Winifred Wikkeling

Dear Gazelle,

was there ever a sweeter bicycle than you

that could inspire us on a perfect and sunny day

to take a ride to Westerpark

and then simply make a left on Haarlemmer weg?

And that would inspire us to stay riding for over an hour

along the way gazing over here

then

arriving

here

where

we

crossed the bridge

into

Haarlem

Centrum

and as we walked through

the

Oude Kerk

we said

a little prayer

that our legs might survive

the long road

leading us back

to Amsterdam…

We love an adventure.

We like to discover things.

We wanted to discover Naarden

and het Arsenaal.

We thought the trip to Naarden would be fun. We were told getting there would be easy. We like that 1 metro and 2 bus rides later – one of which had to be hailed from the side of a high way – we were undeterred, still committed to the goal. It was about 20 minutes into our walk when

things

started to

look up a bit.

We were finally approaching

the walled city

of Naarden

a star-shaped vesting

with

a lovely

city hall

and we continued on until we reached the collection of shops

that make up

Het Arsenaal

Moooi at Jan des Bouvries

where we could explore

its unique setting

and around every corner find a surprise,

especially the surprise of a courtyard

where we almost

forgot

we were still in Holland.

Of course we were planning to make a visit. There were some things we wanted to see. But we had not yet decided when. What we had planned, was a trip to the Noorder Markt. What we stumbled upon, was

Thus we took the opportunity

to take a look at this

blow away vase by Front

…to touch its curves,

study its twisted decor

And we thought, the only thing that could be better

would be if we could see

step by step iterations

of blow away Delft Blauw;

a bit like this

dancing vases by Robin van Hontem

we would love it.