Heading home

At the Paris airport

Today we were up bright and early... 5:30 am.  That was the first time I was super happy to be up that early because 1) the hotel was disgusting and 2) we were going HOME!!!!  Woo Hoo!

Breakfast at Mcdonalds at the Paris airport

The drive to the Paris airport was only about 30 minutes, and by the time Rodger dropped us off (a complete gong-show at the drop-off area) and returned the car rental, we were ready to check in by 7:30 am.  Found out our flight was delayed by an hour so we had plenty of time to get some breakfast at McDonalds before heading through the crazy security and get to our gate.

In Toronto... getting closer

From there, everything went pretty well, even though we were super rushed at the Toronto airport.  Kind of stressful!  So happy to be on Canadian soil again, even though we were still far from home.  Our last stop in Vancouver was pretty uneventful and quick, and we were home on schedule at 5:30 pm.

Jan was there to pick us up and we were so happy to see a familiar face!  Home by 6:00 pm!!  With food in our fridge from our amazing friends, a Thank You by the front door, and cards and gifts on the table from our two exchange families. 

Even closer... leaving Vancouver

Home. Sweet. Home.  We made it! We did it.  We actually did it.  Whew, am I tired.  I may sleep for 3 days.

The end. That's all she wrote. C'est tout fini.

Leaving Holland and travel day

Today we have mixed feelings.  We are very sad to be leaving Holland, but super excited to finally be heading home.  It will take us a full day to get back to Paris, because we have some stops to make along the way.

First one:  The windmill in IJlst, just down the road from where we were staying (we could walk to it in 5 minutes.)  We had planned to go in, but the windmill wasn't actually running today for some reason.  So instead, we walked along the canal for a few minutes, to see the other little windmill, and then we took some photos of them before heading out.  Goodbye IJlst.

Second stop:  We were given an address of a store in Sneek that sells wooden shoes.  It's where the farmers buy them... kind of like Buckerfields.  We were so excited to find wooden shoes, finally!!  And it was pretty cool that we didn't buy them from an overpriced, tacky touristy shop.  Score!  Ruby was so happy, she wore them on and off in the car all day.

Third stop:  Hindeloopen.  Wow, super cute little town.  We only spent a few minutes there, just wandering the dyke and walking through the tiny canal streets. 

A whole lotta heaven on those plates...

 

Which windmill is cuter? :-)

Forth stop:  Back to Utrecht, where we stayed on our way into Holland on the first night.  They have a Pannekoeken restaurant on the canal, next to the hostel, where they have been making amazing pannekoeken since the early 1900's.  It did not disappoint.  They were awesome!!  And the setting, so beautiful.

Fifth stop:  Should be called "Filth stop".... augh, oh my word, gross, yuck.   Our cheap hotel rooms outside of Paris.   I don't even want to talk about it.  It's just a place to stay for a few hours, get some sleep (if we can) and get the heck out of here.  I said to Rodger "It's a good thing I'm not a princess or I would've said absolutely not, I am NOT staying here."  I may not be a princess but I still whined a whole lot about it.  But seriously, you would have too! I wanna go home!!  Wah.

I left my heart in IJlst

I'm devoting a separate post to photos of IJlst because I loved it so much.  It was so pretty.  If I ever come back to Holland, I will stay here again in a heartbeat.  I'm sure there are other lovely towns that are equally nice (we saw several, actually)... but once you've found a piece of paradise, why look further?

What can I say?  The photos speak for themselves, I think.  Sigh.

When we arrived in IJlst, it was rainy and grey.  When we left, it was bright and sunny.  Beautiful, either way.

P.S.  I may also left my heart in a few other places along the way... Pont en Royans, Vaison la Romaine, Bordeaux, pretty much all of the medieval villages in France... and every single Boulangerie in France...to name a few places.  But if I could pick one spot to go back to, I really think it would be IJlst.

P.P.S.  And I think Cameron embraced Friesland as well.  (Posted with permission... haha)

Last day in Friesland

Today we rented bikes from a place just down the road from our apartment.  It was super cheap - $5euros per person for a couple of hours, but they were very relaxed about the return time.  Rodger, Simon and I got the high handlebars, traditional type of Dutch bike, and Ruby and Cameron were given bikes that look like ours... they were disappointed.  Anyway, we were all set up with bikes and were on the road by 9:30 am, on our way to Heeg, with our bike route map in hand.  We started out good with the paths, but they weren't as clearly marked as they led us to believe, so of course we ended up on a "bike highway"... not the country-side kind of idea that I had in mind.  But regardless, we finally made it into Heeg and found the old church that Rodger's mom used to go to, and also the graves of Rodger's relatives.  The name Veenstra was everywhere in this town, so when mom told me to look out for the name, it was pretty easy!

 

We had pannekoeken for lunch, next to the canal... boats going by constantly, some of them stopping right at the restaurant so they could hop off for lunch.  So awesome!!  It makes me want to come back to Holland one day so we can spend a couple of weeks, rent a boat and also bikes, and just live this life for awhile.  I love it.

