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| Kinderdijk |
It was my second visit to the Dutch country. The first time was to drop our daughter at Maastrict to start her undergraduate studies. We mostly roamed around this peaceful town, took a day trip to Liege, Belgium, and did some tourist activities in Amsterdam and Utrecht. With some familiarity and our daughter and cousins to guide us this time, we got adventurous and explored places not on the usual tourist circuit.
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| Coot Nest |
On our first day, we took a morning walk around the Utrecht neighborhood where we were staying. Nature was plentiful. The highlight was, that we got to observe a Coot nest in the middle of a small park pond. How nice and safe it must feel!
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| Oude Waranda, Tilburg U |
For the first weekend, we stayed near
Tilburg University. The campus was peaceful and quiet as it was closed during our stay. The wonderfully designed nature park in a star shape,
Oude Waranda, is adjoining the university and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring it one of the days. It is one of the oldest baroque forests in the Netherlands. The main paths were quite wide with thick foliage all around. We found a foot trail that took us along the railway line and crossed the tracks to another park, the
Wandelbos. This park had a lake in the middle some ducks, cormorants, and other birds to quench our birding desire.
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| Wandelbos Park, Tilburg |
The next day we walked around the Tilburg farmers market which was quite fun.
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| Tilburg Farmers Market |
Gouda was a lovely city to visit the next day. It has calm canals, and pebbled roads with shops, eateries, and old buildings. But our highlight was visiting the fun
Cheese Museum with our 6 yr old nephew, where we got a good introduction to the city's history, ate lots of cheese, and learned how to pronounce Gouda (it's howda!).
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| Zandvroot F1 Circuit |
Zandvroot was next on our schedule because our son had booked a
BMW experience there. We found it a peaceful seaside town famous for its
F1 circuit which hosts the Dutch leg of the Grand Prix every year. There were many nature trails around the racing circuit that we didn't have time to explore. Since it was not a race day, the public was allowed into the stands and pits where we could stroll among drivers/mechanics testing out their racing cars. On the way back a brief stop at Harlem was memorable as we caught the Dutch Euro Cup game at a local pub.
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| Harlem |
Our Amsterdam visit was wandering the city, a free lunch concert at Concertgebouw and the somber, well-maintained Ann Frank House. We ended with some drinks along the canal nearby.
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| Amsterdam Canals |
We got to spend a night at Rotterdam which allowed us to visit Delft University campus and Kinderdijk. Kinderjik, a UNESCO World Heritage site, gave us a good glimpse into Dutch nature and also learned about its history of canals and windmills. We reached this place by the fun and convenient waterbus from Rotterdam. The windmills, even though 100s of years old are still in use. Few are converted to museums and are accessible by walk or by boat shuttle. We used both to get around. All of them are surrounded by villages and pristine nature. We saw ducks, terns, and geese, during our walk/sail around this place. There were also excellent museums and audio-visual shows to inform visitors of its history.
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| Crested Grebe, Kinderdijk |
Overall, one can clearly see how much the Dutch love nature. They take care to preserve and protect them but still give ample access to us, nature lovers, to get up close and enjoy.
Selected images from the Netherlands leg
Utrecht Ebird list
Tillburg University Ebird List
Kinderdijk Ebird List
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| Canal Restaurants, Utretcht |
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| Bikers, Rotterdam |
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| Duck Nest Box, Kinderdijk |
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| Mute Swans, Kinderdijk |
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| Windmill, Kinderdijk |
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| Nature pond, Kinderdijk |
