Theme Week Amsterdam – The Rijksmuseum

14 June 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Mark Ahsmann/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Mark Ahsmann/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Rijksmuseum (English: State Museum) is a Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw. Rijksmuseum (about 20 current and former museums across The Netherlands) is the general name for a national museum in the Dutch language. When only “Rijksmuseum” is used, it usually refers to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.   read more…

The Netherlands Antilles

7 June 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Curaçao - Willemstad Harbor © tmelendez

Curaçao – Willemstad Harbor © tmelendez

The Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: Nederlandse Antillen), also referred to informally as the Dutch Antilles, was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of two groups of islands in the Lesser Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (ABC Islands), in Leeward Antilles just off the Venezuelan coast; and Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten (SSS Islands), in the Leeward Islands southeast of the Virgin Islands.   read more…

Aruba in the Southern Caribbean

5 June 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Palm Beach © Atilin/cc-by-sa-3.0

Palm Beach © Atilin/cc-by-sa-3.0

Aruba is an island 33 kilometre long (20 mi) located about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) west of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 kilometres (17 mi) north of the coast of Venezuela. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands. Collectively, Aruba and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Netherlands Antilles or the Dutch Antilles.   read more…

The European Garden Heritage Network

5 April 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union, Living, Working, Building, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Dyck Castle © Klaus Littmann/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dyck Castle © Klaus Littmann/cc-by-sa-3.0

The European Garden Heritage Network is a nonprofit organization established in 2003 within the EU-Programme INTERREG IIIB NWE to foster transnational co-operation in regional development and cultural heritage. It brings together garden experts, government services, foundations, and tourism agencies to preserve, develop, and promote gardens of historic interest within northwestern Europe.   read more…

The three-masted Thor Heyerdahl

1 November 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

Thor Heyerdahl in Kiel © VollwertBIT/cc-by-sa-2.5

Thor Heyerdahl in Kiel © VollwertBIT/cc-by-sa-2.5

Thor Heyerdahl , originally named Tinka, later Marga Henning, Silke, and Minnow, was built as a freight carrying motor ship with auxiliary sails at the shipyard Smit & Zoon in Westerbroek, Netherlands, in 1930. Her original homeport being Hamburg, she was used for the next 50 years as a freighter.   read more…

Theme Week Amsterdam – Canals of Amsterdam

27 July 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Dohduhdah

© Dohduhdah

Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, has been called the “Venice of the North” for its more than one hundred kilometres of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals, Herengracht, Prinsengracht, and Keizersgracht, dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel. Alongside the main canals are 1550 monumental buildings. The 17th-century canal ring area, including the Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Herengracht and Jordaan, were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010.   read more…

De Koog on the island of Texel

6 July 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Public seal feeding at Ecomare © Traitor/cc-by-sa-3.0

Public seal feeding at Ecomare © Traitor/cc-by-sa-3.0

Den Koog is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Texel, and lies about 17 km north of Den Helder. It is the main centre of tourism on the island. The small village is surrounded with many hotels and campgrounds. The village is located on the North Sea coast of the island. Only two narrow lines of dunes separate the village from the beach.   read more…

Huis Doorn in Utrechtse Heuvelrug

13 April 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

The bust of Wilhelm II, sculpted by Max Bezner © Hanseichbaum

The bust of Wilhelm II, sculpted by Max Bezner © Hanseichbaum

Huis Doorn (Doorn Manor) is a small manor house that lies outside of Doorn, a small town near Utrecht, in the Netherlands. The 15th-century house was rebuilt in the late 18th century in a conservative manner and, in the mid-19th century, a surrounding park was laid out as an English landscape garden. Baroness Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), the mother of actress Audrey Hepburn, spent much of her childhood living in the house. The property was purchased in 1919 by Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor, as his residence-in-exile (1920–1941), following his abdication after World War I. During his years in exile, he was allowed to travel freely within a 15 mile radius of his house, but journeys farther than that meant that advance notice had to be given to a local government official. As he disliked having to kowtow to a minor official, he rarely journeyed beyond the ‘free’ limit. The former Emperor regularly exercised by chopping down many of the estate’s trees, splitting the logs into stacks of firewood, thereby denuding the matured landscape as the years progressed. Hence he was called by his enemies ‘The Woodchopper of Doorn’. The Dutch government seized the manor house and its household effects in 1945 and, since then, many new trees have been re-planted and the wooded parkland is returning to its earlier glory.   read more…

Diest in Flemish Brabant

14 September 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Market Square © Bescha

Market Square © Bescha

Diest is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated around 60km from Brussels. The municipality comprises the city of Diest proper and the towns of Deurne, Kaggevinne, Molenstede, Schaffen and Webbekom. Diest had a total population of 23,150.   read more…

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