A tougher ride today - 129 km to Breme. I'm still not over my cold - I spend the first 20 km coughing & spitting up. Then I'm sweating. Quit whining, Greg. You'll survive
Onto today's journey & sights.
On the way out of Meppen - this looks like an old mill site
And this is a Schloss. Translated it's a castle, but I think it can also be a very fine house or estate. We were too early to look around, but I did look over the fence out back and saw some exquisitely trimmed trees.
A pleasant pond of the side of the road (I ventured here on a 'business' trip). I think it was a small camping ground.
I saw a couple of these - thatched roof houses with a section of metal roof at the peak. I assume the peak of a thatched roof is more vulnerable and needs special protection.
I see a lot of metal roofs over here, and most of these are made to look like classical tile.
Demonstrating the patience of Europeans: the traffic gates came down very early. The train stopped at the station about half a km down the track. Once it finished, it finally traversed the road crossing.
Impatient North Americans would probably have gone around the traffic gates if they could see the train stopped.
Roadside fruit stand in the middle of a village - not uncommon. Selling asparagus and strawberries.
Speaking of strawberries, here's my snack at the bakery next door. Cappuccino and strawberry cake.
We're finally in the land of plentiful cafes. We've barely seen any on the trip so far.
Somebody is having fun with hay bales. The make "marshmallow" bales over here as well - I've seen white, green and black 'marshmallows' in various fields.
In the British Isles they use little red trucks for rural mail delivery. In Germany Deutsche Post uses little yellow trucks.
Here is a yellow bicycle postal wagon.
The postal lady, stops the bike, kicks down the small wheels to hold the bikes and delivers the mail. Onto the bike, kick the wheels back and off to the next house.
I followed this recumbent trike down road in Bremen for a bit. It turns out it is electric. And he had a boom box on board as well.
I had an hour or so to explore before dinner.
Options included a nearby museum or the Hauptbanhof (Train Station). Being 'museumed' out I chose the Hauptbanhof.
Here's a shot from the train platform. Ten platform tracks and two additional through tracks for freight. It looks just like the train stations in old European movies.
Inside the train station isn't too exciting as it has all been converted to a food court. Ticketing is done by vending machines.
There is a park on the far side of the train station and was renamed to Nelson Mandela park.
In it is this tile statue of an elephant. It was originally conceived as a colonial memorial, but was rededicated to symbolize anti-colonialism (I think). The info I have is a bit fuzzy.
There was a plaque near the front of the elephant, but there was also a pack of slightly drunk and seemingly boorish gentlemen right there. So I gave the plaque a pass.
Two sailing ships in the river that we saw on our way in. This one is a floating restaurant.
This one is called the Alexander von Humboldt. In Wikipedia there is reference to an Alexander von Humboldt II as a sail training vessel. I don't know if this is it.
Which brings up another question. The two nearby upstream and downstream bridges (both non-opening), are both too low for the Alex von to get under. So, who knows?
Tomorrow is a 122 km ride into Hamburg. There are some hills on this one, so it's off to bed to try and kick this cold.
Before I leave Zwolle (and my rather dull blog post) here's one I forgot.
A wooden bike. I spotted this outside an apartment building near our hotel.
It looks like a heavy beast, but I didn't lift it up to check.
On the way out of Zwolle:
An interesting marine themed set of sculptures.
Another picture of boats in a canal. These were nice looking, upscale boats.
Typical flat countryside on the way. Crops include corn, wheat, barley, potatoes & hay.
Very large fields. We only saw one field being irrigated, but everything looks very green.
Here's the border with Germany. That's Steve confirming it with his Phone / GPS.
The borders are practically transparent. It would be interesting to find out what would have been here before the EEC (1957) or the EU (1993).
Just inside Germany we saw this farm with a large solar panel array on the roof. I think this is the largest array we've seen associated with a private residence.
A little further along we saw a very large array covering a number of acres of field. The array was a fixed type (ie. did not move with the sun).
From the "My Mother raised a dull child department:" I passed two signs with "Twist" (the next town) crossed out. Not thinking what this meant, I pedaled merrily along until ..... the road was completely blocked by construction. So I pedaled merrily back to this sign and saw the Detour (Umleitung auf Deutsch).
My new German word for the day.
Part of the detour was on a dirt path alongside a corn field.
A bit further along, another surprise - an oil pump jack. We saw about 4, of which 2 were operating. This was the only painted one.
Entering Meppen, crossing the Emse River:
a campsite with lots of pup tents and some canoes on the other side.
I don't know anything about this statue that was attached to the railing.
Later on, in the open plaza there are a large number of loaded touring bikes, so we aren't the only touring group in town.
I don't know where these folks are staying - they saddled up about 3:30 and may have left town.
Meppen dates back to 945, when emperor Otto the Great granted the town the rights to mint coins and collect tolls.
This is the Town Hall (Rathaus) which dates back to 1408, but has had extensive renovations since.
In general, the town did not seem that old; most of the buildings appear fairly modern.
Other buildings in the public spaces.
The is the Gymnasium Church (Roman Catholic), built from 1743 to 1746. It doesn't have the look of a building that old.
By contrast the Priory Church of Meppen looks very old. From my reading of Wikipedia there has been a building on this site from the 9th century, but the church took this form in the 13th century.
Statues at the side of the church
Close up of the tower.
We're staying in the Hotel von Euch, very modern, but possibly noisy (bell tower?). There are complimentary ear plugs in the rooms.
That's it for today. Tomorrow's ride is longer (129 km), but still quite flat.
Today started off with a 20 km convoy out of Amsterdam. Some of the riders don't like convoys, but this one was enjoyable. Sunday morning, early, minimal traffic; not anywhere near as crazy as coming into Amsterdam.
