 1959.

Strangely enough it isn't really clear who 'uncle Lucas' was, and/or who invented the song. Most likely it was named after Lukas (Loeks) van Hemmen, who owned a pub as well as his own stables. After his famous racing horse Appelon died and the horse butcher came to collect the dead animal, some boys apparently sang the words: 't Peerd van Ome Loeks is dood' ('Uncle Lucas' horse is dead')

Protest mural

Shop owners in the Gelkingestraat in Groningen had had more than enough of buses 'just' rumbling down their narrow street after the busstop had been removed. So last Autumn they asked local painter Suzanne Postel to express their feelings in a mural. This resulted in a kind of protest-painting showing 2 figures: one person holding back a bus, and another one pushing away a bus (Qbuzz is the name of the local bus company). In between are the names of the shops.

Linking to Monday Mural.

Fresh OJ

Delicious and healthy. What can you wish more?
You can get it here on the market in Groningen. Hope you have a nice Easter!

Open-air piano

Like a number of other Dutch cities did before, Groningen also joined the 'open-air piano project': a piano in a public place like a train station here, and anyone who wants to play can do so.

While waiting for my train yesterday afternoon I enjoyed listening to this girl!

Tulips!

At the annual Good Friday flower market in Groningen.
Happy Easter!

Spring sun

The Spring sun just outside Bruges' historical centre, a year ago. A tiny bench and really large trees! ;)

Let's ride!

This bronze sculpture at the Walplein in Bruges was created by Jef Claerhout (1937), and pictures an image from Greek mythology with the winged divine stallion Pegasus. An inscription at the bottom says: "Zeus, Leda, Prometheus and Pegasus visit Bruges". Lots of motion here, don't you think so?