Including travel, Neil and I had five days away. We could do a bit more than the family day. On the first day we already did a bit of exploration of Amersfoort. We arrived in the late afternoon, and we decided to have dinner in town. It’s beautiful there!
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| On our way to pick up the rental bikes. Pic by Neil |
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| Our cabin seen from the front. Pic by Neil |
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| The inside. Pic by Neil |
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| On the Hof, with St George’s church in the background. Pic by Neil |
On the first full day, we went to see Monique. Neil suggested we put our bikes on the train, and bike from Meppel. That sounded like fun! But I did require one thing: that the train would actually have space for our bicycles. The first train we tried did not. The second didn't either. It was a sunny Whitsun weekend! Everyone was out.
We were fairly close to deciding to just park the bikes, and phone Monique to pick us up, when a third train actually would take us. And from then on all went smoothly.
I don't have a map of the Meppel area, so we just had to navigate on our phones. A lot of standing still and checking the route! I can't say we took. the most logical one. But we got there. It was a bit warm, but we were ok.
At Monique’s we mainly spend our time drinking tea and catching up. We had a bit of rehydration to do. Mike and Monique also thought it was a bit warm, so were quite happy to sit under the ceiling fan and not go on wild adventures.
On the way back we found a more direct route. And we came past a cracking windmill! That was a nice bonus.
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Neil and windmill
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We wanted to see my mum that evening. We also needed food at some point. And Neil was curious about Indonesian food. And I figured we might combine these three things. There is an Indonesian takeaway right around my mum's corner, and I had never been. I love Indonesian food! So I proposed to him and my mum that we would just get some takeaway, and it eat at her place. She thought it was an excellent idea! But she didn't want to try any of it.
The advantage of eating it at my mum's place was as well that we could have a quick cold shower before dinner. After all the biking in the heat we sort of needed it.
We also had a (half) day in Amsterdam planned. But we did not want to spend all day there, so in the morning I first went for a run. You could run from our accommodation straight into the woods where I normally go for a run if I'm in the area. If I stay at my mum, I first I have to run for some 20 minutes to get there. Now I was in there instantly! And I ran a bit further east than normal, past the wind blown sands where my dad used to take us when we were small kids.
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| At the Soestduinen wind blown sands |
Neil went for a bike ride. I directed him towards the
reclaimed land of Eemnes! And he loved it. He also went to an Amersfoort museum while I had some time together with my mum. Just the two of us.
In Amsterdam I took him to Central Station, and then we walked past some interesting places to where I used to live in the Frans Halsstraat. And from there to Museum Square. And then back to Central Station, and then straight to the restaurant where we had agreed to meet Roelof.
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| Posing (in the bright sun) with the Sluyswacht. Pic by Neil |
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| Touristy picture on Leidseplein. Pic by Neil |
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| Bitterballen with Roelof. Pic by Neil |
On the day of travel we had time in the morning, so after getting up in checking out the first brought the higher bikes back, and then had it for a local cheese shop. The one on Muurhuizen had gone, but there still was one on the Langestraat. I don't think Neil has ever seen that much cheese. And then we had the last cup of coffee with my mum.
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| Amersfoort cheese shop. Pic by Neil |
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| Pic with some of my favourite people! Pic by Neil |
As a last goodbye to Amersfoort we walked to the station via an ice cream parlour. It really was weather for that. And from there everything went smoothly again. No problems getting back to the UK, and no problems getting back to the Neil’s place. There I briefly said hi to his cat before I got into my car in order to go and see mine. And then the adventure was over!
This was the first time Neil and I travelled anywhere. We both decided it had been a great success! We had had a lovely time, and there had been no friction whatsoever. There had been moments where at least one of us I was getting a bit fragile because of the relentless heat, but we never took that out on each other.
The customer is still young. We might get up to more things like that before autumn hits. I hope so!
