Holiday remnants

I've just spent a bunch of time catching up my Facebook photo's for the past several years (much to the chagrin of Gracie), so I'm just going to post a few quick memories of the recently expired holiday for this weeks blog entry.

Grote Kerk

Haarlem's quiet market square on Christmas eve.

We had to delay our annual Christmas day hike this year due to miserable weather. But when we finally made it out to the Utrechtse heuvelring (Hills around Utrecht), we were not disappointed. This is a vast forest where you could easily find some privacy. I'm definitely going back with the mountain bike in the spring...there is actually a bit of elevation in Holland! (instead of really, really flat, it was just kind of flat).


The leaning pyramid of Austerlitz, tucked into the forest and marking the high water point of the French occupation of the Netherlands during Napoleon's time.


After the Christmas storm, the weather has been cold, but sunny. Plenty of time for lounging with a good book in between outings.

Battlezone Haarlem - New Year's fireworks. It still amazes me that they let anyone buy (and ignite) this type of firework in the streets of Holland. New Years eve (day) is filled with explosions. Groups of teenagers wander the streets with bags of fireworks, blowing up anything and everything in their wake. The Post Office even has special protective hoods for all their mail boxes and if there is still a plastic public garbage can in a park near you?...well, just forget about it being there by dawn. We're talking M80/M100 quality stuff.

You want to be sure to park your car in the right place for New Year's eve. Generally speaking you should stay away from the corners because people use the intersections for setting off fireworks. But this year our (whacky) neighbor had a new baby and wanted to set off the fireworks right in front of the house so his wife could hold the baby and see them. Ignited incendiary/explosive devices skittering under your car doesn't give me a 'warm fuzzy' feeling, let alone the probable damage to the paint job. But, the red car was his, so I didn't complain...

New Years day on the beach in Zandvoort. Just in time for the annual dunk in the frigid North Sea.

For those who don't use Facebook, here is a short video of the North Sea dunk.