Thursday

Today.... Thursday Our Holland experience continued on today. We got up on time and made our way to the shop to get some chocolate to share with Oma and the other ladies, as well as some flowers, before heading over to d'Amandelboom. We got there about 10:10 - here we met for the first time our Aunty Joke, Sem (12) and Raf (10). It was interesting to meet them and finally put a face to some of our cousins from Dad's side of the family, especially since we have not met really any of the cousins except the ones that come to Australia. Oma was not in such a good mood today- she was a bit weepy, and not as happy as the night before. That didn't matter though, as we know she is not the same as she was, and not everybody is happy every single day of their lives. We just had to sit and tell her that we loved her, and talk about the weather and that she looked well, and what we had been busy with. We shared around the chocolaades we had purchased, and also were treated by the staff with cake and biscuits. Eventually, about 12 we started to say our goodbyes. We had a picture taken of all the family, and then we all left to go our separate ways. The five of us headed home for a quick bite to eat. Then we drove to Bilthoven, where we parked our car and walked across the railway to the bike store. We hired 5 bikes, got our seats comfortable, and rode off into the sunset(just kidding, the sun sets at 11pm or so here). Due to our pathetic internet connection and the problems we have encountered with wifi and such, Aunty Anneke did us a favour and looked up a bike path for us to ride along. Mark, if you're reading this -- we did a tour de Utrecht -- 24 km long. We have to admit, we did stop a number of times when we got butt/saddle-sore and when we needed a drink or an apple or so, but now we do appreciate a lot more what your men do in Le Tour de France. The paths were not all very comfortable where we rode - there were hobbles and bobbles, knobs and logs, holes and knolls. A few times Dad very cleverly positioned his tires so that he would experience every single lump and bump in the path, resulting in some painful memories. We rode through some beautiful forrests, with trees on either side. There was little to no wind, so the birds in the trees could be heard rather clearly. We crossed a number of bridges as well, over the freeway and along the train line where we found a small shopping centre that sold some nice icecreams. It was actually a fairly warm day today, so an icecream really hit the spot as we stretched our rear ends and had a drink. We then dutifully followed the instructions which took us back to the bike hire place. We then headed in for a short excursion to Amersfoort to get some groceries. We were told that the shop we went to was the same that Mum and Dad had gone to with Angela and William a few years back. We had some dutch delacacies for dinner (Fricandel and Crochets) as we went along, wandering around and just enjoying ourselves before heading home. We are treasuring our days as they go - I'm not sure what I would like to do really... stay longer or go home. It would be nice to stay here, but then again all good things must come to an end :) We still have about a week, so we will make the most of it. Wishing you all the best back in Australia. Em