Grandson Nicholas in the Netherlands: Week Two

As I write this, Nicholas has been gone less than 24 hours.  How is that possible?  Tears in my eyes this time but with so many happy memories from the second week of his 2-week visit to see G'ma here in the Netherlands.

Day 8, Friday, 24 July:  War Bunker and the Lindeborg Happy Hour

It so happens that every Friday afternoon I play Rummikub in our senior-center's recreation hall.  We all decided that I'd still do it this particular Friday so that Nicholas could experience our Happy Hour afterwards.

So, while I played Rummikub, Astrid took Nicholas to this WWII Bunker 599 from 1940.

We had seen it before in September 2013 when Chris and Chad were visiting from England.

It's been split in half so you can see what it was like inside.

When they came back, it was time to join me for our Borreltje (Happy Hour) after Rummikub.

Nicholas had the chance to sample the hapjes...bite-sized, deep-fried goodies.

The lady at bottom-left just turned 100, so the photo-op was a must.

100, 70, 15:  That's about the size of it.

Day 9, Saturday, 25 July:  Rotterdam

Unbenownst to us at the time, this day ended up having the most severe storm weather in Dutch recorded history for July since 1901. 

So guess what we did?!  

We took the Waterbus from Papendrecht to Rotterdam on the Nieuwe Maas river, a 45 min. ride.

Besides visiting the Maritime Museum, we walked around the area to see the crazy architecture.

Nicholas and I giggled all day because it was so blustery.

Day 10, Sunday, 26 July:  Scheveningen Pier and Den Haag

Grabbing good weather, we drove to the North Sea after all that stormy craziness,

to walk the Scheveningen Pier and beach.

Look what Astrid found.  A wee little star fish (zee ster).

And yes, that's Nicholas' voice saying "they regenerate."

Just as we left the beach, it started to rain,
but we still drove to the Peace Palace in nearby Den Haag (The Hague).
We told Nicholas that if Hitler were still alive when the United Nations was founded in 1946,
he would have been one of the war criminals tried here.

Day 11, Monday, 27 July:  All Day at HOME

About this time into the second week, we all started needing HOME time and made the decision to do nothing.   In fact, about every other day Nicholas was able to sleep in till noon, which gave us all some "me" time.

Astrid decided to make her home-made macaroni specialty for Nicholas for supper.

Yum Yum Yum Yum.  I think he had 3 helpings?!

During the afternoon he finished his 1,000 dot-to-dot drawing of Amsterdam.

In fact, we both did since I had made a copy for him from the Cityscapes book I had just purchased.

(Thank you, Anne, for the great idea!)

Amsterdam was the first of 20 cities in the book, which made a good souvenir from our trip on Day 6.

Day 12, Tuesday, 28 July:  Brussels, Belgium

Okay, so this isn't the Netherlands, but because we can drive to Belgium within 30 minutes and to Brussels within 1.5 hours (80 miles), it made sense to make an extra-special trip to Brussels, the seat of the European Union, just to say we did it...and to give Nicholas another country-notch in his belt.

 We first drove to Mini-Europe on the north side of the city where we parked for the day.

On-n-off rain did not hamper us at all.

We told Nicholas he saw all of Europe in 1.5 hours.  HA!

From that point we all got Metro day passes and took the train to the European Parliament.

I told Nicholas this was like going to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where he visited with G'pa Bill.

It was Astrid's and my first time to see it, too, so a real sight for sore eyes.

Then it was back on the train to the Grand Place in city center.

Mussels in Brussels was a must for Astrid and Nicholas,

followed by a real Belgian waffle and hand-picked chocolates by Nicholas.

BTW, at the start of the day Nicholas wondered if anyone would recognize his shirt's logo.
I told him that I bet at least one person would!  And indeed, one guy said "GO DUCKS."
Nicholas wants to go to Oregon once he graduates from high school!

Day 13, Wednesday, 29 July:  All Day at HOME (again)

It was laundry day and Nicholas got to sleep in again.

This is how we do it...in our main living area where some clothes hang to dry,

and the rest goes to the community commercial-sized dryer.

See Nicholas' bed for the 2 weeks?  Yup.  The couch.

And once he was up, he had the entire afternoon to "game" on his laptop.

Day 14, Thursday 30 July:  Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen

Our last full day together was perfect weather-wise, NE of Amsterdam.

I don't think we could have had a better last day together!

There was enough interactive Dutch experience to last a lifetime.

