The post-conference tours

So:  Friday morning we dragged ourselves + luggage down Gelkingestraat to the Martini Hotel where the motor coach would pick us up.  The two flats were more than comfortable, and I've included some photos of them.



Tom, Linda, Barbara, and Pat, it the courtyard of our building - Barbara's just unlocked the entry door.

My tiny room was under the roof trusses or beams or whatever they're called.

As we ate most of our meals elsewhere, the dining table became kind of a workbench/catchall.

Tom and Linda are on our very nice terrace.



Three keys for the bicycle locks; four keys for the outside doors and the flats.

We hauled our luggage down to Martini Hotel and are waiting for the motor coach.

Early on a Friday morning, very little traffic.

The motor coach took us through an unexpected forest to 19th century lock and bridge where we were to await a boat that would go through the lock; the waterways employees were out in force, along with many local residents, to ensure that nothing went awry.

The old liftbridge/lock combination near Hattem on the Apeldoorn Canal.  The bridge was opened by the fellow turning the crank (he's partly in shadow); he's urged me to back up, lest the counterweight come down on me.

The captain turned off his engine and poled the boat into the lock.

The downstream lock gates were closed behind the boat by using this winch, chain, pole arrangement.

Tom Grasso was eager to help the waterways workers.

To open the upstream gate, a simple pole-and-hook were used to pull the gates open.

The captain uses muscle power to haul the boat out of the lock.

We had a very nice reception/talk/lunch in this place - hosted, I think, by Apeldoorn council.

Following lunch we went to an area rebuilt in Hattem or Diernen around the Apeldooorn canal - here's a city worker cleaning up litter.

This sculpture is, I was told, an homage to firemen - that's a fireman's helmet.

Frans Schouten, chairman of this year's WCC, introduced the town's officials.



This lovely boat sailed up, lowered her jib, and motored off.

Not every canal or every boat is small - - this huge barge near Utrecht sped along filled with shipping containers. I think this is the great Amsterdam-Rhine Canal.

Colin Becker and his wife at a reception given by the Rijkswaterstaat.



At the huge lock named for Princess Beatrix on the Lek Canal, one of the great vertical gates is descending behind this fellow.  This lock was so popular that we insisted on a second visit next morning.



At the far end of the Beatrix lock, the vertical gate has closed and the lock is filling.

Between the great Amsterdam-Rhine Canal and our hotel in Houten was a small farm with chickens, sheep and this little donkey.

Was this really sunrise in Houten?  As seen from my hotel room there.
 

We had checked into a very nice hotel in Houten, had a very nice meal, and a good night's sleep, followed by a quick breakfast, then back on the motor coach to  revisit the Beatrix lock (photos above) and  a former steam pumping station that's now a museum.

The 19th Century steam pump at Cruquius drained water from the Haarlemmermeer lake into a canal.

A diagram of how the engine and pumps work.



An explanation of its history. 

 There's a YouTube video showing how the restored machinery operates:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AtaUa35OKg.

Ladies in waiting - for our turn in the museum.

The grounds next to the Croquius museum.

Pat has fortuitously seated herself next to the buffet.

That sculptural element is part of a lift bridge over the canalized Zaan River.



Old warehouses along the Zaan River



The captain of our lunchtime cruise vessel.

Zaanse Schans reminded me of Colonial Williamsburg - it celebrates a slice of Dutch history.

One of the windmills was used for grinding spices like cloves, cinnamon, pepper.

The bike path was not just for bikes.

There's a museum here dedicated to a cookie factory - part of which is shown here.

Whale bones - - apparently whaling was an important Dutch enterprise during the Golden Age.

Our next stop was the train station at Schiphol Airport, to take us to Amsterdam, where we were to spend the next four nights.  I'll include that in another blog about just cities, museums, architecture, etc.  No more canals.