After lunch we tried to find the house where Rodger's mom lived, but we since we weren't given specific instructions, we didn't find it.  But it was nice to bike through the country roads and enjoy the old farmhouses along the way.



We dropped off the bikes at 1:30 pm then got in the car to drive up to the North Sea, where Rodger's Dad lived, in Paessens.  We found his house, no problem, and then had a snack along the dyke, with the sheep as company.

 

On the way back, we stopped in Dokkum to look for wooden shoes for Ruby.  She's been wanting to buy a pair since we arrived in Holland, and we kept saying "we'll buy them later, we'll see them everywhere..."  So now that we are ready to buy some, we can't find them!!  Oops, we have one more day, as we head out of Holland tomorrow... hope we're successful or we'll have a very sad girl on our hands.

After dinner we re-organized our belongings and repacked all our bags.  We're so glad we bought the extra bag the other day, we need it!  As it started to get dark, Ruby and I went for a walk through town.  There were lots of people enjoying their evening, either by their canal "stoop", or sitting on benches by their front door (which is basically right on the sidewalk - no yards in front.)  There were also alot of people sitting outside at the restaurant below our apartment... very cozy atmosphere.  We discovered a community library cupboard down one street, and also a hand-cranked ferry platform (max. 8 people) that takes people across a small canal to a nature park of some sort.  Pretty cool!  I am going to be very sad to leave this beautiful little country tomorrow.  :-(

Time for bed... tomorrow's a long travel day!

Delft pottery and heading to Friesland

Today, after a TERRIBLE sleep (the party ended long after midnight), we headed out to walk around Delft, to find breakfast.  It was a rainy day and I was grumpy... the concert last night and the setting up for the music festival this morning, ruined my mood and my experience of Delft.  I wasn't even interested to check out the touristy shops, where they sell the famous delft-blue pottery.  We just wandered to the bakery around the corner from the hostel, bought some yummy cinnamon buns and headed back to the communal dining area to eat. Then we packed up and walked to the car, which was parked several blocks away.  They don't allow parking in the main town area so we had to park on the outskirts. 

From there we headed to the Delft museum, to see where the the famous Delft pottery is still being handpainted today.  We were given a short tour of the factory and he explained how they make their pottery, and then we got to see two women handpainting their pieces.  One woman we chatted with has been painting pottery for over 35 years!  It was a very interesting tour.  I didn't end up buying any pottery because it was very expensive.  I know I will regret that decision!  Such beautiful artwork.    One day I will have to return, and then I will buy something, regardless of the cost. :-)





















Time to head to Friesland!  Driving on the historical Afsluitdijk, the famous 32 kilometre dike that was constructed in the early 1930's, was pretty cool!  The weather was terrible... pouring, windy, COLD!  But we got out of the car and checked it out.  We walked on the overpass to the other side, and the North Sea water level was clearly higher than the IJsselmeer lake side.  Pretty amazing!    

 

We made it to our accommodations in IJlst in early afternoon and were super happy with it.  There isn't much in the town but it is charming and we are right on the canal.  We are above one of the only restaurants in town, and across the street from the small tourist information office.  There was a snack bar next door where we ate croquettes on buns, and I had a frikendel.  I've never had it before but I was told to try it... it was good but I'm not entirely sure what it was... sort of like a sausage, or a hot dog?  Anyway, check that off my list of things to do while in Holland! :-)  It was awesome to just sit and watch the boats going by in the canals, with the bridges being constantly raised and lowered.  We found it so facinating and I could watch the "traffic" forever.

 

The city of Sneek was only about 4 kms away so we headed there to check it out.  By this time the rain had stopped so once we parked the car we wandered for quite awhile.  Our first mission was to find a travel bag, to bring our extra stuff home that we've been accumulating through our travels.  We were bursting at the seams.  We found what we were looking for (happy!) so our next mission was to find the Dropwinkeltje... our trip to mecca!!  Our faces say it all....

I think the guy in the store thought we were crazy, as we almost squealed in delight upon entering the store.  So excited to be there.... we spent alot of time and money in the store, buying pounds of droppies. (Rodger and I were there in 1998 and it's totally not the same as I remembered... strange.  I thought it was bigger... or maybe I made it bigger in my mind over the years?? :-) ) 

From there we did some shopping, where we bought a bunch of tea towels and assorted other things (some soccer things too), and then checked out the famous Waterpoort, which was built in 1613.  Apparently my mom used to dangle her feet in this very spot as a young girl!  Super awesome to think about that!

And then we got lost getting back to the car.  We circled around and around, until we finally found it.  It was okay though, Sneek is beautiful and wandering along the canals was nice.  If only we didn't have 50 pounds of droppies to lug around with us the whole time... haha.

 I am so in love with this Country.  Seriously.