Back in Sneek....rest days....

Wednesday

 Wednesday was a day of rest, cleanup and planning.  The day dawned with drizzly skies and brisk winds.  Our first day in 3 weeks without an agenda. A leisurely breakfast and time to check emails without rushing.

The washing machine was well used and suitcases emptied...an unexpected treasure appeared in Pam's suitcase from her Australia trip! Nice to wear something that we hadn't been wearing for the last 3 weeks.

Checking the calendar, we decided to plan a short trip before Pam's sister and brother-in-law arrive.  We will travel by train to Cologne, Luxembourg and Brussels from Saturday to Tuesday!!

In the late afternoon, we hopped in the car and drove to the grocery store to stock up for a few days.  Back for dinner and the rain had stopped.

At 7, a walk was in order.  Two caches were in easy walking distance.  The first evaded us after much searching and walking through a new area.  Along a canal, our second attempt was successful.

Someone is up there....

playing a bell concert

  As we continued to wander towards the centrum, church bells began to   It was difficult to determine where the music was coming from.  Turning a corner, a beautiful old church appeared.  A gentleman who was standing listening, informed us that someone was playing the bells by pulling on the cords of each bell in then steeple.  The music was enthralling.  This concert  occurs a few times over the summer.  We listened and watched for awhile and the  strolled down a new street to us.  Wherever we went, the bells could be heard.  As we twisted and turned through streets and alleys, we were not really sure where we were. 

Eventually, we arrived at the Waterpoort and decided to once again look for the elusive cache there.  Tonight, success, Pam was able reach down and secure the container.

Again, we chose new streets to travel on our return to the house.  This time it was grand houses with immaculate gardens on a street down from the train station.  All was quiet as people were preparing to watch the Netherlands/Argentina football game.  We managed to stay awake until the end!

Thursday

Thursday dawned with brilliant sunshine.  Todays load of wash could be hung out on the line to dry.

We chose to make a walking tour of Sneek to enjoy the good weather.  It was obvious that summer has arrived.  The streets were full of people, outdoor cafes were busy, shops were open and we found more streets to explore.  Lots of boutique clothing stores and each carried different brands.  Cheese shops, meat/ fish mongers, bakeries, candy store and souvenir shops,the place was alive with shoppers.  

Cheese store

Busy Sneek

Library

Carpet in the library!

We stopped for lunch in a small bakery which had a continuous stream of customers.  Then we wound our way back home to enjoy sitting outside for awhile.

After dinner, we set out in the car to find one of the larger grocery stores.  By taking the ring road, we hoped to make a quick trip.  This was not to be!  But we had a really good tour of the various smaller ring roads and found a few new areas as well. Back home it was time for a glass of wine.

Friday

 Friday we set out on a little drive up to Groningen, a town about 75 km away......with a really nice quilt shop.  The drive through the countryside still has the fields pretty green.....some of the crops are changing colour.  The roads are great and beside the roads whether it be a main freeway or a country road, there is a paved path for bicycle travel. 

Groningen is a larger town than Sneek (but I think Sneek is prettier)....once we figured out where the store was we headed to a park nearby for a stroll, a couple of caches (that we didn't find) and some lunch....the store didn't open til 1:00.  Carol managed to find a couple of pieces for her travel quilt and off we went making our way back by the back roads and roads closer to the sea.  I tried my hand.....or rather both feet and both hands and both arms to trying to drive the manual car.  i did not too bad.....the car is in one piece, we are in one piece and I didn't hit anyone or anything.  The shifting of the gears got lots smoother.

Got back about 5, had dinner, went for another walk in Sneek....we keep finding little streets we haven't seen yet, then back to the house to pack our backpacks for our little whirlwind trip.  

Elderly lady in scooter pulled up past us and the motorcycle in the bike lane ....making a left turn!