21 Aug 2017

WEEKEND August 19 - HOLLAND/MACRO MONDAY

Bad weather or not, I followed the invitation of my old schoolfriend and went for a long weekend to Holland where they have a cute little holiday house. My friend's father has bought it in the 70th, from a fisherman. In this street there are only German families now in the 2nd or 3rd generation, all bought at the same time. They are not far from Brussels, not even two hours drive.



The house had been transformed and renovated through the years and has become very comfortable



My friend has a big family so they needed space and they just transformed the attic into a huge bedroom one part with two beds separated by a wall where two beds and a little desk are standing while on the other side there are another 4 beds. So I had the choice ! The only difficulty was getting up there because the stairs were very steep. But after two days I got almost used of it.



Each day it rained but late afternoon the sun came out and we could sit in the garden. My friend and I know each other since 1951 in Bonn (Germany), then both fathers moved to Brussels to work for the Common Market which has become the European Union. Our ways separated when she returned to Germany to study and I remained in Brussels. Nevertheless we always stayed in contact at that time by letters of course. Over the years she had 3 children and I one son. She became a grandma of 5 very early and her eldest grandson is 30, the youngest just 6 ! We are both chatterboxes, but she even more than I, poor husband had to raise his voice to place a word ! There was so much to chat !



When I arrived she was busy to make jam and had filled it in glasses.

Because of the rainy weather I didn't do very much, I just chilled out. Despite (for me) cold weather (20°)  they both swam in the sea at the end of the day. I stayed home in the warmth. I didn't even want to come along to the beach ! Anyway they do everything by bike when they are here. The last time I rode a bike was probably 30 years ago or more and they are not the youngest once either my friend and I have both the same age 74 and the hubby is a little older.

On Saturday early morning I heard loud snoring through my earplugs, there were two men with their equipment in the garden to cut down the overgrown pine tree which took away all the sunshine.






The event was filmed and photographed for the eternity ! We assisted to the show and admired the men how quickly they worked.

When they were gone the garden seemed much bigger and lighter too. 





The last day I went with them by car and we had an ice cream on the beach. The beach wasn't very crowded but still swimmers in the sea !



The sunsets were often very beautiful !

Sunday afternoon I sadly drove home, I had such a nice time and digging in our childhood memories had been such a fun !



I had been in this area





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8 comments:

  1. As a holiday house, it is very nice. I see your friend's husband realised that he would not be joining in the conversation much, and so brought along a newspaper.

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  2. What an interesting visit you had with your friend!
    Have a wonderful week!

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  3. And on Friday I will make my way to Zwolle (a little to the North and much to the East of Amsterdam). It will most likely rain the whole way, but my stay in the Netherlands should be fine.

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  4. How good to catch up on all the news. At least you had some sunshine but I would never be persuaded to go swimming in the sea.

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  5. That was fun! Catching up with a friend and remembering old times .... they are hardy souls, biking everywhere and swimming even in cool weather! Very healthful I'm sure.

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  6. That is a nice cozy house. Glad you had fun catching up with your friend.

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