Arnhem to Zutphen  Rode uphill to the Dutch Open Aie Museum  We spent 2:30 or all morning there.  The museum was basically a recreation of a dutch town and conditions from the 1700's the mid 1900's  There is also a very good combination film and scenes of dutch history.  After the museum we rode up a "mountain" as it was described to us (only 100m),  the view was good and we also had our lunch on the "summit.  Back down to the river IJssel and the town of Bronkhorst.  A tiny farming community where we stopped for some shopping and a beer.  Back on the bikes and down the IJssel to the barge tied up at the town of Zutphen.

Arnhem, The Veluwe and the Kroller-Muller Museum.  Arnhem is the town that was fought over in WWII and memorialized in the book and movie,"A Bridge to Far."  We biked up hill from town to the park. They do not want cars in the park so you can take a white park bike from the entrance (they have lots)  Riding through the park reminded me of the Yellowstone Park in Montana USA Lots of dry areas surrounded by forest.  The park was a "donation" by the Kroller-Muller family to the Dutch.  (after the family ran out of money.  Saw a very nice hunting lodge and the museum.  Helene Kroller-Muller was quite the art collector, lots of Van Gogh's and such.  Part of the group then biked to the Airborne Museum which is about the Arnhem battle and the people who lived there at that time.  Back to the barge which was still moored on the Rhine near the bridge.  

Waking up in Wijk bij Duurstede we will bike to Arnhem.  We spent breakfast motoring up the Nederrijn to locks and some impressive weirs.  The weirs can change the direction and amount of water going to either the Rhine or the Ij.  Once on the bikes we went into a nearby town with a huge castle and moat.  The town is Amerongen.  This was the place that the German King fled after the first world war.  It now started to rain.  First of the trip.  Bike into the Veluwe, a national park.  We stopped at a military cemetery for Dutch soldiers from WWII.  We learned that the country has a Memorial Day on May 4th and a Liberation Day on May 5th.  Then on past pasture land and an old brick factory.  Bricks, bricks bricks everywhere.  The roads, the buildings even the bike paths are brick.  They get the clay from the rivers.  For the roads, the lifespan of a brick road is some 200 years.  Also, if they have to be dug up, the bricks can be reused or put back onto the road, a savings of material costs.  Continuing on, we were on paved bike paths which were narrow but next to a two rut dirt road used by farm machinery.  Bikes have a real high place in this country.  We stopped at an old castle for a beer break then back to the Angeline.    

Sunday July 13 , 2014
Ultrecht to Wijk bij Duurstede   (most "J's are silent in the Dutch language)
The city was founded by the Romans in 47 AD, this comes into play later.  Both the long and short loops started together with a slow ride through town  The town is quiet on Sunday mornings.  Stopped a few times most notably at a really old, huge church.  Pictures to follow when I get home.  At this church which took 200 years to build,has an inscribed rock  about  4 ft x 4 ft as a gift from Denmark  It was carved in 960 and give in the 1930's.  Also of interest is the fact that there is a burial in the church square of some 17 gay men who were killed for their "sin" of being gay back in the 1930's.  Then out into the country to tour an old fort.  It was initially built as a part of a "water defense system" which could flood miles and miles of ground to knee deep depth to stop advancing armies.  The system was started in 1815 so it did have some uses.  The fort itself was used in World War II, now it is a part of a park..  Just out front of the old fort is a wooden watch tower, a replica of the one built by the Roman army back in the 800's  Off again to view a rather unusual site, a pyramid that was built by Napolian's army.  They were there for about twenty years and became board so the generals decided to build a sod pyramid.  Continued on to an old castle with a moat.  a field away was the stone watch tower.  Then for a stop for icecream and on to the barge.

 This church was built by the Catholic Spanish invaders, later becoming a Protestant Church, now maintained (as most huge buildings) by the national government

 The carved rock as stated above.

 A fort just outside Utrecht that was a part of the "Water Defense Line"  It did work to keep out solders wearing armor or/on horses.  The whole system protected many provinces.

 Napolian's Generals thought this sod pyramid was a good idea.

 Above is an old castle, now privately owned, and below is the watch tower  located several hundred meters away.

 The windmill located on Wijk bij Duurstede's entrance gate.  The town was fought over by the Frisians, Franks and finally the Vikings in the 9th century.  It was an important city back then.

Saturday  July 12, 2014
We had breakfast at the hotel then got on the tram and back to the waterfront at Central Station.  From there we walked to the harbor, found the barge dropped off our stuff and went in search of food from a grocery store.  Back to the barge.  About one we were off and down the Rhine-Amsterdam canal for an hour cruse to the start of the bike portion at the town of Nigtevecht.  Our shake down ride of 17 kilometers was mostly down a one lane road which was crowded with all 30W bike riders and cars occasionally coming from both directions.  Passed an old working windmill, a small meandering river (Vecht) with some old mansions, to the town of Breukelen.  Side point here... Many people left this town to travel to America and setteled in that is now Brooklyn N.Y. After crossing the Breukelen bridge we ended the ride near Utrecht.  At that nights talk we learned a bit of history, namely why the nation is called Holland.  Back in the 1600's Many of the wealthy dutch traders said they were from Holland.  Holland is actually the name of just two provences west and north of Amsterdam)  The name stuck.

The first working windmill we came across.  Originally their main use was to move water.  Later they were used for everything else.

 An interesting gutter decoration along the route.

 This is a "Tea House"  Note the boat access to the canal.  This structure was used for entertaining, separate from the main house

And here is the original Breukelen Bridge, which we crossed.  Brooklyn N.Y. got its name from this village.

Day 2 in Amsterdam was a museum day.  After breakfast at the hotel we walked over to the RIJKSMUSEUM.  Since we had purchased a "museum pass" yesterday we were able to get right into all three of the museums we wanted to view today.  We only spent the morning there so we only got to take in the lowest of the four levels, it's a massive place.  Basically the RIJKS holds the history of the nation.  Got on the tram for a lunch downtown at an open air restaurant.  In the afternoon we did the Amsterdam museum followed by another power nap back at the hotel.  In the evening we all went to an Indonesian restaurant, for me a new experience.  The last museum was the Van Gogh museum.  I bet art people could really go for that tour, me not so much.

Amsterdam

Here we are in Amsterdam outside the Rijksmuseum.

       This is the hotel we stayed in for the first two days in Amsterdam.

      Walking around town. Notice the soccer ball and banners. The Netherlands were still in the World Cup at this time. Also take note of the closeness of the buildings.  These former warehouses are now apartments.