A DIFFERENT VIEW OF AMSTERDAM

As I am spending a week at my son's house in Ijburg I wanted to show you a modern part of Amsterdam where probably only a few tourists go. It is located in the outskirts of  Amsterdam but only at around 8 km (5 miles). It's a very modern area and ideal for young couples with children.

As there is not many room in Amsterdam the houses are attached and usually have 4 floors, which means a lot of steps !



Here is the street and below left his house. Most of the houses have benches outside to sit and chat or watch the children. There are not many cars, only bikes and parking in the street is very expensive. Each house owner has a place in a common garage and you are allowed to only keep one car, otherwise you have to pay the parking fee of 2.50 Euros/hour !!



There are all kinds of big toys on the sidewalk and hundreds of bikes. The cats also have their space !



These pictures show the back of the houses. Each house has a big terrace and the residents try to make the best out of it so that it looks like a little garden. The one of my son is below left. Of course for me coming from Belgium where we have even in Brussels a lot of space except in the very poor areas, this seems strange to me. But these houses are very expensive and have a big success, because there are close to Amsterdam and very modern. There is everything you need, schools, shops, playgrounds and sports clubs.



Toby my grandson and I walked along the canals to the nearby harbor where we had a delicious ice cream.



These people had their lunch just besides their boat ! Nice place to live when you have a boat just at the back door !



In 10 min walk you are also at a little beach, where we went and father and son did a little swim, because it was quite hot !




Our T-shirts didn't really fit the reality I had a cat and he a dog !



In the evening we had a barbecue which was delicious.

Toby and I are on holidays, the parents have to work ....






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FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

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1. From warm spring weather we returned to winter again, with rain and cold temperatures around only 10°C (50F). Impossible to continue any garden work. So I stayed inside and only went out to pick up my neighbor at hospital, where she had got her monthly eye shot. The poor woman had gone with her daughter in the morning for a check up and had been diagnosed a tyroid cancer ! But she is very brave and fights and made me laugh the whole way back, describing all the examination with a lot of humor !

2. I started with feeling an oppression in my chest and didn't feel well at all. I felt hot then cold, then both together and finally went to bed with a thick pajama and a jacket and was still feeling cold.
I woke up coughing and it was worse. The whole day I swallowed pills against a cold and took coughing syrup, but it didn't get better.

3. Finally I called our doctor and he came immediately. He knows that if I call it must be something serious. I hadn't seen him for such a long time ! His diagnosis was : Bronchitis ! Now I was really worried because next Tuesday I go on my long planned trip through the UK. But he comforted me and prescribed antibiotics and said that I would be OK to go on my trip ! We know each other since we moved to Waterloo some 38 years ago, when he was a very young doctor and had just started working. Next year he will retire.

4. Mr. G. came back from Italy and looked good, at least he had got some colors although he never lays in the sun. Of course there was a lot to tell and finally despite his reluctance to go to the Garda Lake to visit his sister and some friends, he was now happy about his holidays. And they had very good and warm weather.

5. My son sent me some pictures from the "3 generation" holidays together.



The men still friends since the 50th have changed a little bit ....



But the dining room is still the same even the rifles are still hanging on the wall



It seemed so strange to me to see my little Grandson Toby, playing at the same places and the same games as his father did 37 years ago. It was just feeling like yesterday.



Above left you can see the three generations, besides it's our friend cuddling Toby the same way she once did with his dad. My sister in law and niece also behaved the same way, except that our niece was a young girl then and Daddy didn't play with an Ipad ! Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture showing us as a young family at the same place ! My DIL after a few days joined them for a long weekend, it was too hard for her to be separated from her little son.

Maybe next time I will go with them if we all go and not only the men !

Now I am waiting that I get well again !

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

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