Aug 28 (Thursday) – Het Loo Palace and Doorwerth Castle

What our Bed and Breakfast lacked in location it more than made up for in breakfast.  Our hostess delivered this massive box of breakfast goodies.  We barely made a dent in it, there was so much.

Then it was on to Apeldoorn for a visit to Het Loo Palace.  This 17^th century palace was a favorite of William III of The Netherlands and his wife Mary.  They eventually became King William III and Queen Mary II of England, but even as reigning monarchs of England they spent a lot of time in this palace.  

To access the palace we ended up traveling through this extensive tunnel from the front to the palace proper.

The grand staircase in the palace. 

A view out a window to the gardens.

And we visited some of the very opulent rooms. 

We eventually made it to the palace roof where we had great views of the gardens.

***********************************
Video of gardens
***********************************

The garden side of the palace.

We also spent a bit of time wandering the gardens.

They had some interesting fountains and water features...

including this globe that sprayed water. 

The flower beds were blooming.  It's a bit late in the year so the variety of flowers is limited.

We had lunch at the palace before getting a ride back to the entrance.  At the entrance we stopped at the palace stables...

where they had old carriages and cars on display.

Hearse

Berlin Carriage

Silver Sleigh

Ceremonial Coupe

Detail - Ceremonial Coupe

*************************************
More Het Loo Palace
*************************************

We had a lovely drive along a tree lined road.  It was like driving through a tunnel and was so lovely and peaceful looking.

We ended at Doorwerth Castle, our last stop for the day.  This 17^th century castle had it’s moat, giving it a fairy-tale look.  It looked very imposing.

We toured several period rooms.  They were setting up for a concert in the great hall.

This ancient acacia tree is in the courtyard of the castle.  It is believed to have been planted in 1678 and is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe.  They take very good care of it. 

*************************************
More Doorwerth Castle
*************************************

Then it was back to the hotel for the night.