Hotel van Dijk

Great place to go skating

by egonwegh

Roggebotsluis (52 32 548 N - 005 51 519 E.), a great place to go skating in winter time. Jennie skated from here to the town of Elburg and back again in about an hour and a half, January 2009. We were there with Jennie's family, my in-laws, and had some hot chocolate and snacks at the Skonenvaarder canoeing club house afterwards.

Kampen

by egonwegh

Giraffe floating in the city canal, the "Burgel".

Old postcard of Kampen with the city canal.

A map of Kampen by famous cartographers Braun and Hogenberg, presumably a volume of their atlas Civitates Orbis Terrarum. We found this map on display in the library of the Archdiocese in Eger, Hungary!

Televisiesinterklaas 2007

by egonwegh

On 17 November 2007, we witnessed the arrival of Sinterklaas in the town of Kampen. As you may know, Sinterklaas is the Dutch equivalent of Father Christmas - well, more or less - and presents children with gifts on his birthday, December 5.

Sinterklaas arrives in many Dutch towns almost simultaneously, e.g. Kampen at a quarter past noon, Nijmegen 1 pm ... One of the things to learn about Sinterklaas is that you are not supposed to ask how that can be possible!

The official televisiesinterklaas favours a different town or city every year. This year, 2007, he chose the town of Kampen.

The assistants of Sinterklaas go by the name of Zwarte Pieten ("Black Peter"). Here you can see four of them.

Sinterklaas dressed in red bishop's robes riding a grey mare.

Four assistants of Sinterklaas on the IJsselbrug, entering the town of Kampen.