Eliot's Travels

Kampen

After packing this morning, I walked over to Kohler to pick up our rental car for the weekend. As we were dragging all our bags and carseats downstairs, I heard a familiar voice. Downstairs in our hallway, I saw our produce lady making a home delivery. As she was leaving, I said hello and told her I had her copy of the photographer. She came up and met us, and I gave her our picture and address. That was funny to see her at our apartment - and gave me one last errand to run.

Once we were packed up, we headed north via Utrecht and Zwolle. We were on our way to see old friends of the family, the Engels. They now live in Roden, near Groningen in northern Holland. My parents knew each other in Port Lavaca, TX while working at Alcoa. They also lived in Suriname, South America when we did. Their daughter, Pauline, was my babysitter in Suriname. The last time we saw the Engels was in 1979.


We decided to stop in the old Hanseatic town of Kampen for lunch. The Hanseatic League, a trading community primarily of northern German cities, was established in the mid-13th century. Its member towns quickly grew rich off importing and exporting goods including grain, ore, honey, textiles, timbers and flax. The other Dutch cities in the league were Hasselt, Zwolle, Hattem, Deventer, Zutphen, and Doesburg. Kampen is a lovely town. Our first landmarks were these impressive 15th-century city gates on the edge of the old city and along a nice park.

One of the most obvious architectural features in this nice little town was the colorful brickwork, especially around the windows and doors. The city was filled with beautiful buildings.

posted by Whitney @ 9:05 PM