Saturday, May 30

Here is Linda getting ready for the day and needing to get up on her tip toes to reach the "Dutch magnifying mirror". They are tall and we're not.

Joke's hobby is gardening. More specifically - flowers. Here are the flowers both inside and out that Linda now has responsibility for.

This is the back garden that Kees and Joke have set up for a romantic wine tasting.

We actually had something to do today. Our neighbor, Liesbeth, sings in a rock band called Queen. And, don't you know they sing Queen songs. The band was scheduled to perform in a little park in Utrecht today, so we caught the train and went over. As we left the train station we saw this teapot on top of a building.

During our walk we came upon a large flower market. Lots and lots of flowers. This is Holland and this is one of the things they do. 

As we left the flower market we came upon this statue of a hare. Who knows? And, we found statues of rabbits all over the place and little ones in stores. Don't know what that was all about either.

Don't look at the guy in the foreground, checkout the dude sitting in the back.

Even with a map and instructions from the information lady at the train station and Linda's phone navigation app, we took the long way around. Instead of a 20 minute walk, it was about 45 minutes. But, we still arrived before they started playing and saw the entire 1 1/2 hour show. We saw them last year and enjoy them each time. Lizzie plays the keyboard and sings. There is a lead singer, bass and guitar players, drummer, and a guy playing the synthesizer. They kept the place hopping.

The band and Lizzie

Lizzie

The lead singer whose name doesn't come to mind.

There was a festival going on beside the bandstand and this is what walked by while we were sitting and watching. 

This is how they train their kids to ride bikes. No peddles.

This guy was walking around taking videos with a very professional camera, and

these shoes. Hmmmm

We walked back to the center (Centrum) of town much quicker than earlier. We were hungry but decided we wanted to eat at home, so we just stopped for a tea and espresso.

Here is the famous Utrecht bell tower and that same dude again.

This was near where we stopped for espresso.

You never know who you'll meet on the street.

After walking through the shopping district, we decided we were ready to go home. We knew the train left a little after 6:00, and we started walking faster. But, we were slowed when we came upon a french fry shop and stopped to get a cone of fries with mayo on it. Walk and eat at the same time. The train station is attached to a very LONG shopping mall and even though a nice couple had told us to cut through the V&R department store as a shortcut, we still knew it would be close. As we got to our platform we saw people running, but we didn't - mistake. We only had about 16 feet to go when the train started moving. This kind of thing is not new to us. Many times we have come close to missing a flight or a train but we usually make it. In fact, the last time we missed a train was in Ostend, Belgium in 1977. But, that wasn't our fault. The ferry from Dover, England was late and the trains in Europe don't wait. Not a bad record.

So, you sit down and wait for the next train that leaves in 30 minutes but shows up within 20 minutes and you can board. 30 minutes later we're in Soest.

Linda cooks some chicken and I watch some dumb TV shows. And, Linda made some gluten-free pancakes.

Friday, May 29

Up at 5:15 to take Joke and Kees to the airport. Not as hard as I thought. Of course, this is the regular way it goes so we're used to it. In fact, that's the pleasant part of coming here to Holland: everything is familiar. We know where everything is: towels, utensils, stores, and neighbors.

There was no room in the car for Linda so I returned from the airport all alone. Once back, we had a cup of coffee and then walked to town to buy eggs, etc. We ate breakfast and then took an hour nap. After that we watched 2 episodes of Grace and Frankie on Netflix. We suggest you check it out if you haven't already. The weather looked threatening for rain. Linda wanted to go for a walk but I put her off. At 6:00 she said she was going so, I relented and sure enough it started to rain. One large umbrella worked for us.

You find sculptures all over.

Home sweet home.

Then it was back home to eat Joke's leftovers. Linda added some chicken we had bought in the morning and I opened the bottle of wine that Kees left here.

The rest of the evening was spent watching Netflix programs on the computer and reading. Netflix doesn't offer as many programs over here as they do at home, so we had to look around a bit for something we wanted.

Life is tough.

Thursday, May 28

Kees and Joke needed to get ready to leave, so we tried to stay our of their way. That meant we just sat around most of the day and watched them run around.

By late afternoon, Linda thought we should prepare dinner, but there wasn't anything in the cupboard so, we took them out to De Smickel (pancake restaurant). Before we drove there, Kees showed us where a little tea garden restaurant was located in Eemnes. The owner had a farm he didn't know what to do with, so he turned it into a tea garden. This is a place we might take Heidi and Doug when they arrive. It was after closing, so we just saw the outside. Nice looking gardens from what we could see.

Here we are driving around the countryside.

Then onto eat pancakes. This is a traditional Dutch dish that is somewhat like a pizza but the crust is softer more like a crepe and like a pizza you can select a variety of toppings. And, they have non-gluten crusts.

