Europe Day 4 - on to Germany

Wednesday May 31

Time to say "good bye" to Holland. But first of course breakfast. If you read yesterday's blog you know that Jetlag had caught up with William big time. After he fell into bed I was wondering what might happen with the rest of the night. Can't remember when I fell asleep but at 00:36 he was standing next to my bed. I hoped that the night wasn't over for me yet. 

He crawled into my bed and was asleep right away again. After a while I crawled out of the bed and into his. We both slept till at least after 7 am. He woke up and announced that he was "well rested". 

I looked it up. This photo was taken 8:53 am. We are supposed to be out of the rooms at 10:30 so we have a nice leasurely breakfast. And, yes you guessed it, another "Burr egg".

 

Inge had woken up at 6 am and had secured two of the hotel trolleys. So when we had everything packed up (which is much easier when you travel by car) we loaded up the cars. 

When we settled the front desk bills we asked and where told we had till 12 noon in the garage. So we decided to go for a little walk. 

 

Across the entry to the hotel another dune. 

 

Lovely view from there. 

 

 

And then we went our ways. We had two cars but William had trouble understanding that we couldn't be together. 

I had again trouble with the in-car navigation system. It sent us the wrong way again. If you don't know the way it is difficult to understand what is happening. But I was suspicious. After too long I pulled over and dug our GPS out of my suitcase. Yeah, I was much happier after that. 

My son-in-law Ben (William's Dad) will be happy to know that I NEVER drove faster then we are allowed in the USA (even so I was allowed). Once we stopped. We had to enter the toilets through a turnstile after inserting money. I admit that I figured that William and I were small enough to squash through one. William was fascinated by the seats which cleaned there own rings if you pressed a button. 

 

William decided that he didn't fancy any of the food the cafeteria style place offered and we moved on. 

I think we were at my sister Ute's at about 2:30 pm. She was gone for a brief errant so we walked to my bank to get some cash. The walk was good for us. 

Then we had bread with cheese at Ute's and we all enjoyed it. The three of us then went to very near Westerholt where William and I will stay in an empty apartment Ellen and Willy own. They are Manu's parents.  It is sooooo nice of them. 

After a while Manu and Tobias joined us there. Tobias is my sister Ute's son. Complicated? My nephew. 

From the apartment we went for a walk. We went into the old village which is so charming. The houses are all what you call timbered. Manu and Tobias had also brought there dog and William was happy to take her leash. 

 

 

We passed a playground. Can you tell that the young couple have two boys (teenagers now).

 

 

VIDEO

 

We walked around Schloß Westerholt which has a moat. I was fascinated with this view. The side of the castle mirrored in the moat where an old Christmas tree floated with a nest on it. Somebody is sitting on it. Can you see?

 

A lovely restaurant just outside the castle where I have been several times. The weather was gorgeous and we sat outside under the huge old chestnut tree. William entertains himself by playing with the beer mats. Yup, some of us had really good ice cream. 

 

 

We walked back to the apartment. Had to bring Ute back in our car, had a sandwich with her and apples out of her garden (from last year). William tried to watch some TV (which is not better then in the USA) and faded. So we called it a day and went to the apartment. 

Thanks to the generosity of Manu's parents we also have Internet. So my phone works and iPads too. William did FaceTime with Papa and Mommy on their Camino.  All is good there. They have already written some lovely blogs (both their own) you don't want to miss. We are all so blessed. 

Oh, and I am fading now too. Night night.