Of Castles and Summer Homes

Part 2:

 Not surprisingly royalty and the wealthy of the day enjoyed privilege during the Dutch Golden Age just as those with wealth do today…smaller, but the world is much the same. On the back of one of our Fietskaart (bike maps 1:50,000…WARNING, if you read this blog you will be forced to absorb a little Dutch!) we found a circular route pretty much designed to lead a cyclist (or two) through the area where many castles and summer homes were built during the Golden Age. This was a time when the Dutch Masters were hard at work creating some of my personal favorites employing the use of light and depth as it had never been seen before. Their work is so excellent that it has become an amazing record of the time period. When I can talk Annemarie into it I enjoy sneaking an hour or two at one of Amsterdam’s famous museums (I am one of many admirers of the Rijk’s Museum)…maybe at the end of our Holland visit…

Today has been all about pretty, quiet country roads passing through a scenic area SE of Utrecht on a 45km loop. Not very long, but sufficient to get a bit more comfortable on our bikes, calibrate the bike computer which I set up early this morning and to adjust the seats for better comfort. We will appreciate this tomorrow as we undertake our first long leg of approx 80kms. The ride was fun with the high-light being a ‘hill climb’ to the top of one of the massive dikes that line the Nederrijn River (part of Rhine River delta) close to the small town of Amerongen (not pronounced as its spelled!). It was special as its mill was working, meaning the sails were on the cross struts of the windmill and it was, well… it was working! Another high-light was the Wednesday open market in Driebergen-Rijsenburg (not pronounced like it looks…hey, don’t ask me…I give it my best effort, but Annemarie always corrects me!). Anyway, at the market I went looking for our first fresh, warm Stroop Waffels and almost at risk of not finding them…there they were! Two freshly cooked round wafers (6” wide) with lovely syrup in between. We only had one each, but for sure there will be more along the way. After all…with our daily exercise we can pretty much eat whatever we want and still drop a few pounds…maybe!

Taking Win out for dinner to thank him for his generosity, so must sign off and go pack my gear for our 8:30 departure on the ‘Tour de Nederland’…with a good Dutch beer…of course!! Tot ziens!