Travelog for: Squiggles

The bags were packed and we were ready to set off for a weekend break. The destination was the province Friesland. And we went to the place called Workum:



Workum (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Country  Netherlands
Province  Friesland
Population
- Total c. 4,000

Workum (West Frisian: Warkum) is the largest town of Nijefurd in Friesland. It received city rights in 1374. It lies within the municipality of Nijefurd. Currently has around 4000 inhabitants.

Today, Workum is probably best known for having a museum dedicated to the very popular artist Jopie Huisman. Furthermore it is one of the eleven cities of the Elfstedentocht.

Here we are enjoying the Dutch scenery view from out the train.


We set off early friday morning and arrived about 2 o clock in the afternoon. The flag was hanging outside of the room we stayed at




Friesland  (taken from wikipedia)
(West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch: Friesland) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known as Frisia. In order to distinguish it from the other Frisian regions, it is commonly specified as Westerlauwer Frisia, Westerlauwer Friesland, West Frisia or West Friesland. The latter two names may lead people to confuse the region with the neighbouring landscape called 'West-Friesland', in the North Holland province.

Up until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian endonym Fryslân.

Friesland has 643,000 inhabitants (2005) and its capital is Leeuwarden (Ljouwert), with 91,817 inhabitants, in the center of the province.
Friesland distinguishes itself from the other eleven provinces through having its own language, West Frisian, which is also spoken in a minor part of the province of Groningen, to the east. Closely related languages, East Frisian ("Seeltersk", which is different from "East Frisian (Ostfriesisch)", a collection of Low German dialects of East Frisia) and North Frisian, are spoken in the Saterland and in North Friesland areas in Germany, respectively. Friesland was a part of the German empire until 1680 when it separated and joined the Netherlands. Part of Friesland is still considered part of Germany (Ostfriesland)



The English language is also closely related to West Frisian. There is a saying about it: "As milk is to cheese, are English and Fries." Another version of this saying reads (in West Frisian): "Bûter, brea, en griene tsiis; wa't dat net sizze kin, is gjin oprjochte Fries", which in English reads: "Butter, bread, and green cheese, whoever can't say that is no upright Fries" (According to legend, the 16th century Frisian freedom fighter Pier Gerlofs Donia forced his captives to repeat this shibboleth to distinguish Frisians from Dutch and Low Germans). The saying plays on the sound differences between the Dutch and Frisian words for "butter, bread, and green cheese", which in Frisian are pronounced almost identically to their English counterparts (showing the original closeness between the two languages), while in Dutch ("Boter, brood, en groene kaas"), these words sound quite different.



Friesland is mainly an agricultural province. The famous black and white Friesian cattle and the well known black Friesian horse originated here. Tourism, mainly on the lakes in the south west of the province, and on the islands in the Wadden Sea in the north, is an important source of income, too. Technology companies such as Asset Control have also set up base in Friesland.

The province is famous for its speed skaters, with mass participation in cross-country skating when weather conditions permit. In winters that are cold enough to allow the freshwater canals to freeze hard, the province is the focus of the Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour), a 200 kilometers ice skating tour. In the warmer months, many Frisians practice wadlopen, the traditional art of wading across designated sections of the Wadden Sea at low tide. Another Frisian practice is fierljeppen, a sport with some similarities to pole vaulting. A jump consists of an intense sprint to the pole (polsstok), jumping and grabbing it, then climbing to the top while trying to control the pole's forward and lateral movements over a body of water and finishing with a graceful landing on a sand bed opposite to the starting point. Because of all the diverse skills required in fierljeppen, fierljeppers are considered to be very complete athletes with superbly developed strength and coordination.



Another interesting feature are the many windmills. There are 195 windmills in the province of Friesland, from a total of about 1200 in the entire country.





We rented bicycles to explore the area of Workum and the nearby places of interest. Such as Hindeloopen.










In Hindeloopen there was a sailing contest, but due to the lack of wind they just sailed around.
There was a small market with some stands, look at the delicious Friese kaas  Frysian cheese


After we walked around we sat down for a short break, in the back you can see the masts of the boats in the harbour of Hindeloopen.
 

We cycled back and this is the map we used for the routes:


On our way back we came across only farm land, either with cattles (cows) or sheep. Also we saw horses, and only one special Frysian big horse, too bad it was too far for a picture and we were not allowed on the farms premisise.






We came back very tired so we went straight to bed:


The next day a new adventure.....

Whew!~  It has been very long since Squiggles has updated the travel log!  Matthew is pleased to help!

Squiggles arrived in a small white envelope which tore open, but the yellow paper and the sleeping bag were still in the envelope.  Squiggles is so tiny, Matthew and Tammy are amazed! 

It is fall here in the St. Louis area.  The weather is very beautiful.  Temperatures have been cool and the sun is shining.  Trees are changing colors and apple picking and pumpkin picking are in season.  Squiggles hosts Matthew and Tammy are looking forward to taking Squiggles to Eckherts Farm and Garden for both very soon. 

In the mean time, Matthew took Squiggles around his neighborhood where he watched a race, saw a lake, looked for Geocaches, and made postcards. 


Welcome to Festus and Crystal City Squiggles!


Squiggels at Austin Pitcairn Park  in Crystal City.


Squiggles visits Darrell Hickey White Park


Squiggles loves autumn in Missouri.  The trees are amazing, even though this historic tree is gone.


Squiggles conquers the Star School Memorial.  The building is long gone, as is the tree, but Star School historic site is preserved by the park.


Charles A Brown Memorial Park preserves the memory and history of Star School and one of Crystal City's most education friendly benefactors.


Squiggles visits Al Brown Lake in Festus.  This is a favorite fishing spot for many and the ducks and geese like to visit too.

Squiggles was impressed to learn that Matthew is a teacher of children ages 10-14.  Matthew teaches writing.  Squiggles promises to be good if Matthew takes him to school. 

Perhaps some of the students can help Squiggles learn about school in America. 

Matthew is also excited about taking Squiggles to the city on Sunday.  There, Matthew will show Squiggles Laumiere Sculpture Park, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, and some other very interesting sites in St. Louis. 

Squiggles hosts went to court on October 21.  As we did, we stopped and took photos of the old city hall, and the arch (from the highway).  Squiggles is now on his way to his next host in France. 

Bonjour!
I arrived safely at Arras, north of France. What a nice surprise to meet some other toyvoyagers : Gus the girafe, Burrimul the emu and Mausi the mouse. There was also some stay at home toys.

Fleur is on holidays and she drove us to her grand-fathers'. We picked up some apples. I enjoyed the garden.

At Fleur's parent's home we baked some little cakes called "madeleines". It was very yummy!

Fleur's father drove us to Paris, where lives her brother Sam. I could complete a mission easily! We were lost in the traffic jam but you can see a few pix of Paris.

Back at Wardrecques, i met Joey the poney. I feel so small when i see him!

it was the end of Fleur's holidays, we had to go back to Arras by train.

Autumn is definitly my fave' season and i loved the gardens of Arras!

I went to this big library and i've visited the city (you can see the belfry). I liked the hot chocolate we got.

At Wardrecques for a week-end, i played with the cats and met a huge singing boxer toy!

Nothing's better than a good fire after a long walk by a cold weather!

Hello there,
sorry for the long delay!
here you can see i've been to the seaside the day after xmas

after new year, i've visited a nice flemish town : Cassel and a the windmill. It was amazing to see the "mont des cats" (cat's mount) in the fog.