Before Christmas we were strolling through the gardens of the former royal palace Soestdijk, in Baarn. We continue our stroll around the pond and are now directly opposite the palace.
31 December 2012
27 December 2012
25 December 2012
24 December 2012
21 December 2012
Soestdijk Palace
A beautiful view of the palace from across the pond in the palace gardens of Soestdijk Royal Palace.
I still have several beautiful photos of the palace that I want to show you, so we will continue our stroll around the palace after Christmas.
20 December 2012
Soestdijk
We continue our stroll through the palace gardens of Soestdijk Royal Palace, and walk around the pond for a few beautiful vistas of the palace.
19 December 2012
Soestdijk Royal Palace
We continue our stroll through the gardens of former Royal Palace Soestdijk, in the Dutch town Baarn. And today we finally get our first glimpse of the palace itself.
18 December 2012
Orangery
We're roaming around former royal palace Soestdijk this week, and through its gardens. Today's photo is part of the facade of the orangery. Since the palace opened its doors to the public the orangery is in use as a cafe.
17 December 2012
Putto
This week we'll stroll around former royal palace Soestdijk, in the Dutch town Baarn. I found this putto in the palace gardens, which are currently open to the public.
14 December 2012
13 December 2012
12 December 2012
Kronenburger Park
The Kronenburger Park, a city park in Nijmegen. The photo was taken in autumn, the trees will be bare by now. The tower in the background is the Kruittoren (Powder Tower), once the storage for the city's gun powder stock.
11 December 2012
Bridge over the river Waal
Another view of the bridge over the river Waal, at Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Note the autumn colors in the foreground. I expect those trees will be bare by now.
10 December 2012
05 December 2012
Kruidnoten
Today, on St Nicholas Eve, the Dutch celebrate the feast of St Nicholas, or Sinterklaas. One of the things we, the Dutch people, do to celebrate this feast is by eating special candies that are only available in this time of the year - like kruidnoten.
03 December 2012
Schiphol Airport
Planes at one of the gates of Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. I was at the airport for plane watching, with my little boy. A huge success: He was talking about little else for several days.
Most of the photos I took that morning are for the family album, but I though this one was worth sharing.
30 November 2012
Here he stood, here he saw
I showed you yesterday that you have a good view over the river Waal from the Valkhof Hill. I'm not the first to find that out: medieval Emperors Charlemagne and Barbarossa chose this location as there home, and even the Romans had a settlement here.
The Latin inscription on the fence refers to the Batavi prince Gaius Julius Civilis, who, according to the inscription, stood here after the lost Revolt of the Batavi (69-70AD), looking at the approaching Roman troops:
"Hic stetit hic frendens Aquilas hic lumine torvo Claudius ultrices vidit adesse manus"
The text is from a poem by Dutch 17th century poet Constantijn Huygens, and roughly translates (correct me if I'm wrong) as: "Here he stood, here he saw, grudgingly, the eagles, here Claudius saw, with a grim look on his face, the revenging troops approach". Huygens mistakenly refers to Claudius in the poem when talking about Julius Civilis.
29 November 2012
28 November 2012
Barbarossa
The Dutch city Nijmegen was once the home of emperors. Charlemagne (742-814) lived here for a while, and Barbarossa (or Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (1122-1190)) build his castle on the remains of Charlemagne's home. Barbarossa's successor Henry VI was born there.
All that remains of these illustrious homes are the ruins of two chapels. On the photo you can see the remains of the St Martin chapel, also known as the Barbarossa ruins.
27 November 2012
Floating pancake restaurant
The city Nijmegen is built on the bank of the river Waal (the river features in several photos that I'm planning to share this week). There are many bars and restaurants where you can enjoy a meal or drink while sitting outside on the river bank (weather permitting), but you can also enjoy your meal on the river itself, in a floating restaurant. For example in this pancake restaurant.
In the background you can see the bridge over the river Waal, I'll share more photos of this vridge soon.
26 November 2012
Town hall
The town hall of Nijmegen, built in 1555. It was heavily damaged in the second world war, but later restored to its former glory. The photo shows the entrance and part of the façade.
22 November 2012
St Stephen's Church
This wall is part of the 13th century St Stephen's Church (Stevenskerk, in Dutch) in Nijmegen.
