Post #100! "Tropical" weekend in The Netherlands

A brief stop-over in The Netherlands on my way to a conference in China. It turned out to be the warmest weekend since 1994 with temperatures over 30 C. And yes, it was hot. On Saturday, Freek and I went for a forest walk from Baarn to Lage Vuursche, with a visit to the former royal palace Paleis Soestdijk, which had an exposition on Escher's travels and his amazing drawings. Escher used to live in the area and apparently got inspiration for his drawings during his daily walk through the local forests. 

Paleis Soestdijk - former royal palace

Pretty beech forest

Blooming heather

We took the train to Zandvoort aan zee in the evening, just when many people were leaving the beach (it must have been incredibly crowded during the day both on Saturday and Sunday), for a nice dinner at a beach restaurant and to watch a beautiful sunset.

Evening on the beach near Zandvoort aan zee - still lots of people on the beach

Patterns in the sea

And a beautiful sunset

On Sunday, Hayfaa and I had a relaxed picnic in Park Oosterbeek watching a kingfischer fly by and fish. He didn't want to stop and pose for the camera, so no photos, unfortunately. And in the evening we went for a swim in the North Sea to round off a very nice weekend.