Holiday Post - Part Two - Holland

As I sit on the computer and try to sort the holiday photos into some sort of order (I used two cameras), I am at a loss to figure out what we did on the Tuesday. Having already posted about arriving to Rotterdam it comes to mind that we actually went for the long walk and the pancake house meal on the Tuesday. So we'll just skip to Wednesday. Lucky you!

Wednesday we headed out en masse to Gouda. It was only a 30 minute train ride from Rotterdam and a nice day trip. The upside to travelling with a child in Holland is no matter where we went I only had to pay 3euro return fare for Emily. The downside? Helen, at the grand age of 12, was considered adult fare. WTF?! Enough said.

Gouda had a pretty town centre, with the city hall in the main square surrounded by antique and bric-a-brac stalls. Heaven. I even spotted the obligatory old sewing machine for sale. And, no, I didn't buy it.

Of course Gouda is famous for cheese, and there was an abundance of that in numerous locations. Yes, I did buy cheese.

The next day was another family excursion as we all went and did a river cruise in Rotterdam. Rotterdam suffered a huge amount of damage in the second world war and consequently has a very modern city centre. It reminded me very much of North American city centres in many ways. Seeing it from the river gives you a good sense of the skyline, and of the humongous nature of the container shipping industry there.

Afterwards, my brothers and I went and strolled around to further explore with Helen accompanying us. We loved coming across one of those fountains that squirts up water randomly that you can walk through. Stuart tried to get caught to no avail, but Helen wasn't so lucky. Especially with her Uncle Andrew holding her in there while she laughed, and got wet.

That night we all ate out and, as I do on occasion, I let the girls taste the wine. I don't think they are finding anything to like about it yet.

Friday was the day for Amsterdam. Stuart and I took the kids and gave them a crash course in tacky souvenir shops - which hadn't really been our intention. Unfortunately the same shops that sold the t-shirts and things they were interested in also sold less than desirable items for the discerning child. The kids were not impressed, so we paid for them to go into the Amsterdam Dungeon while Stuart and I walked around some more. That cheered them up to no end.

Despite a less than stellar start, we all enjoyed Amsterdam. There are plenty of beautiful places to see even if you are with heathen children who are not interested in seeing any museums, and we had a most stellar Chinese takeaway lunch. As you know, good food always makes me happy.

Suddenly we only had one full day left. During the week we had an extra person around much of the time, which was my nephew's Dutch friend, Lucas. Lucas's family live not too far from Rotterdam and on Saturday we went out to see them. Before going to their home they took us to see Kinderdijk, which has a large number of traditional, still working windmills.

At the family home we had a wonderful traditional Dutch meal in an old farmhouse perched on a dike down by a small canal. Lucas's brothers have an out building where they are encouraged to practice their love of graffiti without getting in trouble. Imagine the girls' delight when they realised that they could have a go too!

It was a marvellous trip, but we had to come home Sunday as himself was due back into work for the start of the week. The weather was wonderful. Spending time with all my family together was a pleasure. It was a relaxing holiday despite the sightseeing, and reminded us that we have so many places to explore within easy reach.

I took some embroidery with me but never took it out of its pouch. I hung out with my family. I read books. I did sod all. I also didn't read a blog the whole time I was away. I didn't write or reply to emails. I went online briefly each day to pop a couple of photos on Instagram and that was it. I am almost 400 blogposts in arrears, but that doesn't matter. Today I did laundry, and then some more laundry. I will slowly get back up so speed. Then I will go away again.

Susan

Holiday Post - Part One - Belgium

Right, if you aren't into seeing holiday photos that's okay. Click off this post now. There's no sewing sneakily posted at the end to entice you to look at everything else. Just a brief synopsis of our little getaway.

Before we left you may have got the impression that I was a little excited to be having a holiday. That impression would be correct. As much as I love taking the girls for our annual summer jaunt to my mum's, actually going somewhere different and seeing new stuff thrilled the hell out of me. As an easily excited person, even getting on the Eurotunnel train thrilled me to no end.

