As we neared the center of town, the iPhone told us to turn, but my male intuition told me to keep driving straight. And, don't you know, we ended up at the entrance to the canal and the hotel where we planned to eat lunch. My, my, my.
We strolled down the shopping street paralleling the canal and Linda went right to the store she was looking for. While I was waiting for her, this organ grinder thing came by.
After examining every item on the racks outside the store, she found what she wanted and we were off for more strolling.
After walking down to the main intersection, we decided to buy some chocolate at the store we had found on our earlier trip. Named n'Joy Chocolate. The same friendly man waited on us and we purchased some very nice Dordrecht, dark chocolate.
As we started walking up the other side of the canal, we came upon the main square with four or five cafes - all with outside seating. I was looking for a schnitzel and found two types: pork and chicken, on the first menu I looked at. I wasn't sure the hotel where we had parked the car had schnitzel, so we planted our selves in the shade. After ordering, I realized we were running our of time on our parking space. I decided to walk back to the car and extend our time. It was a little farther than I remembered and took me a good ten minutes to get to the car and another ten minutes to return. But, my meal was still hot and it was enjoyed. Linda had ordered a traditional Dutch lunch with beef, ham, and 3 fired eggs on top. We both ate exactly what we were in the mood for.
Behind where we were sitting was a statue of a painter: Arij Sheffer, who lived in the 18th century. We guessed he was famous but had never heard of him.
A slow walk back toward the car and Linda comes upon a belt she had looked at earlier and decided it was time to buy. 2.50 euros - wow!!
As we continued the walk we passed what looked like art galleries with different creations outside the store. Chairs in the shape of hands, chickens hanging around, and mystery figure.
I found a friend.
Once back at the hotel near the car we sat out on the concrete deck and had an espresso and, oh yeah, a couple of pieces of that chocolate we bought before lunch. Nice combination.
Then it was time to leave and drive back to the house. As we drove out of town, there was this traffic light with a separate light for bikes. We see these in Soest, but this one was for the bike lane in the middle of the street.
We were doing so good until about 20 minutes before Soest and I didn't take the A1 exit. Down the road for an extra ten minutes and then we turned around and came back through Laren and the countryside.
Some reading and then a movie called "One Day" on Netflix ended the day.
Sunday - After waiting a few hours to see what the weather would do (that, of course, is an excuse for just going slow), we decided to get up and do something. The other day, a guy sitting next to us at the cafe in Soest Zuid had told us about a special "farm" which took care of rescued horses and was maintained to show how Dutch farmers worked over 100 years ago.
Its just around the corner from Soest Zuid on the way to Amersfoort. It is a beautiful place. It looked to me like a rich person owned it. The main building, which we learned, at been added to in 2 stages over the years, was built from brick and masonry in 1712.
When I asked one of the Docents about this, she told me that is how the Dutch build their houses - to last. This farm was acquired from the last owner, a single guy, who didn't like people - just animals. It was in very bad shape but this non-profit fully restored it and maintains it.
These structures are for storing hay or grain. The tops slide up and down on the poles.
We walked around the grounds. The front of the main house faces away from the road because the road was moved. This wooden wheel made recorded horse noises when I pushed it. I guess it was some kind of horse drawn mill.
Farther into the field was a family of goats. This is a perfect example of thinking the grass is always greener on the other side.
It looked like mommy was teaching junior how to do it.
And, this is what you do with used milking cans.
For you non-farmers, these are the seats from old tractors. Nice recycling effort.
Running water.
We were surprised to discover how many large rooms were in the main house. The Docent told us there were 13 children and one had to be a priest. His small bedroom was in the front of the house, all alone, so he was not contaminated by any of the others. The girls had their room and the boys had theirs. The hired workmen slept above the barn - warm and smelly. Each horse stall had a name and this one happens to be my mother's maiden name.
Bird condo.
From there we drove over to Lage Vuursche.
Its a small (2 blocks long) village on the other side of Baarn and is where the prince who died last year skiing is buried in the cemetery of a beautiful, small church.
Its also a nice place to have an espresso and watch the people go by.
For some reason, there is always a crowd. And, of course, many of the people and the children are on their bikes. We asked our waiter why that was and he said he didn't know. He guessed that maybe the several restaurants down the block serving pancakes might be the attraction and/or the mini golf course.
Possibly, it has something to do with the King's residence being there. But, its surrounded by trees and a serious fence. You cannot see any part of it. The place is situated in the middle of a beautiful forest.
Before we left, we walked down to one of the pancake restaurants and asked if they served non-gluten ones and yes they do. We thought de Smickel in Soest was the only place to get Dutch pancakes: much thinner than American pancakes, larger in diameter, and they come with almost any topping you want - sweet or savory.
This was a nice way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We cleaned out the refrigerator of leftovers for dinner and then watched a George Clooney movie - Leatherheads.
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