Trip in Holland Airbnb / Day 18

Thursday April 23

Somehow it feels the end of vacation is near.  After breakfast we took a look what is in the back of the house. We had discovered there seemed to be a walkway. 

There was a canal and we looked left and right. When it is a bit warmer probably very nice to sit on that bench.

 

Corry googled and suggested to have a look at Den Helder. It was only about 5 miles.

Except … we missed a turn. It immediately changed our route instead of telling us to turn. It was more like wondering for 40 years in the wilderness but of course we still had fun. Especially when we encountered a closed street the map didn’t know about but we found soon that the yellow sign with the C means detour. The line must mean end of it. 

Finding a parking place in the centrum was a bit of a challenge but we were lucky. 

We asked two teenage girls what there was to see. The answer: nothing and that it was little and boring (there words in English). But we walked a little around anyway. 

The water tower looked like it might have a viewing platform on top but is was not open. 

There was a strip of grass though with several sculptures. All seem to depict craftsmanship.

Corry thought we should drive towards were the ferry leaves for the island Texel. 

That was a good idea. No problem with parking either.

A very cold wind blew on the Dijk though. 

We walked to the end and back on the lower street were the wind didn’t blow. Ute found a very good place (watching dogs at a training school).

Back at the house we enjoyed sitting in the sun. Corry suggested to take a photo of us for our friends John and Sherry they know too. 

Corry and Ute plandered the fridge and made a lovely dinner with all the leftovers. 

And yes, we played cards and had a good time until it was time to "call it a day".

Step count: 7,447   (oh oh, Fitbit told me also that my sleep duration was only 4 hr 59 min)

Trip in Holland Airbnb / Day 17

Wednesday April 22

Look at that blue sky! The air was still "crisp" and a cold wind was blowing but we all kept saying that we felt lucky. Strangely there seem to be more people at the beach as on Sunday but it was fun to especially see the little children. 

We had found a sheltered place on the restaurant terrace but after a while James and I needed some steps. Ute preferred to enjoy sitting in the sun.

This time we walked in the other direction. After a while we met the others coming back and turned around too. We also found a walkway which was not so difficult to walk.

Ah, the fresh sea air! And the Dutch beer is not bad too. Did I mention that there is a lot of different alcohol free beer and even wine and champagne available now?

Here are some more photos from Maren.

After a little time at the airbnb we decided to have a look at Callantsoog. Maren has a friend who recommended a visit there. We parked in the city center and saw right away that one house got his reed roof renewed or repaired. Interesting. Amazing what you can learn when you google ... for example water reed vs straw roofs. 

We found the recommended restaurant Fishy One of us needed a toilet and the public ones in the middle of the market place needed special  swiping cards. I went into the restaurant to ask since we were planing to come and eat there but a little later whether we could use the toilets. The answer was that we could use them even if we were not eating there. Very nice people behind the counter.

But it was too early to eat and some of us wanted to do some shopping. 

And we were very lucky. We used some of our new treasures in the evening. You will see!

We all met again around 6 pm at Fishy. It is a simple place. You order and pay and get a buzzer so you know when to pick your things up.

A few of us had the fish soup. I did. It was very nice and came even with dark bread and a salad.

Maren and Gregor, which we named the "young people", got the rest of the order.

We were told that you have to eat Kibbeling (Dutch seafood snack) when you are here. It was very good and even though it is fried and the fries too, it was not greasy at all.

Corry and Werner were married on April 23 (tomorrow) 50 years ago. Because Maren and Gregor are leaving in the morning they wanted to pay for dinner as some celebration.

Maren and Gregor volunteered to compose the congratulatory card. The poem was very nice and we all enjoyed it when it was read later at the house.

Gregor knew how to make us nice music through the TV and he even found the wedding march. Then we all celebrated a little, even made little speeches. For Corry, Werner, James and me it had been such a special time.

And then we tried out our new purchases. 

In one of the shops we had found these card holders. We had found something very similar in Salzburg 2 years ago but they are much longer. These are even more practical. Ute and Corry are also very happy about the find.

It had been really a very nice day again. It had been a little warmer which made it even more comfortable. 

Stepcount: 10,821      Great!