We rolled out of Bolsward in the morning, and headed to Franeker, another one of the 11 cities of the Elfstedentocht. Originally we were going to follow the route in our tour book to Harlingen and then to Franeker, but the ride would take more time that way, and we probably wouldn't have time to visit the planetarium in Franeker. So, with the help of our hosts and a cycle map, we worked out a route straight to Franeker, about 22km, seeing lots of hayfields, cows, sheep, and the occasional village. All flat as a pancake; easy riding except when we were going into the wind. But that wasn't often, and the wind was not as strong as earlier in the week.
The plantarium was cool. This is not one of those modern project-things-on-the ceiling setups; this was built in 1774 by an amateur astronomer/mathematician named Eise Elsinga. He built this thing as an antidote to a general freakout that was happening over a major planetary conjunction. He made it on the ceiling of his living room (which was also the kitchen, dining room, etc). The planets travel along grooves in the ceiling, controlled by a clockwork mechanism above. There's a picture here:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FranekerPlanetarium.JPG
The clockwork is all homemade, using wooden shafts and wheels with metal pins. It is still functional, needing adjustment only occasionally.
After that, we went to the railway station and boarded a train for Leeuwarden and thence Groningen.
The plantarium was cool. This is not one of those modern project-things-on-the ceiling setups; this was built in 1774 by an amateur astronomer/mathematician named Eise Elsinga. He built this thing as an antidote to a general freakout that was happening over a major planetary conjunction. He made it on the ceiling of his living room (which was also the kitchen, dining room, etc). The planets travel along grooves in the ceiling, controlled by a clockwork mechanism above. There's a picture here:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FranekerPlanetarium.JPG
The clockwork is all homemade, using wooden shafts and wheels with metal pins. It is still functional, needing adjustment only occasionally.
After that, we went to the railway station and boarded a train for Leeuwarden and thence Groningen.
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