This is mine with minced meat, onions, mushrooms, and parsley. Very tasty. Joke had a dollop of ginger on hers with powdered sugar.

Here we are in the shadows. Beer goes well with this. I like Westmuller Dubbel not to be confused with Duvel but sometimes it is.

Then it was back home to finish the cherry and strawberry cobbler left over from last night's dinner with a little vanilla ice cream. Yes, we both ate it. Hopefully, we won't suffer. It was good.

Then it was an early bedtime because we all needed to get up around 5:00 to take them to the airport.

Wednesday, May 27

Did you know that Cape Horn is named after a city in The Netherlands called Hoorn? Yes, true. The Dutch East Indian Company held a monopoly for using that passage and a Dutchman named it after the city he had sailed from in the 1600's. Also, it happens that Henry Hudson, an Englishman, contracted to the Dutch East Indian Company, sailed his Half Moon ship from Hoorn and found what we call the Hudson River and Hudson Bay. He was looking for a northern passage to get to spices in southeast Asia.

Kees took us for a walking tour of the town. 

Then later, we drove along some of the famous dykes - look up at the water, look down at the land and houses. 

We ended up at Edam, a town we have been to several times. Of course, they sell Edam cheese. 

Coffee was at the outside seating by the canal. The day was partly cloudy and somewhere in the 60's. Yes, we got away from the heat. 

Dinner was an Indonesian dish prepared by Joke and attended by son Frank and his wife Evelyn and new daughter Emmie. We don't normally get to see them, so we had a nice visit. Linda calmed the baby with a short foot rub. Are we surprised?

After they left, Linda worked on Kees' feet. She had worked on Joke's in the morning.

Because the sun doesn't set until after 10:00, it becomes 11:00 before you know it. 

Our 50th Anniversary Trip

We arrived in San Francisco on 

Saturday, October 18. 

Got in the car and drove to Walnut Creek. We had lunch with Britta and Alex, at the club. They have a lovely little house in a beautiful neighborhood. We enjoyed it very much.

It took us an hour and a half to drive to our resort in the little town of Windsor, in the Sonoma Valley. We were so tired from traveling all day, we decided we did not need dinner. So we went straight to bed.  We actually slept all night.

Sunday

After we got up we drove to the little town of Windsor and had a lovely breakfast. On our return, we went straight to the clubhouse and scheduled a body 

massage. I scheduled an organic herbal salt scrub body massage.  We were both very happy with our masseuses. 

After a rest we decided to drive to Healdsburg. It is a lovely little town and we decided to eat at a place called Mateo's.  I had lamb enchiladas and Bill had pork tacos. And of course, let's not forget margaritas. It was very good but kind of expensive for a Mexican restaurant. I wouldn't mind going back there again someday.

Monday 

We decided it was time for a mud bath. We made several phone calls before we just decided to drive to Calistago and just walk in for an appointment. We were pleasantly surprised that they had room for both of us. We had about 45 minutes before our appointment, so we decided we had enough time for our espresso. It's a coffee shop called Yo la Reye.  They had organic coffee and gluten-free cookies. What more could we ask for?

Still time for shopping. Bill wanted a light quilted vest like mine. And he found one, it's green. He really likes it, looks good on him. 

We were almost late for our appointment.We had what they call "the works": mud bath, Jacuzzi, sauna, wrapped up in a 

blanket, facial, and an hour massage. 

Fantastic! 

After our massage we strolled down the street and found a organic burger bar. We both had hamburgers, no bun, no cheese. It was very nice.

We came back to the apartment watched two movies and went to bed. I might add the two movies we saw we have seen before. 

Tuesday 

We decided to drive to the Pacific Ocean. Before we got in the car to make our day trip, I fixed us breakfast: farm fresh eggs, fresh mushrooms from the local farmer, and organic spring onions, cooked with California organic olive oil. It was quite tasty. All the ingredients were purchased at the farmers market in Windsor.  

Now with our Tummy's happy we can set off for the day. First stop, Windsor for some cash. Second stop, Armstrong Redwood Forest. That is an amazing place! We drove 

to the very top, it is called Bullfrogs Pond. It saddens me to report there is no water in the Bullfrogs Pond.  

We continued our drive over to the Pacific ocean. We turned north on Route one toward Jenner, we are looking for a coffee place. (The little town of Jenner is at the mouth of the Russian river.) That didn't work so we turned around and started south on Route 1. We stopped at the end of Bodega Bay at Fishermen's Cove for a lovely fish lunch.  On our way back to the apartment in Windsor we came through a little town called Sebastopol and there we found 

another little coffee shop. After our afternoon espresso, we found a lovely organic grocery store.  

