We had a busy day, filled with blue sky and sunshine!

After a week of overcast skies it was sure great to see the sunshine and blue sky all day. And it looks like this might continue for a few days yet. 

We took full advantage of the beautiful weather and spent the day outside. Our first stop was the fortified town of Naarden. This interesting town has a lot of history, and dates back to the 13th century.

It's a bit touristy, but still worth a wander around.

The entire town is actually walled and moated.

We can't imagine how much work it was to do this.

The main church was built in the 16th century.

This wall and moat surrounds the entire town.

We ended up at the tourist office looking for a map. It turned out that they had a self guided walking tour map that we bought for €1.80 ($2.65 CAD, $2.10 USD), so we thought that was a good way to spend a couple of hours.

Weekly Saturday market.

We didn't buy anything at the market. Everything was very expensive. 

Scenery along the way.

Those pictures are advertising a photo exhibition currently taking place.

This aerial view gives you a better idea of the layout.

The Spanish house.

In 1572 Spanish troops massacred 700 inhabitants who had gathered to hear a peace proposal. The Spanish then fired on the assembled citizens, and went on to set fire to the town. Nice guys those Spanish were back then! The house above was built in 1615 to house migrants after the population had rebuilt itself.

Inside city hall.

The back of the church.

Unfortunately the church was being used for the photography exhibition so we couldn't see the inside.

Scenery along the way.

Boat tour.

One of the city streets.

City hall building.

Back at Max, we had a late lunch and then drove to the Oostvaardersplassen Reserve that is within the Nieuw Land National Park. This is Netherlands newest national park, a wetlands that hosts a group of wild horses.

We had no choice but to take a section of the main highway leading into Amsterdam.

No idea why it was so busy, but fortunately we were only on it for five minutes.

People enjoying the beach.

Cable car public transportation.

This is actually only a sample 850 meter run that is supposed to display the sustainability of urban cable cars.

Interesting buildings.

We finally found the parking for what was billed as being the Visitors Center, but we were a little disappointed that it was just a store and coffee shop. Not much in the way of information about the park itself.

We set off on some of the trails.

We came across this group of wild horses.

They weren't very interested in us.

Pretty moth.

Not bad, but I have to admit that Netherlands is simply too flat for my liking. The canals and waterways are interesting though, and there is enough to see otherwise. But I am missing some hills and valleys!

We finally put some fuel in Max for the first time. He has a 90 liter (24 US gallon) fuel tank, and I filled it up with 74 liters (19.6 gallons). So it was starting to get low.

But it was frustrating because I had found a cheap self serve place for fuel, but it wouldn't accept my Canadian Visa credit card. The card payment station kept saying my card wasn't valid, and I tried the same thing with Ruth's card. It was not a manned station and there was no way to pay by cash. So I had to go to a more expensive station where my card went through with no problem. 

But, Max has a full tank of fuel again, at a cost of €107 ($159 CAD, $126 USD), about €7 higher than it would have been at the cheaper place!

Near where we are parked.

Max, on the left.

I guess these people all like to crowd together.

We have a nice beach and walking paths right from where we are parked, so I think we might hang out here for the day. 

Where are are right now.

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Women's Pajamas

And in Canada...

Women's Pajamas