For the last 12 days of the holiday we decided to base ourselves at Scheveningen in a cute AirBnB in the Jagersmast. Fantastic situation right next to the beach. Two bedrooms, light and airy - just perfect spot to base ourselves. Jo's mum is 30 minutes walk or 10 minutes by bike (we hired bikes after 3 days).
I juts love Scheveningen. At first glance it is everything that used to make me cringe about European beaches when I was growing up - basically built up and busy. But you have to tink differently and accept/embrace differences from what we are used to in NZ. Its just a whole lot of fun here. Beach tents stretch for as far as the eye can see (well almost). They are an amazing phenomenon - whole cafes get erected on the beach at the beginning of summer, and broken down and taken away at the start of winter. On Sunday the girls took off for a festival in Amsterdam. Techno shit. Don't be home too late we said. OK we said. 7am they come tripping in . . . Dani lost her phone and wallet. Bugger Sunday Jo and I took a real nice walk down the beach. Went to the very last strand tent which was absolutely beautiful inside. The day was hot and sunny.
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Jo and I decided to take off on a cycling expedition while the girls went to Amsterdam.
I remember Oude Kerk from my gardening days in Amsterdam in 1991. I worked a day a week for Mevrouw Donner with a beautiful garden on the Amstel, close to Oude Kerk. I also worked for a lady called Monique, one day of which I brought Dave Hartshorn who was travelling through Holland with Sarah. I recall we laid a lawn that day - the beer tasted great when we arrived back at Marco Polo Straat. Jo planned a great route which is used by cyclists for training. The ride from Amstelveen to Oude Kerk was a bit on the dull side. But once we got to Oude Kerk, the countryside transformed into farms land, quaint villages and the meandering Amstel River. Coffee was the first order of the day. Actually its the first order of every day. Then basically a cruise around the cycle route along the river. About 25 km all up so KAPOW you Taupo round the lake cycle competitors . . Part of the route involved taking a ferry boat which take passengers over the other side of the river - 75c each bike so thats about the cheapest entertainment we have had to date. This is a shot of the girls at Rembrandtplein. Here they have recreated, with statues, the famous Nachtwacht painting by Rembrandt van Rijn which hangs in the Rijksmuseum. After only arriving in the Netherlands on Monday morning I think Viv and I are doing pretty well (just quietly) to be heading off on another day's adventure - this time to Amsterdam. We head off on the bus again and get deposited in the middle of Amsterdam. I feel I know this place but struggle to remember lots of the detail from my 7 months living with Jo in 1991. Well it was 25 years ago so maybe I have an excuse? Its raining when we arrive. The Spuistraat with its promise of funky art and graffiti is all a bit so-so to be honest. So we quickly flag that and head for the Albert Cuyp Markt - apparently one of the biggest markets in Europe. The sun had well and truly come out by this stage so I looked a bit of a dork carrying my umbrella. Stall after stall - some original stuff but lots and lots of standard Amsterdam souvenirs. I got some sunnies to add to my collection of $5 eye protection . . . hey big spender. Next a cruise to the Vondel Park and on to de Hallen - a really amazing set of trendy cafes and shops all built within an old tram depot. Very very cool. And from there onto dinner with Miriam in Cafe Edel - a new cafe (well it wasn't there 25 years ago) with a great vibe and seating outside right by the canal. Miriam volunteered with Jolanda in Portugal and so they go way back. Was really nice hanging out with bevende bever and catching up on old times.
Heading home after dinner we detoured via 82 Marco Polo St where Jolanda had her old flat and we lived together for those 7 months in 1991. Jolanda still has lingering doubts about giving her flat up all those years ago. We had some great times there - I have special memories of the old style kitchen and balcony where we put our feet up at the end of the day and shared a heineken - or two . . . Wednesday June 22nd was our first day of biking
The Amsterdamse Bos is a stones throw from CoCo and Its's house. A massive park which was built by unemployed people back when the economy wasn't so great. Its just beautiful with a huge number of cycle and walking paths, a rowing lake (de Bosbaan) and . . .wait for it . . . a geiten boerderij (goat farm).
We had a great time biking and stopping off for coffees and snacks. Oh and the goats were pumping too . . . I had always been curious about Haarlem. Jo always talked about how beautiful it was so I jumped at the chance to see it. Off to Amstelveen bus station and caught the number weet ik veel to Haarlem Central Station.
Haarlem is the capital of the province of North Holland and is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe. Haarlem had a population of 155,758 in 2014. It is a 15-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and many residents commute to the country's capital for work. I got this from Wikipedia by the way. Its a nice place. We made our way slowly to the Central market place which is dominated by the enormous St Bavo Cathedral. It was a good place to chill with a coffee while the girls shopped. My shopping enthusiasm lasted about 10 minutes which is quite good for me. Found a great coffee shop for lunch (not the Amsterdam kind of coffee shop just to be clear). Here the waiting staff all had some kind of disability and so obviously someone was giving them a chance in life. So nice to see. The fact i ordered drinks when i should have been ordering food didn't go down too well - maybe some autistic stuff going on. Anyway I got the drink so that was the main thing . . . Saw a beautiful hofje. A hofje is basically a courtyard with houses built around - built to house (normally) women with no means to pay. So essentially these are the equivalent of our state houses. All in all a very nice day trip. Beautiful city. Sunday June 19 - the day has finally arrived. Been without Jo for three months now and its amazing to think that in a couple of days Viv and I will be seeing Jo and Danielle.
Little Viv arrived up Saturday morning from Dunners. Exams all done. Shots in town. Easy morning flight up. Dad there to meet and greet at the airport - nice life eh!? All packed. Stuff printed off covering all aspects of the trip and forgotten nothing. Well hopefully anyway. Nice offers of lifts from Wilma and Jessica but leaving at 7am might have strained those relationships . . . Airport check in - bye bye bags see you in Amsterdam. Off for a bit of luxury in Koru and pigging out big time on breakfast. And coffee. Flight to Auckland - all easy so far. Troop over to the international terminal and check in for the big kahuna flight. Malaysia airlines to KL pretty good. Nothing to write home about but really liked the fact there were only two seats on the side. Viv draped her legs over me so i felt like I was in the car travelling to Auckland with Moses all over again. KL airport was pretty ok but after 11 hours flight and it being 1am in the morning our time, it was all a bit difficult to get over excited about. Danielle suggested we check out the garden - closed. Viv then found us some couches to sit and watch a film I didn't understand so that filled out another hour before boarding our last flight. KLM to Amsterdam was the dogs bollocks. Great service with our very own Delft blue bag full of useful goodies like water and a sleeping mask. So easily pleased . . . Had a feed, watch a film and then slept for 3-4 hours. Woke up with just 4 hours to go. Baby. Surreal feeling landing at Schipol. We are actually landing in Holland. Where Jo and Danielle are sleeping right now. Customs a breeze. Got our bags. Sorted ourselves out with OV Chip Cards (the NZ snapper equivalent) and got a new Dutch chip in my phone. Thought about catching a bus to Amstelveen but then saw it was raining and didn't give that too many seconds more thought. Viv was enthusiastic about my idea of catching a taxi - a flash electric powered taxi cab with navman the size of an A4 page. Before we knew it we were pulling up in the Savornin Lohmanlaan - knocking at the door of number 49 and getting power hugs from Jo and Danielle. Yeah - we are here . . . !!! |