Hoge Veluwe National Park

The weather is finally getting a little sunnier (spring and summer seem to have switched), so last week we went cycling to Hoge Veluwe, a national park in the center-east part of the Netherlands (yeah, the country is kind of oddly-shaped).

Cool fact No.1: The park provides 1700 free bicycles (witte fietsen) at three different points of the Park, so you can cycle everywhere and drop them off. The only requirement is that you can't lock them, so it's good for everyone to use.

Cool fact No. 2: Vincent van Gogh's painting, "Terrasse de Café, la Nuit" is housed at the Kröller-Müller Museum of the national park. This is my favourite piece of his, and I even have a really old writing pad with this print on every page. I never remembered that he was Dutch, but the "van" is staring me in the face now.

Cool fact No. 3: In the middle of the park is a large sandscape, which looks just like the Merzouga all over again! Though here the sand is rather damp, and the landscape is dotted with lonely-looking trees. In late summer purple heather (just like in Enid Blyton!) grows all over, and the forests are thick with the smell of pine trees.