A Trip Out East

The little red-topped wooden stake in the ground was positioned in such a way that the bevelling indicated that we should take the small and ill-defined "path" to the right.

We stepped into the brush and moved on ahead looking right and left for signs of direction the path was taking us. Just woods to see...and lots and lots recently-fallen leaves. The path was becoming less distinguishable as a path, but we pushed on. I was not using the GPS to follow this hike, so I was depending upon the red-topped stakes.

Pushing on through the undergrowth, we burst suddenly into a less congested area. The forest was now more open if you would turn around and around to all positions of the compass, you would notice that it all looked identical. We walked further and there before us was the most unusual-looking pool of water. Two actually--a large one and a much smaller one. We just stood there for a few minutes with our mouths open, looking at this wondrous pool. It was round and had a largish stone in its centre. Most unusual.

You know, there was also a peculiar "feeling" about this place. I really do not know how to put it into words. I do not know if I would not call the feeling "bad", nor would I call it "innocently good". Just...peculiar...."special". I don't know.


The woods were silent, not a bird chilp or a mouse squeek. Not a breath of air. It was so quiet that if there had been any leaves left on the trees and one had fallen, you would have been able to hear that one leaf hit the forest floor. This was "old land" here, not reclaimed from the sea. It was here when the first beasts strode the continent.

Finally, we broke the silence and began to hypothesize. We wondered about springs, a bomb crater.....?? The stone in the centre made it interesting to me. I took foto's and walked all the way around this little pool. The reflections on the water's surface made it sort of magical-looking. The central mossy stone... and why had this pool not filled-up with leaves after so many centuries. Even after ten or so years, it would have been filled with debris, I should imagine.

We paused to ponder the nature of this strange anomaly in the forest floor and have a bite to eat and a drink of water. We also needed to find the way to continue, as the path seemed to have just disappeared.

We walked in ever-larger circles around the pool, hoping to intersect with the continuing path. It seemed hopeless, as the floor of the woods all looked the same in the cover of thousands of fallen, dead-brown leaves. I began to become a bit irritated that the folks who laid this path out could have been so careless as not to show us the way.

"Hang on then. Just look around and think". Oké, the path wasn't clearly indicated, but reason tells me that it would not just stop. These hiking trails are all circular. I looked and looked. Finally in-between the tree trunks in the distance I saw a millimetre of red, I thought. I waved to my mate to walk in that direction. Sure enough, we came out on a path and up to the right was a red-topped stake. Yippee!

We continued away from that "sacred pool". It was all interesting to see, with small birds and landscape, twisted and fallen trees. At one point, we came to a small sign to the right of the path. It said, "Orlogsmonument". War monument.

We looked down the small path and saw three small and erect stones there.


We went down the path and saw that the small stones had brass plaques on them and they told a very sad story:
When WW2 had ended in 1945 there were three small children playing in these woods. They came upon an unexploded german bomb and somehow the bomb exploded, killing the children. Two brothers and a friend.

I suppose that it was especially bitter for their parents because at last the germans had left our soil and the war was over. Very sad.

The walk was generally nice and we came upon this remote sheep stall, built in the typical style of the area. Just in the middle of nowhere, it would seem.


This structure was quite interesting to examine. It looked quite old, but then things age quickly in the moist woods. I could not tell. It WAS still in use though, that was apparent.

We continued following the now well-marked trail and made it back to the auto. Time for tea and bikkies before heading on to the hotel and checking-in.

The hotel was very nice and we had a lovely room looking out onto a church steeple, which was very close. The room had all the amenities. It was comfy.
We sat and chatted about the trip so far and when we would eat supper. My bride went out onto the double balcony to puff on a cigarette. I sat at the table looking at the scene below and the church and my mind wandered back to when and how we came to come on this adventure................

"Hey jongen, come and look at this!", she called out.
I put down my magazine and strolled from our living room into the multi-media room. My bride sitting at the computer, back on that hotel room-auction site that we use from time to time to find expensive rooms for inexpensive prices when we want to go hiking far away from home.

A hotel in the region of Zwolle was what we needed and there was one, on the "auction of the day". I shall cut the story short and tell you that we bid many times and ultimately got this hotel for 3 euro's, including gratis breakfast buffet. That was not a bad price for two people, I would say.
The way this works is that one can bid on rooms during a 24-hour period. The bidding periods usually last for three minutes each bidding cycle.

The partner came back inside and I snapped back into the present. WE went out and had a stroll about town and selected a restaurant. Afterwards we read, watched telly and snooped around on the iPad.

Now then, we also came to Zwolle to see the ice sculpture display that has been going on. We headed off to town and found a good parking place near the ice sculptures.

I could give you the link, but sadly the text is only in dutch and gerrman. However I do have this little film for you:

http://youtu.be/O42-Q7igB9E

It was a long tent filled with various sculptures depicting various events in the history of our royal family. You can see the tent from across the canal. There is a line of people extending from the entrance door over to the left of the structure all the way around to the right. There were hundreds of visitors that day.


