Arnhem and Kroller-Muller

I got up really early – 6.00am and went to the station with Anne.  Anne got off the train at Utrecht, and I carried on to Arnhem.  I was there over an hour before Arthur was due to meet me, so I walked to the city centre and wandered around the shops, found a supermarket and bought some more nurofen as my foot was sore.

Arnhem is a really pretty place - I was most impressed, and I have plans to explore this city in more depth on my next trip!

I have no idea what any of the buildings are, although the bottom of this one is a cafe, and they were really friendly and helpful to me in my quest to find a supermarket!

After an hour I then headed back to Starbucks at the station, bought a hot chocolate and sat and warmed up while waiting for Arthur.  He arrived at about 9.30am and we were off. Our destination - Kroller Muller.

The Kröller-Müller Museum has a world-renowned collection of mainly 19th and 20th century visual art. Centrepieces include the large collection of work by Vincent van Gogh and the sculpture garden.

What a beautiful drive to get there too - stunning tree lined roads..

The museum itself is also beautiful as it's located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum was founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller and opened in 1938. It has the second-largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, after the Van Gogh Museum and also has a sculpture garden. The museum had 330,000 visitors in 2013. - Gosh - I was one of those visitors making up the 330,000!

Inside the Van Gogh Collection, people were busy taking photographs of them. In the Kroller-Muller you were allowed to providing you didn't use flash. At the Van Gogh Museum that I had been to a few weeks earlier, taking photos was prohibited!

The works of art was varied and interesting...

And I particularly liked Charley Toorep's Clowns in front of the Ruins of Rotterdam.  I've been trying to find out more about this painting, but to no avail.

The Sculpture garden was really pretty as well.

I enjoyed this one which was Jardin d'émail by Jean Dubuffet.  We were able to climb onto it via a narrow staircase and become part of the sculpture.

The gardens themselves were beautiful - Rhododendrons were trying hard to flower, despite the absence of Spring.

We walked for a bit and managed to get a bit lost...So many paths.  Had it been warmer I would have suggested hiring a bike and biking through the paths.  But.  It.  Was. Freezing!

A Chickadee of some sort on the lawn..

Did I mention it was beautiful?

On the way out we spied some wild deer so a photographic stop was in order!

I was meeting Anne and Jori in Arnhem at 5.30pm  - 6.00pm and we had some time left, so  Arthur and I went for a hot coffee at a lovely cafe somewhere between the Museum and the station.  He dropped me off and I went back to Starbucks for another hot drink trying to warm up.  I was so cold.

Anne, Jori and Roeki met me and I was taken back to a wonderful evening and fabulous meal at Jori's parent's place.  I enjoyed it immensely.  Jerome played the old Turkish Flute for me so I could get a photo - which has subsequently done very well in local competitions.

Looking forward to catching up again.

Our First Afternoon at Plitvice Lakes

The drive down to the Plitvice Lakes was beautiful. Tunnels, puffy clouds, blue skies...

The roads were good.  Croatia is a stunning country.

We were staying in the Plitivice Lakes Village, just past a little town called Korenica, which was the scene of a huge massacre in the war.  Bullet holes could still be seen on the houses, including some that were obviously patched. We dumped our bags and headed to the park and just did the first section of the park at entrance 1.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The protected area extends over 296.85 square kilometres.

In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register among the first natural sites worldwide. Each year, more than 1,200,000 visitors are recorded. Entrance is subject to variable charges, up to 180 kuna or around $32USD per adult in peak season.

And it is stunning - here's our first view...

 Beautiful tree lined pathways...

And waterfalls that tumble over the pathways...

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Boardwalks by the side of the lake...

And some down the middle.  I always felt I was going to fall in as my balance is hopeless.  I was so careful when people passed me...

Everytime you rounded a corner, you came to another lake, or another waterfall...

I had accidentally left my tripod in the apartment, so everything had to be handheld this first afternoon.

The lakes were so smooth the reflections were beautiful...

 I made Anne and Rachel walk by here several times...

This is what we all looked like!

There are bears in the park - but this is the only one we saw..

The waterfalls and board walks were stunning and we spent ages playing with our cameras to get beautiful waterfall shots. The park closed at 7.00pm but we didn’t leave until nearly 9. Which meant we didn’t have to pay for parking as the attendents had long gone and left the barrier up!