Because Amersfoort will be our ‘home-city’ during the coming winter (winter? which winter?) we feel the need to show extensively to you what exactly it does look around us. We arrived early because we like to be as close as possible to the city itself and the port-facilities that are on offer during the winter. Fortunately, we could squeeze in between two boats that were already positioned for the winter.

View when looking to the north-west…

…and to the south-east.

Exactly opposite of us the ship ‘De Inspiratie’ (The Inspiration) has her permanent mooring-space. She can be rented for weddings, parties, meetings and so on, either cruising on the river Eem and beyond or at her mooring. See http://deinspiratieboot.nl/ (also in English) for more details. Here she returns from one of her frequent cruises.

The video already brings, after some 20 seconds, another ship to our attention. Her name is ‘Hoop op Welvaart’ (Hope for Prosperity) and she houses a restaurant, called ‘De Saffraan’ (The Saffron). Their website can be found by using the link http://desaffraan.nl/home/. Only in Dutch, we fear. As this picture proves she is virtually sold out on this sunny Sunday.

Enough now about what is to be seen around us. Our ‘dog-boxes’ (koekoeks), wheelhouse and mast, in short: all wooden parts, were badly in need of maintenance. This means thoroughly cleaning and, evenly thoroughly, oiling all of them – at least twice. All wooden parts were dirty in such a way that we do not have the guts to show a picture of one of them. Therefore, here’s a picture of our front dog-box after cleaning…

…and here’s the same box after a few oiling-sessions. The mast was never (really! shame on the one to whom this task is allocated – not being her…) re-oiled – and now it is, four or five times; the thing understandably behaved like a genuine ‘oil-sucker’. So now we are brave enough to show not only the front box, but the mast and the second box in the background as well. Whe believe you are prepared to take our word for it when we say that the wheelhouse is done as well. There will be covers over the boxes and around the wheelhouse in a week. It will look better – well, at least even more capable to resist the harsh winter conditions in The Netherlands.

The first impressive, beautiful building we encounter when walking towards Amersfoort’s centre is its Koppelpoort - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koppelpoort. This time we’ll only show a few nice buildings, like this one. More specific information in the future. Watch this space! (© Bert Kaufmann.)

Amersfoort offers the opportunity to take pictures at random. It’s just a beautiful city.

At long last, after all the ‘suffering’ in foreign countries, we found a flower-market like they are only to be found in The Netherlands – and that definitely includes the price-quality rate, apart from the various stuff that’s on offer. A real paradise for one of us two – in this case being her!

One-hundred percent Dutch in all its aspects. No further comment.

Another snapshot, made when we returned from the flower-market.

The Koppelpoort as seen from the other side, called Grote Spui. A spui(sluis) -a term from the water management- regulates the water level towards either side, dependent on what’s needed at any given moment. This special sluis (= lock/sluice) is visible in the front.

A detail of the Koppelpoort, being the gate that is visible on the left with the 9th picture. We pass this gate when walking to/from the centre…

…and the lovely house that is visible on the left with the 9th picture as well. The last three pictures, this one included, were all taken when returning home from the flower-market on the square Lieve Vrouwekerkhof (kerkhof = cemetary/graveyard). More about this square and its surroundings later on.

After we finally got home the interior was radically upgraded by this lovely bunch of flowers. Note the vase, a much treasured relic from our narrowboat-era (sob).

After countless years of not visiting the cinema we have been to a movie yesterday-evening, Saturday the 24th of September 2016 – now almost a date to remember. We picked ‘L’Avenir’ (The Future), a French movie, starring a favourite of ours, Isabelle Huppert. (We still remember the one from 1977 that established her stardom: ‘La Dentelliere’ (The Lacemaker).) It was most enjoyable – a coffee beforehand and a glass of wine with ‘bitterballen’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitterballen) afterwards. All this entertainment is centered on the aforementioned Lieve Vrouwekerkhof. A 10 minutes-walk. Very convenient indeed. That’s it for this week.