Up at the crack of dawn, not quite what i wanted but it was what we were expecting. We had a long ways to drive in Dutch standards and a few stops to make in the middle. Our destination was Ostervoorne and our pit stop was Amsterdam.
First off was the morning, we awoke with Sven and got packed up. Jeroen dropped Carlijn off just before nine and after playing for a little while we left at 9:30am. We had a smooth drive down to Amsterdam, it was a beautiful day outside and the girls got a good nap. We arrived in Amsterdam with little delays around noon. However, my cousin Tessa was not home, we had had a smoother drive than we thought so she was not expecting us for another hour or so. So we went back to the car and tried to decide what to do. When we were in the car, i looked up and saw Tessa and Leike walking down the sidewalk towards their house with groceries. So we all went inside together. After seeing their new place we set off to the park while Tessa and Lieke went to their Dr's appointment. We played, Reuben went for a short walk and then Tessa was back. Than we set off for ice cream while Leike had a nap. We walked through the streets of Amsterdam, wishing we had more time there.
After ice cream we went to a Kinderbordrij where we saw many animals to play with and toys to enjoy. It was a city version so it was a lot smaller than others we had been to but we still enjoyed it. Than it was back to the apartment where an over tired Leike and Tianna (both 2) had a fit over supper. We left shortly afterwards to get to Ostervoorne.
This was a drive I would not forget. In all my times that I have been to Holland I will always remember driving this highway. Maybe its becuase I had to pay attention to the roads, or maybe becuase I have seen nothing like it in Canada, roads upon roads, upon roads. At intersections I can only imagine that would have caused major headaches for engineers when they were designed. On our maps its looked like chaos and in person it was chaos. We were so so so so thankful for our Tom Tom telling us which road to take and when to turn off and merge. Also, we were thankful for its speed detector. It told us in advance when a photo radar trap was coming, which was brilliant becuase there were a lot of cameras! Most of my family lives in the north part of Holland where there is less traffic than Den Haag, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. It was CRAZY.
After a lot of tunnel and lots of merges we were finally on the Islands south of Rotterdam and at our bed and Breakfast. As much as we love family and stay with them it was great to look forward to night with just us 4. To settle in and not worry about translating more dutch. The bed and Breakfast was adorable, so small and quaint but perfect. Luti, our host, was wonderful, with a ton of toys for the girls and an open door to her fridge for everyone. It was wonderful. She had set up 2 beds for the girls and a queen for us! Space! We slept and slept and awoke refreshed and ready for a new day!
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