Groningen 2

 Groningen Museum was an interesting building built in the canal.  It housed a varied collection including paintings (masters and modern), porcelain (from Netherlands, China & Japan), silverware, sculptures, and of course, artifacts.









This painting of Abel Tasman and family is a centrepiece display, on loan from the Australian National Gallery.  It is here to commemorate the 375th anniversary of his discovering Tasmania.  The painting, done in 1637 is the only known portrait of Tasman.  And yes, John did wear his Tasmania vest!







The centrepiece of their extensive silverware collection is this magnificent Martini Tower.  It is surrounded by a collection of tea and coffee sets designed by architects from around the world to represent different building styles.  This was the brainchild of the museum's architect Mendini.

This sculpture, which is actually quite tall, at first glance represents a stylish lady.  Evidently, as you look closer past first appearances, you notice her imperfections!

Some of the houseboats in the canals were badly in need of some TLC, whilst others were obviously well-cared for.  Emily and Chris admire one of the more lovely examples.

How picturesque is this?  A selection of boats in the canal and lovely old buildings.



Seen today: Man opening & closing a lock for a group of lady rowers, stand-up paddle boarders (their fear of falling into the canal was obvious!), a three-wheeled delivery van (straight out of a Mr Bean skit), eleven different canal bridges.

Groningen 1

 Martini Tower (version 3) Why, I hear you ask? Well, the original tower, built in the 13C was destroyed by lightning. In the 15C a second tower was built but it collapsed during a storm. The current tower was built between 1469 and 1482, but celebratory fires lit in 1577partially destroyed the tower again!  In the 17C, the tower was repaired to it's current 97 metres.
We climbed the tight spiral stairway to the top (370 steps), passing the carillon of 52 bells - quite noisy when they start up when we were standing next to them!
Atop the weather vane in a life-sized horse, and a sundial dated from 1748 sits on the southern side.  Being a sundial and being on a tower, it is only operational until 4:30pm!

 This glorious sundial sits in Prince's Garden, featuring rose gardens, herb garden and hedges shaped into the letters W and A for King Willem and his wife Albertine. This sundial has stood here for over 400 years!

Groningen Central Railway Station was completed in 1896. We were captivated by the intricate brick and tile work.  This photo can not do it justice!

Our mind cannot comprehend the number of pushbikes in Holland. This is part of the bike storage area at the train station. They need parking attendants telling people where to park their bikes!









Can you guess what this is?
This shop specialises in peanut pastes, and this is a peanut paste fountain!  How good is that!
Could be the inspiration for a Monty Python skit - "I would like to buy some peanut paste".







Seen today - Emily, an oddities shop (boy, were there some unusual things in there!), tiles on the underside of a bridge (strange place for tiles!), houseboats on the canals, bullet marks in several buildings from the liberation of Groningen by Canadian forces in April 1945.

Nijmegen 6

 Just like a kid in a candy store.  Yep, that's exactly what this photo is!  There were more lollies than you could poke the proverbial stick at.

 I think this address was "Skinny Straat". These houses were certainly cute, but didn't have a wide street frontage.  They look out over the town square which is cobble stones and very pretty indeed.

Here we are outside the old city wall.  Chris wanted to scale the wall and stage a mock city attack, but I managed to hold her back!

These two are all that remains of an impressive castle which sat atop a hill in the bend of the Waal River.  It was constructed in the 12 century, but fell into disrepair and most of the stones and bricks were sold off as building materials.  The original castle was huge, with a diameter of at least 200 metres.  The chapel (right) displays both Roman and Gothic architecture.  I guess they did some renovations! You can still make out the original frescoes on some walls and ceilings.

Seen today: The oldest pub in Nijmegem circa 1540 (with painted glass windows), a confronting monument to the Jews of Nijmegen who were executed by the Nazis, carved stone Coats of Arms dating from 1614, statue of Mariken van Nieumeghen.  Legend says she had a daliance, and killing spree, with Moenen (the Devil).  Eventually she repented and was forgiven, which just shows she must have been just a "good time party girl!"

Nijmegem 5

 "I would like to buy some cheese"
This dedicated cheese shop had more cheeses than even the Coles deli!!
We sampled some and ended up with  nutty goat's cheese and a smokey, smooth, year-old unpasteurised cow's milk cheese.  Now, that's a mouthful!

 Real clogs.  Say no more!

 The river Waal.  We did the scenic river walk and ended up in a cafe overlooking the barges plying the river to and from Germany.  The water level is currently very low, possibly 5 metres below normal, due to an unusually dry summer here.  There is the river, then the wharf/walkway, then road and cafes etc, then flood walls before the houses and apartments.  The gates and steps can be sealed when needed.

Couldn't go the tourist walk without a visit to the bicycle museum.  It was very interesting, and makes you appreciate the ingenuity of those early design pioneers.  They certainly pushed the boundaries with some of the designs!
This, of course, is a penny farthing.  How they managed to mount and then control these contraptions really does defy logic.

Seen today: "The Walk of Waste" - a series of novelty rubbish bins along the river walkway which artisits have decorated, trucks squeezing through the narrow backstreets, girls sitting in windows, dinner in a traditional Dutch restuarant.

Nijmegen 4 - windmills and castles

 Another day, another windmill! Nijmegen only has two remaining in the city and now we have seen them both. Yesterday's was white and this is the black one - 1849. The ground level of the windmill has been converted into a bakery. The bread is very fresh! We walked there and back, taking new streets along the way.







Move over Bruce Wayne - this is the real bat cave. Disused bunkers were taken over by bats and when the steel doors were installed to keep people out, these small openings were left for the bats.John reckons it would be a bit smelly inside! These bunkers are near where we are staying so we pass them regularly on our walks.

