Yesterday I was surprised to learn that a fellow Daggerian is from Groningen! I wish I had known before going. It would have been so lovely to meet her. We went there on a whim - booked a hotel the day before, packed our bags and went for it. I have always wanted to see the Netherlands and Groningen caught our eye - it's a city that is roughly the same size as my home town (not too big and not too small - the Goldilocks Zone of cities haha), it has pretty canals and those narrow buildings that are so typical of the country, and it also turned out it had really great places to eat.
Food is something we've really come to appreciate throughout our travels. Nowadays we travel as much for the food as for the sights. Sampling the local cuisine is a must, and Trip Adviser is a great way to find nice places. We arrived late in the evening (Hamburg... the traffic jam there added a couple of hours to our drive) and had the great fortune to find a nice place to eat just around the corner of our hotel. We tried to get a table at the top ranked restaurant at first - "De Betere Tijden" but it was full so we booked it for the next day instead. It turned out to be a great move! The food there was worthy of a trip in itself and it (and the prospect of getting to meet my photographer friend of course) easily makes me want to go back to the Groningen. We only stayed one day there after all, and since we were quite tired from our long drive the day before, we didn't have the time or energy to see much of Groningen.
One of the things we did do was to visit this beautiful church - Martinikerk - the oldest one in the city (completed in 1482). Well, we didn't actually visit the church per se; we went up the clock tower. It's almost a hundred meters high and you can climb all the way up to the clock face. I remember those narrow, winding and quite steep stairs with a dash or horror and a splash of pride. Horror, because I felt like I was going to fall down them and die if I lost my footing (yes, I know, I'm a bit of a sissy), and proud because I made it all the way up to the top (I'm chronically ill, so that was quite an accomplishment for me). The view from the top was beautiful! But I'll show you that tomorrow.
/MrsHjort
If the stairs are the original stone, It means they are probably buckled (curved) from use, and quite slippery, so you aren't a sissy for worrying. Nice shot.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, they were original and quite narrow too. I'n not a claustrophobic, but those stairs really made me uneasy.
DeleteNice shot! I love how you brought out the details in the warm processing. I'm sure the angles are the same, but the brighter processed version looks more slanted inward to my eye, though in full disclosure, I do have strong astigmatism! I'd love to have visited that city myself when we were there!
ReplyDeleteI think that's because of an optical illusion. The slant is exactly the same but I also think the right one looks more slanted haha. Weird!
DeleteOh what gorgeous architecture! That is one of my favorite things, because it is so very different everywhere you go! MadamMtnLion
ReplyDeleteMine too. I actually studied to be an engineer/architect at one point, but it wasn't really what I expected so I quit. I still like architecture though. It's so interesting how so many little details that you usually don't even think about can be different in different places.
DeleteI climbed that tower several times for the view, before, during and after I lived there. On a clear day you could see our (former) house. My masterclimb was when we had a 8 year old staying with us and I was 6 months pregnant ;)
ReplyDeleteWell done in getting all of the tower in the image.
Oh wow! Great job making it all the way up with a baby on board. From what I remember the first sets of stairs were the longest. I remember thinking I had gotten myself into something I couldn't handle as I went up them, but thankfully they had more places to stop higher up :)
DeleteWhat a beautiful, and very tall, church! And so old! They really put a lot of thought into their buildings back in the day. Sorry you had such bad traffic getting to your destination but it doesn't sound like it dampened your travel spirits much!
ReplyDeleteHamburg is always like that - lots of roadwork, but you're right, it didn't dampen our spirits much :)
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