Tuesday July 14, 2015 The Villages of Thorne and Roermond

Today we went shopping for the basics: beer, wine and groceries....yes in that order. Guys back home would love this beer warehouse. It also sells wine, potatoes and pyrogies.....what else does one need to survive?

This warehouse is in Germany. The prices are reasonable and they take back the empties and the cases. After this we went grocery shopping in Herkenbosch in the Netherlands. The Dutch beer was on sale: buy two get the third free.....works well when you buy it in cases. So,George and Tony have enough beer to last them and I picked up some lovely white wines to try.

After we drove to Thorne for a walk and lunch at the Pannekoek huis. 

The houses in Thorpe are mainly white but some are also made of brown brick. It is a town that goes back to medieval times with of course the church being the main part of the village.

Tony and Marja in Thorpe.....the rain is finally starting to let up a bit.

Going to come back here for lunch....but first a walk to work up an appetite.

Many streets of stone cobbles. Hard to walk on but they look so pretty.

The church in the main part of town.....we were lucky enough to hear the church bells.

Dogs are not allowed in the church cemetery.

There were some lovely old graves and new headstones.

Old roses, cobbled stones, and pretty arches make the old church look like an old monestary.

The whole town had interesting sculptures and artwork everywhere.

Marja and George beside the goat statue.

The church and Thorne from the walk in the countryside. Lots of corn and vegetables were planted. 

This our placemat and napkin in the Pannekoek restaurant.

Tony had the strawberry and icing sugar Pannekoek, I had the half and half. One side savoury, the other side sweet. There was a lot of food there.

After lunch we took a walk in the old part of Roermond. Again beautiful old buildings, cobbled streets, a harbour on the river the Maas, and some cute winkels ( shops) to look at.

The clock played a song from the Nutcracker at 2:00 pm.

We even caught a glimpse of the sun sometimes! Some folks were enjoying the afternoon time on the patios.

The church had a lovely garden in the front. Old- fashioned flowers such as zinnias and sweet William amongst box hedges were planted.

Then time to go home for a drink and dinner. Tomorrow another busy day planned. Now if we could only get those lousy trains for Saturday organized!

Monday July 13th, 2015. The Village of Neer

The weather continued to be cloudy with light rain, a welcome relief after the previous days of hot weather. You can tell that this area like ours needed the rain because the grass is brown in many areas.

After spending a frustrating morning trying to negotiate the French railway system, we decided to take a drive to a local strip mall and buy the electric adapter we needed and then continued on to Neer. There are clearly marked hiking paths and cycling paths all through the Netherlands. George had found a short walk through the village, farmland, forest and beside the Maas river. Even with the wet weather it was a beautiful walk. 

Sometimes it is finding the out of the way places like this give you a much better taste of the culture and lifestyle than visiting the larger cities. We are grateful that Marja and George are such knowledgable tour guides.

The map showing the hikes and walks. ( Not very clear....sorry.)

The walk through the countryside and beside the river.

Everything is well marked, even in the smaller villages.

Many of the buildings are made of brick. The rounded doors, colourfully painted are common architecture.

Tony on path near Neer the Netherlands.

The "Shooting Brothership" of Saint Martinis. The have been shooting birds since the 1500s.

Marja, George and Tony checking out the map.

A roadside chapel. This part of the country is very Roman Catholic.

Farm buildings are everywhere.

The Maypole at the front of the church.

A statue of a bull in front of the village church.

We had dinner at George and Marja's later that evening. It was great to dring beer and wine and share memories of previous camping trips with each other. Tomorrow we visit the town of Thorn or the white village as well as aware through the countryside. The weather forecast is for cloudy but a gradual improvement. 

Tot sienz!

July 12, 2015 Arrival and the first day with Marja and George

Arriving at the airport, walking to the car.

Luckily our cousin George reminded us that when we flew we would be arriving on Sunday July 12th. They were waiting at the airport on time to pick us up. We landed shortly after 7:00 am on Sunday morning. It is a two hour ride from Schiphol to their beautiful new home just across the German Dutch border near Roermond. 

After coffee and lunch, we all took a long walk in the Naturpark Maas-Schwalm-Nette which is a large nature forest close by their home. In the park is the Red Creek or the Roode Beek which is a small stream between the border of Nederland and Germany. We were surprised that there is no border. You just walk along the street from one country into the other.  We had a little bit of rain, but mainly the weather was pleasant to walk in.

The park has small ponds, boardwalks and beautiful trees and vegetation. Mainly paths and small trails intersect each other. People walk their dogs and ride their horses through the park.

Of course there was a lovely place to stop for refreshments. We took time to have our first German beer outside on the patio.

The outside of the small pub by the Nature park.

Small ponds and lakes with cranes, ducks and frogs can be found in the park. 

We were home around five, and Tony and I were starting to have trouble keeping our eyes open. 

Marja made a lovely dinner of lasagna and cucumber salad. We tried to watch a little of the Tour de France on TV, but at 7:30 pm decided to go to bed. It had been a long and lovely day. 

Tot ziens ! 

July 11th. The Trip to Amsterdam, the first day .

Here is Tony at YVR. We are eating lunch waiting to board Transat air. We took advice from Maureen and bought the club option which allowed us priority boarding and some extra perks on board the plane.

This is Bill Reid statue in the main hall of the airport at departures. Still,one of my favourite artists .

Here we are on the plane. A 10 hour flight is always long but three movies, three glasses of wine, a small nap later and we made it to Schiphol Amsterdam.

July 9, 2015. Let's try this again!

Learning how to use this new blog account and imbed pictures. Hoping this is the right one!

July 11, 2015 Our New European Adventure

We are busy packing and getting ready for our next trip.

Right now am learning how to imbed photos into this new blog format. I want to make sure I have the kinks ironed out before we leave. This trip we will be meeting our friends Irene and Maureen in Chalone-sur-Saone, France. We will embark on a Viking river cruise from Chalone to Avignon.

 However we are spending a week with our relatives , Marja and George in Rothenbach-Wassenberg Germany before we leave for France.

Our last week we will be in Amsterdam with my cousin Betty. She has promised to surprise us with some day trips to places outside of Amsterdam.

Tot siens!

August 1, 2014. Last day.

We started the day off by revisiting the beach outside of Haida House. As usual there was no one there. Amazing to have this whole stretch of sunny beach to ourselves.

Then we started the drive back to Skidegate.

Good bye East Beach

Balancing Rock on the way to terminal.

The rock formations here were astounding .

We took our time and sight seed.

On the way to Spirit lake.

We went to the heritage Center. Very informative and not to be missed when you visit Haida Gwaii.

So many things to learn about Haida culture. 

Bill Reid's canoe.

We had lunch here as well. The Kay Bistro is great for food.

Our ferry from the mainland .

The concert in spirit square in Queen Charlotte city before we boarded.

Loved our BC Ferry's cabin!

Goodbye Misty Islands.

We loved Haida Gwaii and will return.