Dinner in Zutphen

Last night Sascha (the middle child of my sister Ger and her husband Bert) and Joost hosted me for dinner together with their youngest (Kees) and their middle child, Bram (18 and who studies at one of Holland's top culinary schools) plus his girlfriend Evi (also 18 who studies nursing).
 

The meal was prepared by Joost, who enjoys the work in the kitchen (lucky Sascha!). Before the meal Joost and Sascha took me for a stroll through the city center of Zutphen. We stopped by in one of the local hotels, where their oldest, Maud, works (she is 20 and completed last year a college program in Hotel and Restaurant Management). The hotel with its dining rooms is in a historic building which was once a large orphanage and before that a trading house (during the "golden age" of Holland).

More history is to be found in this city's coffee store with a real amazing assortment of coffee sorts.

More photos of this classic Dutch small city (with still some its old "city defense walls" visible on the photo above), in a following post. It was a very nice visit to Sascha and Joost. My last visit to them was probably some 11-12 years ago.

A vertical house

Sascha and Joost bought a new house in a complex of housing constructed by the city of Zutphen on the grounds of an older warehouse area along the river "De Ijssel". Most of the dwellings are apartments and condos, but there are also a few so-called "vertical houses. In the photo above, you can see Sascha in a window on the 3rd level. Each house in that row has five floors. Under building is a parking garage and the two spots belonging to the house of Sascha and Joost connect directly to the door of their lowest floor, a sort of small basement / storage area. One pair of stairs up leads to the kitchen (stair 1).

From the kitchen (basically ground floor level) stair # 2 leads to the dining area, and stair 3 leads to the "living room area" with seating settings towards the street as well as the "courtyard".

The dining area backs to a small patio in the "courtyard". Their dog pretty much stays at this level. He probably feels this house has a few too many stairs....

Stair 4 leads to four bedrooms and a bathroom. One of those rooms has been converted since their daughter Maud (21) moved out. It is now a "creative" room where their youngest (Kees - 16) can let out his creative spirits (he hopes to go into fashion design one day maybe). One more stair (#5) leads to a roof terrace with lovely views over the city and the river "De Ijssel".

A very nice house (which keeps you fit with all the stairs (no Stairmaster needed in a gym) in a good example of modern city architectural design.

City of Zutphen

The town where Sascha and Joost moved a few years ago is in the eastern part of Holland and has a rich history from the period when the city was an important trading place along the river "De IJssel", which was originally connected to the North Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean. This city was largely built and protected by the VOC, one of the world's earliest international trading companies. Back in those days, Holland was not yet a country but rather a number of independent cities (16th/17th century). The VOC pretty much "pirated" the world (read: the then called "colonies") and created for Holland what was called the "golden century". Zutphen over the past 100 years lost its importance, but the community has done a nice job to restore and maintain many of its historic buildings.

Many of the older buildings, such as churches and warehouses, are now turned into restaurants, hotels and even a library (see photos following). Of course, everywhere bicycles and pretty much a car-free city center. A truly lovely small town with a nice atmosphere. Many narrow old streets and alleys. 

Many North Americans might frown a bit about the use of an old church building as a public library, but I call it "Dutch practicality".... The inside of the library has this way a beautiful interior and history is maintained in a pragmatic and educational way....

Cycling in the forest

Today no trips for visits to old friends and family + nice weather to cycle, so I spend a few hours on the old bike in a forest area between Soest (where I stay with my sister Han) and Bilthoven (where I grew up during the 1955 - 1974 period). This area has a good amount of protected forest areas with private estates which receive federal subsidies to keep the nature clean and maintained.

When I was young, I remember this was a road for cars from Bilthoven to the small town of "Lage Vuursche" where we would go to eat large pancakes (more about that in a moment). It is one of the many small rural roads turned into recreational cycling paths. Next to the road crossing a sign indicates the name of the private estate and mentions a website with information of the conservation agency which finances the upkeep of these natural treasures in a heavily populated country.

The little house at the street corner is probably also a monument with a well-kept garden next to a combination of small size farming land and protected forest area. The road towards "Lage Vuursche" is one like many in this region. Narrow and traffic goes slow for passing and with respect for cyclists.

It is an autumn school vacation week, so many people enjoy such a nice day at terraces, even though the coats stay on. I picked for lunch one of the "Pannenkoekenhuis" (house of pancakes). 

Sorry, only Dutch language menus (not too many foreigners have taken a liking of this typical Dutch dish). But it gives you an impression of the many different pancake topping combinations. I picked one which was new to me, with tuna....

Big size meal. Kind of a Dutch pizza, maybe. Lighter, but still a bit too much to eat it all with my slowly shrinking stomach. But it was "lekker"...! Afterwards back on the bike ....

Parallel to the cycling/walking paths in the forest routes, there are also many separate paths for horse riders, a sport very popular in this part of Holland. My mother took me during my 6 years of elementary school many times to Lage Vuursche for a pancake meal, often combined with a game of mini golf (here in Holland called "midget golf"). I passed that place today on the bike, and there were a lot of visitors because of the week of school vacations.

Next to the midget golf a few happy horses. Large old farms - like the one on the photo below - are now horse farms, where staff look after horses owned by families. This farm still has the original design but must have been nicely renovated in more recent years. 

After a few hours on the old - one gear - bike, my muscles and sore butt were happy to see this bench for a little rest. Next to the bench was a map of the region's cycling routes. Despite the great service of modern electronic maps and route finders on phones, I can still very much appreciate such maps on which you can see the larger perspective. This map has Soest, Bilthoven, Lage Vuursche and several smaller towns on it. 

Homemade dinners with Han

A few days without visiting friends or family, so biked around in the beautiful forest areas around Soest and dinners with my sister Han. Yesterday she made a nice salmon dinner. Today I made a Chili con pollo. My sister won the fancy food price, but she did take three takings of my Chili....

Memorial

An old friend from university passed away last year. Because of the COVID situation there was only a small gathering. A year later his wife organized a very nice memorial with touching speeches.

At the same day - nine time zones to the west in Vancouver - Mary and her friend Kristy are having a good visit with Hilary and Shayd, visiting beautiful sceneries in Squamish and along salmon rivers.