And because Nicholas bought a family plaque with his "Grannan" name there (now on order,

 see the handshake?), he said it was a "clutch gift" right at the end of his trip.

We'll take it to him when we visit Atlanta in October.

Day 15, Friday, 31 July:  Back to Schiphol Airport for the Trip Home

The last meal we had before taking Nicholas back to the Amsterdam airport was erwtensoep,

which reminded me to show the Dutch food experiences he had while here.

As I said on Facebook, he tried everything Dutch we offered him:

 uitsmijter (fried eggs on cheese, ham and toast), erwtensoep (split pea soup), hapjes (bite-sized goodies), appeltaart (Astrid's specialty), patat friet (fried potatoes in a cone), pannenkoeken (pancakes), zoethout (licorice root), beenham (hot baked ham) sandwich, gerookte haring (smoked herring), suikerbrood (sugar bread from Friesland)...
and many ijsjes (ice creams). 

He was such a good sport!

 After lunch, as we left for the airport, I already had a sob in my throat.

In fact, as I've written this post today, the sob has returned.

The only good news about that is it'll be 2.5 fast months before we'll see him again,

on our annual trip to Atlanta.

I guess the other good news is that we fell in love with him all over again.

Though it's always good to get back to "normalcy," we both miss him like the dickens.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, G'ma.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Nicholas.

Now it's time to make the photo book...full of second blessings as we review them.

A Series of Very Fortunate Events!

Christmas Before Christmas

Actually, this post was supposed to be about the Christmas markets in Köln, Germany, from when we were there a couple weeks ago, but...too much has happened since then.  Köln can wait...till next week.  HA!

Christmas starts in the Netherlands on Sinterklaasdag, 5 December, which by now you know, surely.  In fact, Astrid squirms if I have the Christmas tree up before the 5th because, well, you're just not supposed to do it.  The kids, you know.  Gotta pay attention to the kids and what they expect.

So, speaking of the kids....

...early morning on Wednesday the 5th, we heard a racket outside.

The elementary school across the street had visitors:  Sinterklaas and his Black Peters.

See how handy that 300mm lens is from the walkway out our front door!

On Sinterklaasdag this year I celebrated  my 3rd anniversary of arriving in the Netherlands.  That means this is my 4th Christmas here!  And every year I say the same thing:  I LOVE that the day of gifts, December 5, is a different day from December 25th, the birth of Baby Jesus!

So, though Astrid and I usually give each other "only" our Christmas meal out on the 25th in our nearby Greek restaurant, overlooking the big canal through town, this year we did in fact give each other gifts:

From Astrid to me, the 3 Van Dale dictionary books for kids!

And my New Year's resolution is to start studying them in earnest.

Small steps will help, you know.

2 of the 3 books Astrid bought on sale through the Dutch Bol.com site, similar to Amazon.com. 

From me to Astrid:  2 tickets to a Christmas concert at the St. Martinuskerk in Amersfoort (ca. 30 miles away) though the Dutch VakantieVeilingen auction site...where I got the tickets for €21+€5 fee=€26, a fraction of the real price.  The thing is, Christmas concerts are NOT free in Europe.  Tickets can cost between €45-75 each.  So this was a good deal!

And look at what we saw (too bad you can't also hear it):

 We got to the church an hour early and once the doors were opened, I had a chance to take pictures.

But before the concert started, a kind gentleman said to just not take pictures during the concert.

(Hold that thought!)

This was a concert with 2 well-known Dutch pianists:  Cor Bakker and Louis van Dijk.

AND a vocal group called CALL.  Yes, you got it.  The Vocal Group CALL.

It's led by Pieter Jan Leusink, who's in a couple images above.

Now, skip to the intermission (remember, no pictures during the concert).

Cor and Louis and some choir members went to the back of the church to sell their CDs.

I moved in as closely as I could get!

Cor is the tall one; Louis is the one with the red scarf.

And luckily I got some close-ups of some choir members.

All this while the rest of the concert-goers could enjoy refreshment.

And then it was time to go back to our seats....at which time Peter, the PR man for the concert series, 

came to me offering a trip to the organ loft in the back of the church to take pictures from on high.

Are you kidding me?  I was a kid in heaven!

 Look what I saw from up there!  And thank God again for the long lens.

(The bottom 2 right images are back down on earth!)

After all that, both Peter and Gerard (the church's PR man) asked me to send them my images.

I did.  And look what Gerard did on his church's website!

Click further and you see he included all my collages!

SO, how's that for really getting into the Christmas spirit!  WOWSER for me.

