Friesland, a bit like Bavaria

By now we were in Friesland, which considers itself part of the Netherlands only to a certain extent. They are a little bit like Bavaria in that way. 

Friesland is the least educated of the provinces, and, so a local told us, they are damn proud of it! They have their own language, Frisian, which, the difference to Dutch could be compared like the one between Spanish and Italian.


We visited Leeuwarden, the capital. And fell in love! This is such a nice town! Again, the first stop was the visitor center, and what a welcome my human received there! They offered her not just a seat but a coffee from a very fancy machine and all the information one could ask for. The lady said that they only just opened at this location a week ago and not many people were coming in yet. I think she was desperate for company. 


If you find this in a museum, it has to be a good place, right?

The leaning tower of Leeuwarden

The second most narrow building in town, all of 2 meters wide


Taking her advice, she booked a 1h canal cruise around town. The whole thing was in Dutch only, but by now we have picked it up a bit and understand enough to get by. 





Loving the idea of house boats!

Just enjoying the views

After lunch, she took part in a walking tour, also in Dutch. But with the benefit of a guide who is actually German. So she translated a few things, and they had quite a good chat. There is also a lot of street art around town, and the guide on the walking tour explained some pieces. It would go too far to repeat it all here, but just make up your own mind about them.


Carmelo enjoying the river views over lunch

This used to be where butter and cheese were weighed and sold

A former prison turned hip venue

It's called "Love", pure and simple

Part of the city buildings; it's called "DNA of Leeuwarden". Citizens were asked to hand in stuff which would fit into the vials

There is a whole wall with little settings like this



And then, there is this:


AWESOME! Who knows what this is?

Did you know (of course you didn’t, neither did I), that Leeuwarden is the birthplace of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle? Who? Well, you might have heard of her as Mata Hari. Ah!  And also M.C. Escher! I’m not much into art, probably because I don’t really understand it, but Escher is awesome! Those hands that paint each other? The rivers and stairs? Amazing. You can visit his first home here, although he only lived there for the first five years of his life.


The house, or palace, better said, was formerly lived in by Marie Luise, dowager Princess of Orange, and now houses a ceramics museum. In the basement, a local artist recreated an Escher painting, which is absolutely stunning. You can just stand there for an hour, looking and being confused.




Leeuwarden has been the European capital of culture in 2018, now we know why. 


After spending a noisy night right next to a busy street, but also right next to a dike, we are off to Amsterdam. There I will be left to my own devices for the day, while my human takes off by train to Den Hague to catch up with her friend, who has set us up with all those cool people. Today is the only option to meet her, and so this is the easiest option, instead of driving there and then driving back. Which, of course, means, I won’t get to see her. Well, we’ll just have to catch up some other place and time, then. 


All of Friesland in one picture, open land and the sea




Comments

  1. SteffiJuly 26, 2021 at 1:43 PM

    Love Leeuwarden, was there in 2018 and slept in the hip prison 👍🏼 Cool place to be.

    ReplyDelete

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