18 July 2014 – Lisse

Current position: 52*41'59.33N, 04*34'03.74E
 

We have finally left Haarlem, and are taking the long way to Weesp, east of Amsterdam. Bill's choice, I think all the road noise in Haarlem was begining to wear on him. Right now, we're back at the little club marina in Lisse. FREE INTERNET!!!, electricity (ice cubes as well as refrigeration), and super tranquil and quiet.

This is a happy man!

 



Our last days in Haarlem, we found a new source of free internet (do you see a theme here?). There's been an explosion of places offering free internet to lure you in to various establishments. We spent almost 3 hours in a small church-converted-to-a-brewery-and-cafe. We arrived a bit before lunch, so started with a beer and waited until we could order a meal. Between posting our previous blog entry and eating, we've finally slipped into the European habit of lingering over meals. In addition, the setting was fascinating: as the Dutch seem to do better than anyone else, they had converted the setting to something modern, and yet had preserved the integrity of the old and kept the Dutch character of the whole both in the old and new. 
 

No, that photo isn't upside down, they'd put some sort of carpeting on the dropped ceiling over the entry.

 

Just for Adam:  on the way back we passed a shoemaker who specializes in making "large size shoes."

 

We tried the middle eastern bakery that is connected to the laundrymat. Best eastern baked goods I've had in AGES, and they managed to keep the sweetness down without the pastries becoming dry. Definitely want to go there again.
 

Also a week ago, Jeannet's son Rob and his wife Jeannette had us to dinner at their summer house in Speuld. We took a train to their house in Waddinxveen

 

and the drove WAY out in the country. You pass through Dutch villages that are almost the way they were decades ago – except weekenders with money have moved in to some extent so I suspect they're a bit more manicured looking, but still . . . .       Jeannette had a little booklet she's made showing their hunt for a country place. It gave us a chance to appreciate just how much work they'd put into making it theirs.

It was nice to begin with, but now it is simply spectacular – expecially the garden! One of the things I learn over and over here is the beauty of a small place that you can turn into a true jem, rather than something big that is never completely finished like seems to happen in the States.

This year, Jeannette prepared a meal of asian foods. Every year, she outdoes herself feeding us. This meal was even better than the TOKO meal we'd enjoyed so much in Haarlem, and the soup was especially good.

 

I NEED THAT RECIPE ! !

And, after a couple of decades, it's finally dawned on me why the Dutch look at American's so funny when we ask for "ice water". Ice, or "ijs", means ICE CREAM here, so we're actually asking for water with ice cream in it. Now we've finally learned to ask for water with ice cubes (ijs bloketjes). (And just how dim am I that it's taken me this long to figure out?)
 

We'll be leaving Lisse in a few days. Our next stop will not have shore power, but we're trying to be ready for a big storm that's scheduled to hit on Sunday. We're aiming for the little park just past Alphen on the Aar Kanaal. That seems to be our mooring of choice to hunker down and hybernate. 
 

Will try to keep in touch and let you all know how life here is going. Right now the news on Dutch radio is all about the Malaysian Airlines 777 that was shot down over Ukraine. It feels odd to be cut off from the news coverage, we've been so used to that in the States. Also seems odd that Schiphol is only a few minutes away, and that plane was overhead less that a day ago. Prayers for the families, most of whom are from here.

Tot ziens y-all, keep in touch . . . .