We even had some snow on 2 different days....

...enough for someone (???) to make a snowman in our courtyard.

Goed Gekeurd = Well Approved (the sign on the snowman).

 After Sinterklaasdag all the goodies go on sale and Ginnie stocks up.  I'm no dummy!

We LOVE speculaas "windmill" cookies with our evening koffie after supper.

At €,25/package, we have enough to sink a ship last awhile.

The ones I normally buy are the little ones (bottom middle).  Look at the size difference!

And did I mention with almonds???!!!

And finally, last but not least....

...guess who was the Rummicub Champion for the second year in a row!

Speaking of size difference, everything is looking up this year!

(click on any image to enlarge)

Now, barring something unforeseen, next week I hope to take you to the Christmas market in Köln, just before Christmas!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

All our hearts are broken over the shooting in Newtown, CT, last week.  I had just written the draft for my Vision and Verb post today and was stunned by how it all fit in....

 Please join me there for the conversation.

A Neighbor Day in the Netherlands

In between our heres-n-theres, visitors, and this-and-that-there are the little gems that just seem to happen here where we live.  They may not be big in the total scheme of things but they're memorable nonetheless.

Like, for instance, the annual Burendag (= Neighbor Day) that has happened each September now for 7 years.  It was first initiated by the Douwe Egberts coffee company in 2006 and then picked up by the Oranje Fonds, a national charity for social initiative amongst different groups of people.  In the Netherlands, a cuppa koffie is the symbol of getting together with people you don't know.

For us here at our De Lindeborg retirement complex, and for the first time ever, our Poort6 landlord company sponsored a BBQ here in our courtyard.  It was our 2012 Neighbor Day BBQ.  Time for everyone to come out of hiding to meet each other.

The Poort6 men came out en force to set up and serve us.

Floor (bottom right above) is our huismaster (house master).

What a spread!  This is the Dutch BBQ way with 4 different meats:

bratwoorst, chicken saté (3 sticks), hamburger and slice of ham.

As we were served each meat, the server signed his initials on our tiny menu slip.

White/red wine and/or beer to drink.

And all for €5 per person!

In the end, there were only 40 of us who showed up of around 200 potential people.

Many were the regulars who always show up at our gatherings throughout the year,

but the one new neighbor who sat at our table was Wim (bottom left above).

And as luck would have it, Astrid had connections with him because of their tennis years in the area.

That means we got to know one new neighbor that day!  It's a start.

And while we're at it, these are the ones of my Friday's Rummikub group who were there!

Top:  Lena, Meindert, Moi and Sophie (in early Alzheimer's)

Center:  Gonnie and Blanche.

Bottom:  Jouke Our leader), Gerrie and...Elt (husband of Sophie who joins us after Rummikub for drinks).
Two were missing:  Frida and Henk. 

Can you tell who my favorite is?  

Dear, dear Meindert...always speaking English phrases whenever they fit.

"You are my sunshine!" And always with that smile.

A little wobbly on his feet but do I care???

For 2 hours, from beginning to end, we truly embraced being neighbors!

I think even "the help" totally enjoyed being with us old geezers.

Here's to next year being even bigger and better!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

A month earlier, back in August, while out-n-about in our city center on the last day of the week's Summer Festival, we visited the wood-carving exhibition of Adrie Bezemer inside our Grote Kerk :

 His carvings were lined up all around the inside of the church.

I hate that I didn't take more pictures of his handiwork but you can see it here. 

He's been doing this as a hobby since 1999...and he's from Goudriaan, just 6 miles away.
We met another neighbor!

 It's such a treat to meet and interact with such artisans.

Remember when Astrid got to learn how to blow glass from Mart Martorell?  

THIS is what I would want to learn:  how to turn wood.  So the demonstration was wonderful.

 The day reminded me of a painting Dad had in our house growing up...

of Jesus as a young carpenter.

I'd love to find it....

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

When we walked out of the church that day, the stage was set up in the city square, highlighting the end of the musical festival.  And there he was, Barry...

   ...the friend and neighbor of Astrid's son whom we've met several times.

Everyone that day was a neighbor.  Everyone.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.  Would you be my neighbor?

Hurtigruten: MS Vesterålen

FINALLY! The Norwegian 6-day sea voyage from Kirkenes to Bergen, following all those wonderful days in Oslo a month ago!

