Harlingen

Today, the whole gang jumped in the car for another trip to Amsterdam....this time without train craziness!  Rob, Janet and Keith had an appointment there, and afterward we stopped in the city of Harlingen for lunch and to look around.  Such a beautiful city!  I was really taken by all the espalier trees that are all over the city.  They use them as hedges to line yards with and in a few weeks they will be glorious.   They are full of buds just waiting to pop! 

The canals all over the Netherlands are magnificent, with the most charming bridges, and walkways...

More Espalier borders....

We had lunch in a cute little restaurant with the nicest waiters!  They were laughing and joking with us the whole time...and really wanted to talk to the "Americans".  One waiting came and stood at our table and asked where we were from inside the states...he just talked...and asked a lot of questions about the states, and wasn't really even our waiter.  He was just curious....a very nice fellow.

This is a picture of our starter....the bread is hearty and delicious here, and they served it with all kinds of toppings.  Some are sweet others savory.  The dutch really like pickled things, and luckily so do I!  Others in our party did not like it much.

Traveling along the highway, you can see fields just filled with blooming tulips!  Absolutely stunning!  Seriously......

The Dutch countryside is vast and amazing....it makes so much sense why the old dutch masters were taken with pastoral landscapes.  The clouds alone could be a lifetime study in painting, but add in the house architecture and farm life...and WOW!  It's breathtaking!