Tag: Texel

Doei, Dag And Tot Ziens!

May 7th –

After breakfast, we packed up and checked out of the ‘hotel’.

We went to a farm/cheese factory to see if they had any smoked cheese to take back for my brother but to no avail. After being in there and experiencing the smell of farm animals and cheese making mixed together, I’m amazed I can still desire to eat any cheese 🤪

 

Pistachio ice cream was purchased at the cafe there though, being locally made and supplied from another place on the island.
It was very tasty 👌🏻
I’m not sure if I’ve began to enjoy the pistachio flavour more as I’ve aged or if it’s only lately become more popular, either way I’m happy about it 🤓

The family was going to go on an 25 or so kilometer bike to a lighthouse (and back).
The fact that I strongly dislike, and also am not very proficient at biking, made that idea a bit unappealing and the fact that it was cloudy and cold didn’t help Mikes desire to bike either, so we opted for taking the father-in-laws BMW 🤪👍🏻

We did consider renting a tandem bike, so I wouldn’t be in control of my own life 😜 but as we did, it began to rain and any thought of biking kind of dissipated 🙈

So we sat in the car with heated seats on for a little while before walking down some shopping streets, looking for a sweater for me and not finding one, so instead we bought food 🤪

One last Kapsalon to warm us from the streets dampness and then we drove to the lighthouse where we were to meet up with the rest of the fam.

We climbed up to see the view and walk through the small passage that actually went between the old lighthouse wall and the new one they built around it after the war. They had spotlights shining where bullet holes could still be seen in the stone of the old wall… I didn’t stay long enough to take a good picture as having close walls on each side and no opening in front of me isn’t my kind of ‘hang out’ spot.

The beach was then walked along, circling back to where the modes of transportation were, so we could go over to the Nord Cape restaurant.

A hot chocolate, fizzy nestle ice tea with lemon, loempias and a burger were ordered.


The need to pay more for a small glass of still water than for a pop, grew tiresome.
I rarely ever order a drink besides water when at home but when it costs more than a flavoured drink, the flavoured drink is what you end up going for 😬

A display in the restaurant caught my eye.

On it hung handcrafted necklaces made with driftwood and something else I couldn’t figure out.
Upon taking a closer look and Mich asking a staff member, it was found out that the colour dipped ends were made using melted down sea glass from the nearby beach, which actually glows in the dark! It’s a bit hard to explain and even harder to search due to most of the results being in Dutch but click this link to see a visual explanation of the natural ‘sea sparkle’, Zeevonk – Sea Sparkle.

Inge bought me a necklace as an early birthday gift 😉

We were told to check out the post situated outside of the restaurant, made using the same technique.

Once everyone was done biking, it was time to head back to the ferry and begin the trip back to the house.
We arrived there early, so ice cream was enjoyed to pass the time 😉

After the semi lengthy drive back and goodbyes to siblings, the packing began.
An extra bag was required and luckily we were allowed it so it didn’t cost us any extra and there was even an old bag of Mikes to use 🤪👍🏻

I think we got to bed around 1:00, having odds and ends to finish up come morning, before beginning the journey back to our home.

May 8th –

Breakfast awaited us and goodie bags for the upcoming travel too 😉👌🏻

We were driven to the train station and thus said our goodbyes to the parents… having had an enjoyable 2 weeks and 1 day with them ♥️

After the 1 hour ish train ride got us to Schiphol Airport, we stopped at the in airport grocery store for some last necessities.
Our classic travel snack of chicken sushi and one last ‘most delicious grape juice you’ll ever drink’.

Mike also got himself one last frikandel 🤪😷

The clocks in the airport are very entertaining… making it look as though there’s a man inside who cleans the glass and moves the clock hands 🤓

Our first flight was 8.5 hours… we dozed off and on but not a whole lot, as it was during our daytime hours.

Due to time change, we landed in Calgary approximately ‘one hour later’ 🤪 Four hours later we boarded for Saskatoon, getting picked up by my parents around 7:00 pm.

They had kindly gotten us some groceries so that we weren’t at home without cream for coffee etc. and then we went to re-meet the kittens and pet Atlas as much as possible before going to bed 😴💕👍🏻

May 9th –

Jet lag had us up by 4:30 am and so odds and ends were unpacked, though not seriously… just enough to get all the food goods out 🤪

Then a nearby garage sale was went to at 9:00, with the mom and sisters.

