Fantastic Friesland: Workum

Workum was our first stop in Friesland. A very old town dating back before the thirteenth century, it is famous for the Jopie Huisman Museum and for the Grote of Gertrudiskerk. We did not visit the first but we did stop and wander through the latter, which is being restored.

The church is very bare and the more impressive for it somehow.

Fantastic Friesland: The Afsluitdijk

The last road-trip of this holiday was to Friesland. The plan was to drive through North Holland and cross the Afsluitdijk to Friesland.

A few years ago, we had driven around the coast of the West Friesland region of North Holland, from Hoorn to Enkhuizen, along the dyke. This time we went past them to where the Zuiderzee was dammed to cut off the IJsselmeer from the Waddenzee which is like an inlet of the North Sea. The A7 highway continues across this major dyke and then leads into Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland.

The IJsselmeer turns 75 this year! So you might say we visited to commemorate its milestone birthday. We have now seen two major waterworks projects in the Netherlands, the Oosterscheldekeering and IJsselmeer.

We stopped thrice along this road. The first time was just to take photographs of IJsselmeer. Although the embankments are human constructions, the plants growing there seem to be growing spontaneously.

Our second stop was at the point where the construction of the dyke is commemorated.

The final stop took an unexpected turn. As the bridge at the end of the Afsluitdijk was drawn to let boats go by, we found ourselves waiting. I stepped out to take a few photographs and misunderstanding, stepped too far away to get back to the car as traffic began moving. I ended up crossing the bridge on foot, and then having to walk by the highway for a few long minutes to reach where the car had stopped for me. The photo opportunity turned into a motion picture moment but at the cost of creating a source of (continuing) annoyance to my companions. It is chancy to be in that situation but in that split second, it seemed a better call than holding up fairly quick-moving traffic as I walked back to the car. I have good footage of boats moving in and out, but I still don't know how to link that here. So here are the (ill-gotten) photographs.

And so we entered Friesland proper!

Leiden's neighbourhood

We drove through some pretty countryside on the way back to Leiden from Amsterdam, pausing at Kaagdorp for a few minutes to take in the lake and boating activities. The day started out gloomy, wet and cool and ended really gorgeous.

I did not take these photographs either, by the way. I was asleep when we got here and then half-asleep through this stretch.

Museumplein, Amsterdam

We combined our visits to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. We had planned these in advance, booking our entrance tickets over the internet (a tip for those who can). This meant we could go on a holiday (Assumption) and still not get stuck in queues.


Rijksmuseum and the lawn before it.


Concertgebouw, across from the Rijksmuseum; Flowers near the Van Gogh Museum

The Rijksmuseum is being renovated and so they have created a special exhibition of their masterpieces in one wing. This is so beautifully curated that you might think it was their permanent arrangement. Some of the exhibits that appealed to me:

• The Dolls' Houses, which show you what Dutch homes of their period must have been like and which, read with the Dutch colonial exhibits and the classical paintings on display bring both together in a domestic context to show what the imperative for imperial exploration must have been.
• I was happy to finally see the original version of several famous paintings including Hendrik Avercamp's Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters; Rembrandt's Night Watch; and The Kitchen Maid, The Little Street and Woman Reading a Letter by Vermeer.
• Other interesting paintings: The Jewish Bride by Rembrandt, The Mill at Wijk-bij-Duurstede by Jacob van Ruisdael, The Marriage Portrait Massa by Frans Hals.

Check out the collection online for yourself.

The Van Gogh Museum was even more user-friendly. It is smaller and devoted to one artist so it is easier to follow both the artistic and the life-narrative. Between this museum and the Kroller-Muller, we have now probably seen most of Vincent Van Gogh's famous paintings. I have to say that contrary to my view in the earlier post on that museum, I really enjoyed his work here. It must have to do with having a sense of his life/learning trajectory. Or my state of mind! I would suggest you visit the site yourself to see the paintings because it too is very well laid out.