Living in a 4 seasons country making me appreciate the beauty of sunshine more than before,  while I was living in the tropical country.
I have checked weather forecast everyday, when it said will be dry and sunny in the weekend, I can't wait to make a plan to visit or explore new places nearby.

This time the aim is visiting Zwolle, this town is not nearby my house especially if the standard is 15 minutes drive :) . As a consequences of the distance, driving is to tiring, taking train as an alternative but the ticket price a bit expensive.
Luckily I have friend who has discount train ticket and I myself also have one-time discount ticket from local train company. At the end each of us only need to pay 30% of the normal train ticket price. 

I know very little about this town. After checking wikipedia, I got an idea what to explore there.
Of course Museum of modern art - "de Fundatie". Museum with unique building. 

Museum "de Fundatie"

Inside the Museum

I like the town itself, clean street, green area, quiet not crowded as typical metropolitan or big city,  fresh air. All of those combination gave me an attractive atmosphere and happy feeling.

Painting decoration at one of the building in the city

Lots of cute cafes and small restaurant, one of them located in a church building. Modern Sushi restaurant inside former church.

Sushi restaurant at the church

Of course I visited a bookstore, which is located in a beautiful building use to be a Church part of the Dominican monastery.
(The Broerenkerk church was part of the Dominican monastery founded in 1465. The monastery was closed in 1580 and the monks were expelled. From 1640 until 1982 the church was used for Protestant services. After a restoration in 1983-1988 it has been used for cultural events and it is now a bookstore - Source: Wikipedia Zwolle)

"Waanders in de Broeren" - Bookstore

We were to exciting walked around the city admiring beautiful building, painting at the museum, finally it comes to the time to eat, to late for lunch but to early for dinner.
We decided to have something to eat at the restaurant, our choice is a restaurant which is located at the old post-office building.

rse "Sassenpoort" gate can't be missed when you visited Zwolle. This gate is one of the Rijksmonument (National Heritage site of The Netherlands) and part of TOP 100 Dutch Heritage sites. The gate house was build in 1409, restoration has been done between 1893 - 1898.

Of cou

Sassenpoort

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Hi reader, hope you have a memorable Easter day like me.

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The Hague (Dutch: Den Haag or 's-Gravenhage ) is the seat of government in the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 515,880 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2015) and more than one million inhabitants including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Rotterdam-The Hague metropolitan area, with a population of approximately 2.9 million, is the12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands.

The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation.

The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government and parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands which constitutionally is Amsterdam.

Most foreign embassies in the Netherlands and 150 international organisations are located in the city, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, which makes The Hague one of the major cities hosting the United Nations, along with New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi

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Here is how the city look like at the beginning of spring, lots of yellow daffodil, still a bit chilly.

Modern high-rise building at the back of typical Dutch old building.

I took a walk around 11:00 on Sunday morning, lots of people sit enjoying flowers and clear sky on Easter weekend. There were also Home-made market organized near the parliament building, they offer home-made product e.g. honey, bread, cakes, cookies, hand-craft etc.

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Katwijk aan Zee - Katwijk on Sea in English.

One of the beach-seaside located on the North Sea.

I went there by car, it's around 22 Km from where I live, without heavy traffic it can be reached in 30 minutes.

Bus is also coming there from The Hague train station (Den Haag CS).

It means it's possible to get there by public transport.

Lots of apartments for rent available in this area, located next to the beach or at the main street where lots of shop and restaurants are located.

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The name "Katwijk" probably has its origins in the name of a Germanic tribe called the Chatten (Chatti). The Dutch word "wijk" means "area", so the name probably meant something like "the Chatti area".

In Roman times, Katwijk was a place of strategic importance. It was located at the Roman Empire's northern border, at the mouth of the Rhine river, which in Roman times was larger in this area than it is today. There was a good deal of traffic along the Rhine. Katwijk was also a jumping-off point for the voyage to Britain. Built during the reign of Emperor Claudius (41–54), the town's name was Lugdunum. The town's name was later associated with the name of the city of Leiden, but this is now thought to be incorrect.

After the Romans left the settlement was abandoned and the area largely depopulated, except for small, isolated groups of Frisians ekeing out a living along the changing coast. The area was Christianised by British and Irish missionaries around the 9th century.

Starting around the 12th century the population began to grow. In 1231, the first reference to Catwijck appeared in the records. At this time Katwijk aan Zee was little more than a few wooden houses.

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I went there at the beginning of spring, you can say the first sunny day in my home town.

It always nice to walk at the beach when it was not crowded, you can enjoy the view to the sea, feel the fresh air and relax walking with your own speed, no fear to bump to running kids or people.

No queue in front of the ice cream stall (my favorite healthy dessert) :)

What I like from this beach, it has walking path, no worry that sand will come inside my shoes

A row of small apartments for rent

A lonely statue

This is not at the beach side. The white spots are hundreds of birds.

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Hoorn is a small town in the Northern part of the Netherlands, not far from Amsterdam and Schipol airport.

According to the municipality website in this town live around 71,000 inhabitants.

Probably you wonder why I decided to go that far just to visit a village without knowing what I will find there. I heard the unique beauty about Hoorn from one of my best friend, her cousin lives there and also because of my curiosity. The other reason to go there because at the same day I have appointment after lunch to meet friend in Amsterdam. Why not combine the trip, I thought. As a matter of fact I have to start very early from home. 
I went there by train on Saturday. it took me around 1.5 hours from The Hague, have to changed train at Schipol station and went toward Kersenboogerd and stop at Hoorn.

Apparently Hoorn is such a beautiful town to walk especially if you go there in a beautiful weather. It's a town with lots of history, at the water side you can see hundreds of boats with different kind of design. I will show you the picture, it will says lots more than words can tell.

Lots of beautiful historical building too. Which I amaze and praise because it still very well maintain. The architecture is very typical.

Fresh wind breeze from the sea while you walk a long the path.

What else better than sitting in the cafe drink a nice coffee and enjoy it.

Here I share few photos that I took during my short visit, I think you agree that this town has a unique beauty and worth to visit.

One of the "Bed & Breakfast"

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