July 10, 2012
Barneveld to Arnhem
We had a fine breakfast at our B&B with lots of goodies to put on your bread and butter, like chocolate sprinkles. And fresh eggs from the chickens in the backyard. Chickens also played a role in the decor in the breakfast room, all sorts of chicken-themed nicknacks adorned the walls and every other available surface. I regret I didn't take any pictures. But I did take a picture of our bedroom where someone also had fun decorating.
When we left the sun was shining! It didn't last all day, but nevertheless it was an encouraging start. We cycled through pretty farming countryside to Otterloo, just 20km, at the northwest entrance to the Veluwe National Park. We were now in for a great treat.
The park includes the Hunting Lodge Sint Hubertus, the Kröller-Müller Museum and the Sculpture Garden, all together a unique combination of art, architecture and nature. We spent the day there trying to see as much as we could before we left the park through its south entrance near Arnhem.
We stopped off at the Sint Hubertus Hunting Lodge first. On the Dutch language tour of the building we had audio guides in German, also available in English, and learned the fascinating history of the park, the art collection and the hunting lodge.
In short, Helene Kröller-Müller, daughter of a wealthy German industrialist family, married a Dutch shipping and mining tycoon. She was one of the wealthiest women in the Netherlands of the time and had some good ideas what to do with her money. In 1907, she started collecting the works of modern artists such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Fernand Léger, Diego Rivera, George Seurat, Juan Gris, and Piet Mondrian. You get the idea.
Helene's husband, Anton Kröller, liked to hunt and Helene Kröller was interested in creating an appropriate hunting lodge under one of the leading architects of the day, Berlage. Considered the "Father of Modern architecture" in the Netherlands, Berlage was an architect who designed in the style of the New Objectivity and was strongly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright.
By late afternoon and dazed after many hours in the museum and Sculpture Park, we got on our bikes and cycled through the park landscape and on to Arnhem where we had reserved a hotel room for the night. This day was certainly one of the highlights of our trip.
Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 265 km (165 miles)
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