Yet another dutch day...What started as a swap meet in Leeuwarden....

......Ended as an adventure in Northwest Holland.

We had driven a very long time to this place, only to find that the swapmeet wasn't there. So, instead of just going home, we drove to the Northwest coast and visited some very lovely places.

First, we stopped in Harlingen, a fishing village with alot of summer visitors (not now) because there are ferries that run across to neighboring islands where summer homes abound. It was cold, but very interesting. We stopped for coffee and appeltaart in one of the few restaurants open (not only is it winter, but it is Sunday, so most things are closed). We also needed to warm up...it was below freezing, with a good wind blowing. As we left, a ferry was leaving. It was quite something to watch!

We then stopped in Makkum, a place famous for it's pottery. It looks alot like Delftware (dutch blue and white), which is better known, but both are very pretty. Again, because it was Sunday, the factory was closed, so all we could do was peak into the window. Beautiful things greeted our eyes...and fairly steep price tags!

Sneek was our last stop. This is a lovely city laced with canals. The sun was out, although it was still verrrrrry cold! We found a very interesting museum that was inside a beautiful old city house. We could still see the grandure of times passed. There was a large area dedicated to the history of skating. Natural enough...Sneek is one of the cities in the 'Eleven Cities Race' where ice skaters compete by skating through 11 cities in Friesland that are connected by water. It is quite a big event when it happens...all of the canals, etc, must freeze solid before this race can happen. It's been a long time since a race has been run...maybe due to global warming...who knows...but if the ice isn't safe, the race isn't run.

We headed home, with some beautiful sunset vistas to watch...and were greeted at home with temperatures below freezing!!! Thank goodness for radiant heat!!!

Dutch knuffels, Kathi