Another weekend full of Christmas fun. On Saturday afternoon I had the Christmas ball of my folkdance group. And on Sunday there were several Christmas markets. I decided to go to the village of Leek. Big mistake! Only a few shops were open and honestly the announced Christmas market was not worth being announced. Only […]
Honestly I had no idea that very close to the borg (a former stronghold or villa in the province of Groningen) that I was going to visit today, there was another one. It turns out Borg Rusthoven in Wirdum is the smallest of the 16 borgen in the Province of Groningen. I only found out […]
Anyone who recognises this building is either a longtime royalty watcher or a huge fan of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. During my last visit to Copenhagen I was nearby and decided to continue my walk after visiting the Little Mermaid to have a quick look. To my surprise I recognised the building immediately, so […]
The Noordeinde Palace in The Hague is an old palace with some modern twists. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands had the palace renovated before starting using it in 1984. Unlike her ancestors she used the palace as a working palace. Over the years she collected art by especially Dutch artists in the palace. In one […]
When someone mentions the Mauritshuis in The Hague in a royal context, it is most of the time because of royal visitors, or because of its collection of art. But a long time ago the building used to be a royal residence. Recently I passed the building, that is celebrating its 200th anniversary of a […]
A day after arriving in Copenhagen, Denmark, the weather was quite good. Not knowing what it would be like later that week, I decided to head straight out of the country. I hadn’t been in Sweden since June 2010. Actually Helsingborg is only a nearly one hour train ride to Helsingør (Elsinore) and a rather […]
Finally, after three years the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands, opened its doors again this summer. Starting on 23 July both the palace and the mews are open on four Saturdays. Tickets If you are still thinking of buying a ticket: unfortunately once again it is sold out already. I managed to get […]
Dekema State
Just south of the city of Leeuwarden, Province of Friesland, very close to the Martenastate, you’ll find the Dekemastate in the village of Jelsum. The former noble estate nowadays is a museum. The Dekemastate is one of the oldest castles in Friesland, dating back to the 14th century, when it was built as a defendable […]
Although I still haven’t seen all noble estates in the province of Groningen, on Saturday I went cycling in the province of Friesland next door, where manors are not called “borg” like in Groningen, but “state”. As I wanted to visit the grave of my great-great-grandparents in Stiens, north of the capital city of Leeuwarden, […]
At the start of a wonderful wedding day in Bückeburg, Germany on Saturday – a report with lots of photos will follow – I enjoyed a morning stroll in the park and on the palace square of Bückeburg Palace, residence of the princely family zu Schaumburg-Lippe. It was still pretty cold and foggy, which especially […]