We ended up going along to town, to join them for plant shopping, not taking much of a slow’ post travel morning’ but having the ‘spring’ urge within 🤪

We also had much hunger within and wolfed down two double cheeseburgers that Canadian Tire was selling as our first meal back 😂👍🏻

 

Here ends the tale of our 4 week long trip.
I enjoyed getting to flex the writing muscle again and hope you all enjoyed a thing or two of it as well 😉

I feel like I’m brimming with inspiration from the trip and all the time I had to think…or maybe it’s just a list of stuff that now needs to get done around the house 🤪
If it’s the former, I hope to keep up the occasional appearance on here and tell you all about whatever semi interesting happenings come from that 😉

But who knows, I can be pretty persuasive about talking myself out of doing things, so maybe this is truly, ‘farewell’… or I can do as the Dutch and say a minimum of at least two terms of goodbye, ‘Doei! Dag! Tot ziens!’🤪

Familiarities And Familia

May 4th –

Mich and I headed to Intratuin, a shopping centre for gardening, home and building.

It was an indoor space with multiple stores, which was kind of required for the days weather indecision, going between rain, wind, sun, repeat 🤪

Lunch was eaten at ‘Baran’ in Germany.

Splitting a margarita pizza and each having our own form of Döner Kabab.
We left, bellies full, plates empty, Döner craving satisfied 🤓

Our nieces were then picked up, so we could take them out for some ice cream ☺️

Some little stores were looked in and the park stopped at and then a second ice cream was called for before heading to the German grocery store for schnitzel breading, meat seasoning and salami 🤓

The girls were then taken home, to let their two ice creams worth of energy run out there 🤪
We sat outside with coffee and sweets, the sun breaking through the clouds finally and when the win was calm, it was plenty hot enough to be enjoyable 👍🏻

One last broccoli tart was made for us for dinner and again, greatly enjoyed 😉👍🏻

 

May 5th –

 

Mich and I went to church in Germany again, enjoying a service preached by our old pastor.

 

We also enjoyed the same Greek restaurant again too, thinking it was perhaps a tad repetitive but also knowing we wouldn’t be having it again any time soon so repetition won out 🤪👍🏻

After lunch together, we drove to the house of some friends to visit awhile.
She whipped up a ‘typical Dutch’ loaf for us, which was very tasty. Savoury more than overly sweet and I hadn’t actually eaten it before.
Many people seem to have forgotten that I lived in Europe for over a year, telling me ‘very Dutch’ things and pointing out landmarks as if I have never been, so this loaf was an actual for real ‘first’ 😉

On our drive back to the house, this building was passed.

It had been driven by many a time before and every time, the oddity of it raised questions.
It’s windowless exterior can’t help but bring up creepy images of what may be happening inside 🙈

The rest of the evening was spent leisurely at the house, eating this and that and then packing up for spending the night at the Dutch island of Texel the next day.

Come Monday, it would be the first time that the children of my parents-in-law, their spouses and offspring would all be together, so it had been decided to take two days off and spend it all together at the Island.

 

May 6th –

 

The parents-in-law left early that morning to retrieve the brother and sister-in-law that were flying in from the states so we were going to catch a ride to the island with the other brother, sister-in-law and their kiddos.

That wasn’t until later in the morning so Mich used that time to quickly go visit a friend he’d yet to see before we hopped in with the siblings and nieces and headed to Texel.

They wanted to go to a museum with the kids for a little while in the town of Den Helder and Mich and I aren’t really museum folk, plus didn’t want to spend money on it, so we went and ate instead 🤪👍🏻

Because in the end that’s not a ‘waste’ of money either 😏… get it? 🤪💩

Back to the van and into the boat we went, taking a quick ferry across to the island.

 

The birds greatly enjoyed the snacks that had actually been brought for the humans to enjoy, but the humans ended up enjoying it most, via the birds entertainment 🤪👍🏻

Our ‘StayOkay’ hostel hotel was not one of our more luxurious stays but the beds were actually pretty comfy, the comforters thicker than most hotels and it felt clean, if only bare 😂
None of which are bad things and the ‘worst bit’ was probably the slightly jail-esque ambiance… not that we’ve been in jail to know but I feel like I can better image what a cell MAY feel like now 🤪

All the family arrived, settling into their rooms and freshening up before heading out to eat supper together before the family photoshoot at the beach.

The very cold beach 🙈🤪
Weather hadn’t cooperated and it was a windy, cloud covered, seaside temperature of 7 💨

Everyone did their best to ‘rush into their places and put smiles on their faces’ 🤓

 

Shivering strongly between pictures but getting it done within around 30 minutes and then heading into the restaurant that was situated on the beach.

I love the beach restaurants there…so many truly capture the coastal, beach vibe and have the weathered wood look 👌🏻🌊🐚🦀

Offering shelter from the elements while still feeling like your ‘in the element’ 😉

From the hot chocolate sipping we went back to our hotel, some staying outside to play soccer, some going into the seating area to be out of the elements.
You can figure out for yourself which groups Mike and I were in 😜

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