Holland Day One

An uneventful flight to Amsterdam, which is good. A wee bit of successful smuggling went on... I brought with me a sealed packet of my favourite tagine sauce, all the better to make a meal for my hosts one evening. This is much the best option for a non-cook like me. JR said I wouldn't get it through customs, I was mad to try, and inferred that I'd probably be dragged off and arrested. If they'd noticed the glee with which I greeted my suitcase coming out of the X-ray machine, they might have been a wee bit suspicious...

My hosts, T & W, met me and whisked me off to a lovely lunch place. We sat outside in the shade (it was very hot) and had a delicious sandwich, although I did see the most inviting cake stands going by with a fantastic assortment of sandwiches, cold meat, cheeses etc.

Out to a party this evening, where I learned about 'happen en trappen'' - circular cycling routes where you stop for a course or a coffee in each village and end up 50km or so later having had a full meal and seen the countryside. There are 160 routes all over the country. How marvellous is that!

Also learned that all the schoolkids in Holland go walking round their villages for four evenings in one week, usually in June. They all walk 5ks (for the wee kids) or 10ks. The kids who were at the party had done their walks all this week and were very tired. How marvellous is that!

Wonder how wee Archie is today... He'll have spent the afternoon with the family...

These are flowers in the shop (with a bit of faffing), which is all I could manage today.