Son Mark in the Netherlands, 2023

 

The last (and only) time my son Mark visited us here in the Netherlands was in October of 2018, 5 years ago.  Needless to say, it was high time to have him back, even though we had just been with him a month earlier.  He favors the colder weather, so it was a no-brainer to come now.

Thus, from Saturday to Sunday, December 9-17, Mark graced us with his presence!

Don't you just love airport meetups!

Rather than depict each day's activities the way I normally do, here's the overall feel of the week, to show the territory we covered, even though it was rainy most of the time (and still is!).  We all were troopers and did what we could.

Femke and Jeannette, our dearest friends here, always rise to the occasion

whenever we invite ourselves over with my kids.  We all just love it.  Can you tell???

It was a good way to start off the week (Sunday) after Mark's long flight the day before.

After a restful stay-at-home day Monday, Tuesday was a morning-lunch outing to Woudrichem

across the Merwede river from us, ending up as one of our only sunny times all week for 2 hours.

And, yes, that's the nearby Loevestein castle (bottom-right) where we took him last time.

It's an adorable, quaint city we love for our guests,

especially because we can eat on the barge docked off shore.

Sadly, right now the city is so flooded that we would NOT be able to park or walk to the barge.

But that day, we were in heaven.

The next day after lunch, Wednesday, we drove out to the nearby Biesbosch National Park,

to breathe in the silence and beauty of the place.  No sun but also no rain.

That evening was a lovely "platter" meal to meet up with Astrid's son's family,

including both kids and Jaap, Astrid's ex.  Jeroen (age 35) and Mark (age 48) are step brothers, so

 getting re-acquainted was important to them both.  The last time they met, Hailey was just 3 weeks old.

Hailey, now 5, has her own step-brother, Sem (only 5 weeks older), so they, too,

got acquainted with Mark.  Daughter Amy had sent pj's for Christmas for them to color,

which was a big hit...even if it will take them forever to color, even with help.

Our big excursion of the week (Thursday) was the 2.5-hr drive to Cologne, Germany,

not only to add another country-notch to Mark's belt but to visit the Christmas markets there.

Since we parked right at the Dom (cathedral), and it was still rainy, we started with it inside.

It was Mark's first cathedral experience!

By the time we started the markets, the rain had stopped !

Mark specifically wanted a German pretzel, which we all got (and loved),

plus a good sit-down meal with traditional German food (think brats and sauerkraut).

[photo credit:  Mark]

Friday afternoon was our Happy Hour here where we live.

Mark was a good sport to join us, playing 5 Crowns with me to pass the time.

[Truth be known, Astrid, Mark and I played a LOT of 5 Crowns while he was with us that week!]

[photo credit:  Mark]

On Saturday we ate lunch at a favorite restaurant in nearby Leerdam...

after which was our city's annual Santa Run, that we were thrilled to share with Mark.

Afterwards, as we walked through town, he bought 3 apple beignets for us to share 

at home with Astrid's homemade hot chocolate.  What a treat! 

The next day, Sunday, came too soon to say good-bye till the next time, but with the holidays fast approaching, it really was time to bid farewell, knowing the memories would remain...

Mother and son!

By now, Christmas has come and gone,

but the "passing of the years" this week means 2024 is around the corner.

Are we scared, ready or what?????

[photo credit:  Mark--in the Cologne parking garage elevator]

HAPPY NEW YEAR

to us all!

Nicholas in The Netherlands, 2018 Review

After our time in Atlanta for Nicholas' high school graduation (last post), we flew back to Amsterdam, bringing Nicholas back with us as our graduation gift to him.

You may remember that he was here for 2 weeks back in 2015, when he turned 15.  How 3 years can make such a difference is beyond me, but at his age, that's 1/6th of his life.  HA!

So, for those of you who have watched him grow up, here you go:

Our first full day after arriving was Monday Market day.

Astrid began this stay by making a Dutchman out of him, eating herring the Dutch way.

More Dutch you cannot get.  [Even I have not done that!]

To be honest, this time we didn't try to cram everything in, going all over tarnation.

But we DID do something almost every day, even it it was just a citadel walk.

One goal was to find the 27 Memory Bricks that are hidden around Gorinchem since his last trip.

 Nicholas helped us find 25 of the bricks over several days.  

[Astrid and I are still hoping to find the other two.]

On his last Saturday, Astrid and Nicholas climbed the church tower of our nearby Grote Kerk.

I stayed below to capture them once they reached the top.

There were also times of meeting up with friends and family close to home, 

where Nicholas could share in the life we live here.

He said those times were some of his favorites.

We DID go out-n-about, of course, even to Germany,
giving him another country-notch on his belt, like Belgium the last time.

We drove to Monschau, Germany, 218 km southeast of Gorinchem.

OMG!  Half-timbered houses, a castle and a river running through it all.

This was actually a birthday gift to me from Astrid!  Can you see why?!

So many wonderful memories in that idyllic tourist town.