It was coolish outside, but inside it was -8°C--Burrrrr. I shall include a couple of foto's. Unfortunately the structures were difficult to photograph because the space inside was claustraphobically narrow and there were too many visitors inside at once. Still...


That was a lion (one of the symbols of our country and royal family). The next foto is of the king's coach/carriage, which is brought out on certain occasions.


This next foto depicts the last queen, made in hardened snow. Personally, I do not feel that it resembles the queen (now princess) at all. I DO see a remote resemblance to Kay, a member here. What do you think?


Hahaha... well, perhaps I have a too-active imagination.

After we finished, we walked around the old city centrum to have a look-see. We came across these things. Typical here in this country. Can you guess what they are?


It looks like some sort of modern art statue, doesn't it?
Maybe a sort of guidepost marking the way for folks doing a city tour?
A bus stop?
A place to donate money for a cause?
Perhaps if you see this foto, you'll have a better idea:


Yuppers, an urinoir. They have always been around in different sizes and shapes, but only for men. Oh, I suppose a girl could use it, but then she would have to be daring and most certainly agile.

If you find yourself overwhelmed with interest about this subject you can type-in "krul urinoir" in google and do a search. You will find foto's of many old-fashioned ones. We had one here in my home town, down by the train station, but I honestly cannot remember if it is still there. They are so commonplace, one just doesn't "see" them...you just overlook them.

Another foto of the huge cathedral in the centre of Zwolle. St. Michael's Cathedral, dating from 1604.


Right then, after the load was lightened the time was getting on into the afternoon and thus time to begin the long drive back home.

I typed-in for the Tom-Tom to take us home using the shortest route. This means that we would be taking many small roads then and seeing small villages.

One village worth describing is a village which is inhabited by a strict religious group of people. It had been years since either one of us had been there. The people of the "black stockings". They do not like mingling with folk outside their community. If you would be passing through their village on a sunday and they were on the way to church they would walk in the middle of the streets looking down at the ground so as to not cast their eyes upon non-member folk.

They are absolutely not appreciative of folks taking pics in their village either. That is why I have used existing foto's taken off the internet to show you. I do this out of respect for them and their beliefs.

Wait one...I do not want to paint these people in a bad light. Things may well have changed since I was young, as I said--I have not been there for donkey's ears.

Here is a typical dwelling:


Here is a pic of the colourfully knitted protectors on their bikes. It is to keep the skirt or dress tails from getting into the bike's spokes.


The houses and gardens there are really quite lovely and typical of the town. I will tell you one more thing about this village. They had and perhaps still have an unusual custom there:

One can still see front doors with a small heart around the keyhole.


Certainly before the 1940's it was customary that families; which had a daughter who was of an age to be married, placed a heart around the keyhole (My memory tells me that it was of a blue colour at this stage...but I cannot recall for sure).

A prospective young man could present himself and negotiations were made. An "appointment" was made and the lad could come into the girl's room (typically through her bedroom window) in the night and spend the night there. He must then leave one hour before milking time. This could go on for a while.

The purpose was to see if the couple were a good fit, so to speak...to get to know eachother. Should the girl somehow become pregnant, then it was obvious that the chap (and girl) were fertile and could expect a large family. Fertility was a very important thing in terms of a family's survival in those days.
Of course, it is said that intercourse was out of the question, although petting to great lengths was permitted. The idea was that the bed covers were kept between the two suitors at all times.

These days, you don't hear so much about this custom, and having a large family to do work and support parents in their old age is not so important. There are social programs in place for this now (care of destitute/unfortunate people and older folks).

I understand that once the girl had a suitable suitor or was married, the heart on the outside of the door was then changed to a brass one (as I recall).

I am conveying this custom to you; but not being from that village and so not having first-hand experience with the custom, I cannot say that this is all true with 100% certainty. However there are public records and info that bears this out.
The term for this custom is nachtvrijen, or kweesten.

Well, it was good to be back home and see our cats again. Sometimes I just can't tell if they miss us or not. Who can understand cats. Hopefully you enjoyed this trip out east and found the descriptions interesting.

Addendum: The mystical pool of water in the forest had been a pingo, formed during the Ice Age. It melted, collapsed and left this perfect pool.
Odd that I had not thought of this, as I have seen pingo's in Alaska. In areas where there is still permafrost, the pingo's are still mounds. Interesting things, those.

 

Thanks for an interesting hike. I do really enjoyed seeing and reading about the pingo. Very interesting indeed.
The ice sculptures are magnificent. If I created something that beautiful I wouldn't want it to melt away.

 

Thank you for another great get away. My hubby enjoyed it also.

 

Very interesting S. I loved the woods, the pond was quite ethereal, I thought. The urinoir was quite a shock to me as we have nothing like that here anywhere. I was thinking..hmmm an umbrella stand? well I guess I was a little wrong. You would have been shocked to see me go up and put my umbrella in there after I parked my bike, huh? I wouldn't have taken it back after realizing what that really was. I would have been ROFL after realizing my mistake.

