Tim and I set off on a walk via the bike paths to the local shops with the wind howling but mostly only intermittent rain. It is difficult to gauge general grocery prices compared to UK but as the Australian Dollar tumbles against the Pound and Euro, it is all feeling a bit costly at times. As long as we stick to the basics, our daily food expenditure isn't prohibitive. Of course, when we are in different places, we try to eat like the locals and try local products. Here in The Netherlands it is cheese and milk products and various "worsts"(sausages). Karl remembers vla (custard) and rookworst and witlof (endive) especially. It was a lovely 9 km walk, mostly by canals or the Amstel.
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| About as Dutch as it gets! |
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| Small crow like birds which seem to hop about! |
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| No fences needed when there are canals everywhere! |
The Amstel was crowded with rowers and the bike path had the megaphone
blasting coaches on their bikes trying to keep up with their team of
rowers. What I did notice is that not all the rowers were young, in
fact a few boats were rowed by some rather weathered, middle-aged
women. Good on them! Tim and I were wondering what sports he would be
doing if he'd grown up here - probably not mountain biking, white water
rafting or rock climbing as he did last year given the geography of this
country!
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| From outside our accommodation. |
The rain continued intermittently but not the drenching rain of
yesterday so first Karl and Annika took advantage of the bikes offered
by our hosts to explore up river a bit. They discovered a lovely 10 km
circuit along the Amstel past some amazing mansions and all on safe
paths. Luke and Tim caught up on a bit of school and I made some soup
to warm us up for lunch!
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| There's our lease car and there's our three big windows! |
After lunch Tim decided to
ride a bike to Amsterdam and found the return ride into the headwind
quite challenging. There might be no hills but there is certainly
wind! Meanwhile Annika and I took the other bikes and did the 10 kms
circuit again. Ah, the freedom of riding with no helmet! It was a
magnificent ride on the fixed wheel "grandma" bike which are commonplace
here.
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| From the kitchen table! |
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| Tim and Luke playing |
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| Colour coordinated cyclist! |
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| The pigs down the road! |
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| Loving the ride along the Amstel |
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| Ja,ja,ja another windmill! |
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| She even matches the graffiti! |
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| Rembrandt statue |
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| Our porch, our canal, our cows! |
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| More tricks on the trampoline while a tourist boat passes on the river. |
Hugo, the farmer host here at our farm, offered for us to help with the cows and milking. We had a wonderful time in the muddy paddocks rounding up the cows. Luke currently has one pair of shoes which are currently now covered in cow manure and mud and waiting for ME to wash them - oh joy! We had a "dinglish" chat to Hugo about his small dairy of 50 cows. He shares the work with his brother and father who have another farm near Utrecht. I was hoping he'd offer me a cup of raw milk to drink!!
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| Rik and Luke on the trampoline |
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| In the paddock! |
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| In the dairy |
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| Dairy fun! |
Most excellent of all is that Luke has made friends with the two boys here: Rik (9) and Dan (7) and has enjoyed the trampoline, play equipment and pets! Luke really needs some little friends at this point of our travels as he has been struggling being the only little guy among all the big people.
Such a lovely farm, how wonderful to find a spot to ride around and some friends as well :)
ReplyDeleteYes, what a find!! Good ol' airbnb! The bikes are such a bonus!
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