I even collected a few weathervanes while there!

We then drove to Düren for an overnight before driving to Cologne, Germany, the next day.

We wanted Nicholas to see a HUGE European cathedral!

It doesn't get much bigger or better than the Cologne Cathedral...

and it's neighboring promenade along the Rhine river and it's bridge of love padlocks.

A shorter trip to nearby De Haar castle in Utrecht gave Nicholas another castle experience.

We took him last time to the Loevestein castle (from 1368) across the Merwede river from us.

De Haar is from 1892 and hosted many movie actors over time because of the Rothschild family

who funded the rebuilding of the castle that had gone to ruin over the years.

Then it was my 73rd birthday on June 13 and Astrid took us to the Rotterdam shipping port

for a 75-minute cruise of the 3rd largest shipping port behind Shanghai and Singapore.

Guess what!  On your birthday you get the cruise for free.  Lucky me.

Seeing monstrosities like this gives new meaning to the word 'shipping.'

Rotterdam is one of the cities destroyed during WWII

whose rise from the ashes gave new meaning to quirky architecture.  We love it.

We then drove 30 km west to the world's largest lock/storm barrier in nearby Hoek van Holland.

The Maeslantkering is part of the Dutch Delta Works and closes when flooding is a threat.

You know me.  I have to play around.
The top of this hill was our vantage point for seeing the storm barrier.

And because we were so close to the North Sea, we continued on to the beach.

Just had to touch the water...and eat an ice cream!

One last trip was to nearby Wijk bij Duurstede, 53 km from home.

Can't believe we didn't take him last time to the only drive-through windmill in the world!

The castle isn't available for inside viewing apart from event venues.

I bet you can imagine getting married there, right?!  

We even picked up fresh cherries along the way.

It's one of our favorite short-trip visits.

And like the Memory Bricks in Gorinchem, Nicholas helped us find the windmill tiles in the road.

They must be new since our last time because it was our first time seeing them. 

That was our last outing before taking Nicholas back to Amsterdam on June 17.

Two delightful weeks of just BEING together before he goes off to Oregon in the fall.

Nicholas Joseph Grannan.  Class of  2018.

We're still pinching ourselves because we feel so lucky to be his g'mas!

Viking's Grand European River Cruise: Cologne, Germany

Viking River Cruise, Day 3:  Cologne, Germany (Facebook collage)

(click any collage to enlarge)

After Kinderdijk, NL, in the morning of Day 2, we sailed all day and into the night before arriving in Cologne, Germany, the next morning...now on the Rhine River.

As we ate breakfast, it was clear we were starting out on a gorgeous, sunny day!

The fun of a river cruise, of course, is what you get to see along the way...

even if you don't know where or what it is!

Now, remember this from last December?

This is what we saw across the river of the Cologne skyline after visiting the Christmas markets.

 And this is what we saw from the boat as we sailed into the city on March 18, 2013.

Every place has its own unique docking set-up, of course.  This was Cologne's.

While other passengers were off to see the Cathedral with their tour guides,

Astrid and I opted to go off on our own, since we had already been to the Dom.

We wanted to see as much as possible along the river front.

What immediately caught our eye was how everyone was out enjoying the sun!

It's been a looooong winter in Europe.  We've all needed the sun.

How is it that I keep attracting groups of guys who want me to take their picture?

HA!  Must be that obscene lens I carry.

(Don't get started on the guy who wanted to sell Astrid a rose!)

 After all was said and done, we suddenly found ourselves at the cathedral/Dom.

On a sunny day, it was larger than life.

And since the light was on the door, beckoning...

...we totally changed our minds and decided to go in.

Maybe the sun would make the place look different from our visit in December?

Oh my, YES!

We are SO glad we decided to go in.

Look how the sun danced with Gerhard Richter's "Symphony of Light" window!

  And as they say, the devil is in the details...

...even midst the hubbub!

That was the morning and it was now time for lunch.  While walking back to the ship, we passed Alex, our Program Director, who mentioned we should check out the hotel across the river that has an observation deck, if we wanted great views of the city.  HELLO!

We had already been enamored with the Deutz Abbey across from our boat.

I would have loved to visit it but...not this time...

...in order to get a broader view of the city.

To get to the tower, we walked across the Hohenzollern Bridge near the cathedral.

And if that didn't stop us dead in our tracks!

THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of love padlocks!

OMG!  You could write a book with all the stories you made up!

My understanding is they weigh so much, the city has to pay attention to how it's affecting the bridge,

to say nothing of all the keys that are washing ashore along the banks of the Rhine River.  :)

Believe it or not, we did eventualluy make it to the observation deck.

We did NOT climb the cathedral tower, which had been an option.

Instead, we took the elevator and looked back on it, saving our knees.

(No one ever said we were dumb, right?)

Later that evening, after a wonderful dinner onboard,

Astrid went out on her own to take some night shots of the familiar landmarks.

What a day.  What a night.  What a place.