The Netherlands - Friday to Wednesday (Huizen, Vreeland, Purmerend, Oosthuizen)

On Friday I spent a quiet day at home, but on Saturday I was on the road again.  I visited a young couple, potential home exchangers, in Huizen.  As Vreeland was only half an hour from there I dropped in at Dieuwer's as well.  Arranged beforehand of course.  At Dieuwer's I had a look at her paintings (she's an artist) but they were either too expensive and between the others I couldn't quite decide, so I took a proof example home to made decisions at a later stage.

I could have travelled to Purmerend on Sunday, but wanted a quiet day at home.  It's quite a distance and I had just been on a decent ride.  The trips may not be very distant and sometimes only an hour away, but the roads in The Netherlands are many and the traffic very hectic if you're not used to it.  In fact, if I hadn't been driving here for the last few years I would probably be too scared to go behind the wheel again.  In particular the western part of the country where there are many, many lanes and lots of spaghetti roads. 

So, I packed my bag on Monday morning and left for my trip to Purmerend, where I was going to visit Moenie & Paula, my old friends from way back.  The afternoon we spent chatting and catching up and on Tuesday they took me out to Hoorn where we visited two museums: the Museum of the 20th Century and the Westfries Museum.  

De Jongens van Bontekoe

The first museum was very nostalgic, packed with history and many items we recognised from our childhood onwards.

A previous prison houses the museum of the 20th century

Museum of the 20th Century

We used to have this kind of set up in my childhood

The Westfries museum was housed in a beautiful collection of old buildings and displayed many local items, items from the Golden Age, and paintings.  Unfortunately a large numbers of paintings and silverware was stolen over ten years ago and only a few paintings have been retrieved from the Ukraine. 

Clothing made of banana leaves and bark

Through the day we had coffee and apple cake to sustain us. ;-)  And at the end we got to 'walk through Hoorn in the olden days' by way of virtual reality glasses.  The last was a real experience and very much like the one Wim and I had at the Waterliniemuseum Fort bij Vechten, which, I noticed, I never mentioned in my blog at the time.  And after all that we got on the train back to Purmerend for a quiet night in.

On Tuesday I spent the morning chatting with Paula and her daughter Inge who dropped in with her son Jorit.  Then it was time to say goodbye as I had agreed to visit Clasine and Jan in Oosthuizen.  I had lunch with them and we chatted away till it was time for me to go home.  I left a little later than planned and of course got caught up in the traffic.  It took me approx. 2 hours to get home, slightly longer than it would have been during the quiet of the day, so it wasn't too bad.  Just the amount of cars around you makes it a tiring trip.  I finished the day with an early night.