Biking in Zeeland

I am posting this on Thanksgiving when it only occurred a week ago!  Some things are so beautiful to your soul you don't want to chance forgetting them.  It was one of the highlights of our mission. Riding bikes on a beautiful day through a special part of the country. It also was a time for me to remember Paul Nordin. He surely rode through some of the same villages. We could see Middleburg, which was Paul's first city, most of the time as we rode. Lastly, we are getting emotional as we see the end coming to a wonderful experience. As Sister Everton said tonight as we were discussing our rather dismal employment prospects (or more specifically, how do I explain in a job interview to someone who knows nothing about our church why I did this at this time in my life, what I did and why I enjoyed it), "regardless of our future, I would not trade this experience for anything in the world". Our ride in Zeeland was one of those experiences.

We had planned to go to Vlissingen in Zeeland to finish hanging drapes and working on the new apartment. It was a warm and sunny day so we put the bikes in the back of our car. Sister Everton's vriendin (girlfriend) in our apartment said we must ride our bikes from Vlissingen to Domburg because it is beautiful. We unloaded our equipment at the apartment and then unloaded the bikes and headed north.  We started out riding in groves of trees with the tall dike and dunes between us and the sea. We rode to the top of the dike at one point and took this picture looking back towards Vlissingen. We could see Belgium on the horizon.

The first town we came to was Zoutelande (salt land). We walked our bikes up 30 feet of stairs to get to the top of the dike. Zoutelande is charming with the red roofs and windmill.

This is the church right across from the dike. I think it is called the West Church.

The view South.

We rode on top of the dike.  Climbing the stairs had warmed us up. It was hot in the sun. The young man sitting next to Sister Everton had the reins. I would guess his grandfather is sitting next to him.

We returned to the wooded areas below the dike.

After about 8 KM the trail ran along this lake with a view of Westkapelle on the other side of the lake.

We were able to ride on top of the dike again.



The old church tower stands above the red roofs. The church was bombed out except for the tower. There is a light on the church tower to guide the ships.

The country to the East is beautiful with cows grazing in the marshlands.

The bike path turned into a dirt trail.

There was a golf course below us.

Nice view of the ninth hole.

We climbed to a high lookout point over Domburg. The red brick Victorian mansion is a hotel.

This is a view of Domburg with the church on the left and windmill on the right.

The current queen's mother like to stay at this hotel.

This is the town square around the church.

We rode our bikes through the narrow streets of Domburg. Many homes had room free signs meaning they had a room for rent which would include breakfast. They cater to summer vacation crowd. At this point we were about 15 miles out. The sun was setting. We were hungry and thirsty. We got some bread at the local bakery. We wanted to go through the fields on the return but I needed a map to do that. We bought one at the book store in this picture. This map marked the scenic bike paths in green.

We rode past the windmill on the way out of Domburg.



The sun was setting on the fields.



I need two pictures to capture this moment - the emerald green fields and the brilliant sunset. The man-made camera is no match for the wonder of the eye created by our maker.

The temperature started to drop quickly. We were glad we dressed warmly. We passed this windmill in Meliskerke.

It was totally dark when we got to Biggerkerke. There was a windmill we wanted to see but could not find it. We stopped and asked a kind lady. She said it was right there. We looked, there it was and it was running! She said they grind wheat in it. She told us how to ride our bikes to it. The video below shows it running. It is amazing to stand right next to it. There is so much power in the blades. We didn't think there was enough wind to turn the windmill but it had plenty of speed.

The owner and an old man (we guess his father) were loading sacks of flour in an adjacent building with an electric mill. The owner is weighing a sack of flour  then he will carry it on his back to the other sacks outside.   People come from all over the country to buy his flour.

The next city was Koudekerke (cold church). Another white windmill! Now it was very dark. We had trouble seeing the bike path. We had to stop often to check our position on the map. When we reached Vlissingen we had to stop and ask for directions to the Elder's apartment. We had traveled 27.6 miles in 5 hours. We shopped for tomorrow's dinner with Peter before the stores closed but it was too late to do much work on the Elder's drapes. Completely exhausted with beauty and joy, we made the 1 hour drive home.





 

More August

We were invited to dinner with our friend from Suriname Lucia. She showed us how to make a delicous drink.



Lucia has great faith. Her son has returned to Suriname after serving a mission in the East Indies mission. She is working on getting permission for him to come to the Netherlands to finish his school.



This is the Utrecht Bishops son who recently returned from a mission in London.





We had a Senior Missionary Conference at the mission home with President and Sister Robinson.



Tony on the back row right was baptized August 17th. The Ampens and Sisters Tanner and Schwab.



Tony brought his fish. He overcame tremendous addictions to be baptized.

Sisters Gallego, Nielson, Tanner and Schwab

This is our dear friend Anja. She has a beutiful view from the 12th floor of her flat. She always treats me to a Maxum choclate sandwich bar.



Here I am spotlighted with other missionaries with birthdays in the month of August.

On my birthday we needed to go to Brugge to pick up keys for the new apartment. The realtor's office was next to the old city so we put 30 minutes on the meter and went for a walk. We had forgotten how charming Brugge is. The building behind me was constructed around 1610. The man to my right is playing an accordion. The woman is playing a percussion instrument that is carved from wood and looks like a monkey clicking his teeth. You just have to be there to smell, hear and see everything going on.

We were eating at our favorite Italian restaurant in the old part of Antwerpen. This little girl was drawing on the sidewalk while her mother and grandmother eating dinner. She is cute enough to be one of our grandchildren.



When we left Antwerpen, this man was playing in front of the old cathedral. The sound reflected beautifully off the walls of the cathedral.

We went to the farewell sacrament meeting in Hilversum for the Sladens who served two 18 months missions with a few months in between. I was apprentice to Elder Salden during thier second mission. I assisted them with apartment and bike repairs.

Giethoorn

We were returning from buying curtains from a terrible smoky second-hand store in Assen which is in the North part of the Netherlands. We decided to stop in Giethoorn which is a community of homes accessible only by water. We drove through the town and thought this is not special. Then we stopped and found a path that lead to the homes.



We walked for maybe 10 minutes passing beautiful homes before we reached this home near the end of the path. A man came out dragging his garbage can. He rolled it 10 minutes to the road where it will be picked up in the morning



The area is surrounded by lakes. This house is located with access to the lake.

We are partial to homes with red shutters.



The church in Giethoorn is accessed by the canal.



Edam, Hoorn and Enkhuizen

We had an afternoon free and were in the Amsterdam area so we decided to drive up the west coast of the Ijsselmeer which is now fresh water but used to be saltwater. First stop was Volendam which we found to be very touristy so we moved on to Edam. It is a charming dorp famous for its cheese.

I was waiting by our car for Sister Everton who was exploring and noticed this couple on the bridge. It turns out they are on vacation from France and have been to Bountiful.

Next Stop was Hoorn which is an old fishing village. This is a beautiful location located next to the old harbor.

This is an antique boat parked in the harbor.

We saw these old sailing ships on the lake as we approached Hoorn in our car. By the time we found the harbor they were coming in.

We then drove to Enkhuizen. It was a beautiful summer evening. There was a man playing a guitar and singing for the patrons.

Water seems to surround the homes.

An eclectic bicycle.

We were tired and hungry. We found this cafe serving middle eastern food that is run by Egyptians. After a wonderful dinner, we drove home by going across the Ijsselmeer on a dike. The bugs around the dike were hitting our car for 30 minutes (this is a long dike) like snow.