I've decided to start with the ship...our ship...because without it, the sea voyage wouldn't have happened. You notice I didn't say cruise, right? We were corrected from the get-go: with no bingo, casino or entertainment, this was a sea voyage. And utilitarian at that, its chief purpose being to transport mail, supplies and daily passengers up and down Norway's rugged, fjord coastline.

OUR ship was the MS Vesterålen, one of 11 in Hurtigruten's fleet, built in 1983 and one of the smallest at only 510 passengers. Don't you just love the circle over the 'a' -- å or Å. And isn't she a beauty!

Totally unbenownst to us ahead of time, we passed other ships from Hurtigruten's fleet all along the way. That made sense, of course, since they're all going back-n-forth up and down the coast every day. They're on a mission and we as passengers are just on for the ride.

We passed The Polarys, Nordlys and the Kong Harald...


...as well as the Trollfjord and Nordnorge, all at sea or on shore.
Every time we were ready to pass a ship going in the opposite direction, it was announced on the PA system, followed by reciprocal horn blasts from each ship...and whooping and hollering on the decks.
That was camaraderie at sea!


Lucky for us, because the ships sail for utilitarian reasons, there are many stops during the day and night, sometimes for only half an hour while supplies are loaded and unloaded. Every time we had a chance, especially if we saw something close to shore that looked interesting, we got off. The whole embarking/disembarking routine became old hat for both Astrid and me. Sometimes we were the only passengers getting off, getting closer to a church for photos, for instance...before rushing back.


Our room card keys were also what logged us on/off the ship each time.
See how easy it is to learn Norwegian! Gått ut. Gått ombord.


Speaking of supplies, they had it all down to a science at every port. The punctuality in and out was mind-boggling to us, sometimes with several forklifts operating at the same time.


You know how it's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
And so it was that Astrid went inside the hold of the ship to get the above view. HA! I love it.
We saw everything from cars, to furniture, groceries and everyday living supplies.


Of course, nothing gets on or off before another important crew gets the ship docked...those on shore and those on the ship. We loved seeing how the thick ropes were thrown back-n-forth by the thinner ropes with weighted balls on the end...and then pulled through the water.
It's fun to see how things work, sometimes by simple methods.


OK, time to come inside!
Reception was on 'ground' floor near the entrance, just a couple doors away from our cabin.


Our cabin was plenty spacious for us. We don't ask for much, you know.
There were actually 3 single beds but we chose to keep the couch the couch and use the bunk beds instead (both of which could be folded up against the wall). Astrid will tell you I insisted on sleeping on top. Actually, I told her I always slept on the top bunk whenever I had the choice. And so I did, with her 'spotting' me up and down each time. :)
(Those suitcases in the hallway were in preparation for departure at the end.)


Which comes first, eating or sleeping?
Every day the menu was posted for the sit-down evening meal. No choice of menu but we had nothing served to us we did not like immensely.
(click to enlarge)


I've been on the big cruises, you know, but they have nothing over the meals we had each day as well as the service of the staff. Our table mates each evening were 2 delightful couples from Germany.
We even had a Captain's Dinner night with a champagne toast...


...which was really amazing since almost NO ONE drank wine with the evening meals.
Why, you might ask? Because the cost of alcohol in Norway is nigh prohibitive, at $11/glass on the ship! When we mentioned this to Renny beforehand, he suggested we buy and take our own box of wine (equivalent of 4 bottles), which we did, at half the price. Still, it was $64 for the box!
Trust me, we drank it in the room before dinner and treasured every drop.

So, besides eating and sleeping, how did we spend our time? Are you kidding me!

Pictures speak more than a thousand words!
We were up and down 3 flights of stairs several times each day, keeping ourselves in good shape...


...along with the crew doing their own thing...


...while others had a bit more R&R. No argument there.


But we did have down time with Rummikub and staying on top of e-mails. The wireless internet worked well and was free. But also, every day I uploaded all our photos onto our separate external hard drives.
Everything was neatly into files before we finished the voyage!


Speaking of finishing, all good things do come to an end and before we knew it, it was time to disembark the voyage in Bergen, at the terminal where most people begin their trip. As we awaited the crossing of the catwalk into the terminal, we watched the crew come on board to clean the ship before the next set of passengers left a few hours later.
Everything really was down to a science and just like clockwork!


With suitcases in hand, we still had another 2 legs of our journey...an overnight in Bergen before the 7-hour train ride across Norway to Oslo the next day, followed by more sightseeing in the Oslo area before flying home.

See why I still have miles to go before we're done!

[Thanks again to Astrid for several images here-n-there in the collages!]