For Bill and Ange

On my Shutterchance photoblog (where Astrid and I met virtually back in 2007, remember?) will be the following collage tomorrow, in honor of Bill and Ange's 4-day visit with us from England this past weekend:

It's a nice little overview of what we did/saw.  All thumbs up!
[click any collage to enlarge]

Bill is one of The Three Stooges on Shutterchance, along with Chris and Chad (who come to visit in September, sans wives).  Chris is the one with whom we've stayed the last 2 years in Bath, England.  As you see, our little blogging community has reaped many wonderful benefits.

So, on Friday morning Astrid and I drove to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam to pick up our guests.  And because seeing Amsterdam was on their list of wishes, we decided to "do" it that day.

Even the airport is a photo op, you know!

We were especially happy that I AMSTERDAM was waiting for us as we departed the terminal.

From the airport we drove to the AJAX soccer arena to park

and then headed to city center via the Metro...first to eat lunch before, anything else,

at De Drie Graefjes (The Three Counts) near the Dam and the Royal Palace.

We all had uitsmijters...to start off some Dutch "introductions."

Then we took a one-hour boat tour around city center to get an overview.

Just what the doctor ordered...before continuing on foot.

There's so much to see in Amsterdam!  How do you pick-n-choose when you have only a couple hours?

We chose to zig-zag our way to see the Rijksmueum, as well as the Van Gogh and Concert Hall nearby...

before ending up at the one Wagamama I know like the back of my hand...

and then headed back to the arena to get the car and drive home to Gorinchem.

That was Friday, the warmest and sunniest day of the year to date!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

On Saturday, after breakfast, we had another agenda but not nearly as taxing as Amsterdam.  Good!

Our first stop was the Wijnhandel van Ouwerkerk wine shop in nearby Arkel.

It, too, is a photo op and one all photographer visitors will have to see when they come.

(We took Robin when she was with us last October, remember?)

From there we drove to Buren, less than 20 miles away, with ties to Dutch royalty.

The Prins van Oranje windmill, from 1716, was open to visitors so Bill got to see the inner workings.

(Ange is afraid of heights...just like Peggy when she and Bob visited us 2 years ago!)

Our main destination of the day was Wijk bij Duurstede to see the castle and drive-thru windmill.

By now some of you old-timers here will probably recognize these places!

We ate lunch at De Engel, our favorite café there, which never disappoints.

First the windmill, lunch at the café, the castle...and then home via the back roads.

That evening for supper Astrid made her famous spinach and apple tarts.  LUCKY US!

Afterwards we watched "Casablanca" on the couch...my first time from beginning to end!

It happens to be one of Bill's favorite movies and we had just bought it for €1 at our Open Harbor Day!

Another wonderful, sunny, full day.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Sunday was our last full day together, so we decided to stay relatively close to home, driving along our side of the Merwede river before crossing over to see the castle and sister city we can see from our citadel wall.

On the way we stopped by the stork village to see the "spring love."

Bill and Ange said later it was probably the highlight of the trip for them.

Have you ever seen storks?  They're a protected species in the Netherlands!

(I threw in the old Fiat and 3-wheeled motorcycle for fun.)

The Loevestein Castle is a medieval castle from 1357.

We can actually see it from across the river when we take walks here at home!  Seriously.

It was a good place to eat a light lunch of asparagus soup.

Just what the doctor ordered.

Then we explored...and had fun.  It's an interactive castle!

And as you see, it was another sunny day...but cooler than the first 2 days.  Perfect.

Then we drove to Woudrichem, Gorinchem's sister city across the river, and 2 miles from the castle.

One thing Bill mentioned over and over again:  water is everywhere!  It's so true.  

No matter where you go in the Netherlands, there will definitely be water nearby!
Water and dikes.

By that point we were ready to go back home to rest an hour before supper 

at our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant out in the polder.

We ordered 4 different pannenkoeken:

shoarma with pineapple and cheese

chicken ragout with curry

farmer's tomato, ham, onion, pepper, and cheese

goat's cheese, honey, bacon and grapes

We each ate a quarter and passed the plates for the next quarter.

OMG.

That evening we ate the last of Astrid's apple tart and watched "The Adjustment Bureau."

Another full day!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

On Monday morning, we stayed at home and took a walk around our citadel city where we live, here in Gorinchem.  

Last but not least...we wanted to show off where we live.

We LOVE our city.  We LOVE where we live.

And we're thankful whenever we have the time (vacation days for Astrid!) to entertain visitors.

We ate erwtensoep (pea soup) with roggerbrood (rye bread) and brie for lunch, 

before leaving for the airport.

We were so determined to give them a real taste of Dutch life.

And we did!  What a great visit! Thank you, Bill and Ange.

All thumbs up!