We headed out to the Hoge Veluwe national forest, which was about 25 minutes away. We walked through the gate at Otterlo and encountered a few hundred white bicycles. They were all unlocked and free for use by visitors. We were able to find some with child seats, so Dan took Amelie and I took Liliane, and we took off.
We rode for about 40 minutes on bike paths through the wilderness. There were a lot more trails, but we were intent on seeing the Kroller-Muller Museum, which is in the middle of the forest. We dropped the bikes off at a central point. There, we learned that they even had bakfiets (the bike box) available for use.
The Kroller-Muller is a glass-concrete structure built in the 1970s. It has an incredible collection of Van Gogh paintings as well as works by other famous artists (Mondrian, Picasso, Seurat). Click here and you will see some of the paintings by Van Gogh that we saw. We enjoyed the gallery and Liliane took a nap while we went through. We had lunch at the cafeteria and then walked through the sculpture garden. We were able to walk inside a sculpture called "Enamel Garden" by Jean Debuffet. It felt a little surreal and made me think both of Gaudi and of Pamukkale in Turkey.
We intended to go to the central point so that Liliane could play at the playground and to pick up a bakfiets, but a guard came down the trail and told us that the outlet was closed. It was after 4:30 and we couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone by. By that time, any bicycles with child seats were gone from the white-bicycle parking place in front of the museum, so we walked the 2.4km back through the lush forest back to the entrance.
That night, we returned to the Turkish restaurant for dinner which delicious and where I, of course, ordered the kofte. I managed a short conversation with the owner in my best Dutch about where we were from, where we live, and my trip to Turkey (13 years ago).
All in all, it was a great day!
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