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Gouda: steinse groen
Enough of all the food talk. Time for some exercise… last time I took you downtown with me. I also showed you a little about how we celebrate Queensday. Today it’s family time. How about a long walk? I’m taking you with us on our after dinner walk. Usually somewhere between 6 and 6:30pm we grab our shoes and go outside for a long walk. When the sun is almost going down and it’s nice and quiet around here. The light wasn’t fabulous for photos today, but I tried my best.
I live at the edge of Gouda. Literally. Right next to a huge park. Come on, I’ll show you…
Somehow we always start here. I love this park, it’s right next to my house and I’ve spent countless hours walking around here. First with our dog and later with our son. This is a fantastic place for kids to grow up! There’s a huge playground in the park. HUGE. And a special part of the park is reserved for building huts. There’s a basketball field and a small pond. All neighborhood kids gather up here.
And playing is something he does all the time. Hmmm… makes me wonder. What if I’d put a fence like that in front of his bedroom door?
You’ll run into cows in all colors and sizes. Yes, we’re still in the park now, I’ve got country life right next door, you know. Kinda fun when you think about the fact I live in the burbs.
You’ll also run into sheep. Lots of them.
And you run into less pretty and rural stuff, too. But a girl needs some electricity as well!
Gouda is a really nice place to live. You’ve got it all here. Old buildings, cheese, good restaurants and a semi nightlife, but also peace and quiet when you need it.
They have a thing for hot air balloons here. In all sorts of strange shapes. It’s like an epidemic lately. Could it be aliens?
Of course we have to walk up a dike. That’s dike with an I and not a Y, mind you. They’re what keeps us from flooding. At least that’s what they’re supposed to do but I’m not too keen on putting them to the test.
As soon as you’re standing on top of the dike, you can see the suburb I live in. Shucks. My house is under hot air balloon attack. Told you they’re everywhere.
I brought my camera with me because of how the light fell on the wheat field yesterday. Goes without saying those evildoers cropped their wheat today. Today! They couldn’t have waited one lousy day, until I had my photos.
The cat didn’t seem to mind.
To show you just how small my country is, check this out. I’m standing on top of the dike, to my left is the suburb I live in and what you see here on my right is the next village, it’s called Haastrecht. Literally translated that would mean almost straight. See, now that’s what I get for all this talking about dikes!
Know “Walking in fields of gold“ by Sting? Just sayin’. Gorgeous song.
Here’s what we call our ”Gemaal“. Not sure there’s a translation for that. It’s what regulates the water level. Notice the heron? You see an awful lot of them around here.
What you also see is men riding their wife’s bikes to ”walk” their dogs. In this case it was more the dog walking his owner. He practically dragged the dude around.
It got chilly, I lost the light and we were nearing the kiddo’s bedtime so it was time to head home.
With all these dikes, you need escape routes. Lots of staircases everywhere.
This particular ones leads to J-man’s favorite place in the neighborhood. The children’s farm. Yup, we also have one of those in the park, though it’s tiny. That child of mine has no clue just how lucky he is growing up in such a kid-friendly place.
We walked back home through an arch of autumn colored leaves.
Where he tried to convince us with all his might he really, really needed to take this 5 foot branch home with him. Tough luck, kid.
Ignorance is bliss for the young one. Beautiful pictures, beautiful country. Makes me want to come live in a place like this. My children have no such beautiful things next door.
I had no idea Holland was that beautiful! Great photos!
Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous!
I loved this post Kay. I really felt like I was right there taking the walk with you and your son. How fortunate your son is to be raised in such a beautiful place. I live in a small village at the foot of our Laurel Mountains in Pennsylvania. It’s nice, but I wish we had more open country space closer to my house to walk around. We get in our car and drive up the mountains a few miles to enjoy the woods and a lot of nice countryside. Seeing your little guy brings back a lot of memories of when my sixteen year old son was that age, light blond hair and eyes like blueberries. Sometimes I really miss those days, especially when he would rather be doing “teen things” with his friends than taking a walk with his mom. I’m sure that one day when he’s a man, he may enjoy going for a walk with his ol’ mom again…I just hope that by then I’ll still be up for it!
This makes me even more excited for my impending departure from America. I’ll be landing at Schipol three weeks from today!
So gorgeous. Idyllic really.
Your little man is so precious. Thanks for taking us with you. It’s beautiful there.
I stumbled across your blog several weeks ago, and have enjoyed it. My family has visited the Netherlands, very briefly, a couple of times, and it is a beautiful country. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I would love to visit again, especially at tulip time, but really, anytime. We enjoyed the traditional food, so I am anxious to try some of your recipes. Thanks!
beautiful!
i love the 1st pic. i wish i could walk through that path! so calm and blissful looking.
Thanks for the taking us with you on your walk. Very beautiful place you live in and you boy is so lucky. In time he will realize just how lucky he is.
Thanks so much Kay. That was a lovely trip. :)
Beautiful place. Beautiful photos.
Kay-otic, you should have said the town is called
how-da
not
goo-da
@Mark Preston a.k.a. Secret_Ingredient:
I have mentioned that before! :)
You make me want to move! That whole area looks so lovely and kid friendly.
I’ve been following you blog lately n really love it..!!:)..This place is a heaven,n you kiddo is super cute..:)
What a handsome (read beautiful) little boy.
And the scenery is so beautiful.]
Dorothy and I live in Kansas USA
K – Isn’t he a cutie! You must be very proud of him!
Ok, I want to live where you do. Never you mind that I can’t speak a word of Dutch, it’s beautiful and I want to live there.}:P
Loved the walk!!!
What a good life you have. I love the fact that you go for an evening walk. Right now I need knee surgery so there is no possibility of a walk for me. If more of us went for a walk every day there would not be this fight with obesity. Your walk is a good thing since you also love to cook! ;)
Oh Kay, thanks for taking me home!! I miss my “Old Country” so much, it’s been 11 years since I’ve been there and it makes me sad.
It is such a beautiful country. Enjoy it. Have you ever been to America?
I miss Holland. what a beautiful post. Hope we will be able to visit our family in Holland again soon.
Kay, I just wanted to say thank you for the tour around your walking spot today. Gouda looks like lovely and country :) In the same way the town I live in does. Which makes sense, since it’s in the country. *grin* OK it’s after midnight here and I’ve been up since 6:20am for work!! LOL (Obviously this means my brain isn’t quite working the way it should!!)
gorgeous pictures!