20 November 2012
Lion
This lion statue was created in 1886, by Henri Leeuw Sr (1819-1909) and his son Henri Leeuw Jr (1861-1918). Leeuw is the Dutch word for Lion, by the way - not sure if it's a coincidence that this lion was created by Leeuw and Leeuw.
19 November 2012
Fortification
Behind the fence you can see a part of the old city wall and fortification of Nijmegen, inside the Kronenburger Park. It looks like it's fenced in, but that is only on one side, if you walk around you can get on top of this structure.
15 November 2012
Fountain
A fountain in the gardens of the former royal palace Soestdijk. Note the beautiful autumn colors in the background!
13 November 2012
Toadstool
A toadstool in autumn. I don't know much about toadstools and mushrooms, do you know what kind this is?
12 November 2012
Dead leaves
Dead leaves on a tree branch. It is autumn, but since all surrounding leaves are still green I suspect these are not normal autumn colors. Probably the branch is damaged and died, leaves and all.
08 November 2012
Beetle
A beetle crawling over the ground through a forest in autumn. I think it's a beetle of the kind Chrysolina coerulans, native to continental Europe and quite common here. I could not find an English name, but in Dutch it's known as blauw muntgoudhaantje.
07 November 2012
Chestnut
There's a lot more autumn beauty than just colored leaves. Chestnuts, for example. As a kid, I used to go to the forest in autumn, and return with a bag full of chestnuts. Hundreds of them, sometimes. The one on the photo is a sweet chestnut.
06 November 2012
Another autumn leaf
We are enjoying the beauty of autumn this week. I have another beautiful autumn leaf for you.
05 November 2012
Yellow autumn leaf
Autumn, with its beautiful colors, is my favorite season. A season for photography, certainly, but I also enjoy the beauty of the season when I'm outside without a camera. I'll continue this week to share some autumn photos. Today: A yellow autumn leaf.
02 November 2012
Autumn leaves
It's autumn where I live, and I'm sharing new autumn photography. Today's photo is a closeup of those beautiful autumn leaves. Stand by for more great autumn colors next week!
01 November 2012
Autumn decay
It's autumn in Holland, and I'm sharing the beauty of autumn this week. It's not only the leaves on the trees that change color and die in autumn, but also some plants on the ground, as you can see on today's photo.
31 October 2012
Autumn colors
It's autumn in the Netherlands, and this week I'm sharing beautiful autumn photography! Today: Autumn colors in a Dutch forest.
30 October 2012
Fungi
It's autumn here in Holland, and I'm sharing beautiful autumn photos this week. Today: Fungi growing on a tree.
29 October 2012
Autumn leaf
It's autumn in my part of the world, and that means beautiful autumn colors! Over the next few days I'll show you beautiful autumn scenes from Holland.
Today's photo is a recently fallen oak leaf lying on a tree trunk.
25 October 2012
23 October 2012
22 October 2012
19 October 2012
Sign post
This is what the predestrian sign posts in downtown Brussels look like. Different to what I'm used to here in Holland, hence the photo.
18 October 2012
Belfry
Yesterday I showed a detail of the facade of the Brussels Town Hall. Today we look up a bit, for a detail of the belfry.
17 October 2012
Brussels Town Hall
The Grand Place in Brussels is dominated by the 15th century town hall. Today's photo shows a closeup of the facade, which is decorated with numerous statues representing nobles, saints, and allegorical figures.
16 October 2012
Grand Place after the rain
The Grand Place in Brussels, early in the morning. It is wet, partly because it rained most of the night, and partly because the cleaners just finished their job.
15 October 2012
Grand Place
The Grand Place (or Grote Markt), the central square of Brussels, is surrounded by historical, monumental buildings. The buildings on the photo are former guild halls, built in the 17th century.
12 October 2012
Elevator shaft
The elevator of the Brussels Atomium moves with a speed of 5 meter per second (16.4 ft per second). The elevator has a glass ceiling, letting you look into the shaft while it moves. I took this photo looking up, while the elevator was moving down.
11 October 2012
View from the Atomium
Looking down from the top sphere of the Atomium in Brussels onto one of the lower spheres. You can clearly see that the photo was taken through a glass window. Pity, but that's the way it is.
10 October 2012
08 October 2012
Royal lion
A lion guarding the royal residence of the Belgian King. The residence is a castle in Laken, Brussels. The King did not invite me in for a photo shoot: this statue of a lion is at the entrance gate.
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