Thursday, 7 June 2012

Windmills, bikes...and rain!


We have made our way from one sin city to the next and are currently catching our breath in Amsterdam after a week of visiting family and friends in The Netherlands!  Not until we touched down in Europe did we realise the wear and tear our clothing had taken over the last 8 months....blue shirts turned yellow by the sun, shoes with holes and multiple layers of dirt, shirts stretched to twice their original size...we were quite a sight; embarrassed we ducked into a couple shops and bought some new clothes to last the rest of our trip. 


Looking spiffy (aka clean) in our new gear we started our tour of the country.  My second cousin Daan hosted us when we first arrived.  He lives in Amsterdam's equivalent to central park and when I tell locals where he lives they usually think for a moment before carefully asking "so, is he like...homeless?" No he is not homeless, the park has one house in it, build it 1867 and that is where he lives.  Daan took us on a tour of the smaller towns outside of Amsterdam which was really enjoyable after we adjusted to driving on the right hand side of the again, the first 30 min were terrifying as at every turn we thought we were turning into the wrong lane.


From Amsterdam we headed north to Groningen to visit good family friends Arie and Diana.  The weather being quite poor we spent the afternoon at a museum with a exhibit on Vikings.  My knowledge of vikings was limited to horn decorated helmets (myth by the way) and so I really enjoyed the exhibit.  From the north we headed to the east where my grandmother and aunt and uncle live in Winterswijk.  The rain continued but that meant we had a lot of time to catch up with family as well as sleep as we slowly got over our jet lag. 


Fully rested, we visited my aunt, uncle and cousins in Elst.  Rain followed us and so we waited it out at the local bowling alley, an activity Colin chose for all of us and then conveniently won. We spent the night after a lovely dinner and tour of the historic surrounding areas.  On our way back to Amsterdam we made a final stop in Eindhoven for a lovely lunch with my aunt Yvonne.  Tada, full loop!


Now back in Amsterdam we are soaking up the city.  I love this city, it has a lot of character and anything goes.  Last night while walking the city we stumbled across a beach volleyball tournament being held in the middle of the historic part of the city.  Sitting on one side of us was a homeless man drinking a beer cheering on every on both teams, behind us two men in full suites, in front of us a family and on our other side two young men with a crate (24) of beer and a huge joint just chilling....fabulous!

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