side trip to holland.

while my original plan didn't include going outside of germany, i jumped at the opportunity to spend an afternoon in holland, the land of my people. not only did my maternal ancestors emigrate from the netherlands to canada years and years ago, but we still have family in and around leiden and amsterdam, and while my parents have visited the country, i still hadn't.

so at 8am on thursday, we were up and getting ready to take the train to the suburbs to meet with johannes' mother. our original plan was to visit his younger brother, kaspar, in maastritcht (where he attends university), but it was a holiday so kaspar was back in town for a friend's birthday. still, doris wanted to do some potential shopping, so it was off to holland we went!

we piled into the golf and johannes (resident doctor) set about to fixing the tape deck (and was successful, which meant we got to listen to mixtapes and not the radio)! in about an hour's time we crossed the border and arrived in the city. we parked in front of kaspar's flat so we could see where he lives, and then headed through town toward the river to cross to the side with the central area, which i suppose can be classified as the downtown. the whole city features very modern, light, architecture but with a lot of brick and stone, which gave it an ancient, white-washed sort of feel.

we crossed the maas river and walked through town, until we came upon an outdoor restaurant, where we sat and enjoyed the beautiful weather and ate lunch. once done, we continued and walked all over, passing a mill, some cafes, university buildings, and three churches (two catholic and one protestant, i believe). the city streets themselves were cobblestone-like and reminded me of "oliver twist" or something of the sort.

after we had worn ourselves out by window shopping and checking out a flea market in the town square, we stopped at the grand theater cafe and had afternoon coffee and some cake, which was both pleasant and relaxing. then we slowly made our way back to the car. on the way, i snapped a picture of a congregation of bicycles. i can't imagine how to even beginning finding one's bike!

continuing on, we crossed back over to the other side of town via a different bridge, and doris demanded we use the time for a photo opportunity. so at johannes' suggestion, we flashed our west side (best side) signs, cause in case you didn't know, johannes is straight-up nwacore, no joke.

then it was back to germany. we were dropped off at the train station and headed back into town, where johannes made banana pancakes for dinner!! delicious! we rounded out the night with some white bavarian beer and watched "choke" together, and then it was off to bed.