Once on the other side we wasted no time heading for a campground I had booked us into near Ghent in Belgium. The drive was just over an hour and a half which reminded us how easily accessible so many things are just the other side of the channel.

I had  booked us into a 'hiking cabin' which is a basic accommodation with even more basic cooking facilities, and no bathroom facilities at all, but beds that proved very comfortable which made it so much better than being in a tent in  my eyes.

We were in a gorgeous and peaceful location, with just a short walk down through the campground taking us to a beautiful lake. The campground also had a massive bbq you could use if you so wished. It was conveniently located right by our shed hiking cabin too.

Sunday started with a pedal boat ride on the lake. The best bit of which was someone deliberately steering his boat into the lake fountain so he stayed dry but Emily most definitely did not. I did not possess the skills to adequately steer a pedal boat to even attempt doing this to Helen. We then took a jaunt over the border into Holland where himself has a cousin, met our first 'real' windmill and then went into Ghent with the cousin and his wife to explore.

Ghent is a beautiful city and well worth a stop if you are ever in the area. The centre is full of traditional buildings, lovely narrow streets to wander through, a river lined with restaurants and cafes, and right in the middle of all that an excellent castle. All the more excellent as children enter for free. Free! As someone who lives just up the road from Warwick Castle where it would cost £107 for a family of four to go if we didn't book in advance the 28euro charge for Ghent Castle was a welcome surprise.

The views of the city centre from the rampart walls were excellent. The room showing instruments of torture used in medieval times fascinatingly gruesome.

We finished the day down by the lake as it turned out that we booked in the same weekend as the annual summer festival which culminated in a fantastic fireworks show that night. We watched those while we ate Belgium waffles, apple fritters and Helen had candy floss. Thank you Zele, Belgium!

Monday we had a very relaxed start before we headed off to Rotterdam to meet my Canadian brother, his kids, my mum and step dad, my Aberdeen brother and his wife, and my dad and his partner. We stayed right in the city, each of us having a flat in the same building. The flats were in a converted school house with massively high ceilings inside which allowed for a loft bedroom in each one. We also had the use of the owners garden as he was away, which was a nice perk.

Across the street was a great playground and a basketball court which was visible from our windows so we could see the cousins at play. We then all went for a long walk through the very big nearby park until we eventually found the Dutch pancake house for a late lunch. If you wonder what the final photo is, it's Helen entertaining herself by trying to catch one of the numerous wasps who seemed to like pancakes too.

But that's enough for this post. If you want to know what we did for the rest of our holiday then please come back for the next post.

Susan

The Escape Route

I've left this island, for a little while at least. 

(All photos shameless nicked from Google images.)

 I've not been outside of the UK for about seven years. Am I excited? Hell yes!

We will be taking our car and meeting family on the other side.

Neither our car, nor our kids, are this shiny. But that doesn't matter. See you upon our return.

Susan

I Humbly Apologise

I am so sorry. I have let every quilter down. I did something that I swore never to do. That goes against the grain totally, for just about all of us.

Sob!

I...      I...     I hemmed a pair of trousers.

Does it make it any better that I used a rotary cutter to trim them to length and sewed them with my 1/4" foot?

I promise to never do it again.

Susan

My Blog is Useful

Yes, my blog is useful, at least to me. I know this because today I wanted to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and couldn't find the recipe. I was getting my knickers in a twist about it until I remembered that I had posted the recipe on this here blog. So I came online, pulled up my own recipe and made my cookies.

I'm happy now. They are all packed away in a tin and ready to be put in the car and taken with us Saturday morning. That is if I can keep thieving paws off them until then.

Meanwhile I am doing the mundane. Copious amounts of laundry, dental appointments, groceries, sorting out who can feed the gerbils while we are away, blah, blah, blah. Sorry for being so boring these days. Promise that I will be back to sewing and insanity soon enough.

Susan