Kasteel de Haar

We went on a expedition today to Kasteel de Haar, which is near Utrecht.  We took a light rail train that went 130 km/hour to Vleuten and then we walked about 3 kilometers to the school.  First we went through the little village of Haarzuilens and then we went over a bike/foot path through fields with sheep, cows and horses.   We also saw a heron fishing and three different kinds of fish.  We were happy to see a shady picnic bench too!

William at Kasteel de Haar

The castle was rebuilt from ruins in the 1890s so it’s very ornate.  The baron still spends every September there, but for the rest of the year it’s a museum.  We took a children’s tour, so we heard some good stories.  And since it’s the Fourth of July we skipped stones into the moat instead of into Lake Michigan.

Stone Skipping on the Moat

We took a taxi back to the train station and got off at Gouda.  Yes, the place where they make the cheese.  They had wheels of “cheese” decorating the town, hanging across the streets, floating in the canals, but all the shops were closed because it was Sunday so we couldn’t get any.  It’s also famous for a battle in which the Dutch Sea Beggars (sixteenth-century resistance fighters) defeated their Spanish overlords.  The victory is commemorating in the glorious stained glass windows of the church.

The Windows of Gouda