Tuesday, August 20

Jose and Hans, #11 down the street, have invited all of us for an  outing. They pick us up at 10:30 which means we need to get going a little earlier than usual. It turns out, we make it and out we go. We use two cars because we all can't fit in one.

We think we're headed to catch a boat to Spakenburg. We're not always completely sure we understand what Jose and Hans are explaining to us. They start by giving us a tour through the countryside between Soest and Amersfoort and Baarn. We see expensive houses, lots of cattle and sheep, and a lot of beautiful, flat land. We drive down roads we had not been on before. After about an hour, we arrive at a restored windmill with a restaurant attached. Across the fields, we can see one of the Soest churches. We realized we had traveled in a large circle. 

Just after we order lunch, Jose is acting stressed. It turns out that if we don't eat quickly, we won't make the boat. We tell her its ok, but she wants us to be on a boat today. She is getting up from the table to ask for our food to be held until later when the  food arrives. We tell her again that its ok. As she eats you can see she is thinking what else can be done. Her solution is for us to take a cruise through Amersfoort at the company she works for. We tell her that's a very good plan and try to calm her down.

We are eating out on a deck beside a pond populated with ducks and geese. Every now and then there is a lot of squawking. Its from someone throwing food at the birds and they're going crazy. Eventually, I get up and throw bits of our leftover bread to them. 

Watching them, we watch groups - maybe families or tribes - separate from the rest and go over to the shore. They must be English because they patiently queue up to hop up onto the grassy field. Some of them have trouble, but the others wait calmly until he or she gets up the bank and then they take their turn. Fun to watch.

We drive back to their house and Jose calls to arrange our cruise. The 2:30 cruise was booked and the next one was at 4:00. The guys sat out in Hans' Zen garden and the girls dash off  for some shopping. When they return, Jose serves us a small strawberry shortcake dessert. Then we're off to Amersfoort. We arrive just a few minutes before the cruise and we board the small canal boat that holds 16 people with a driver and a narrator. Unfortunately, its all in Dutch. Jose finds us some printouts in English that explain a little. Along the canal walls there are various pictures and plaques including the one shown below. There was another sculpture with a baby carriage with square wheels. Art you know. The best part was just being on a boat.

Afterwards, we walk out to the main square and have a coffee and then progress to wine and beer. Its just lovely. 

We drive back home and  tell them how much we enjoyed the day and say goodbye.

Dinner is in the garden using everything that could be found in the refrigerator. It turned out very well.

TV, cards, and reading finished off the day. Thank you Jose and Hans for a lovely day. Danka vel.