vtveen's VirtualTourist Home Page

Apeldoorn: regularly new tips and pics
the Netherlands - on my way: page with an increasing number of tips about 'my country on my way'.

Newest pages:
26.02.2008: Texel, seven villages and more …
21.01.2008: Marrakech, not only a '1001 night fairy tale'.
20.11.2007: Ontario, huge metropolis and unspoiled scenery.
05.09.2007: Deurne, unknown Noord-Brabant.
02.08.2007: Samos, green and flowery island.

Most viewed pages:
Saskatchewan; land of living skies and not as dull and flat as people think.
New Zealand; the most beautiful country on earth.
Easter Island; we got the special Rapa Nui feeling - it is so mysterious.
Scotland; beautiful scenic country with real nice people.
White Island; most overwhelming and breathtaking destination we have been.

My favourite pages:
Patmos, holy island of my wife's ancestors.
Argentina; we love the country and the people.
Land Sachsen; unexpected gems in a scenic part of Germany.
Nelson/Abel Tasman NP; lovely scenery - the name of our Dutch discoverer Abel Tasman.
Uluru (Ayer's Rock)/Red Centre; impressive scenery and a great adventure.

Travelogues:
09.05.2005: added 3 travelogues in my Apeldoorn page about the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands and the VE-DAY: STREET DECORATIONS, BEFORE THE PARADE and THE LAST PARADE of CANADIAN VETERANS

We are born and bred in Apeldoorn. In the meantime looking back on many journeys to lots of countries and looking forward to add many more in the future.

We already started at young age to travel; first around the Netherlands with a biketour sleeping in youth hostels or a holiday in a cottage near the North Sea in a village called Rockanje.

More or less after our marriage (long time ago) we grow into real travellers with first trips to nearby countries like Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, mostly on our (Heinkel) scooter.

But we could not resist the temptations of other countries further away. So we travelled to Switzerland and Austria and did a lot of hiking in the mountains.
In the winter we are hooked on skiing and our favourite village is St. Gallenkirch (Austria).

Later on we went to the Dolomites in Italy and that was our number one spot for many years. We saw all the great mountains and the lovely scenery of the Dolomites.

Highlights: the crossing of the Sella and the wonderful views from the 'Schlern'.

After one of our holidays in the Dolomites we added two weeks in Tuscany. Our first hotel was in Santa Maria del Giudicea, a little village between the beautiful cities of Lucca and Pisa. And ended in Massa Marittima (will never forget the dinners on the main square) and Venice.

And that was the start of many visits to a wonderful country, which we travelled from North to South, seeing lovely places like Triest, Florence, Milan, Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi, Spoleto and Rome.

But not only the famous cities with all the cultural richness of churches, cathedrals and museums, we also loved the different sceneries like Tuscany, Umbria and Cinque Terre.
But most of all the Italian way of live.

In the autumn of 1998 we had as visitors an uncle and a cousin from New Zealand. They invited us to their country at the other end of the world.
And so we did on the occasion of the new millennium in 2000.

In the meantime we have been there four times and we do like the country and the 'Kiwi's' very much. It is by far our number one spot in the world.

We travelled both the South and North Island and it is hard to say what we do like most in this country with its overwhelming scenery and very nice people.
A top five list:
- White Island: an active volcano
- Palliser Bay: with lots of fur seals
- Abel Tasman National Park: golden beaches, native bush
- Cape Reinga: great views, most northerly point
- Cathedral Cove - Coromandel, most lovely beach you can imagine.

Having relatives also in Canada we 'had' to go over the Ocean to see them too. They live in Regina and Ottawa and so we visited both Saskatchewan and Ontario.

We like the impressive plains of SK with the living skies above it. But also towns like Regina and Saskatoon and nice little rural villages like Lumsden and Fort Qu'Appelle. Saskatchewan has a lot more than its plains. Take a look in Leader with the Great Sand Hills, Val Marie with Grasslands National Park and Maple Creek and Cypress Hills.

The eastern part of Canada has its own charm with big cities like Toronto, Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, as well as some fantastic scenery like the Niagara Falls, Algonquin and Gatineau Park with the Mackenzie King Estate. Especially the fall colours are stunning.

In the year 2004 we also visited Alberta with the plains and the Rockies and did drive the famous Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff. In the Jasper and Banff National Park we had some encounters with wild animals, even with a black bear !!
We started in Drumheller and finished our visit in Calgary.

In the meantime we did a lot of travelling in Europe. Always trying to find 'new' countries, regions or towns.
And so we do have some of them on our list today:
Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany (Saxony), Portugal, Spain, Austria (Vienna), Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Greece (Athens, Crete, Samos, Patmos) and Turkey (Istanbul).

We intend to discover more !!

.. from our ‘around the world trip’, which we made from November 2005 till February 2006. It was such a GREAT experience, we will never forget. Lots of impressions and even more stories and pictures to deal with.

We have been to:
Argentina: Buenos Aires, Puerto Iguazù, El Calafate.
(due to s strike of the pilots of Aerolineas Argentinas we never saw the whales at Peninsula Valdes)
Chile: Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, Santiago.
Easter Island: although part of Chile, so very special and absolutely different from anything else in the world.
New Zealand: Auckland, Auckland Region, Coromandel, Northland.
Australia: Cairns, Alice Springs, Uluru,Fremantle, Perth.
Singapore
Thailand: Bangkok, Isaan, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai

I'm still building my pages, please be patient and come back ...