Elfstedentocht

In between our apartment and the care center where we visit Sister Eisenga, there is a bridge that commemorates the Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour) O.K. so let me explain.
The tour, almost 200 km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between eleven Frisian cities The tour is not held every year, mostly because not every Dutch winter permits skating on natural ice. For the race to take place the the ice must be (and remain at) a minimum thickness of 15 centimeters along the entire route.

The Elfstedentocht was already part of Frisian tradition since 1890 when it became an organized tour in 1909. In 1963, only 1% of the contestants finished the race, due to the extremely low temperatures ( -18̊ C) and a harsh eastern wind. For the last 12 years it could not be held because of the mild weather.

When we drove past the bridge last week, we noticed all kinds of activity. There was a race going on. Instead of skating the contestants paddle a boat standing up for five days only stopping to sleep and catch their breath or have a meal. We were able to catch a couple of them starting up again at the bridge and actually passing by our apartment.

We are not really hoping for a cold cold winter this year but it would be fun to see the skaters go past our place.

*On a side note..... Several people have asked me what the difference is between Nederland (the Netherlands) and Holland. Well....Holland is a name in common usage given to a region in the western part of the Netherlands The name 'Holland' is also often used to refer to the whole of the Netherlands, although this is not formally correct.......Nederland (the Netherlands) is the name of the whole country and there are two provinces that are the most populated of all. One is North Holland and the other is South Holland. We grew up in Rotterdam in South Holland. We are now living in one of the other provinces called Friesland in the uppermost part of Nederland. Got it?