Natasha in the Netherlands: Culemborg

Almost two months ago, we took a trip to Tiel to see amazing fruit and vegetable floats. We used one of our discount all day train passes to get there and decided to make the most of the tickets by taking a side trip before heading home. Our choice was Culemborg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culemborg), a cute town surrounded by a moat.

We were pretty tired by the time we got there after the excitement of the parade and the almost 80 degree weather and were considering doing a quick walk through before heading home. The train station was about a 10 minute walk from the center of the town and after walking across a bridge over the moat we enjoyed strolling along the narrow cobblestone streets. After walking through a narrow passage way, we happened upon the market center. Compared to the big open squares that comprise many of the town centers in the Netherlands, this town center was rectangular and gave it a narrow feeling. We stopped for drinks and did some people watching while we decided our next move. The consensus was to return home after just one more tiny walk.

However, the cute streets had us stop and admire buildings, look into shop windows, and come across a major discovery- it was Museum Day (i.e. free entrance into museums and monuments). A spontaneous detour into a flowered covered archway led us to a hidden building and Elisabeth Wee’s Huis, at least that’s what we thought it was called. It turns out it was the Elisabeth Weeshuis- instead of being some unknown lady’s huge manor it turns out we were in an old orphanage (weeshuis means orphanage) that had been converted into a museum. We quietly walked in not entirely understanding what Museum Day meant and what we were and weren’t allowed to do. It didn’t help that a wood pipe band was performing in the entrance way. I was braver than my companions and walked into rooms off the side of the entrance and peeked in, interested to see a room fashioned as a very old kitchen and another with what looked like a loom. A woman dressed in medieval villager type clothing indicated that I should continue my self-guided tour to the back garden. I was not disappointed. The garden was beautiful and -dare I say- enchanted. It was set up similar to a maze with tall hedges outlining different parts of the garden. There were beautiful flowers, an apple orchard, grape vines, ponds, statues, and more. My imagination immediately took me to rich young women sitting in the garden and waiting for their suitors. Now I know it’s where orphans got some sunshine. It was a great find and I am happy for my spontaneous turn on that cute street.

Finally, we were headed back to the train station but then we came upon a windmill. The windmill was open to visitors as part of museum day. We climbed up the extremely narrow ladder as far as we could go and saw amazing views of the town and moat while enjoying a breeze from the turning sails. A volunteer gave information on how flour is made by the mill but it was in Dutch so we used common sense and the evidence of flour to figure it out. It was a pretty cool experience.

After the windmill, we made it back to the train station and finally back home. Gearoid had been nervous about the day because I was responsible for planning it and had no maps and my only plan was “to go with the flow.” I have to say it worked well for us.