----Homeward bound

Sunday Aug. 10, 2014

New planting of hundreds of sunflowers, it should look beautiful in another couple of weeks

Had a good night's sleep and started to gather my stuff together....Ibis is a nice hotel, reasonable rates, clean, free shuttle.....but morning coffee....3 Euro for 1/2 of coffee..that didn't even taste good!!!

Shuttled to the airport and had breakfast then went to find Icelandair......not open at 10:30 but already about 30 people in line ahead of me.....they are 2 flights leaving for Reykjavik within 5 minutes of each other one at 1:55 and one at 2:00....  They opened at 11:00 for service and I was through by 11:20 talking to a nice family from Edmonton who have been traveling for a month and now heading home too.  

Then off to find my gate......first through customs......then walk and walk walk....then through another customs and then security and then walk and walk and walk some more.....I wish I had the GPS on to clock the distance .....I'm thinking at least 2 km!

They are upgrading the terminal (hoping it will cut down on some of the walking!)  The upgrades I think are trying to look/feel like the Singapore airport (which I love)......

A library

A grand piano and lounge/TV area

A Delft cup to sit in....

a teapot for kids to watch movies

Forest sounds

Charge your device with pedal power!

Science stuff for kids and adults

A plane on the roof of the terminal to wave to friends leaving or just watch planes

The flights from Amsterdam to Iceland and then Iceland home  was uneventful....met some nice people on the plane.  Cam, Cassidy and Gus met me in Vancouver with a great supper....it was about 7:00pm  (3am Amsterdam time) and stayed for a visit until they saw I was fading fast.  Finally got to bed at about 10 and slept until 6am......Definately glad to be home......but already thinking of my next adventure!

The last windmill!

 

Amsterdam......

Friday Aug. 8....

 I had booked a tour for Friday.....to Alkmaar....where there is a cheese auctions/sale every Friday.  I was tired of planning and wanted someone else to plan and do the work.....

It started in Amsterdam at 9:30am so I needed to be there by 9.....We boarded a nice big bus and the tour guide was friendly and very informative....not talking too much but very concise when speaking.  Alkmaar is about a 45 minute drive from Amsterdam.  When we got there it was crazy....so many people.  They hold the sale/auction in the morning before the tourists arrive.....at 10am is when the show starts for the tourist.  They show how it used to be...the bringing of the cheese in boats on the canal from the farms unloading on skid/sleds, taking it to be weighed at the weigh station....throwing it and rolling it, the selling of it (that's what Sheryl want me to take pictures of...something about a film she remembered seeing when she was in Grade 3!!!)  They put on the show in Dutch, English and German.....and there is is also a big screen that they are showing live filming on so that everyone can see.   It really was something.  We had an hour and a half to explore the town centre and watch the show.

Our next stop was a working windmill....I've been to a windmill before when I was here a couple of years ago.  But this was really different ....it showed how a family would have lived in it.  This one was used for pumping water out of the land.....I finally could imagine how a poldar is formed .....with the guide's explaination and the area that the bus drove....I can imagine how this vast land was reclaimed.  They say in the Netherlands...God created earth but the Dutch created the Netherlands!   So much of the area was a sea/lake but with the ingenuity of the Dutch, hundreds of years ago, it is now usable farm land. 

The tour ended back in Amsterdam at 2:30 and I spent the next few hours wandering. finishing my shopping, having dinner and making my way back to Central Station.....I arrived just as the rain started coming down.

There's a cache in there somewhere!!!

 

Saturday Aug. 9 

Today was a day of trains and buses.....first changing hotels from the Best Western...bus/shuttle to Schiphol the airport to get another bus/shuttle to the new hotel Ibis.....since I was a couple of hours early I could store my suitcase then hop the bus/shuttle back to the airport. 

Got a return ticket to Deft, which is about 45 minutes away.  Delft is known for it's pottery/dishes.....the blue and white Dutch pattern....and I thought I might take a tour of one of the factories.  I could have gone for another tour as I did yesterday (it was nice having someone else do the planning and thinking) but the their tour (to Delft and Den Haag)  was 5 1/2 hours and started at 2:30....and I had somewhere I had to be in Amsterdam at 7:00, so that wasn't going to work.  

The train ride was good, but getting off had me in a construction zone....they seem to be redoing the train station and tracks around there.  But I followed signs and people into the town.  It was very cute and busy......there was a market....going on being Saturday.  I spent so much time wandering and caching that by the time I found the Information office to find out where the factory was I was getting tired and needed to head back.  My little trip was worth the time and I wish I could have spent more time.

Buildings from the train....

So back on the train to the airport, bus/shuttle to the hotel, checked in, freshened up a bit, hopped back on shuttle to the airport, train into Amsterdam, tram to the GeoBeering, geocaching event that was put on by 3 Bulgarian cachers visiting the Netherlands.   It was a small event only about 15 people but very international....Bulgarians, British, Dutch, French and of course Canadian.  (forgot to take pictures though)  

We visited for a while and then I got back on the tram, hopping off to get some dinner and pick up one more gift item, then the train back to the airport and just made the 9:30 shuttle back to the hotel.  

Last sleep in the Netherlands.....flying home tomorrow afternoon....flight leaving here at 2:00 to Reykavik with a short layover and then leaving there at 5:15pm and getting home at 5:45pm........gaining my time back but I'm going to be very tired! 

Hmmmmm.....

Wednesday Aug. 6 - Thurs Aug 7

Wednesday was getting the house ready (laundry and vacuuming)  and packing day.  Took a bit of time to go for a quick bike ride and take a few pictures of a place I had been before but forgot the camera. The internet was still out so I headed in to town to do that and pick up a couple of things.  They were still partying and shopping in Sneek.....it was crazy..... Then went back to the house and packed....everything got in to the suitcase and backpack.

Sneek Week still going strong!

I had to try...

these yummy little pancakes!

Shopping stalls down the canal

Last look at Watersport!

About 10 days ago this sign went up at the end of the bridge that led to the train station...

  
 What it says by google translate is.......Crossing curdled for all traffic  from Thursday August 7 to August 10 from 2am Thurs through to Sunday 7am........

My thinking was that the bridge was being closed for repairs....

Thursday Aug 7...I should have left yesterday!

So I left the house by 10.....thinking if I did have to walk the extra nearly kilometer the long way to the station I would have plenty of time to catch this train and make the Leewarden to Amsterdam airport 11:00 train.   i started my walk..... great the bridge wasn't being worked on.....but when I got to the train crossing.....there was a big fence blocking my way.  So back I went and went the long way and got the the part where I crossed the rail lines a little further up......this is what I saw.......

NO TRAIN TRACKS!!!!!!     They are not working on the bridge they are doing maintenance and replacement of tracks between Sneek and Leewarden!!!!!  So in the end I had a nice bus ride from Sneek to Leewarden through the countryside....on roads I don't think I travelled on before!!!!

I finally made the 12:00 train and arrived at the hotel about 3:00 about an hour later than I thought I would.  Nice place.....a pool that I have made use of already, a free drink ticket (I'm drinking my glass of wine right now in the lobby as I am writing this!), free shuttles to the airport (to get the train to Amsterdam and to shop at the airport grocery store for breakfast items)and back to the hotel......I am here for 2 night and will be changing hotels on Saturday as I had already booked it and couldn't cancel without a penalty.