A Curious Birthday

Picture that:
you live in the Netherlands, it is autumn, it is grey, it rains a lot, you and your kids have recently had a cold and your sister-in-law invites you to celebrate her birthday with the whole family in a tour in the nature. "Saturday 25th of September, Recreation area Het Twiske at 12h30", to be precise.

And there goes the family into the recreation area Het Twiske. I have previously posted here about Twiske (for more about it click on the tag list "twiske") and about this hobby of my sister-in-law. Today she told us she would guide us through pads with lots and lots of mushrooms. Ummm, it starts getting interesting for me because I am fascinated about these funghi.

Above, the S.I.L. shows the "classic" type of mushie from fairy tales to my little girl : a red one with white dots. Lovely.

The mushie above looks like an apple that was beaten by gnomes, doesn't it ? Chomp, chomp, chomp !

My SIL in action. With little mirrors, she shows us how the mushies look on their under. She doesn't take any of them from the trees or the ground. But the broken ones she does collecst in a bag for her future tours. She knows how to preserve them for a while.

It was one and half good hour spent in the middle of uncountable and odd mushies. Oh, no way I can remember the names and functions of all of them !

Below: big fox holes.

My sister-in-law advised me never eating blackberries from the lowest branches of bushes, 'cause foxes pee on them. But enough mushies and fruit. It is time to sit down and go drink and eat something, thus we headed to Pavillioen.

We were so lucky with dry weather. The location of Pavillioen is really amazing, near water, bushes ... there were even rainbows. We decided to sit on the back outside so that the kids could run freely - and make some noise.

During years and years, we have always sat outside in The Pavillion and asked some snacks and beer. French fries or bitterballs and a beer. Just that. I didn't know that you actually could have a fancy dinner at there.

Prosecco was ordered...

Most of the grown-ups decided to go for a classic Dutch chocolade truffel, and the kids asked muffins and hot chocolate.

Many Dutch people like having something sweet and light for their lunch: slices of bread topped with chocolate, some fruit or yoghurt, or maybe a soup, or sometimes just a pie. I preferred to order a tosti - cheese /tomatoes. However, deep inside of me I would rather have a tagliatelle with mushies, garlic, cream, parsley and parmesan cheese. Or a small risotto... with lots and lots of mushies, of course !

I enjoyed a lot such unusual birthday celebration.

And we were sooo lucky it didn't rain.

Gefeliciteerd Anja ! Happy Birthday !

A Weekend in Het Twiske

The weather forecast for the coming weekend says: dry and sunny - at least for Saturday.
Wishing to visit Het Twiske ? Great ! But check first the visitor's center (Bezoekers Centrum).

A Bit of history about the area: In the beginning of the 60's sand was collected from 't Twiske for the buidling of the Coentunnel. That's how the Stooterplas (a big lake in Twiske) was made.

In 1972, around this lake, beaches, pathways and other facilities for recreation were planned. Other areas of Twiske were left untouched. Twiske has a size of 600 ha being 20 ha of water.

The entrance to the Blauwe Poort water park is free. There is a pirate ship in the middle of the lake and the water is just 1,40m deep. In the water park there is also a restaurant and a snack bar. Another restaurant option, near the marina De Roemer, is Het Pavillioen. You can rent canoes, motor boats or a sailing boat for maximum 5 persons and visit the most beautiful areas of  't Twiske. Check for sailing route information in the visitors' center.

When ciclying in Twiske you can spot hares, many different types of birds and foxes.

The construction above is for the bees to deposit their eggs. I have learned a lot with my kids about the disappearance of bees and the fragile balance of nature.

And you can also buy in the visitor's center souvenirs and local produce, such as honey.
I will start having honey in a daily basis starting in  January next year, in order to prevent me from pollen allergy when May arrives. Honey is a natural antibiotic. I hope it will help me.

Naked [Bloot]

In my previous post about recreation area Het Twiske I forgot to mention that besides a water park, restaurant, an animal farm, and a small harbour there is also an area reserved for naturists (naturistterraine), an official nude beach. Maybe this could be of interest to some of this blog readers ? Yesterday, by the way, was an Open Day organized by the Naturisten Federatie van Nederland (NFN). It seems that about 2 million Dutch enjoy occasionally nudity in the sauna, special areas in beaches and naturists camping - and the number is growing fast ! For further information go to: www.nfn.nl Or go to Het Twiske

Het Twiske [Recreation Area]

If you live in Amsterdam or Zaandam and are looking for some relaxation moment in the nature then Het Twiske is the ideal place. You can enter the area with your bike, you can go there for a walk or drive around with your car (parking costs about 4 euros per day or about 1 euro per hour). There are cycle paths, smalls lakes to go fishing and a couple of old windmills for nice pics. If you are visiting it for the first time I suggest you pay a visit to the Visitors' Center to ask for suggestions.

The landscape is amazing. There are cows, sheeps, fields with lots of water...

There are horse riders....

You can visit the whole area with a rented boat from the local harbour...

Or you can go with your roller skate, visit the wide Aqua Park with your children (I will be talking about it in the summer) or an animal farm (with rabbits and sheeps to cuddle and many other animals), make a barbecue or a pic-nic and relax in many of the little lakes and small beaches. There is a snack bar and restaurant inside of 't Twiske called Het Pavillion where you can have ice cream, French fries, bitter garnituur (a selection of fried little appetizers) and a Dutch beer.

Or maybe you should just try to lose you way in 't Twiske and walk without a goal. We did that today and met some very docile friends: