Water

I spent the day on the Kagerplassen with some good friends on a sailing boat. They did pretty much all of the sailing. I provided some food, and company :-)

And can you see the touch of blue in the left hand corner. Yes, we actually managed to get some sun today.

Good day.

Just like Japan

De-stressing

I've just returned from spending a few days away from home, and my computer, and discovering an unknown part of my country: the Veluwe. Gorgeous area, and although the Netherlands never gets truly wild, I think this part probably comes as close as it gets. We even saw wild boars! Unfortunately all the cyclists on the third day were a bit annoying, so we were always looking forward to get off the asphalt and really into the woods again.

Some pictures below, and more on here, as always.

New traditions (2)

Despite my fairly frequent foreign travels I also love to see more of my own tiny country. Unfortunately I don't do that often enough.

Two years ago my mum and I decided that it would be fun to spend a weekend away somewhere - but instead of turning it into a fancy shopping trip (fun as well), we decided to go hiking in an unknown area of our own country. This turned out to be very fun so we've made it into a new yearly 'tradition'.

Last year's destination was very pretty, but it also turned out to be too hot - quite unbelievable for a Dutch summer.

In two weeks' time we're heading to one of my favourite parts of the country, but first we're finishing the previous hike. Very much looking forward to it!

Internetlessness

Highlights of the five-day-weekend-without-internet:

* I got a job offer!!! Final negotiations are still to be held but fingers crossed that it all works out the way it should. Champagne to follow after I've signed the contract.

* A huge night out on Friday at 11.

* Books, books, books and more books at the Deventer book market - apparently the biggest in Europe!

Pictures of everything else are here.

These are some of my favourites:

Domestic travel prep

So, no foreign travel is planned for quite some time. Sigh. But, I'll try to see as much as I can of my own country in the meantime.

Last year, my mum and I decided we should start doing yearly hiking trips. The first one took us to Nijmegen and surroundings, in two weeks time we're going to an area around the IJssel river, just a bit further north. We booked hotels today and I'm really looking forward to it!

See, good travel doesn't necessarily have to be far away.

Stork

stork
Originally uploaded by macchi.

I spent part of today discovering a part of my own country unknown to me: the Betuwe. Despite me flying off to various parts of the world over the last few years, I'm determined to also see more of my own country at the same time. Today was kind of accidental, but turned out to be very nice.

During the next two/three months I have at least a hiking weekend planned in Overijssel, a barbecue weekend in Zeeland and a reunion weekend in Friesland. All in parts of the country that I've never really visited so am quite looking forward to those weekends (even if the main aim is not exactly sightseeing)!

This picture is one of my favourites of the afternoon - a stork watching over its nest. I really like the combination with the dark, threatening sky in the background.

And some more pictures of the day below....