Netherlands – Travelling Worm

Category: Netherlands

Beauty and history in Groningen, Netherlands

This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 25-year-old bookmark and can proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC).

Today’s travel notes

Me and the TC spent a couple of days visiting friends in Smilde and Assen. We stayed overnight in the university city of Groningen. It’s another place where the TC and the “TC once removed” have lived in years gone by.

My impressions? A place to keep coming back to. The northern city of Groningen is slightly more austere than Utrecht and Amsterdam, but beautiful and gezellig (welcoming) too.

The book I’m in

Poet’s Cottage, by Josephine Pennicott. A delightfully rambling tale of ghosts, heartbreaks and triumphs, set in rural Tasmania.

Travel tip

Buy a freshly-baked gevulde koek at the market and eat it on the spot. It’s a delicious, melt-in-the-mouth biscuit filled with almond paste. Ideally, the weather is cold and the koek is warm, soft on the inside and crisp on the outside.

Recommended accommodation

Hotel Corps de Garde, Oude Boteringestraat 74, Groningen. Get an attic room if you can, for the atmosphere, wooden beams and rooftop views. Photos below.

Recommended restaurant

Drie Gezusters, on the Grote Markt (big market square) in Groningen. Good food and great service in a lovely old building. We went up to the first floor. Photo of the building below.

The photos

Me in Groningen. Notice the window shutters on the building behind me, with their typical Groningen colours and design:

A canal in Groningen, on the Lopendediep at the top of Oude Boteringestraat:

More of the canal:

Hotel Corps de Garde, also at the top of Oude Boteringestraat:

The hotel is one of the oldest properties in Groningen. The current building was erected in 1634, to house military and city guards. It occupies the area where the thirteenth-century town wall once stood.

This is an attic room in the hotel:

Bicycles going down Oude Boteringestraat towards the city centre:

An old court house in Oude Boteringestraat:

The oldest part of the court house was built at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Here’s another view of it:

Bikes parked in front the University of Groningen:

The Martinitoren (Martini tower), on the central market square (Grote Markt) in Groningen, was built between 1469 and 1482:

The Goudkantoor (Gold Office) on the Grote Markt was originally built for the tax collector of Groningen province, then later housed the office that authenticated gold and silver. It’s now a restaurant:

Buildings on one side of the Grote Markt, including the Drie Gezusters restaurant and pub:

That’s all for today, dudes.
Oudegracht and Dom in Utrecht, Netherlands

This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 25-year-old bookmark and can proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC).

Today’s travel notes

Me and the TC spent a few hours in Utrecht, seeing old friends and strolling along the Oudegracht. That’s the old canal that runs through the centre of the city.

My impressions? Utrecht rivals Amsterdam in beauty and grace.

The book I’m in

Poet’s Cottage, by Josephine Pennicott. A delightfully rambling tale of ghosts, heartbreaks and triumphs, set in rural Tasmania.

Travel tip

Europe is the place to experience the precious variety of life. Visiting friends in Europe is a way to appreciate that variety fully.

The photos

Me in a café overlooking the Oudegracht:

The Domtoren, or Dom Tower, was built between 1321 and 1382. It’s part of St Martin’s Cathedral, although the link between the church building and the tower was never completed. As a result, the Domtoren is a free standing tower:

The TC and her companion (let’s call him the “TC once removed”) indulged in plenty of reminiscences about the days when they used to live near Utrecht. Walking around the base of the tower, they exclaimed repeatedly how cold and windy it was in this particular spot in the city, and that is was always thus. Yet how beautiful. It struck this worm that people have been making similar comments for more than 600 years.

Buttresses on St Martin’s Cathedral, next to the Domtoren:

A sobering sight – a statue of Anne Frank, with fresh flowers tucked into her elbow:

The Oudegracht in Utrecht:

Amsterdamned is a Dutch movie made in 1988 by Dick Maas. It’s about a serial killer who roams the canals of Amsterdam in a scuba diving suit, emerging from the water to drag his victims to a nasty, watery death. The Dutch are rather fond of their classic horror thriller. This worm would call it cheesy. But good.

Why mention the movie in this post about Utrecht? The speedboat chase in Amsterdamned was filmed in the canals of Utrecht, not Amsterdam. Utrecht is unique in having the lower-level promenade along the sides of the Oudegracht, making for a spectacular chase scene. The original purpose of the promenade, now lined with restaurants, was to provide wharves for unloading goods from boats into the warehouses along the banks.

