2024 and Via New York

 After a full on few weeks of tidying up our NZ lives, Annie an I boarded  NZ2 on 22nd April flying to Europe via New York for a change. Our 'Premium Economy' seats were worth paying a bit extra and while not quite the style of Emirates Business to which we have become accustomed, the 16 hour flight was painless enough.   

After 16 hours this was a welcome screen

We planned and saved up for a few days stopover in New York. The city sure lives up to its 'never sleeps' reputation!  We walked our legs off, enjoying beautiful spring weather and doing the tourist thing. 

Times Square was close by our hotel, and teamed with people all hours

There were crowds in Uptown and Manhattan, but we never felt unsafe. We also found delightful escapes across the bridge in Brooklyn and on the highline walk.

Day one and a must do big walk across to Brooklyn

'Down Under Manhatten Bridge Overpass'

By surprise we found ourselves in movie location sites 

Under Manhattan bridge, a traffic free, quiet area. 

An evening harbour cruise is a must do and a welcome break from walking everywhere.

An unmistakable skyline

Liberty island is no bigger than a rugby field

We took a day or two to get the hang of the 'Subway' network. Trains are either Uptown, Downtown, or Crosstown with numbers or letters. on the front of the train. A shorthand native locals' directions could be -  'uptown 3 to 42nd then B to Rockafeller'. Oh, then there are express trains that skip half the stations! We did find the right subway train out to the Brooklyn Botanic gardens. on a cool but bright spring morning. New Yorkers do a vey good line in parks and gardens.

Cherry blossom time in the Botanic Gardens

Central Park, a massive lung in the middle of town

The 'Highline walk' 

A ribbon of green along an abandonned rail line

   

The New York Yacht Club, on 44th St

As a member of the RNYS in Auckland, I was granted a week of reciprocal membership to the NYYC. The clubrooms are nothing short of grand and ornate. We dined in the 'Grillroom' one evening, in what feels like being below deck on a 18th century ship. The NYYC was formed in 1844 only a few years before claiming a silver trophy in an English yach race which they then named after their challenging yacht.

The Americas Cup had been proudly displayed in an ornate circular room for 126 years until 1983. This room is preserved in the hope that one day it will return. The grand model room diplays faithfully built models of every cup challenger alongside each defender throughout that period but there the record ends.

  

Memorial pools mark the original twin tower foundations.

Beyond the site of the original Twin Towers, the new 'World Trade Centre' building has a striking eight sided design to echo the original twin four sided structures.

'Grand Central Terminus' 

This is just the foyer, the trains are below ground level

The 'Bull' in Wall St. Everthing in New York is big 

We did take a couple of days out of New York taking the train up to New England and 'Mystic Seaport', the maritime museum. For many years on Charles' bucket list, and just too much to cover fully in this blog.

The 'Joseph Conrad' at Mystic

The Ed Sullivan theatre on Broadway

We were lucky enough to get tickets to a taping of a 'Late Show' on our final night in New York.

Colbert had become one of our sanity props during lock down. It was an experience to see it all live. 

All too soon our time in New York is over, and another overnight KLM flight takes us to Amsterdam and a familiar train journey to Antiope still snug in her winter home in the company of some 199 other craft of all sizes. 

'Antiope' our second home !

Vincent was here.

 In the closing weeks of the season, we have followed in the footsteps of Vincent Van Gogh, cruising the 'Turfroute' from Friesland into Drenthe province. This historic, and often narrow, waterway was originally dug to carry the many tons of peat to heat the homes in the cities further south.

In 1873 Vincent Van Gogh arrived in Assen, 

to paint the 'working people of Drenthe'

'The peat barge' by Vincent van Gogh hangs in the Drenthe Museum.

We soak up some of the atmospheric landscape that inspired Van Gogh along the way. At Sudergemaal we are able to visit a restored pumping station, one of many pumping stations that were needed to drain the land once the peat had been dug. The century old pumps can still shift 160 cubic meters of water per minute, and we were given a noisy demonstration. An automatic pumphouse close by manages the job now. 

The century old pumping station at Sudergemaal.

Sudergemaal was the first electric pumping station in Friesland.

It can still pump 160 cubic litres per minute. 

Windmills did the job before the electric pumphouses.

The lock at Donkerbroek on the 'Turfroute'

Turfroute near Oosterwolde

The Turfroute at Aldeboarn, and yes, the tower is leaning 

At Akkrum there was a 'Tug festival'. Over one weekend, over 70 vintage tugs of all sizes steam into town from all over the region. They are invariably privately owned and lovingly maintained.  

