the end is near

April 25, 2014

Today we had to be up early so we could pack everything that was strewn about the cabins and cram everything into our cars and be out by 10am. I was pretty good about keeping our things contained to our room so packing was pretty easy. Once our cabin was organized we went over to the other cabin and they still had a huge mess over there. Granted all the food was over there so they had more to pack. We tried to eat as much of the food as possible, so Peggy made bird’s nests to use up the rest of the eggs and bread. Poor Jonathan was looking pretty pale, apparently he had been up sick all night, which is awful anytime but even worse when you’re on vacation.

By pretty much exactly 10am we had crammed all our excessive luggage into the two cars. Luckily we had ruined that Opal because otherwise we never would have been able to transport everything; our Mondeo has a huge trunk since it’s a wagon. We were spending the night at Remult and Wendela’s house in Gouda, and since Jonathan wasn’t feeling well we just took a quick drive through Maarne since we hadn’t made it there on the bikes and then we got right on the highway. Remult and Wendela had gone to Switzerland for the week and were supposed to be getting back today, so we weren’t sure if they were going to be home yet but thankfully they were home since we beat the other car there and they had the keys to the house.

The house was super cool and the architect was actually another family member that we had visited for dinner the day we went to Amsterdam. It was Peggy’s birthday today, so we pretty much just dropped off the guys and Ben, Jessica and I headed to the mall to pick up a birthday card and a little gift. When we got back to the house the other car was just arriving and unpacking. After a quick lunch of cold cuts on bread, the majority of us headed out for a walk into downtown Gouda.

The walk took about 40 minutes, mostly along a major bike path that cut between two canals. Along the way there were little sections of land between the houses and canals that were just fields; some had cows, sheep and goats.

Once we got into town we wandered through shops and into the main square where they were setting up a big stage for King’s Day which is technically on Sunday but they are celebrating on Saturday and Friday night. Apparently King’s Day is a big thing here, every store was selling orange t-shirts, dresses, hats, wigs, leggings, etc. We were told that Friday night is a big boozefest, I’m assuming that King’s day on Saturday is a little more family friendly.

It was actually really warm out. Before we left Ben told me to wear my hoodie because I’m always cold, but then I was hot so he had to carry it for me J. After wandering for a few hours we started our walk back. Along the way some of us stopped at the mall to pick up some food items like Milka bars since we figured the stores would possibly be closed tomorrow because it’s a holiday and then on Sunday because that’s the norm. Of course because we went by an ice cream place, Peggy and Rick (and Ben) just had to get a cone before we had dinner.

As we got back to the house the rest of the dinner guest were also arriving, including Remult and Wendela’s daughter Lianne, and Remult’s brother Roland and his sons Philip and Leonard (Remult’s sister Kirsten also came a little later). We just visited with the Dutch cousins for a while and then some of the guys went out and picked up Chinese take-away for dinner. Wendela had also picked up a cake and we sang happy birthday in Dutch (I didn’t participate in that one for obvious reasons) and English for Peggy and Nora.

After everyone had left I began the task of cramming all of our purchases into our bags. I thought I had it all figured out (leaving room for the cheese in the fridge) and then I realized that we still had a whole grocery bag full of food items we had picked up at the grocery store before we left Doorn (mostly stroopwafels…). So I had to work my magic again and reshuffle some things, but I made it work. Our bags ended up weighing almost exactly the same because I put all the heavy stuff in the smaller bag. Now just one more sleep before we fly home.