Kroller Muller Museum

Yesterday we again hit the road with our visitor Kay.  We went to the wonderful Kroller Muller Museum near Arnhem.  It features a wonderful group of sculpture gardens plus a museum featuring the largest private collection of van Goghs in the world.

The weather was dry but dull. 
We experienced torrential rain all morning before a fine, dry afternoon.

Kay sharing something with Monsieur Jacques.

The resemblance is astonishing!

The Kroller Muller's hunting lodge (1914-1920).
They didn't move in until 1937.  Sadly light not great.
The tower was exclusively for the mistress of the house,
accessed by the first elevator in The Netherlands
Staff couldn't use the lift. The house also featured a
central vacuuming service  - not bad for 1920.

from beside the lake...beautiful building. The building's
official name is Jachthuis Sint Hubertus.

 Georges Seurat

I cheated - a copy of a photo, but the real thing
looked fantastic.

Another van Gogh copied picture - because
I find my camera never does these justice, or
too many people get in my way.  Lovely!

Someone else's picture of the hunting lodge
on a sunny day.  Compare the difference in light.
You can understand why painters are fascinated by
the influence of light on subjects.

Recent trips and visits

Our Australian visitor Kay, from Toowoomba (Queensland's Garden City) has been to see the bulb fields this week plus Keukenhof today plus also took in a day at Floriade in Venlo.  Sadly the Floriade weather was not conducive to a pleasant visit, but it was interesting and worthy of a visit - but I'd carefully pick the weather if possible.

Taken from the gondola.

Yes, it rained all afternoon after a sunny train trip from Den Haag in the morning.

Enormous displays in one of the pavilions.

Part of the Japan exhibit.

Keukenhof 2012

Today Rene, Kay (our Australian visitor) and myself visited Keukenhof, the annual bulb festival here in Holland.  To say it was magnificent would be an understatement, and my pictures probably don't do it justice, but what an amazing experience!

I loved the fluffy edges to the petals.

(Edit - four days later) It's not often that a place lives up to all the hype, then more again.  Keukenhof does that in spades, and if you have the benefit of a beautiful sunny afternoon, even more so.  The temperature was pleasant, the crowds easily dispersed over the large site, and the feeling of a mass of people enjoying the experience along with yourself is just very nice indeed.

I'll be the first one to admit I know nothing about flowers, but the amazing range of tulip varieties alone is incredible to experience first hand.  We have tulips in our apartment, and they are just so very, very inexpensive here to purchase.  They also last a long time with the two vases in the living room just into their second week.

I met an attendant at the Kroller Muller Museum who said she had never been to Keukenhof and dismissed it as touristy and not for locals - she said she has plenty of tulips in her garden BUT she misses the point of the display which is to encourage people to advance the varieties they produce and also exhibit them in dramatic ways that simply bring pleasure into peoples lives.  On the 400th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and The Netherlands, what better way to view the influence the Dutch have had on the Turkish tulip varieties.

Rene eating an ice cream - yes, it was warm and sunny this afternoon.

Kay and Rene pose amongst some of the 7 million bulbs.

Love the new leaf greenery as well as the vibrant colour.

The windmill in the background just has a section of its sails showing.

Touring

The Dom, 758 years old, Utrecht.

Our visitor, Kay, has been getting around courtesy of our resident driver, Rene.  The Astra has been this last weekend to Culemborg and Utrecht on Saturday plus Son and Bladel (both in Brabant in the south) for a family get together on Sunday.  We now have a beautiful new coat rack near the door in the hall from Culemborg plus a pair of glass occasional tables suitable for drinks. 

The apartment is always full of flowers - so incredibly inexpensive here.

Gradually the apartment is getting more settled.  The art hanging system went up Friday so a few paintings are up already making the house more cosy.  I insisted on some window film on the lower bedroom windows overlooking the street.  I feel more private now, even though the windows begin a metre above the street.  Still have all the light, and I feel I can wander through the bedrooms feeling less exposed. 

The middle of Culemborg - this is 17thC but also 16thC buildings in this square.

The cathedral in Utrecht. 

The first electric car charging point I've seen.  I've seen a few here, but still not many cars - early days though.

Rene waiting at a service station - sitting on a folding tulip chair - squinting because the sun was threatening to come through the cloud cover.

Kay and Rene are heading to the markets in Wassenar tomorrow to see about curtains being made for the living areas plus the bedrooms.  The ones left here are not attractive at all.

