I think I left off in Amsterdam before heading to visit relatives. Okay. So we ran to the grocery store the next morning for some breakfast and snacks, and then jumped on a train to Amersfoort, where Nolan’s uncle was picking us up and taking us to their home in the country. Arriving at their house felt like coming home, and after days and days of traveling and living in weird hotels/gift shops like the place we stayed at in Amsterdam, sitting on a nice couch in a warm home and being served the most DELICIOUS things I have ever tasted and some freshly made coffee just the way we like it = heaven. Plus it was nice to just sit for awhile and catch up with his aunt and uncle. We spent the rest of the day like that, and they helped us get situated in the lovely bed and breakfast they were having us stay at just down the road. Seriously: best place we have ever stayed at, including our honeymoon I think. We had our own little cabin looking out onto the garden, and had a huge clean room decorated like a Dutch cottage in the woods…which it was, complete even with wine and chocolate awaiting our arrival. Whew! We had dinner that night with his aunt and uncle, and got to meet his cousins as well, and had just a wonderful time chatting with everybody. After dinner they served us coffee and liqueur with crème on top; the kind that you have to eat with a tiny silver spoon. It was incredible! Needless to say, after we said our goodnights, we slept the best we had all trip. Seriously amazing. The next morning we packed up and headed out for a drive with his aunt and uncle across miles and miles of Holland. We stopped in a tiny town at a coffeeshop that is hundreds of years old and had more coffee and biscuits and liqueur with crème on top :) Then we moved on to see the smallest town in Holland, and have a ferry take our car across a wide river. More driving, and we arrived in Arnhem, the town where Nolan’s family has a lot of history. We stopped in at the local bakery and got some more treats, and walked around a little bit, and then hopped back in the car to head to Den Haag, to meet more relatives!
When we arrived there, we had drinks and cookies with Nolan’s great aunt, a woman who is truly amazing for her age, and she showed us around her tiny house and showed us a lot of the family history and the most beautiful dollhouse I have ever seen, that she and her husband made entirely by hand! Hopefully I can post a picture of that soon, because it was amazing! We stopped to visit more cousins and see the beautiful home where they lived, and then we drove off to admire the Parliament buildings, and the Palace of Justice, where famous criminals through the ages have been brought from around the world. Incredible how much history this tiny country has. After a full day on the road, we finally arrived back in Amsterdam, said our goodbyes to our lovely aunt and uncle, and went looking for our accomodation for the night: a hotelboat anchored on one of the docks near Central Station. We were put up in the crew's cabin, which apparently is code for "tiniest cabin ever made", where you can't even close the door to the bathroom because it will hit your thighs, and this was bad news because we were both somewhat...uh..."sick". We went out on the town one last time to get any other souvenirs we would need as well as dinner and breakfast for the next morning, and then headed home, and tucked ourselves in our tiny bunkbeds (!) for the night.
There isn't much to say about the next time period, because it just involved us hopping on multiple planes and trains, etc., and wanting to give up and sleep on the streets instead of waiting for our muni home, but FINALLY (after firmly establishing what I have long known to be true: that the San Francisco Municipal Railway system is one of the worst in the world), we fell into bed with Milo, in our own home at last. Time of arrival at home: 9:30pm
Time of arrival at work this morning: 8:30am. That's inhumane. And yet, it was my own choice. Sometimes I question my own sanity. Although, I think I was partially antsy to get back just to ensure that my inbox wasn't about to explode with something of dire importance. Other than being a little sleepy--and I used Starbucks to cure that malady--it wasn't too bad. Although I can definitely identify with this, and confess to thinking these EXACT things before, during, and after my vacation (click to enlarge):
ps-Our last night in amsterdam we bought a kilo of french fries with sate sauce. Do you know how much fries that is? TOO MUCH.
Quote of the day:
"Ash: hahaha: wayne brady is on this episode of stargate. Whyyy? Hes not even doing something funny or musical."
1 comment:
I like being your quotes of the day. It makes me feel validated.
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