Tuesday's Travels 8

Well, for some this was easier than for others, but it was the Ferris Wheel in the Prater Park in Vienna. Or Riesenrad as they would call it over there. A point each go to Gera, Yamini and Fun 60 for knowing. 

My own story? In 2016 my sister Gera and I actually rode that Ferris Wheel and I loved it. Brom was also there and he was with me in loving it. My sister not so much: sit still, stare at a fixed point and hope it will be over soon!

On to this week's challenge. What/where is it? Have you ever been and what is your story? Answer next week.

The River Vecht, part 3

Last week I finally got around to walking the third stretch of this international walk. I had done the first two bits in January and March, but lately I have been doing really well with longer distances and felt I could do this next bit. 

Is it a horse or is it a zebra?
I have to ask my Dad: he is an expert!

It was a stretch of just under 16 km (10 miles), but unfortunately I missed a sign at one point and overshot. Which in turn meant that I had to retrace until I found the sign (which was very clear by the way) and continue on the route. In the end the whole route was just a smidge under 20 km and only because I did a tiny detour in the end. 

Big Papa

I was tired after that. Tired and hurting. The knee is of course a constant nowadays, but I had also developed a blister on the sole of my foot. Regardless of that though: I did 19,77 km! I was very proud of myself I can tell you. 

They didn't cross the river itself, just a little offshoot.

Of course it isn't just the walking itself, I also like to see some stuff and this walk had plenty of that! There was of course the river itself, which we (I took Brom along) had a magnificent view of from a viewing tower. And only a bit later we were sat only a few steps from it. The cows in the field just beside us were beef cattle and not used to people, so they (led by Big Papa) decided to move away.

I think the bigger tractor was spraying some sort of pesticide

We crossed the river a bit later on and from that moment we didn't really see it again. The official name of this long distance walk is The Valley of the Vecht walk, so you do get a lot of walking in the area on either side of the river, not necessarily right beside.

With a distinct smell of cow (which were right behind us)

We got to the small village of Vilsteren and that's where I went wrong. Instead of turning left and into the woods, I kept walking along the main road. Which in turn led me to a farm with ice cream and a toilet. If I had checked properly there, I would have only done an extra few hundred meters. As it was: about 3,5 km. 

I had my doubts already as I didn't see any signs for my route when there were side roads, but it didn't click properly until I really checked and realised: I shouldn't have crossed the railway. Which I had. There was nothing else for it: I had to retrace and find the turning off point. 

I did find it again and from then the walk became more of a trudge. Those extra km had sapped the energy it seemed. The fact that the temperature by then was soaring to about 25 degrees C (77 F) did not help either. But I did get closer as I could see on my phone. 

The boarded up entrance to a former ice house.
Excuse the finger!

Eventually I saw the path to the train station from where I would catch the train to get back to my car. It had taken me over 5 hours of actual walking and closer to 6 hours including stops. The journey back by train took 8 minutes!

Art at the station in Ommen

The next stretch is about 20 km, although I might do a little deal with my Dad and split it in two. But that is not for a while yet. First to recover from blister and knee.

Photo on Sunday 2021-17

As seen somewhere in Rotterdam.

Erasmus

A 3D printed version of an older statue.
Not too sure about the colour though.

During our recent visit to Rotterdam, we saw several things to do with Erasmus. He was a Dutch philosopher and Christian Scholar who lived from 1466 to 1536. He was reportedly born in Rotterdam (not entirely certain), but only lived there for 4 years. He always called himself Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus though and is still a legacy to the city.

'The whole earth is your fatherland'

There is a Erasmus University (which some people think was designed by him: not true) and of course the Erasmus Bridge. Internationally speaking there is also an international university exchange programme that gives students the chance to study temporarily in another country. 

His book 'The Praise of Folly' is shown here.
On the other side were books by John Locke and Pierre Bayle.

He is perhaps most famous for all the works he has written and the many quotes taken from them. We saw several while walking through Rotterdam. 

'The most important condition for happiness is that you want to be what you are'

The first quote I showed you is particularly fitting for Rotterdam: there are over 170 different nationalities living there. The second quote is fitting for the times we live in now: everybody has to be happy all the time. Often at some considerable cost. Sometimes it is just enough to change your mindset and be happy with what you have and what you are. 

The garden

After we had been away for a week, it was nice to be back home again and see how the garden did. Which was not too bad really. But even though it had rained occasionally during my week away, after I had come back, it just started raining in all seriousness. Cats and dogs, pipe stems (Dutch expression, don't ask), bucket loads. 

I like the leaves

All the while I kept thinking: my lettuce, my lettuce! It was surely not going to survive that onslaught of water. Even with the little holes in the bottom of the pots, it was touch and go. And then the rain stopped. And the few bedraggled leaves of lettuce were still clinging on. For dear life, granted, but they were clinging on. 

The rocket going like a rocket

Once the rain had stopped, all the plants decided that sun was good and that growing was better. Some more than others, but they did all grow a bit bigger. Right now the first harvest has been done: the radishes have been picked and eaten. Including the leaves (yes, you can eat those too), which for me makes them a bit more palatable as radishes on their own taste like... well... radishes. I am not fond of radishes.

Not quite red and juicy, but soon

The next thing to be harvested (well, start of) will be the rocket. The outer leaves are now big enough to cut away and eat, leaving the inner leaves to grow and produce more leaves. Also the strawberries are coming along and some of them will soon be picked and eaten. 

If you look closely you can see five green shoots coming up. 

I have sown some new things as well: garden cress inside (harvested and eaten), peas (several leaves peeking up already) and radishes. Yes, even though radishes are not my favourite, I loved the multi colour seeds I got, which will produce several different colour radishes. I can hardly wait. 

