We had a lovely late start.In the afternoon we went to the local Pancake house in Center Parcs. The restaurant is pretty good, specializing in pancake variety. G had Stroopwafel pancakes, and I had pizza pancake with tomato sauce and cheese. It’s actually much better than it sounds. Center Parcs is located in Heijen, but the local town is tiny. We drove over to Boxmeer to buy things, hoping the prices would be more reasonable. On the way, we passed over farms located on the river. I spotted some Belted Galloway cows from the car, but we couldn’t find them later. They were cut off from the general road by an island.
Boxmeer had a large shopping mall in the center, and we took the long way through to Albert Heijn (the grocery chain). We had to pick up a huge bag of supplies for the cottage and running around the area. Late in the evening we decided to take a peek at our later destinations for the stay here. Turns out Center Parcs is located only 3 mi/5km from the German border, so we hopped on the road.
A short time later, we were on the Autobahn going 180 kmh/112 mph. It’s about the top speed that the car could handle. The speed cut a significant portion of time off of the trip into the country. Xanten was the first stop. It contains an older German city, along with a Roman Catholic “cathedral”, and ancient Roman city/museum. By the time we arrived, most everything was closed. We did get to drive by and see the large structures beyond the Roman city/museum park walls.
However on the way around it towards Arnhem, our GPS went completely crazy. Apparently the roads around the area were recently rerouted around the park. One of the roads recently running in back of it was completely cut in half and fenced off. After about fifteen minutes we made it towards Arnhem on a main road. It was only hours before sunset when we got to Arnhem, so we drove around the city to take a peek. It is home to major cultural areas, including lots of World War II sites involved in Operation Market Garden by the Allies.
As we returned to the Netherlands, we spotted hot air balloons floating into the colored skies above the landscape. Randomly deciding we wanted to take pictures of them, we turned the car in the direction and started zig zagging down local roads towards them. We found the photo spot on a rural dirt road, in between farm property and a river. We took pictures until the sun went down. I even found some cows hanging out along the road watching us for food. We got home after sunset, which was after 9:30 pm.
Sunset in the country
Germany Welcome sign
Netherlands sunset
Hot air balloons
Yearling cow watching us
G shooting hot air balloons with me