Heiloo, Dec 2019

Late December last year we spent some days in Amsterdam - our humans called it "a Christmas escape". This year we would spend our Christmas in Holland, and it would be in Heiloo as one of our humans had relatives living in this small town north west of Amsterdam.
Our humans were busy decorating the Christmas tree. We decided to help our humans and opened a box.
"It's red alfs with red alf hats," Roger noticed, "- just like our hats.
"It seems the number of boxes with decorations is unlimited" McBear commented.

Click each photo to enlarge

After dinner there would be singing around the Christmas tree. We wished to play some music while our humans were singing. Roger took a step out on the line of keys to see if he could step the keys in the right order.
"What will you be attempting to play?" Tom asked.
"I was thinking of The Twelve Bears of Christmas..."
"Oh, ok. Maybe later we can do All I want for Christmas is Bears".
"How about Jingle Bears?" McBear requested.
"Never heard of that carrol." Roger responded. "How's the lyrics?"
"Jingle Bears, Jingle Bears, Jingle all the way...".
"Oh, I know that one..." Roger noticed.

Hoorn, Dec 2019

Next day we went to visit our human's relatives in Hoorn north east of Heiloo. We got a lift in the relative's fine old Volvo. McBear was over the Moon as we were driving and he could hear the old B20 engine spinning.

Hoorn is an old city with a harbour and canals. Here we are at the old city gate. It dates back to 1578.

Hoorn, Dec 2019

Hoorn has many very old buildings - this one could well date back to midieval times in the 1500s. Everywhere there are cafes and restaurants.

Having spent Christmas in Heiloo we went to Amsterdam for a couple of days. We stayed at the Postillion at Overamstel outside Amsterdam city centre.

We got a room at the 18th floor and had a wonderful view of the city.
"Well, 'wonderful view' might be a slight exaggeration." McBear said as he made a list of what was in sight: 2 metro lines, 3 main roads and 1 motorway.
"But the sunrise! The sunrise is wonderful!" Tom pointed out.
"Good point, Tom, good point!"

Amsterdam, Dec 2019

Next day we took the metro from Overamstel to Amsterdam Centraal Station. It's only a short travel and is very easy.

Last year in December the Royal Palace was closed as we got there, but this year we had checked the opening hours beforehand. The palace was built in the mid 1600s. At first it was the town hall, but later it became the royal palace.

Amsterdam, Dec 2019

McBear was excited to see the fine floors in the large banquet hall. There were two circles in the floor showing the earth and its two halves: east and west. In between was a circular map of the universe showing what stars and planets was visible on the night sky.
Roger was a bit disappointed that he couldn't find the constellation Rogerus Major - The Great Roger.
"But Roger," McBear pointed out. "The floor was made hundreds of years before you..."

We were delighted to be back strolling the streets with all the canals, old merchant houses - and a million bikes!

Amsterdam, Dec 2019

Having strolled the canals, we went for lunch in Cafe Brandon, a cozy cafe.

One of our humans love cheese, and Dutch cheese is awesome - according to our human. We endured a visit. This cheese shop actually had a cheese museum in the basement. We learned how the Dutch make cheese.

Amsterdam, Dec 2019

We went to visit the Ritman library - also known as the Embassy of the Free Mind. They have old books about philosophy and how humans related to Cosmos many years ago.

The Ritman Library has a fab cafe! One can sit here and read - it's a library after all - and one can eat the most delicious cake at the same time. McBear proposed we should build a library at home in the same style - especially the same cakes!

Amsterdam, Dec 2019

In the evening we enjoyed the bar downstairs in the Postillion. Roger ordered some water, McBear some tea with honey and Tom ... asked for a pint! Now, he had hoped for a Guinness, but as a guest in Holland it was more appropriate to ask for a Heineken!

On our last day in Holland we took the regional train to Leiden south west of Amsterdam. Leiden is an old city with canals stretching almost as long as the canals of Amsterdam. Here we are having got off the train to start exploring the city. The mill behind us is the famous Molen De Valk.

Amsterdam, Dec 2019

Leiden has mills, tiny bridges and canals. We went on a canal tour.

Leiden has an old university observatory dating back to 1633.