The last thing I wanted to show you is our basil plant. I had bought this in the supermarket, so we would have fresh basil at home. However, we are not eating that much basil and one day I saw there were small flowers forming, which have now begun to bloom! How good is that?

Brom goes to the sea again

Coocoo

Today is my last post of our holiday in Zeeland. Mara says I managed to make it last though: the holiday only lasted five days!

My favourite shell I found the day before.

We started early on Friday, because this was moving day and we had to be out of our cottage by 10 am. Mara had to pack her stuff and she had to make sure my shells were coming along as well (see Sunday's photo of my three favourite shells we found on the beach). She had to remove all the bedding, leaving everything tidy, get the car and pack the car and then we would be on our way. 

Our first stop was going to be the sea again though, as the wind had really picked up during the night and she thought the waves might be a bit higher. And they were. So, when she popped me in the sand really close to the sea, I was a bit scared the waves would wash me away. But she scooped me up again before the water got too close.

Mara's photo for May 2021

After only a short while we got back to the car, tried to shake off all the sand (I still have some in my ears I think) and started to make our way home again. It was a great holiday and I hope next time we will be staying near the sea again. I loved it!

Tuesday's Travels 7

Did you know where this was? Getting closer into the photo would have helped, but I was a bit naughty and blacked out the sign saying what it was. But this was of course the Calgary Tower in (oh yes) Calgary, Canada. Yamini once again knew the answer, as did Millie and Walter (good sleuthing on their part). A point to each. Anvilcloud knew the answer, but unfortunately he didn't give it. No points there, sorry!

My story? While in Canada back in 2011, I visited Calgary and of course I had to visit Calgary Tower as well. Once up there it was a long way down I can tell you! And the fact that you were standing on a glass floor looking down was definitely a bit scary. 

Now on to this week's challenge. Where is this, have you ever been and what is your story? Answer next week!

Brom goes to the sea

Coocoo

On our last full day in the cottage, Mara was very lazy. She was feeling a bit under the weather (her own fault, I had told her to bring the water bottle with her to Rotterdam the night before: she had forgotten it!) and the weather outside didn't help that much either. 

Up and down through brambles and gorse.

But in the early afternoon, I finally convinced her that it might be good to go out for a walk to the beach, which was very close to where we were staying. She tucked me up safely in her walking pack (see the top photo), so I could see everything and off we went. 

When we got to the sea, it was very far away. Her walking app she uses, actually showed us walking in the sea itself, but the tide was going out, so it was the beach! How funny is that. At first she wanted to stay closer to the dunes (by the road), but I wasn't having any of that: we were at the seaside!

So, I told her I wanted to see the sea up close and off we went. And then she stopped. And took a photo. For the whole bit 'in the sea' she stopped and took lots and lots of photographs. Of foot prints and jelly fish, birds, the sea, the sand, me, her, me and her together. 

We saw some dogs and Mara said they were real German sea dogs. Hm, I think she was being silly again. But she said no, she had heard them talk German! 

A jellyfish. Yikes!

By the end of the walk, she felt a lot better, the sea air had done her a lot of good. We walked back through the sand and the dunes. Once back at the cottage park, we first had to do some shopping (pizza, yum!) and then we headed home again. Ready for another night of Eurovision.

A Moon Jellyfish

Brom's Photo on Sunday 2021-16

Brom goes to town

Coocoo

This is the third and last bit of our walk on day three. We first saw a lot of water. Then we saw land as in a nature reserve and the third bit we got to see was the town of Zierikzee. And a lovely little town it was as well.

One thing I had spotted from a long way away was a tower. Mara doesn't think those are proper church towers for some reason, but I quite liked it. It was quite funny though, as it wasn't connected to the church at all. Mara checked and it never was, although it was built right next to one. But the name of the tower we both liked very much: it is called the Fat Tower! Although the official name is St Lievensmonster Tower. It is big now, but it was supposed to be even bigger (about twice as high), but the money ran out.

The front of the New Church

The church that is now adjacent to the Fat Tower is called the New Church and replaced the burnt down St Lievensmonster Church. It was big. If I had only seen those two parts of Zierikzee, I would have thought they don't like small buildings there!

In the garden near the church and the tower there was a large piece of art which I really liked. I think it looked like Grover's hands, but Mara said Grover only had two hands, not three. Of course I know that, I am a bear after all.

On we walked and the centre was lovely. A lot of smaller houses in which people still live. The streets were quite quiet, because there weren't that many tourists. In summer there would usually be a lot of German and Belgian tourists. Now there were mostly Dutch and not that many.

A seaweed burger with vegetable crisps on the side.
Quite good actually.

When we got to the shops, Mara decided she wanted a small souvenir. She bought a lovely oyster shell that was painted on the inside. We could have picked up some of the oyster shells we had seen and given it a go ourselves! But there was no time to go back as lunch was on the menu first and then we would have to return home.

On our return to the car we saw a large mill. It was a corn mill and had been there since 1727! That was a bit older than me and Mara said it was older than her as well. It was called the Hare, but we didn't see any hares near it. 

The mill was also next to the old harbour which meant there were a fair few old fishing cottages. Mara said those houses were where the poor fishermen lived once upon a time and the rich people would build nice large houses away from the dirty harbour.

That little cottage with the shutters would have housed a family.
It's not even big enough for me and I am a small bear!!

I would have loved to see a bit more of Zierikzee, but we had to go back home to our cottage, because Mara needed to get cleaned up for our second visit to Eurovision. Which was a good idea, because she did smell a bit. 

PS: I think Mara changed a setting on her camera, because all the photos look a bit blue. I really have to check everything don't I?