We were lead through Rembrandtpark (near our hotel), then Vondelpark, then through the streets. Very pleasant, but no pix.
Here's one of the crowd ascending the switchbacks before a bridge. As usual for the Netherlands, the word flat applies. This "hill" was about 15 metres high. Our maximum altitude all day was 20 metres above sea level. Our total ascent (the sum of all uphill bits) all day was 305 metres. Laura and I do 370 metres ascent total on the way to Tai Chi if we go around Fairwinds.
A typical cycle crossing of a road. Note the bicycle signal light. Also, they have sensors in the road to sense bikes before the intersections and turn our signals green. Talk about good service!
A rather pretty boat further along. If you look carefully at the base of the mast you can see the 'tabernacle,' the fitting that the mast pivots on when it is lowered.
Well maintained boat - just the spar varnish cost alone would keep you in the poorhouse.
I haven't taken any pictures of signs, but this one floored me. The two words are 'doorrijhoogte varieert.' It was the first word that caught my attention - 4 'o' & 2 'r'
It translates to 'clearance height varies.'
We passed a long line of cars stopped on the road beside us. Accident? Nope. The bridge was up while they loaded 7 boats into the lock. The bridge was down just as we arrived, but we watched for a while.
A long stretch of bicycle lanes & single lane traffic. Look! A hill in the distance. That stretch was over 5 km.
You know it's a slow day for photos when we stop for chickens. But check out the feathered feet on these guys. Any idea what breed of chicken they are? I asked Mr. Google and got two possibilities: Cochins or silkies. I think cochin.
We've made it to Zwolle and are in our modern new hotel, the Lumen. It's on the outside of town.
Can you guess which room the cyclists are in? (It's not mine)
I got in, showered & took a short walk to town. On the way, this building, a hospital.
Along the canal was this line of old working boats, probably converted to liveaboards now. The one up front was an old sailboat with leeboards (side retractable keels) and a broken mast. It certainly had seen better days. These boats were a similar style with very stubby prows.
Around the next corner of the canal is a much neater looking group of boats - the higher rent district?
Here's a map of Zwolle, showing some islands in the canals. The boats in rough shape are at the upper right on the map.
The older part of Zwolle is on the larger of the two islands. The map also shows the relationship between canals and cities and their interdependence.
So, that's it for today. Nothing too exciting and a quiet Sunday evening in a smaller city.
Tomorrow we cross into Germany, heading for Meppen.
Another day off in Amsterdam, so I hustled my butt out to the big museum, the Rijksmuseum early to avoid the crowds, along with the thousands that were there early avoiding crowds. After spending a few hours there, I high tailed it back to the room for some rest as Montezuma seems to have taken an interest in me ('nuf said).
So, I'll show you a few pieces and Julie, who was there recently, can correct what I say.
The Merry Family, by Steen (1642).
The discussion about this painting centred around all the bad habits these people had, but the fun they had with them. The fellow in the back is playing a set of bagpipes and they think that it is Steen inserting a self portrait into the painting.
Two sailing canvases. I forgot the details about this one, except that the foremast has broken. (I guess I lose my Junior Woodchuck Art Appreciation badge for not knowing who did this).
I like this one too; "Dutch Ships in a Calm Sea, by van de Velde II (1663).
I was surprised they let you take photos, although there wasn't any flash photography.
Sorry about all the crooked photos - I tried to keep the photo bombers at bay.
The Threatened Swan, by Asselijn (1650).
In the bottom left is a dog swimming toward the Swan, which apparently is the reason for the kerfuffle.
This one stuck me, because it so captures a PO'd swan.
This is the big prize, the reason for this gallery - The Night Watch by Rembrandt, 1642. It is gigantic, about 12 x 14 FEET.
It depicts the Military Company of District 2 heading out for a patrol.
The story behind this painting, including how it was hidden during WW2, is worth reading. I have no idea how he obtained everybody's likeness - I assume multiple sittings for each participant.
This is probably in contention for having the most selfies taken of it, including Obama.
(Maybe Trump will try to one up Obama by having his photo taken at a sex shop).
Bad Greg - shouldn't say nasty things!
Onward. I liked these two landscapes,
this one because it showed the land better than my photos.
This one because it shows a raised bridge in the background.
Ooops, no info on either.
Behind the painting gallery, was a display of sculptures. This one, "Typanum," made by Quellinus in 1648. The purpose? A practice model for his proposal for the much larger decorative gable at the new Town Hall.
Upstairs from the paintings is a gallery of modern art. I included this one because I liked the vase and the contrast in colour with the chair.
There was also a short film showing how the Dutch dammed out the ocean after WW2 to reclaim some land. Very interesting.
I popped through some of the other galleries, but the cultural overload was taking hold (engineers are particularly sensitive to this).
Look at the detail in this cabinet - its a fully stocked Apothecary, possibly used for training.
And the detail in this plaster fireplace mantle. It must have been commissioned by the male of the household - would a wife want a dust collector like this?
This is a table orrery (good Scrabble word, eh Judy?). It's a working model showing how the planets revolve around the sun.
Made by Hartog van Laun about 1800.
Last photo is of the museum library. Notable for the massive amount of books - I think they said about 15 km, possibly including the collections we couldn't see.
Also notable was the use of cast iron in the structure of the wing holding the library. It allowed the architect to make the columns lighter and thinner than stone.
That's it for the museum - I have lots more photos, but no need to bore you. I spent about 3 hours there - I'd probably need another half dozen trips to fully appreciate it.
My last photo of Amsterdam is of a canal in the Old Quarter. It still boggles me how they seem to have so little trouble with foundations beside the canals.
Tomorrow is a 20 km convoy out of town, followed by a 92 km ride to Zwolle.
Greg
