Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Sunny in Holland

We are here in sunny Holland, with summerlike weather and flowers everywhere -- even their lilacs are fading now, while Metchosin's are still to come. Kees and Dineke Breurkens made us feel very welcome, at their comfortable home in Nijmegen. The logistics of getting here are something else -- on Sunday May 8 at 8.50 am we flew to Montreal (hi Ineke, hi Leanne), and 3 hours later to Paris, arriving at 8.30 am local time. Another three-hour stopover at Charles de Gaulle airport was followed by a not-so-fast fast train to Brussels where we changed trains for Amsterdam. That one got us in just seconds short of catching the train to Nijmegen so we waited 30 minutes and by 8pm Monday night we arrived! Two full days travelling -- lucky we still have trhe stamina for it. We slept so well that night. Hopefully pictures will follow to show the highlights (once I buy the correct cord). Tuesday morning we went on a 15 km hike through a park near Nijmegen. It was wonderful -- sunny, not too hot, lots of up and down, a beer stop part way through and a picnic lunch. Five hours later we were home again for dinner with Kees and Dineke´s children, Jasper (girlfriend Maarta) and Iris, whose boyfriend Bram is off in Istria (part of Croatia) bicycling strenuously. The couple are keen to cycle in Canada, so friends and relatives, Norman will be calling to line up an itinerary for them next year.  Tomorrow.....market, Dutch shopping, museum and more.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Mary and Norman:
    Good to know that you made it. Following all your travel connections makes me weary already! Two days to go for us. See ya soon. Luv ya - Maureen

    ReplyDelete
  2. keep trying to post something but must be doing something wrong..here goes again !
    Lucy
    xo

    ReplyDelete