We drove to Hoorn with the anticipation of calling in on Karl's uncle and aunt (Wim and Aaf) for a quick cuppa. They are in their 80's and I wasn't so sure about just popping by. However, my hesitation proved unnecessary as they welcomed us, their surprise Australian guests, with generous hospitality and warmth. We hadn't intended staying for lunch but when Aaf offered us delicious soup after we'd had a tour of the garden, we accepted their offer and enjoyed a couple of hours chatting in a mixture of Dutch and English and "Dinglish".
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| Oom Wim and Luke admiring fuchsias. |
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| Begonias are big in Holland! |
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| Garden friend |
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| Wim and Karl |
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| Sharing soup and having a good old natter! |
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| Luke at his cutest! |
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| !!!! |
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| Organ grinder Hoorn |
The kids were well behaved and the big kids tried to join in the
conversation but we didn't want to out stay our welcome and walked into
the old part of Hoorn as we'd planned. There was certainly an autumnal
feeling and a definite drop in temperature even in the patches of sun.
Hoorn is a really pretty town, especially near the harbour which we
walked around. There was a sort of festive feeling in the streets as
the organ grinder played 50's music to the shoppers and I particularly
enjoyed the busker belting out Dutch folk tunes on his concertina near
the harbour. The kids were relieved that we didn't have time for any
museum visit today although I would have liked to pop into one for a
quick look!
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| Have ice cream, will travel... |
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| Drawers and drawers of liquorice! |
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| Lovely old and slightly angled buildings in Hoorn |
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| Just walking past such beauty is a treat! |
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| Almost too good to eat! |
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| Hoorn harbour |
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| Just seeing if he could without falling in..... |
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| Concertina player - love his set up with bike, bakfiets, music stand, etc....playing Dutch folk tunes |
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| A few extra kids... |
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| Tourist ship |
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| Old cheese carrier |
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| More yachts! |
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| Harbour tower |
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| It is not hard to imagine how Hoorn was 400 years ago! |
From there we walked back to our car which was parked a few kms away on
the outskirts of town and headed off to Andijk to meet with the van der
Schaaf family again. We felt immediately at home and relaxed and
enjoyed another lovely afternoon and evening chatting and eating while
the kids did similar with the added dimension of screens! It was
difficult dragging ourselves away, but we knew we had at least an hour's
drive ahead of us.
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| Luke and Bart |
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| A Chinese feast! |
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| Siem and Luke |
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| Karl enjoying himself |
What a lovely day of socialising we all had! Socialising with friends where language is no barrier is one of the things I find hardest when travelling for such a long time. We have been blessed by friends and family along the way who have been generous with their time and hospitality and shared a bit of our journey with us!
A lovely day!! :)
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