Veluwe

We normally go to Spain over New Years for a short winter holiday, but this year we decided stay a bit closer to home and visit the largest national park in The Netherlads - The Hoge Veluwe. The idea was to spend two days of vigorous hiking and then a day of complete relaxation at one of the largest sauna's in the country. We're sooo glad we decided to go this route this year. Here are a few pictures from the holiday.


These windswept grasslands could have been in Africa.


The park is famous for it's wildlife and we saw a lot of wild boar and red stag. But I have to admit that it felt a bit creepy to cross these game gates....kind of like Jurasic Park.


Another famous feature of the park is the white bicycles , available to just jump on and off at a whim.

With hundreds of kilometers of trails in the area, why wouldn't you take advantage of them to reach some of the remotest corners of the park?

It was a bit chilly, but having the handwarmers inside our gloves kept us nice and toasty.


"And that's the truth. Plphhhb!"

The old hunting lodge with frozen pond. (wait till you see the next blog entry with all the skating in the rest of the country).

It snowed on our last day in the park, so we began with one last hike through the white stuff. It was beautiful.

But more importantly, the coating of snow also made it perfect for spending the last day of this little excursion in nothing more than a bathrobe and slippers (or not) at The Zwaluwhoeve Wellness Resort. This place is a massive complex of saunas, steambaths, restaraunts, bars, relaxation rooms, fireplaces, ice-caves, gardens, hottubs, and swimming pools (both hot and cold). We go to our local sauna's almost every month, but after our few days of hiking and biking, we decided to do it up right and even signed up for a "Dance Warmup" session and a hot stone massage. Being a rythmically challenged white guy, the best part of the Dance Warmup for me was watching the instructor, but the hot stone massage was fantastic. The heat from the stone sears into your muscles and seems to hold there, slowly rippling out across your body, iliciting a slight groan of both pleasure and pain . Very cool.

This is our first all-day sauna excursion, but it most certainly won't be our last. This is high on the "Dan and Beth" recommendation list for a day of pampering.