The village that you went through, was that similar to the Amish that we have here? A very conservative way of life, more of a way of life than a religion? The Amish here do not have their photos taken (graven image) have electricity or phones in their homes (but it is okay to use it if they work somewhere where there is electricity and phones), don't own a car or truck, (but most will ride in one) but it is okay to drive a tractor . These people have a practice called "bundling" (at least they used to, and I haven't asked anyone if they still do) and there are quite a few "premature" babies born to them and the women all wear black stockings ..interesting that there are such similarities in these people, huh?

Well, anyway, thanks for taking us along again.

 

Hiya TONI--Glad that you liked the posting. Interestiong that this custom existed over there in earlier days. Not surprising that it came over from europe since that is where the first settlers came from.

You are welcome, CHERYL--I know what you meran. it would be sad to see so much hard work just melt away.

Cheers DONNA--I am tickled pink that you and your man enjoyed the posting.

Ta EILEEN--I am delighted that you and your man enjoyed reading the account. If there is anyone that I could imagine would completely "get" the feeling of the little pool and its surroundings it is you and Droopy. It is such a difficult thing to describe adequately.
I thought that you might have noticed a krultje when you were over this side. heh heh heh.

CAROLYN--I am glad that you liked the thread this time. An umbrella stand!! That really IS a good one. I can see why you might think that. Good guess, meid.
I know of the Amish their roots are germanic and their language is low-german. I believe that the particular form of Protantism that they practice is the same as the folks that I wrote about.
The village that we went through was over in eastern nederland, near the german border. No wonder that the customs are so similar.
Yes, the similarity is quite interesting.

 

Such a lovely posting Sjoerd. I'm still wondering about that hole filled with water in the forest. Perhaps there was once a house there?
The ice sculptures are amazing and I do see the resemblance to Kay
I'm really not sure what to think of the urinoir's ... they are not something we see here.

 

Hoi NETTY-- No, the water pool in the woods is from a melted-down pingo that was formed back in the Ice Age. When the earth began to warm up and the permafrost melted, the pingo eventually melted and collapsed to however deeply it went. The result was the pond. I do wonder how deep it is.
There were no remains/fundaments of any sort of dwelling there.
I'm glad that you see the resemblence too...especially if you think-away her glasses. I guess that we can now say that Kay has a queenly countenance, right. chuckle.
The urinoirs: well, y'know Netty, people leaving the pubs late at night are going to micturate in the streets anyway (well, some of them). At least they have a central place where they can do their business without stinking-up the whole centre of town. Most towns have several of the krultjes spread out here and there over the town. It is nice to have one when the urge strikes and you are not near a restaurant or a shop with a WC.
I realize that it is unusual for north americans to see these, that's one reason I posted the piccies.
It is unhygienic and against the law here to just P anywhere you like. The use of these public urinoirs is sort of a compromise.
Anyhow...thanks for liking the posting, meid.

 

Love your story and pictures, Sjoerd!
As I know my people, I think we'd need a urinal at every street corner
Love that colorful house... but why am I feeling they ran out of paint? (check the top, small, square pattern by the right side window...)
Love that "sleeping over" custom... so much better than the "save-it-for-wedding-night" HMMM

 

Hey there CALIN-- glad that you liked the story. I saw that window shutter too, but I just assumed that it was light reflection of the sky/sun. It was good that your eye caught it. Perhaps they haven't painted it yet though. Bottom line is that I just do not know.
The "sleeping-over" custom is indeed interesting, but what is even more interesting to me is how the custom has changed in the minds of people, and the custom has been made obsolete by good social governmental systems and laws.
Our society is always in a state of change, evolving based upon the needs of the citizens and governmental realities or philosophies.

 

Thanks for bringing us on your trip.

I love the pond. We've got similar ones here and there, also with a strange, eerie feeling about them. I think the Nix, or Nøkken in Norwegian, probably used to live there. He might still live there, I'd say that rock looks like a perfect perch for him.

The ice sculptures are beautiful. It's such a shame they'll end up as water.

Your village story is very interesting. We had the same custom here in Norway, it was called nattefrieri, quite similar to your word nachtvrijen. I remember seeing some of the "black stockings" on our visits to Holland. We haven't got anything like them or the Amish here.

Oh, yes, the urinals. I feel we should have a couple in town since some fellows on their way home emulate dogs and pee on the house corners.

 

Greetings Droopy. Maybe the Nix or the Nökken uses that pond of ours as a winter retreat...whaddayew think? I was wondering if you guys had anything similar. Yes, the words are similar.
Perhaps you could start an action in your town and get a couple of those urinoirs placed here and there on the way home from the pubs.
Anyway, thanks for reacting to the posting.

 

Sjoerd---I was guessing that urinal was an umbrella holder!

 

I can absolutely see why, Cayuga. I have tried to see those through the eyes of someone who does not live here. It is difficult, because they are so common that one almost doesn't see them. I look right over them unless I need one. I wonder what archaeologists would think they were if they dug them up in 5 or 6 hundred years.