Thursday was the last Dutch breakfast we'll have. We both really enjoy these. Cheese, sliced meats, breads, boiled eggs, and the traditional sweet things - hackislaw, mousshas, hail etc. We had an early start to the day. We were to be at Dave's aunt's house at 10 am. We needed to pack (something we do almost everyday. Living out of a suitcase is really quite easy.), have breakfast, get the daily post written, and take a drive to the coast before 10.
The coast was only a few minutes away. It's a whole different world there. A real tourist town with lots of stores you'd expect to see in an oceanside town. It was very windy. Apparently it's generally windy all over the island. There were many small (6x9 yards) beach huts lined up along the beach. People rent the space to put them on and use them as a tent/cottage. One of Dave's cousins has one. They go to the beach as much as possible. The hut has a bed, a small stove, and a toilet.
We got to Dave's aunt's house by 10. She doesn't speak English but we made out alright for about 15 minutes and then her son, who speaks Enlgish, came. Another cousin and her husband also came. We visited, and had coffee, for almost 2 hours. Again we showed the pictures of our family. After the visit Dave and I wandered through the village getting some great photos. Then it was off to the ferry.
We arrived back on the mainland by 1:30 and headed toward Amsterdam. We stopped in Voledan which was supposed to have a fish market (we still had to get some sour herring, which we love!). Unfortunately there wasn't a fish market. It was another town that had a lot of shops for tourists. We wandered around for awhile, picking up a few things. Dave was able to find a stall that sold fish and bought a sour herring. He took one bite and that was it. He said it was terrible - really terrible. I took his word for it. So into the garbage he fish went.
Next we headed to the town of Edam. We wanted to see the cheese market and all the excitement of that but that didn't occur until Friday. We found a couple of nice cheese shops and did some sampling. Needeless to say, some cheese will be coming home with us.
Amsterdam was only about 15 minutes away. Dave is a real pro at driving here now. Traffic circles (which are everywhere - and make traveling much quicker as there are no stop signs to deal with) are no problem. When we came into the centre of Amsterdam, what was intimidating 2 weeks ago, was a breeze. Our final hotel was on the edge of the canal in old Amsterdam. The whole building is leaning. You can't really see it from the outside but you feel it on the inside. When I come up the stairs and step to the left, I stumble for several steps as the floor slopes. It's quite funny to watch. The reason the buildings are leaning is because they're all built on poles - which need to be replaced. Dave found out this project will take place by digging out the earth beneath the buildings, creating a subway of sorts, and putting in new foundations. A museum nearby has just had this done. It took 20 years to do this one building!
We lugged all our luggage and shopping bags to our room as it's time to pack everything up for the trip home. The stairs in the hotel are very steep. Getting the heavy bags back down will be a challenge.
After a rest (it was a very short night the night before), we headed out for our last dinner in Europe. Since we're in the heart of the city, there were many cafes to choose from. The day had been fairly warm but by 7 pm it was once again cold. We didn't dress properly so it was a chilly meal. The main actor from the Harry Potter movies was making an appearance right across the street from the cafe. There were a lot of sceaming girls. I caught a quick glimpse of him.
By 8ish we were back in the room. We did really well with our lodging. We didn't know quite what to except since we weren't paying top dollar for the rooms. Only once (in Eindhoven) did we have to share a bathroom. We'd read online that some rooms didn't have towels and some not even toilet paper. I brought these things along, as well as a number of other things (mini fans, extension cords, iron). For the most part we packed really well. We bought new suitcases before we left. As I was zipping the large one up on our bed (before we left) the zipper split open. The zipper has continued to be a problem on a daily basis. It made it to Europe just fine but I'm concerned about the trip home. We need to buy some straps to be sure it stays shut. I'll need to see if the store will replace it when we return.
It's now Friday morning and I'm sitting by the open window in our room. The sun is shining but it's quite cool outside. The suitcases need to be carefully packed. We're off to tour the Heineken factory this morning. Our flight leaves at 5:30 (11:30 am for all of you). We land at 7:30 pm and Elaine will pick us up. I don't know when I'll be able to enter the final chapter of the blog. It may well be on Monday when we're at home. You kids will be leaving for Cananda and the wedding about the time we're getting on the plane. Drive carefully and we'll see you tomorrow.
A few more things more tidbits for you:
- both Dave and I have been told we look Dutch and could blend in very easily.
- cars and parking. All of the parking on the streets is parallel. When entering these very narrow streets we'd look to the parked cars to determine if the street was a one way street or not. (the signs here aren't always the best) This didn't work as cars park facing both
directions.
- one more way to flush a toilet - push a button on top of the tank. Stepping on a button on the floor is my favorite. :)
- stickers by the mailslots. Most homes have a sticker by the mailslot which has two words on it. They can be either "nee" (no) or "ja" (yes). The word on the left indicates if the home wants flyers or not. The word on the right indicates if they want the paper or not. Nifty
system!
