Fountains in Fryslân

The last one, Leeuwarden, Ljouwert.

In 2018 Leeuwarden was cultural capital of Europe, so all the 11 cities got a fountain.

Also there was a lot of cultural stuff hapening in Leeuwarden and the whole province.

Because of the Corona virus there are no events, workshops or dogshows, and I wanted to show Leia so much.

I had this plan of visiting the fountains last year, but it was just an idea.

Ofcourse the first weeks of Corona Lockdown we did not go out. We went only for dogwalks close to home and the supermarket, avoiding people as much as we could.

In the last weeks of the Lockdown we decided that if we took distance and we played safe, we might be able to visit the fountains. 

We decided to take pictures of multiple fountains in one day making sure we would get to all of them before restaurants and such where opening up again. 

And we did it. Only 1 day before most of the catering industy would open up again we went to Franeker, Dokkum and ending up in Leeuwarden. Playing it safe and really not getting close to people as we want to be over with the virus asap, and have a normal live again, with events and dogshows, meeting up with our dog show friends.

This fountain is called Love, and it is Huge, really.

And sadly it was out. ( I saw this one in 2018 and then it was on and it is really pretty)

And because of the nice wheater and the fact it was not on, there where people sitting against this big masterpiece.

We really liked going to all the fountains, I don't think in a normal show year we would have been to all of them.

Because normally we love to be at home when we don't show, or go for walks in the wood.

But now times are so different.

As I write this we are not having dogshows. And we still take walks close to our home. Because tourism is now starting up and the woods we normally go to will be full of people.

We still try to maintain a social distance, but we sure hope to go back to normal as quick as possible.

I hope you all liked the pictures of Leia, and maybe I inspired people to go visit them too.

If you want to know more about the fountains you can visit This link and it will take you to the website with all the fountains and all the adresses.

My favorite fountain is Ijlst, but I do really love Leeuwarden.

Sloten and Bolsward are also on my toplist.

Maybe we will do some cultural picture taking again, it will probably will not be a weekly topic again. We will see!! 

Fountains in Fryslân

Nr 10, We have 11 cities in Fryslân, I know some of them are almost smaller then where I live myself, but they are cities

This week it is Dokkum, the only one that is in Dutch language exactly the same as in Frisian.

This one is called de Ijsfontein and like Franeker, mist is coming out of this one.
We went to this fountain the same day as we visited Franeker, so we made sure things where not being to hot for Leia, so cool water handy and airco in the car.

We found a nice bench in front of the fountain and I wanted Leia to stand on there like on a show podium. We are afterall show people.

She jumped on (ungroomed) and she stood very pretty so I did not bother with her paws being in the exact spot. I found she was pretty enough just as she is.

The fountain is pretty big and there is a fog coming out all the time, but on the pictures that is hard to tell. A bit sad that I was wearing a grey shirt and Leia is blue merle, ( I love blue merle, but it has no contrast with the fountain)
But I was asuming the fountain was white, I was wrong.

For us Dokkum is pretty far, so I only went there twice (now three times) and it is a very narrow place, we had a very hard time getting out of Dokkum.

Now this is almost the last one.

You probably can guess where we are next week.

Fountains in Fryslân

Slowly we are getting to all of the fountains of the Frisian 11steden.

This time we went to Franeker (Frentsjer)
And when we went there it was a very warm day, actually warmer then expected so yay for airco in the car.

We also took loads of cool water so we could refresh Leia whenever we wished, because dog health and welfare is The most important.

The fountain is called De Oortwolk, and as Franeker has a real museum to do with Astronomie, this was inspired on Astronomie.

We had to locate a bit where we could stand as we did not want to get wet, like we did in Workum.

Water is not coming out all the time so when we first came there we where almost dissapointed it was not on.

Later when we got to the fountain we found out a mist or a fog would come out instead of loads of water, and then we took pictures and it stopped again.

Also there where many people watching behind the camera, so Leia is looking everywhere, but not direct in the camera. She wanted so badly to go over and get a cuddle, and that is not ideal ofcourse in Corona times.

Look at her smile, she so much likes people, but these are not the times to get over to people and get hugs.......

Did I really like this fountain, mmmm. I don't think it is the prettiest of them all, you probably know how I like Ijlst. There is only 2 to go so then you can decide for yourselve

Next week another fountain

Fountains in Fryslân

From IJlst to Sloten, Sleat in my language.

And from a huge one to another large work of art.

This one is called "Kieviet"  because of the bird the girl is having in her hands.

This one is also one of my favourites. I has a lot of buckets, with a man standing on it, and the man is holding the girl on his shoulders, and the girl has a bird in her hands.

Not really a lot of impressing water coming out, but it is beautifull sculpted. 

And it was super easy to find!!! 

It was a hard time getting the whole fountain on it!

This was already fountain nr 8, only 3 to go being, Franeker, Dokkum and Leeuwarden. I've been to all the places before as I did the traditional cycling tour de 11steden tocht, as many Frisians, but this trip takes us to a lot of unknown stuff.