The Akkrum bi-annual tug festival

Every tug has its own ship's dog

A perfect day, back on the larger 'Noord Willemskanaal' heading to Groningen.

We carve a track through a carpet of duckweed.

Our days are getting shorter, but the colours just now are stunning. It is hard to accept that we will be putting Antiope to bed for the winter in just a few weeks time.  

An autumn misty morning.

A country mooring along the 'Turfroute'

These Palomino horses were grazing close by our country mooring

                                                                      Two ducks

Sunset in Drenthe, not quite Van Gogh, but you get the idea.

                                         Cheers from Charles and Annie aboard Antiope. 20 Sept 2023

How fortunate we are.

 For the past few weeks we have been exploring a little bit of Friesland. This northern region of the Netherlands is a magical water world. The Friesian people remain very proud of their province. They preserve their own language and dialect, are unreservedly friendly and love their boating. 

Our current position, amid the lakes and channels of Friesland

Or, as our local area shows on our plotter screen, a maze of waterways

There are literally hundreds of tranquil and free mooring places like this.

A quiet evening on Pikmeer 

'Sate chicken', work in progress

Another still morning, moored just outside Heerenveen

Spot the hopeful heron!

Stork nesting sites are encouraged in Friesland

Looking for frogs!

We have to replenish stores from time to time, so a sortie into Leeuwarden (Ljouwert) is no hardship. It is the provincial centre and we are able to moor midtown, in park-like surroundings. 

 

Our park-like mooring in Leeuwarden

Our arrival in Leeuwarden is by way of a number of lift bridges, from complete sections of roadway lifting to the sky to the more sedate mid city bascule type, all of which open with minimal delay or fuss. A very prominent feature when approaching the town is the unfortunate leaning 'Oldehove' tower which was started in 1529 and was originally planned to be over twice the height. However, after 4 years into the project, it started leaning and was never completed.  

This strange sight greets us as we arrive. The Oldehove tower, Leeuwarden  

The city bridges, a tight fit for some craft, big and small!

Popular boat tours circle the inner city waterways

                     

At the other extreme, this bit of roadway lifts to the sky!

Amid all this tranquil scenery, it is hard to imagine that here was a theatre of war still within a lifetime. 

In the heart of the Alde Feanan national park is this poigant memorial to the crew of a crippled British Lancaster bomber R5682 that crashed here on the night of 5th September 1942 narrowly missing the village of Warten. Of the seven crew only four survived the parachute jump. The pilot and rear gunner went down with with the plane. This memorial was inaurgurated in 2018 on the anniversary of the liberation of Friesland and after the last remains of the aircraft were salvaged from the waterway, including the body of the rear gunner.  

Rembrant and more

 Last month we took Antiope into Amsterdam. Annie and I took time out to expand our cultural knowledge with a visit to the Rijksmuseum. On my must see list, there among the art classics, was Rembrandt's masterpiece 'The Night Watch'. However, it is in the midst of a six year restoration programme, with the process continuing in full public view. A full digital scan is just part of the process. 

'The Night Watch' measures 3.6m x 4.4m

                                    

                                                  This copy is on display alongside 
 

I spent a long time in the museum's boat room where these minutely detailed models of Dutch vessels through the centuries were displayed.

This is just one small section of the model boat room in the museum.

Under way once more, we had family aboard for a few days, as we head North via Muiden and Enkhuizen to Lelystad and a convenient rail station.

Muiden lock, Toby and Becks on deck.

Departing for the long haul back to New Zealand

From Lelystad with a high winds and rain forecast, we headed inland via the Southern Polder navigation to Zwolle, dropping down below sea level once more. With us this time we had another couple of guests aboard, Jack Nazer and his sister Carol. Despite the weather, cruising is still possible with care through the sheltered inland waters of the Netherlands.

Navigating with care.

We did find a delightful waterway off the busy commercial route and cruised the Overijsselse Vecht river all the way to Ommen, the practical head of navigation for Antiope.

A quiet backwater and off the commercial waterway.

Vechterweerd lock, much like an English Thames setting 

One of the fully automated ferries that cross the river

A break in the rain, on the Overijsselse Vecht river

An enterprising Zwolle flower shop advert.

The 'Zespri' stall on Zwolle market day.

The old Zwolle city walls remain partly preserved.

 

Twilight at 9.50 The days are beginning to draw in! Zwartsluis August 10th