England 2016: For Lisl, Michael and Chris

Call this the unassigned bin or the misc. file or the leftovers from our England trip back in September last year.  Whichever.  But I don't want these memories languishing in a black hole somewhere.  So, this is for YOU...Lisl, Michael and Chris, the usual suspects.

Let's start with Chris, since he was the one who picked us up at the Bristol airport.

Chris is Astrid's "Big Brother."  

On the way to Lisl's from the airport, he stopped at the Stanton Drew Great Circle.

At 371 ft. in diameter, it's Britain's 2nd largest stone circle, after Avebury.

We had already seen Avebury with him in 2011, so this was extra special.

Lisl is Ginnie's "Big Sis."  

And that's where Chris took us that day, where Lisl invited him to stay for supper with us.

You could call Lisl the Queen of Tarts.  :)  (Yes, she can take a joke.)

Btw, I klept the top-left image of moi from Chris' Shutterchance blog.

And, yes, we're all Shutterchance photographers:  Lisl, Chris, Astrid and Ginnie.

"Big Sis" Lisl is a mother of 3 and a grandma of two, with this charmer as her youngest.

Astrid and I felt so lucky to meet him after hearing all about his birth earlier.

OMG.  I have never seen Lisl look so radiant.

We g'mas know, don't we!

Besides being a mother and g'ma, cook, and photographer, Lisl is also a true-blue scientist.

(She also walks the byways of England, bird watches, gardens, visits the elderly, WWFs, etc., etc.)

Lucky for us, again, we got to observe a rainy-day moth collaboration.

When I say "scientific," I mean it.

Moths are captured in moth traps (later released) and documented for what, when and where.

All this info is tabulated in books for "what's happening to the moths" in England.

If I'm reading it right, there were 15 different moths brought in that day by the group.

Can you picture yourself doing something like that?

Someone has to do it!

The day Lisl and I went off on our own to Wells Cathedral...

this is what Michael was doing as we left:  watching and listening to a symphony.

It really touched my hart and soul.

We have such fond memories of eating out with them.

Fox & Hounds has become a favorite...

and now, also, the Fat Friar, where the food is plentiful and better than good,

whether you like mushy peas or not!

Have you ever thought about how much we "fellowship" when we eat good food together!

It's becoming one of the most important parts of traveling for me, the older I get.

Hmmm.  I ponder this in my hart of hearts.

In the meantime,

THANK YOU, Lisl, Michael and Chris.

The British are Coming

HA!  And just like that...they came, they saw, and they conquered a smattering of what it is to be Dutch!

Chad (l) and Chris (r) are longtime Shutterchance friends we see every year in England.

Surely you remember Chris from our times on the farm.

They arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport late Tuesday afternoon last week,

after which we headed straight for our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant out in the polder.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

After breakfast the next morning, Wednesday, we took a walk around our citadel city-center.

Chad's wife's name is Norma, so how serendipitous to see a barge with her name in our city!

We even had a nice rain during our two-hour walk.  Refreshing.

We love our city!

After an erwtensoep lunch, we did a long drive along the dijk on our side of the Merwede river,

before crossing the Zaltbommel bridge and stopping at the Loevestein castle across the river from us.

Who can say NO to a good, strong castle, almost in our backyard!  Moat included.

What's fun about it is that's it's very interactive.  Can you tell?

Kids of all ages love to play around there.

On our way home from the castle, we stopped in Woudrichem, the city next door.

We see her church across the river from us...our sister city, and nicely quaint.

That evening we had Astrid's spinach AND apple taarts for supper.  Lucky us!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 First thing on Thursday morning we headed off along another dijk to this WWII Bunker 599 from 1940.

It's been split in half so you can see inside it.  Most educational for us all.

Then we stopped at Werk aan het Spoel, a stop on the Waterlinie for the water taxis.

It and the bunker were both firsts for Astrid and me.

Then we were on our way to Wijk bij Duurstede, one of our standbys for visitors.

But we first stopped in Culemborg to see their ornate city hall (bottom-center),

and after Wijk bij Duurstede to see Buren.  They'll all in the same vicinity!

It's the drive-through windmill and the Duurstede castle that we keep going back to.

We love that place.  

We ate breakfast at home each day (top image), of course,

but that night we went out on the town where we live in Gorinchem and had a blast.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The next day, Friday, we had till late afternoon before getting the gents back to the airport.

So we headed north of the airport to another favorite city, Hoorn, where we ate lunch and walked around.

And then one last stop before the airport...at the Schermer windmill museum "below sea level."

It was the first time inside a Dutch windmill for the guys, to see how it works

and how people can actually live in one.

In fact, it was the best thing to save till last because the one thing they said most surprised them

was to see how much of the Netherlands really IS below sea level.  While driving on the dijks you can actually see it...with water high on one side of the dijk and dry land way below it on the other side.

Yes, Folks.  This is the Netherlands.

God created the world but the Dutch created Holland.

And once you realize Schiphol airport used to be land under water, you finally get it!