Bulbs galore!

Well, you can't say we didn't see any bulbs today.  Mind you, the weather was quite dodgy - showers, fine but grey, weak sun, dark clouds, even hail for a while, then sunshine - welcome to Dutch weather.  The bulb fields around Leiden were spectacular and as impressive as reported in hundreds of blogs.  We even passed the entrance to Kerkenhof, the seriously well planned bulb experience, but we didn't go in because we're planning on devoting a day to that later this week.  I can't wait!

Eleven sleeps later...

We have now been in the apartment for eleven nights.  It has been very hectic, and quite tiring.  Things that were unpacked and placed 'somewhere' have now to be placed where common sense would have placed them had we not had three men unpacking for us and needing to know where they ought to put things.  Hence the kitchen needs to be resorted, but there is not enough cupboard space (small kitchen) so much stuff is either strewn around the area (tidily) or in boxes.  We haven't got either a costing or a likely delivery date for the kitchen cabinets, so not much will change for a while. We had one arrangement for the living area, but today we have changed that around (again) and it sort of looks and feels better, but it is only four hours old.  You have to live with a space for a while before things feel settled and just right.

The first picture at Easter time with my new phone - the Samsung Galaxy S2.  If you click on it you'll appreciate the clarity of detail - an 8 megapixel camera (better than my first digital camera). The sweets were my token Easter decorations.

The lounge and dining room in its first incantation - since today changed again.  Note the boxes tucked away to the right.  They'll stay that way for another couple of months. They contain books, CDs  and record albums.  They will be in cupboards that are currently stacked with kitchen stuff.

A plant given to us by Family for a house warming present when they visited on Easter Sunday.  Below another Family gift of candles in holders, Australian wine and more plants.  We had nine for dinner on Easter Sunday and we coped well.  Rene was the chef that day and everyone dined well. Shops were actually closed on Easter Sunday, but not on Good Friday.  In Australia it is changing too, from a long public holiday to quite a short one - I know everything closes for Good Friday.  Here Ascension Day is still observed with shops closed, whereas in Australia they remain open.  Interesting.

We all ventured to the beach on Easter Sunday - not that it was particularly fabulous beach weather, but it wasn't too bad either.  If you look below and enlarge the picture you'll see a lady and her sixteen or so dogs that go to the beach every day.  Dogs are banned on this beach (and many others) from May until October.  Some other more distant beaches remain open all year, but as it gets busier in summer these popular local beaches are dog free for five months.

Three days ago I was walking to a government office, rendezvousing with Rene who had gone by bike (doing another task along the way) when I came across an amazing sight - a very formal old fashioned funeral procession.  Now you will have to click on the picture for maximum effect because my picture is less than adequate (I just reached for my phone).  It consisted of the main hearse drawn by two magnificent black horses, black plumes as well, and three black carriages each drawn by a pair of black horses.  The attendants were dressed formally in black, and every horse and hair was immaculately turned out.  Later we came across the cortege outside a church in Scheveningen as we walked to yet another government office (bureaucracy - AHHH!!).

We still have a lot to do here.  Rene and I have the IKEA wardrobes completed and they look very fine indeed.  The street bedroom windows are having a film attached to the lower sections this coming Friday - a lady is doing them to ensure they are cut perfectly and aligned correctly.  Our lower bedroom windows are 1m above the footpath but are still huge - 5.2m long and 2.6m high - and we have both bedrooms with similar dimensions.  I'll be happy with the film on the lower sections, although Rene wouldn't have bothered if it was left to him.  We have four huge windows to curtain, and the art hanging system is going up on Thursday (installed for us). 

Tulips are originally Turkish, but the Dutch have made them their own.

Part of the 5400 hectare Floriade International Horticultural Expo site at Venlo.

We are ready for our very first house guest tomorrow.  Our friend Kay Galton, from Toowoomba, is coming from Paris on the Thalys (high speed) train and we are meeting her in Rotterdam.  Since the elevated high speed track opened, The Hague is skipped now, so passengers either get off at Rotterdam Centraal or Amsterdam Centraal and get a local train to Den Haag.  She is staying until the end of the month when Queen's Day is celebrated.  While she is here we'll visit Keukenhof to see the tulip fields plus the Floriade at Venlo (in the east) which only happens every ten years. Together with Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) she should have a fascinating and fun visit.