The flight was only 6 hours and what a nice flight it was! KLM is the airline to travel on. Good food and lots and lots of movies and TV shows to choose from with your very own TV right in front of you. Florence and I arrived in Amsterdam at 6:08am. Our first order of business was sitting in a cafe and ordering a nice hot Dutch cappuccino.
We purchsed some 'trein' tickects to Hilversum where we would take the bus to her Aunt's house in Eemnes. Waiting at the bus stop was not pleasant at all! It was like a monsoon with all the wind and rain - our luggage (and us) were soaked. The bus drivers here are very friendly though and he stopped right in front of the house. Eemnes was everyt
hing you would think a small Dutch village should look like. Beautiful old thatched-roofed homes, large trees lining the roads (and bike paths) and miles of flat, green fields with the 'sloten' running through for irrigation.We arrived on the tail of a HUGE unusual storm so I was glad to learn the weather was not typical. In the morning, the sunshine offered a much nicer impression. Her tante Jopie and ome Jan were fabulous hosts. It was so nice to be able to sleep in a nice room all to myself. The rooms here had sinks in them and the toilets are in their own room apart from the shower room! Within minutes of arrival her tante had us eating nice dark bread with...... Dutch cheese!! mmmm. We had a lot to coffee drink as that seems to be a very Dutch thing. Her aunt drove us to the train station on Friday and what a beautiful day that was!! On the way we even drove past the palace that Queen Beatrix was born in!
The train ride sights included more beautiful scenes of dykes and old homes. The love of nature and greenery here is quite evident. I noticed they do a really cool think with certain tree branches to make all the branches grow in horizontal levels. I can't wait for the spring to see what everything will look like in bloom.
I don't want to tire you all with a larger blog so I will stop here for now and then tell you about arriving at Tilburg university very shortly!
1 comment:
Hey Cheryl,
Caroline pointed me to your blog and didn't know you could comment. So I'm doing it on her behalf. This is so cool to be included in your journey. Keep up the blogs, we get excited when we see another entry. Dutch cappucino?? The cheese I'd agree with. Have lots of fun and know were all happy to be in on this adventure.
Uncle Shawn (and Aunt Caroline over my shoulder, probably wanting to take control of the keyboard)
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