Wednesday 

Breakfast. Pedicures and manicure in Windsor. Then to Healdsburg to the Toad Hollow Winery Shop for some wine tasting. Robin William's brother owns it. We joined their club and sent a case back to Florida to be delivered to Dan's house because he stays home more than we do. Dan said he would save the empty bottles 

for us. It was time to leave the wine shop and go back to our room. Back in our place we soon decided we were hungry. A coupon for Tomi Thai's took us back to Windsor, which must take us at least 10 minutes to get to town. A small neighborhood restaurant with close tables, good food but could not use coupon 

because we were not hungry enough. We gave our coupon to the people beside us. They had a bottle of wine already on their table and they were having appetizers and soups and entrées they were going to be there for a while so they got our 10% off coupon. Back to our place and a glass of wine. Sweet dreams!

Thursday

It was time to go to some vineyards. After our slow morning we set out to Napa Valley. A large circle was on the plan, thus meant we would have to use some roads that we had already been on. We really don't like to retrace unless we find something we have to visit again. Another mud bath would be good if it 

were free. Alas, it is not. . So, we did smile as we drove through the lovely little town of Calistoga. Ah fresh memories of mud, food, espresso, and let us 

not forget the nice people who took care of all our needs. Now we are off to the Sterling Vineyard. This was came recommended by cousin David. Sorry  David. They wanted too much money to ride to the top of their hill and they would not sell us any wine with a tasting below. We already spent our money on 'mud'! Back in 

the car and down the road we went without any events.  

Of course we still had to stop in the town of Napa. There was construction on the main streets in town because of the earthquake they had about six weeks ago. We decided to go to the visitor center. The lady there just loved living in Napa 

and suggested that we look around their little town. So we went to a restaurant right on the river, it was very nice. 

Then we went out to the area she told us to look at for housing and see what the place was like it look like a very nice little town.

We also drove around Santa Rosa in town and out around the outskirts. Just a scenario running through our minds. We weren't impressed with Santa Rosa. So after a coffee at Pete's Café we continued up the road. It's too early for wine; we still have a ways to go to get home. According to plan it was time to jump on 

the highway route 101 and head back to Windsor. The place we called home this week. 

Friday. 

We finally took this ride on Friday our special day on our way to San Francisco. 

Fly in a WWII plane. Sonoma Valley. It was really nice. We actually flew to SF to see the city and the Golden Gate Bridge that was trying to hide behind the clouds. That was the only time I was a bit nervous. It truly was a smooth ride. 

We called Chris several times trying to set a time but the weather just was not cooperating with us. Chris kept saying it was not a good day for a ride. He was a very nice man and didn't want to go up if we couldn't see the beautiful vineyards. 

2015 Trip to Holland

We started this Holland trip with a celebration of Heidi's 50th birthday. Yeah, I know, can you believe it? My sister, Cherry Lynn and her boyfriend, Robert, came to visit from California and stayed with us in the DC condo. We celebrated The Day with a brunch at the Rusty Scupper in Baltimore with all of us including Nicholas and Sara. 

Linda, Cherry Lynn, and Heidi

Later in the week, all of us except Nicholas and Sara did the Little Italy thing by eating at Sabatino's and then visiting Vaccaros (special dessert restaurant). 

I can't go to Vaccaro's without eating a popover. Yummy. No matter how hard you try you overeat doing that sort of thing. 

A few days later we meet Janie and Dan for lunch at Southside in Alexandria for lunch and gave them back their car that we had borrowed and turned over Penelope to Cherry Lynn and Robert. 

Everyone eating

Janie and Dan drop us off at Dulles and we're off.

Tuesday: We have arrived in Holland. Yea for us. We have escaped the heat in both Florida and Washington, D.C. It was starting to get close to 90 degrees, so we had to leave. We have found the 60's again - a down vest and scarf and jeans and sweater, big difference.

We flew out of Washington, Dulles yesterday on Aer Lingus. Just fine and on-time. We watched two movies: an Irish one and Into the Woods instead of sleeping - probably a mistake. 

We had a 4 hour layover in Dublin. When you fly Aer Lingus, you stop in Dublin. We had a traditional Irish breakfast, which looks and tastes a lot like a traditional English breakfast: fried egg, bangers (sausages), ham, mushroom, broiled tomato, potato cake, blood sausage and white sausage.

After that and a cup of coffee, we were ready to go to bed, but no beds in the terminal. 

Finally, onto the plane and an hour and 10 minutes later we land at Amsterdam's Schipol Airport. Then the regular customs routine and out into the terminal to meet Kees. He drives us to Soest, chat some with both Kees and Joke and then a power nap while they go to a appointment.

Later they took us to a restaurant called La Place. Cafeteria style where you pick what you want cooked. The place was disorganized but the food was good. We all had the Wok dishes with rice and a salad.

Long day but well worth it.