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!

Trip in Holland Airbnb / Day 16

Tuesday April 21

Manu and Tobi had to leave to go home early in the morning. We were sorry to see them leave but had been very happy to have some time with them. 

The group (now 7) decided to have an outing to Alkmaar, a town about 22 miles or 39 minutes away. We must have started off 10:30 or 11 am. This first picture is the Stadtskantoor were we parked in a parkhouse.

We were walking towards a place were we could go on a canal boat.

This statue said "kissing point" and James mimicked the action.

There were many old and interesting buildings. 

Maren and Gregor organized the boat's fahrt and then went shopping. 

The captain was also a very good tour guide. He said everything in Dutch, German and English. I just enjoyed looking at everything. Some houses were from the 1600s, 1700s, all the way to quite modern. It must be nice to live in a townhouse with your back patio being directly at a canal, especially if you also have a little boat and a dock.

This house is from 1557 and has a canonball embedded in its facade from a Spanish attack in 1573.

We went under 23 bridges and the captain always warned to bent down. Some bridges were extremly low. It was quite an adventure.

One more bridge. Maren is waiting...

...and made some photos!

We are not going far and have some refreshments. Hot chocolate. 

And then Maren and Gregor have to do more shopping. We all walk through the town. 

At about 3:30 pm we were at the Grote Kerk but it was closed and we could not go in. But we decided to go into the restaurant next to it. Seats were outside but with glass wind brake. It didn't take long and by chance Maren and Gregor caught up with us. We decided to eat and don't have to cook at the house.

Back at the house we had a fashion show first. Our younger generation had had fun.

Later we had a nice card game again with lots of chatting and laughing.

I have no idea but surely it got very late again.

Step count for the day: only 7,050 ... too much sitting in car and boat. But it had been fun.