The Netherlands has palaces too !

It might surprise some of you to know that, yes, we do still have quite a few royal palaces here in NL !

Last weekend was open monument weekend, and to "celebrate" we went to Apeldoorn to pay a visit to Paleis het Loo (literally, the Woods Palace). The palace was built between 1684 and 1686 for Stadtholder Willem III and his wife Queen Mary II of England; and remained a principal residence of the Oranje Nassau royal family right up until 1975. It was the favourite palace of Queen Wilhelmina, who died at the palace in 1962.

Between 1976 and 1982 the palace was extensively and lovingly restored, and since 1984 has been open to the public as a museum. The original stables now house a collection of cars formerly used by the royal family, distinguished by their AA number plates, and former royal carriages, including the white feathery funeral carriage of Queen Wilhelmina, and a cute little orange billy cart made in 1969 by Prince Claus for his 3 sons Willem Alexander, Johan Friso and Constantine :-)

The most surprising element of the palace grounds were the extensive baroque style gardens at the rear of the palace. Perfectly symmetrical and immacutely manicured, the gardens are laid out with gravel walkways, fountains, basins and statues. Wasn't really perfect weather to wander around outside when we were there, but you get an idea from the photos below.

Apeldoorn itself is also "famous" for de Naald (the needle), an obelisk shaped monument just around the corner from Paleis het Loo. De Naald became national news last year when Karst Tates drove his black Suzuki Swift at high speed through the Koninginnedag crowds finally stopping when colliding with de Naald. It was an attempted attack on the open bus in which the royal family were travelling through the streets of Apeldoorn, and unfortunately lead to the deaths of 8 people (including himself!).

Alli xxx