Francois_Dumas Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 End of May we had both daughters of Nina's sister visiting us. One (Carmen) is now living in Florida in the US, married to a Romanian who emigrated 10 years ago. And Diana still lives in Romania and came over with her friend Marcel. Instead of driving not one but TWO gas guzzlers, I took the bike to 'play guide'. We had some beautiful days at the beginning of their visit and this was one of them. We did all the 'obligatory' things such as windmills, polders and dikes of course. If you want to skip yet another series of Dutch pictures, then I won't hold it against you. ;-) Unfortunately, it's all that we have here ! It all started here again...... you may know this particular mill by now.. An illustrious quintet: left to right Marcel, Diana, mr. RT, Carmen and Romeo The miller has a large family too, apparently..... They climb into these to fasten the sails....... I have a problem with heights, therefore I will not be a miller. After having visited the mill. I led my nieces and men (AND Nina) through my 'flower bulbs territory'. Allas, the tulips had gone by now.... These pictures are not 'great', shot from a moving car with a small digicam, but it is not often I get to show myself on the bike, so there..... The route takes us over small backroads through even smaller villages..... I love that loop ! Here we are on the highway towards the big dike (Afsluitdijk). As usual it was windy...... On the same look-out tower where I took Tom and Joyce a few weeks earlier. It was cold there, so Nina put my jacket on :-) That's Marcel's car - all the way from Romania - and my RT - all the way from Berlin. We are parked here to visit the 'Bunker Museum'. The street was under construction, so we had to walk almost a mile around the locks to get to the entrance. Bummer. It was busy with ships coming in from the North Sea, or going out. So the bridge opened just when we arrived The ships caused an immediate little traffic jam of course..... That one is called Sea Gull. Some beautiful sailing ships can be seen around here, most of these are rented as 'short cruise' for groups. Here's a view of the end of the dike and the big doors (raised in the picture) that allow superfluous water from the big lake to be transferred into the North Sea at low tide. It is part of the intricate system that keeps Holland 'dry'. The Germans immediately built a whole fortress at the dike's entrance. (It had been finished in 1932 and was the only connection to the northern provinces... hence strategic. The tail of a British bomber that has been found in the IJsselmeer some years ago. It crashed there on its way back from bombarding Germany. This sign says 'ticket sales'. Why did I may a picture. Because for the SECOND time I rode all the way out there only to find it CLOSED again ! Grrrr......... So here goes a disappointed group of hot and sweaty tourists back the way they came...... I managed to take a wrong turn after that...... having to catch up with the truck that was quicker in leaving from the parking (no sweaty rider having to wriggle into his helmet, suit and gloves). I was in the middle of the bridge when the alarm bell rang again, signaling that it would open. Anyway, we had an uneventful ride/drive home...... But I had promised Carmen a ride on the bike, so instead of packing it in....... we packed Carmen in. She had never worn a helmet before... and I had just bought this (cheap ) one a few weeks earlier, for guests. It was pretty tight...... Carmen of course needed to do her lips BEFORE she put on the helmet, adding to the fun........ And here we are just before leaving..... we had FUN !!! Link to comment
roydog007 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Francois, You got it so rough, I wish I could share your pain with you Link to comment
Firefight911 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Skip another set of Dutch photos . . . Are you nuts? Did you crack your noggin' on something? Wouldn't miss them for nothin'. Beautiful as always!!! Link to comment
Francis Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Great photos. It's been a while since I was in Holland and the pictures brought back nice memories. Francis Link to comment
ESokoloff Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Enjoyably as always Francois Thanks for sharing Link to comment
GS_George Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Thanks for the pictures of your family and Holland. We are planning our 2009 vacation and thinking about touring your area. Take care...George Link to comment
SteveHebert Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 A very nice family outing. Your pictures are always beautiful. Maybe I will be able to visit sometime next year and see it up close and personal. Link to comment
tallman Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Francois, Great job, as usual. BTW, check for your wallet, it looks like Carmen is lifting it in the last photo. Jestakiddin. Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 Francois, Great job, as usual. BTW, check for your wallet, it looks like Carmen is lifting it in the last photo. Jestakiddin. She's cost us almost as much as our own daughter over the past 30 years...... Carmen was really squeezing me the first 10 miles or so, until she finally got convinced she would not fall off and I would not ride us into the lake ! To all: when you DO get down here, be sure to give me a holler !!! Link to comment
CraigT Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Francios, it's these pictures (and the Spain trip from throttlemeister) that urge me to get on the bike with camera more often, as I'm sure it does so many other people too. It has me scouring maps in search of some interesting shots of Scotland that I can share with the forum. Andy seems to have summed up middleages England in some previous spectacular photography and every time we're abroad in euroland it appears that the best parts and roads of Scotland are as well known to our closer European as they are to myself. It's early in the season and I'll see what I can do in terms of a few pictures of Caledonia. Thanks for the continual inspiration and motivation. Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Thanks Craig ! I would LOVE to see more pictures opf Schotland. Been there only once and it was awesome, nothing less. I have very fond memories of that trip (toured just about every road we could find in our little Mini Countryman). There are interesting places (for who wants to see them) just around every corner, in every country. The thing is that 'we' usually get so accustomed to our own surroundings that we don't find it interesting anymore. So for me making pictures for others helps ME enjoying my life and the places I live and go to more... .... and sometimes the bike is just an excuse to go and shoot places... (with the camera, don't want to open up yet another guns discussion ). I guess I'm a lousy rider and a better traveller If you ever get to a place called Tain, on the Dornoch Firth, then do me a favor and shoot some pictures there ? It is where we 'camped' in Moira's old caravan for a few nights. We did B&B at her house, loved the area so much that we decided to stay more nights. She was all booked full, so let us stay in her old caravan in the backyard. We walked up (through the cold - this was October 1978) to the kitchen to get a lovely greassy breakfast every morning. And then headed out in the Mini to do 300-500 miles drives almost every day ! Oh we were so young then....... Link to comment
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