Arnie's Birthday in Zandvoort

On an amazingly, unseasonably warm fall day, we celebrated Arnie's birthday with the family on a magnificent Saturday afternoon - Sep 9th to be precise - we drove to Zandvoort to enjoy the extended summer.

Voor een ogelooflijk warme dalingsdag, vieden wij de verjaardag van Arnie met de familie met en prachtige Zaterdag middag - 9 Sep om nauwkeurig te zijn - wij reden aan Zandvoort om van de uitgebreide zomer te genieten.

Zandvoort was my first beach experience in Holland & is still a favourite spot for me!

Zandvoort was mijn eerste strandervaring in Nederland & is nog een favoriete plaats voor me!
The Dutch coastline is incredible, with a sandy beach that runs from North till South. Below is Bubbles with Pa & Ma.

De Nederlandse kustlijn is ongelooflijk, met een zandig strand dat van het Noorden tot Zuiden loopt. Hieronder is Bubbles met Pa & Ma.

Along the way, we came across some of the North Sea's inhabitants - a colourful jellyfish.

Langs de weg, kwamen wij over de inwoners van de Noordzee - een kleurrijke kwal. Seagulls ... scavenging for food: Like the 'gulls in "Finding Nemo" .... miiine miiine miine miine :)

Zeemeeuwen die... voor voedsel reinigen: Zoals de vogels in de film "Finding Nemo"... miijn miijn miijn miijn:)

We photographed 2 gorgeous black Labs who were jumping, playing & chasing sticks in the surf.

Wij fotografeerden 2 schitterende zwarte Lab honden die sprongen, speelden & rennen achter stokken.OOOH how I want a black Lab called BOB! - OOOH hoe ik een zwart Lab wil met de naam BOB!This is such a charming photo of Ma, enjoying the day & radiating with calming peace. I have so few photos of Ma - this is one of my favourites.

Dit is een super leuk photo van Ma, van de dag geniet & met kalmerende vrede uitstraalt. Ik heb zo weinig foto's van Ma - dit is één van mijn favorieten.

Next, is Pa beaming contently with delight while gazing off in the distance.

Daarna, is Pa dat verrukking kikt terwijl het staren weg in de afstand.

This is the patio where we all sat, enjoying a refreshing beverage. The entire coast is bursting with these character-filled, seaside restaurants/bars.

Dit is de patio waar wij gezaten, genietend van een verfrissende drank. De volledige kust is full met karakter-gevuld kustrestaurants/bars.

Hiking in Schoorl aan Zee

On an amazingly unseasonably warm fall day, we drove to Schoorl aan Zee to enjoy the extended summer and hike in the dunes of the Dutch coast. I have written this post so that I could share another side of Holland with my friends because there is more to enjoy than just the "famous Amsterdam" : a picturesque landscape with undisturbed wooded areas within a traquil setting. While we were driving along the panoramic countryside, surrounded by farms with frolicking horses and ponies, we could not resist to pull over to admire them up close.
It was a matter of seconds before their curiosity brought them to the edge of the fence to greet us with playful interest. We stroked them and took plenty of photos before we parted ways.
Before we started off on our journey through the the dunes, in the direction of the sea (or so we thought), we always start off at one of the village cafes for a refreshing smoothie and a toetje (that is Dutch for a dessert, such as an apple pie or pudding). The start of our hike always begins at the bottom of this massive dune, disguised as a harmless hill of sand :)
Once we reach the top we used the time to catch our breath and look behind us - there is that cafe I told ya about in the quaint village of Schoorl. At the top of the hill are sandy walking trails basking in the shadow of soaring trees. After an hour and a half of hiking and taking photos of the scenic views, we stopped at the top of the hill for our scrumptious private picnic (of Mediterranean tapas, fresh OJ & a bottle of our favourite Italian Rose wine), along with EVERY ant within a 5 metre radius! We continued along the trail for another 30 minutes till we came across the bicycle trail that leads to the sea. This particular beach is only accessible via this bicycle path (or of course, by walking along from the neighbouring beaches since the entire western coastline is one extensive beach). Above is the beach in the far ... FAR distance, making it painfully clear that we were NOT going to reach our planned destination :( Further along the bicycle path, we discovered a charming cafe, located at precisely the mid-point between Schoorl and the beach, where we stopped for an ice cream. (FYI for those non-Dutch readers: strand = beach). Due to my sore feet, we reluctantly decided to head back to Schoorl.At the end of the bicycle path, we were eventually reunited with our car."LIFE LESSON FOR THE DAY": instead of getting lost in the woods for HALF A DAY, we would have a better chance of actually reaching the beach, IF WE FOLLOWED THE SIGNS where the bicycle path begins instead of climbing up the giant hill of sand!

:-) :-) :-)

Hunebedden In Emmen

After my long-awaited introduction to Jaimy, we drove to the historical Hunebedden in Emmen. For those non-Dutch readers in Bubblesland, you might need an online translator to read all about the historical burial grounds of our ancestors from the stone age as the link is in Dutch only.

These burial rocks are found tucked in the serene forests in the province of Drenthe, the home of 52 out of 54 hunebeds - 10 of which can be found in the city of Emmen.A hunebed is a prehistoric skeleton of a burial chamber dating back over 5.500 years. It is an ancient construction consisting of large boulders of around 25.000 KG and, in the past, covered by earth. These massive boulders were transported from Scandinavia by the glaciers, in the ice-period, over 200.000 years ago. Above is Bubbles in one of the Hunebed clusters. What a lovely place to lay at rest for all eternity.