Throughout May and June in Köln there are three long weekends due to Catholic holidays (no work or school!). We decided to road trip to The Netherlands for all three weekends this year. The three cities we went to were only two or three hour drives from Köln- nice perk of living here :-)!
The first weekend we went to Arnhem. The day we left was May Day, so I snapped a few pics as we left the city… Here’s my post about May Day from last year.
On the drive there we saw field after field of rapeseed (just like last year on our way to Bavaria). No wonder rapeseed oil is so popular here!
Next to our hotel there was a fenced in area with lots of farm animals. The girls went to visit them every day, of course.
Our first excursion was to the Hoge Veluwe National Park. This park is one of the largest continuous nature reserves in The Netherlands (lots of wild animals roaming free!).
At the entrance (and all over the park) you can grab one of these free bikes to explore.
The bike ride was about 10 km/ 6 miles each way- and incredibly beautiful.
Quinnie kept saying that she felt like she was in Africa…
We stopped to run down these big sand dunes
We rode our bikes to the Kröller-Müller Museum and sculpture garden (in the northern part of the park).
Of course the girls were more excited about the fish and insects in this pond… I guess nature is their favorite masterpiece!
Look at the look of satisfaction on Kiera’s face. She doesn’t get carried much anymore now that’s she’s older and heavier, so when it happens she’s pretty happy (can’t believe my baby is getting too big to be carried 🙁 . How did that happen already?!).
Helene Kröller-Müller was “an avid art collector who was one of the first to recognize Vincent van Gogh’s genius and collect his works. In 1935 she donated her whole collection to the state of The Netherlands.” (Wikipedia)
Quinnie has been studying van Gogh and Picasso in school, so it was pretty cool that she got to see lots of their paintings in person. The museum also had electronic easels where you could try and paint in van Gogh’s style. The girls LOVED it.
I didn’t take any other pics inside the museum (oops!), but they also had paintings by Mondrian, Seurat, Gauguin and Picasso (among many others).
On our way home we stopped at a local Pannekoeken Huis. Pannekoeken are traditional Dutch pancakes served with savory or sweet toppings (so many different kinds!).
Simon ordered one with white asparagus, (very popular in Germany and Holland) ham and cheese.
mine had baked apples, bacon, walnuts and cheese on it
The girls ordered the fried bananas with powdered sugar (with an ice cream side). Yum!
beautiful photos Meegan..grandma wants to go there someday. The girls are getting so tall. I’d love a Dutch pancake too..so many great experiences for the girls to cherish. Xo