Rainy Nijmegen

It’s a good thing we don’t mind a little rain. Morning started early with granddaughter Lisa coming to our room to wake us up, fortunately we were dressed. A little play time and then Norm and I thought we should explore Nijmegen.

My little pony castle.

The market was very quiet today but still nice to wander and see the old streets of Nijmegen. Out of the rain for a bit, read the paper......and free wifi. 

So green probably because of the rain. Now back home to make spanakopita.

Concentration! 

Team work and they were delicious. 

Leaving Amsterdam

 We had breakfast with Duncan and Lauraine and then on the train to Nijmegen. Life slows down in Nijmegen with Kees and Dineke Breurkens. We settle in and then off to meet their son, Jasper and wife Maartje, son Boris and new son Thomas. Norm always arrives with gifts. 

The umbrella is a hit! 

The weather might need an umbrella. Back home where Dineke services us a traditional Dutch dinner, white asparagus with melted butter, cooked egg, mashed potatoes and sliced ham. Smaakt lekker! 

 Breakfast...... my favourite muesli and many toppings. 

Next morning their daughter came by to say hello. Idris, husband Bram, Lisa and Teun, a lovely family. Norm gave the best gifts, as usual!! Pencil crayons and case for Lisa and a monkey for Teun. 

This afternoon Dineke planned a walk, 12km. It was in  Mook (the town)  heide (heather) moor. In the summer the hills would be covered with beautiful pink from the heather. The weather was perfect, cool, sunny and cloudy. 

Great views. Notice they have broom here too. Yellow Bunny loved the walk. 

And finally heading home....

Tomorrow I’ll show Dineke about spanakopita with help from granddaughter Lisa. Should be fun! 

Partying Amsterdam

It’s Kings Day! Everyone in Amsterdam is wearing orange. Yellow Bunny has been waiting all week for this day. She almost wishes she was Orange Bunny. 

What a day! There are people everywhere. But was is really crazy is that there are sales happening on the street. These aren’t just store sales but what we would call garage sales.

This is in town near the canals, with orange and more orange.

Some of the sites are wild. There is definitely early morning partying happening. Party boats and music.

Mostly young people and Norm wonders if they have life jackets on board??

Sometimes there are 10 boats in a row coming through.

What fun but not for us. As we walked about we saw garage bands, contests and lots of food and beer.

Only 2 euros for a Heineken. 

This guy is trying to hang by his hands for 2 minutes. We saw 4 guys try no luck, no 100 euros.

But by far the best was The Trump challenge. For a price you could throw eggs at “Trump” or Poetin. 

Some eggs did hit Trump. 

So we left downtown and headed to what we thought would be a bit quieter. We listened to some outstanding classical music (with 2 accordions) in the Riks museum tunnel. 

Took our second selfie on top of a green field that has a supermarket below- Albert Heijn.

Even Yellow Bunny likes it here.

What we saw next was incredible. There was kilometres of sales! As far as the eye could see. And we walked and walked and walked but only bought food snacks.

Finally headed home after taking the tram the wrong way, oops. Here is our dinner prepared ourselves. Tomorrow we head to Nijmegen.

Cruising Amsterdam continued

Cruising made us hungry. Norm opted for the kaas (Dutch cheese) sandwich, me the warm goat cheese with sun dried tomatoes, rocket and walnuts. The were so delicious. 

Every time you have a cup of tea or coffee you get a cookie, so civilized.

As we headed back to our apartment there are always a few sites that catch your eye. This old building was a lock keepers house (sluis) to open and close the locks from 1695. It leans more than any we saw. 

And why do they lean? In the old days they were built on piles, drilled meters deep into the wet soil. After time these piles, made of wood, would rot and sink into the swampy ground. Today they fill up the pils with cement. 

Norm loves the ornate bridges that are everywhere here.

Tonight for dinner we met up with a friend of Norman’s from Victoria but who has lived in mostly England for the last 10 years, Tony Hodge. Probably one of the best dinners we have had in awhile. 

The restaurant was called de Jollers and here is the menu cover.

And I couldn’t resist taking this picture of the table just next to us. Things have changed.....

Cruising Amsterdam

Today we went cruising. You get a very different view of Amsterdam from the water. Just getting under the bridges is amazing and the buildings seem to lean even more at this level.

Did you know that there are over 600,000 bikes in Amsterdam with 855,000 people? 

Our canal boat was able to get through some tiny spots.

Some sites from the boat were beautiful. 


And some buildings still look like they are going to fall over.

These six houses are called the dancing sisters because of they way they way they lean forward and sideways. 

We recommend taking a canal cruise.