This afternoon we visited Doornenburg Castle, on the other side of the River Waal. Although the tour guide struggled with English, it was still very informative. Construction was begun in the 13thC with extensions increasing the size until its completion in the 17thC. It was restored leading up to 1941, bombed in 1944 during WWII and restored once again by 1964. The only surviving original structure was the chapel, maybe someone was watching over that!

Chris played up!

The whole area is in two sections - the castle proper, closed to the public except during official tours (interesting experience) and the walled courtyard, both surrounded by a moat.

Seen today - Dutch Belted Cows; A headstone with a skull and crossbones on it; Wafel met aardbeien en slagroom (waffel with strawberries and cream); a sundial on the wall of the castle (not on a plinth in a garden).

Nijmegen 3

 A real windmill! After we spotted this from the window of our room on the 7th floor of the hotel, we tracked it down on one of our walks. This was built in 1760 is now part of a restaurant complex. Marjolein's son Matti was married here.









You can't keep a librarian away from her books. This is a free community book exchange and are found throughout Nijmegen. What a great idea, and it was started by one lady and the idea soon spread. Just above the box were a little bee hive (the locals call them bee hotels) and several bird boxes.

 We have no idea what an 'Eddy Zone' is but the picture of the cats smooching and dancing was too good to resist. In the background are typical apartment buildings with some great brickwork patterns.

We spotted this from the hotel window as well (opposite direction) so went exploring until we found it in a lovely park. The Kronenburgertoren (or gunpowder tower) was built in 1425 as one of 25 towers in 6km of city walls as fortification for Nijmegen. Inside the walls were 25,000 people in 2,400 houses (pretty crowded, hey?). It's 30m tall and still looks impressive with the lake in the foreground.

Nijmegen 2

 Today, being wet (to be expected at times in Holland, being so green), our sightseeing was restricted to the Roman remains dating back to 17AD. It's certainly an experience wandering around between levels of history and wondering at the stories the walls could tell.

After seeing the size of these tusks the thought of hunting these animals with flint headed spears seems inconceivable. This skeleton was found in a lake close by Nijmegen. This room housed fossils, bones and other mammoth tusks.

The rain kept most people indoors at the centre, but after a very interesting visit, it was time for hot chocolate and poffertjes - small fluffy pancakes made on buttermilk- while we watched the rain and everyone else wandering around in it. Mmmm... perhaps this is not something we should do too often as our clothes won't fit by the time we get home.

Nijmegen, Holland

 After a 12 hour flight from China we arrived in Amsterdam, then caught the train to Nijmegen - an old town near the German border. Here we caught up with Marjolein and Henk. Marjolein took us for a tourist walk around the old town centre, before having dinner at their place.

The cobble-stoned town square provided an authentic foreground for the traditional Guild Hall and buildings. Some of the buildings date from the 1600s (John wonders whether they're still covered by building construction warranties!).
This is the bell tower and spire of Stevenskerk. The church and many of the buildings were badly damaged during an air raid which heavily bombed Nijmegen in 1944. Restoration work concentrated on keeping it close to the original architecture.
We were fortunate to have a very knowledgeable volunteer guide who shared stories of the church's history and construction and reconstruction after the war.





Being so flat Holland is perfect bike territory and it is common to see numerous riders and countless bikes parked in bike racks. This multi-level bike park at the railway station must hold hundreds of bikes and has been full every time we've walked past. You really have to have your wits about you when crossing streets as it would be easy to get cleaned up if you don't look. Bike have right of way. For us of course, cars and bikes are coming from the left. 

So many towns, including Nijmegen, have an Opollo hotel or cafe. This is useful if you want to "walk on the wild side!"



Seen today: Rain (surprise!); John riding a pushbike (yes I have photos); chestnuts and beech nuts; old WWII troop carriers flying in formation to commemorate Operation Market Garden in 1944. 

Guangzhou, China

We arrived in Guangzhou on Wednesday night and went to a local restaurant with Craig and some of his friends, including some locals. The hot pot meal meant cooking your own food (pork, fish, some offal, beef, vegetables etc) in a simmering pot of soup stock at the dining table (half was spicy and half , wasn't). 

After a hearty breakfast, we caught the Metro to the city, about 30km away where we spent most of the day wandering through some of the many different areas. We were amazed at the number of people on motor bikes and pushbikes weaving through the street, without helmets, but fully loaded with 'goods'. Just watching them weave in and out of the traffic and showing no regard whatsoever for road rules or red lights, was heart stopping. It's amazing that we didn't see any serious injuries. Even the darkness last night didn't deter them, nor did many even have lights on their bikes.

 We passed so many different sections of markets and stalls including those dedicated to shoes, toys, clothes, electronics, fake flowers, food, Chinese decorations, furniture and tea, but most disturbing to us were those selling live animals. It was such a hot day today with the temperature around 38C. These dried mushrooms, roots and spices were sharing the road with the rest of the traffic - and nothing was run over! At least the fish (at the right here) were cool!  

The quantity of electrical wires here, speaks for itself.

We ended the day with a visit to the Chen Clan Academy, built by the 72 Chen clans for their juniors' accommodation in 1894 during the Qing Dynasty.They have beautiful displays of Chinese tradioional crafts - enamel ware, ivory carving, jade and olive stone carving, glassware and embroidery. Really stunning work. 
Later tonight we head back to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam. A busy but really enjoyable day.

Seen today: Dried seahorse waiting on the footpath; dried centerpedes on bamboo sticks: close-ups of the paintwork of other vehicles on our Didi rive home (like Uber); lots of trees that have been uprooted as a result of the typhoon last week.