That’s all for today, dudes.
Bushwacker cocktails in Amsterdam, Netherlands

This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 25-year-old bookmark and can proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC).

Today’s travel notes

Me and the TC paid a flying visit to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, so that the TC could mix cocktails for her colleagues in Atlassian’s Amsterdam office. Atlassian is the collective name for a group of smart people who write software. Some of them write documentation too.

My impressions? The TC says Amsterdam is the most beautiful city in the world. This worm is attempts to avoid such extravagances of praise, but has to concede that the TC may in this case be right. This worm must remark, however, that the TC is apt to say the same of Utrecht. More about Utrecht in a later post.

The book I’m in

Poet’s Cottage, by Josephine Pennicott. A delightfully rambling tale of ghosts, heartbreaks and triumphs, set in rural Tasmania.

Travel tip

Even if you have only a few hours to spare, pay a visit to Amsterdam. Walk along the canals, admire the fearless cheek of the cyclists, and eat a freshly-baked stroopwafel.

The photos

This worm didn’t have time to pose for a photograph in Amsterdam. Instead, feast your eyes on this Bushwacker cocktail, one of many that the TC mixed for the Amsterdam Atlassians:

Did you spot the canal? There are a few of those in Amsterdam.

At night the bridge arches are lit with many small bulbs:

Large windows glow in the grand buildings lining the canals:

Aha, the TC succeeded in taking a photograph without a canal. Tram lines in an early morning street scene:

Bikes on a boat on a canal – the red boats on the right offer a parking area for bikes (fietsenstalling):

Boats, bikes and lamp posts, seen through the window of a breakfast café:

Another three-arched bridge:

That’s all for today, dudes.
Dikes in Holland

This is the blog of a 25-year-old bookmark. I proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1.

Twenty-five years, and I don’t look a day older than one! Alas, I can’t say the same for my Travelling Companion. I spend most of my time inside a book (well, duh) while the TC sees the world. Read all about me and follow my blog posts to share my experiences as bookmark and travelling worm.

From time to time, I’ll say something meaningful. Like a t-shirt.

Today’s travel notes

The Travelling Companion has been rather sedentary recently, so I’ve been crawling through her photo albums again. I came across some pictures of Holland and some scraps of a letter that she wrote about her encounters with dikes.

This letter is twenty years old, written in April 1988. I thought you would enjoy a bit of ancient history 🙂

We drove along a very impressive dike, which separates the Markermeer from the IJsselmeer. The dike is 29 km long. It is quite lovely to see the open water on each side of the road, with yachts and water-birds dotted all over. A large area east of the Markermeer is reclaimed land, called a polder. There was a plan to reclaim the entire Markermeer, so the dike was built to allow the land to be drained. But evidently they have decided not to do that just yet. One reason why they need more land is that the airport Schiphol is too busy. So they planned to build another one where the water is at present.

North-west of Amsterdam is another polder, eight metres below sea level. There is a canal connecting Amsterdam to the North Sea, and the water in the canal is at sea level. So the canal is well above the level of the roads! It is a very odd experience to see a ship sailing by above you.

A tall tale

Many people have heard the uplifting story of brave little Hans, a Dutch boy who saved his country by sticking his thumb in hole in a dike, to plug an incipient leak. It’s a ridiculous story, really, when you see the size of the dikes.

When the TC was in the Netherlands, she mentioned the tale to a Dutch friend, fully expecting him to acknowledge it as a piece of native folklore. He looked faintly amused and said that he had heard the story but thought it was probably English or American, because no Nederlander would come up with something so silly.

Traveller’s tip

Don’t believe everything they tell you.

The book I’m in

RESTful Web Services, by Leonard Richardson & Sam Ruby.

Technically tranquil.

The photos

Climbing up a dike, somewhere in the Netherlands:

Dikes in Holland

Due to a lamentable lack of labelling (notice the skilful alliteration) I can’t tell you exactly where the TC was when she snapped these shots, except that she was in Holland and on a dike.

To be precise, I can’t even be certain that she was in Holland itself. This may be one of the other provinces of the Netherlands, such as Zeeland.

The view from the top of the dike:

Dikes in Holland

If anyone recognises the dike, or the storm surge barriers in the distance, let me know.

That’s all for today, dudes.