Next week Leia will be visiting one of the other fountains, maybe you can already take a guess.

I hope you will check in next week....... 

Fountains in Fryslân

After Sneek we went to IJlst, or as we say Drylts

This one in my favorite, it is called "de Onsterfelijke Bloemen" meaning The immortal Flowers.

It was pretty sad the wheater was not so pretty, because this fountain is really beautifull, it has a lot of shiny and mirror-like parts so we probably need to go back and watch it, when the wheater is sunny

This one is also very huge and impressive and really easy to find.

(It was way harder to get out of this city)

Look how big!!!

As you can see, a lot of dark clouds, we where not lucky to see this masterpiece with this bad wheater.

Next week another fountain, I hope you enjoy this trips through my province of Fryslân, we sure do! 

 

Fountains in Fryslân

Sneek!!!! or Snits as we say

This fountain is very close to the Waterpoort and it is actually not very far from our home.

It is pretty strange we never saw this one, because we do sometimes go to Sneek for shopping.

This one is called "Fontein van Fortuna" and it must resemble the goddes Fortuna. ( I'm researching a bit while posting this, I get confused because there is a man standing on a golden ball, and it resembles a Goddes??)

It is standing in the middle of the water so really close for a picture was just not an option

The Waterpoort and the fountain

In front

From another angle

We also found this statue aswell, it is called de Touwslager 

Fountains in Fryslân

From Stavoren to Hindeloopen, Hylpen

This one is called "Flora and Fauna" 

It was not easy to reach this one, you cannot go there with your car.

Hindeloopen is one of the smallest city's we have, and it is called city because of the city rights.

We where not impressed by this one at all. The water was not coming out of it really clear, and the whole thing looked like a dead tree. ( I'm sorry, I know it is hard for an artist to make art..... I really do, but it doesn't mean I cannot have an opinion) 

I like Workum more then this one.

But I found a very nice small statue of a war veteran, that was really close to the fountain, so I took a pic of that also.

I tought of show stacking Leia, but the ground was very uneven. I still thinks she makes a nice picture.

Next week will be way more pretty I tell you!!!!

I must say we enjoy this culture trip, I get to know some places I normally would not go to.

And I do hope you enjoy this culture trip with me.

Shame her front feet where in a bump in the ground, 
Still a beautifull picture 

Peter Tazelaar, War veteran 

Fountains in Fryslân

Last week Workum, this week Stavoren or in my language Starum

This fountain is called "De Visfontein" de fish fountain, 

Well this one is huge!!!!! really huge.

The water from this huge animal is making a lot of noise, and there is water coming out of all places.

The waterflow looks like the teeth of the fish.

Leia has watched the water flow for a few moments and then she was not really interested, there where birds, and she loves birds so much.

I think you can even go in this big fish, but it was too cold, also I don't know about dogs. And then I think it could be slippery and I don't want Leia to get injured, so we took the pictures in front of this giant animal.

I hope you like the trips we take to the fountains, and maybe if you are in Fryslân you want to visit them also.

Next week another one.

checking out the huge fish of Stavoren

Fountains in Fryslân

Last week was Harlingen, this week is Workum

This one is called "de Woeste Leeuwen van Workum" 

Personally, from the pictures I found this one not really pretty, to be honoust I tought he is hideous.

But in real life, well ok, not my favourite, but not that ugly as I thought from the pictures

It is really a high one and the water will come out at different speeds, from their paws.

Workum is a coast city so like Harlingen it was very very windy, and that made the water of fountain blowing on our backs.

I don't think Leia was impressed by this huge masterpiece, she was more interested in her cookies.

shake hands 

Fountains in Fryslân

Last week, we went to Bolsward and to Harns (Harlingen) to take a picture with Leia

and a fountain that was placed for the capital city of Europe 2018

Leeuwarden was capital city and all 11 cities in our Province got a fountain.

The fountain in Harlingen is a huge whale, and it will blow water every now and then.

I was told it will blow water at rhithem of the breathing of a whale.

We could not get really close to it. 

But we could get a nice shot of the fountain with Leia and me.

It was superwindy and really cold with the water.

When we took our picture the fountain started to blow water, and it is pretty cool it sounds like a whale too.

Super super windy

Posing with a buoy @ harbour in Harlingen

Fountains in Fryslân

No dogshows................
Leia is in junior class now, and it looks not like there will be any dogshow soon.
We sure hope she will be in the ring when she is still young enough to compeat for a junior title

She was also in the competition "Mooiste hond van Nederland" that competition is also postponed and we don't know if the actual Animal Event will be held.

Leia is now a Novice trick dog, that is the only thing we can do from our home.

But in 2018 Ljouwert was capital city of Europe! And because of that there where placed 11 fountains in our Province Fryslân.
So to show of Leia a little bit, I try to take a picture of Leia with the fountains.

This one is "de Vleermuis" in Boalsert (Bolsward) Vleermuis is dutch for Bat
It is also the closest to where we live

We took pictures with this fountain last year also, when Leia was just a tiny baby puppy and her brother Asterix was still living with us.