Oom Its's birthday celebration was on Saturday 2nd July - and we were invited. We needed to accompany Jo's mum which involved a combination of tram, train, bus to Amstelveen. Phew. We turned up at 2:30 to see Oma standing on the pavement waiting for us. No pressure!
The trip up went ok. Not much waiting between connections - Dutch public transport really is efficient. If the bus says it will turn up at 3:35 - then if you are there at 3:36 you can wave it goodbye. We arrived in Amstelveen to be greeted by sun and the table set up in the garden. After a few cloudy days it was great to sit in the sun sipping bubbly - wehay. Lizette and Johan turned up followed by Frits's sister Els. Was getting reasonably well settled in but just managed the five minute walk down to the Molen - a poncy as restaurant set in a windmill dating back to the seventeenth century. I have to admit I quite like white shirted waiters and waitresses fawning over me - the meal was pretty damn good - lots of smaller courses served one after the other and plenty of vino. Danielle had her drinking boots on. Even little Viv got a couple of glasses of wine down her, that devil. The trip home was eventful to say the least. We had the great idea (or it least it seemed ike a great idea at the time) of arranging an Uber home for Oma who would be accompanied by Viv and Jo. Danielle, the trooper, offered to accompany me on the public transport option. After a lovely few hours sitting on our chuff eating and drinking, the hard out sprint to the Amstelveen bus station was interesting to say the least. We made it - and arrived at Schipol in time for the train to Den Haag HS - so much in time I thought I could buy a bottle of water - and to then make a long story short, Danielle got the instructions wrong which made us miss the train. Danielle says she has a different version but this is my blog so this is now the officially sanctioned story. waited half an hour for the next train. Arrived at Den Haag too late to catch the last tram home. Got a taxi ride from Lewis Hamilton's cousin -hence arrived back at the Jagersmast prerrty damn late. Well we thought we had the best story . . . nah. Oma apparently was displeased King Richard wasnt sharing the uber cab with her. Danielle was apparently partially missed - but it was pretty much my fault for the whole trip to Den Haag. The taxi driver must have had an interesting time. Basically 12 hours (from leaving to arriving back) to have dinner. Worth it I reckon - experiences like that are priceless . . !
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After going to see Tarzan (us all) and then Mary Poppins (Jo, Danielle and Viv) we were keen to see the musical Beauty and the Beast at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen. Definitely didn't disappoint . . .
The Circus Theatre was literally 100m from our apartment. We got dressed up - well as much dressed up as we could with our holiday clothes collection. For a Thursday night I was surprised to see a full house. Lots of excited families and kids running around . . . The story starts with a prince who is a bit of a shit - gets turned into a beast by an old witch with an "out" that if someone falls in love with him before his rose loses all his petals, he will turn back into his original form. Belle from the village falls in love with him and he presto. That was a bit of a quick plot summary . . . Music was pretty cool. Great seats. Great night. Tuesday Jo invited her Mum, Desiree, Wouter and Lizette for dinner at the Jagersmast.
After some deliberation and scouting out the local shops we chanced upon a slager which provided ready made meals. Yay. We pre-ordered a kilo and a half of Nasi Goreng and a ton of chicken kebab sticks. Then after a bit of salad preparation by Danielle - klaar . . . ! All so easy.My job was to navigate the parking system and be on duty to welcome our guests at the entrance to the parking garage. No worries - I'm an ex boy-cub. It was such a nice evening. Desiree and Wouter were lovely guests. Desiree was the personal secretary to Prince Claus (husband of Queen Beatrix) and met Wouter when they were at school together in Indonesia. Desiree has been a good friend to Jo's Mum for some time now. A real saint. Wouter was the first person I have met who suffers from a respiratory disease caused by asbestos. Such a sad sight seeing him struggle to get breath into his lungs and in real distress. I have dealt with asbestos before in my job (Eraring and WorkSafe) - its a cruel disease and its good the world has woken up and taken notice. Lizette turned up a bit later and, despite a shower of rain which put paid to our plans to eat outside, its was a great evening. The next day we decided to take the bikes - started with a visit to see Gerry's grave. It is such a peaceful place and good to reflect on Gerry's life - he was a thoroughly nice man. He left us way too early. From there onto the Peace Palace and onto the shops. I had bravely said I would buy some jeans but found it all too daunting and so much choice. So I didn't. Visited Jo's mum on the way back - we bought some tonic to go with the gin we discovered in the kelder - score! 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. 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 . . . !!! |