Cultural Enrichment Day ...

Today we met up with other the American visitors and their hosts in the program and traveled about 45 minutes to a memorial museum called Westerbork.  It is the site of WWII concentration camp where Jews were held until transported to other camps such as Aushwitz.  102,000 people were "processed" through this camp and eventually exterminated in death camps in Germany and Poland.
Click here for the Kampwesterbork website ...



























We had lunch near the memorial and I tried one of the most typically Dutch foods there is, kroket (the plural is kroketten).  Click here to learn more about Kroketten ...

After lunch we travelled a short distance to the Orvelte Village - Museum.  This village is actually inhabited but also has buildings from the 1800s.  It's a real Dutch village that is quaint and charming. There are shops that sell collectibles and a bakery where I purchased some apple pie (of course it was Dutch apple pie; it was made here ... 😁),  We had a great cup of coffe at the cafe in the village.

Click here for a little more info about Orvelte ...














We headed back to Groningen to the home of one of the other Dutch hosts.  She prepared a great Italian dinner for us.  The three of us Americans and the Dutch hosts had a great conversation about our schools systems and and a little bit about politics.  Great ways to learn.


I'm not sure you how much you know about how many people ride bicycles in the the Netherlands ... basically everyone.  Bike "paths", really two lane bike roads run along just about every main road.  Bikes often have the right-of-way, and at big city intersections they have their own set of stoplights.  Cars all have to wait by the bikes cross the intersections.  People of all ages, little kids and old folks, ride bikes everwhere.  It's still surprising for me to see so many bikes everywhere we go.

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