After only 4 hours of sleep we woke up early to take Jaimers to the Brussels Airport. Our visit went by too fast, a week just isn't enough.
I picked Jaimers up on Monday in the snow (the second time it has snowed here since Christmas). We took the train back to Mons, Belgium where we met up with Jim. After Jim's meetings at SHAPE HQ we drove back home to Brunssum. Jaimers was a trooper and stayed up till 8pm on Monday night. After getting a full nights rest and acclimating to the seven hour time difference we started planning our events for the week. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side but that wasn't going to slow us down.
On Tuesday, we took a much needed swim at the JFC Brunssum pool. After our swim we went to Herleen (nearby town) for a late lunch and hot chocolate. We proceed to stay at this quaint cafe for over two hours chit chatting (this would become our trend for the rest of the week). We then met up with Jim at home after coming back to the car to find a parking ticket (52 Euro...OUCH). Jaimers and I both swear we did not see a parking meter anywhere near our car. Since then I have been extra cautious every time we park, I learned my lesson. Tuesday night we went to Maastricht for trivia night at the local Irish Pub. We met up with some of Jim's work friends. We actually kicked some butt at trivia, we were in second place till we were too tired to play and left after the 6th round.
On Wednesday morning we woke up early for Kinderdijk, Netherlands. Kinderdijk is known for its windmills. It was a gloomy sunless day but we saw all the windmills and had came across a swan we couldn't get enough of. After Kinderdijk windmills we drove north to Amsterdam. We walked through the city for a little while then made our way to a little cafe where we had a yummy pancake dinners and hot chocolate of course. We proceeded to chit chat for at least an hour if not more then decided we had had enough so we headed for home. We reached home after 9pm and Jim was happy to see us.
On Thursday we slept in a little bit. watched a couple episodes of The Unit (yes, now Jaime is hooked) after we got ready and headed to Aachen, Germany. It was sunny most of the day which was a nice change from the past three cloudy days. We ate lunch at a yummy cafe and after our hot chocolate we hit the town. We toured a beautiful church and got lots of pictures. We walked around the cobble streets and stopped in at a local bakery for fresh bread and pastries. When it started raining we decided to head back home. We made a pot roast (my best one yet but still a little dry) asparagus and potatoes for dinner. Jaime and Jim finished two bottles of wine (so jealous) while we chit chatted the night away. Finally at 12:30 we went to bed for the night.
On Friday Jaime had an online class to watch for school and after that we went to Maastricht for the afternoon. It was a perfect day in the 50's with the sun shinning warmly on us. We enjoyed walking around the city seeing all the sights and picking up tasty chocolate for loved ones. It was a busy day in Maastricht and after Jaimers had gotten pushed for the 100th time we decided to head home for a nap. We had dinner at the house, played cards and watched a couple episodes of The Unit.
On Saturday we woke up early to Jaimers doing our dishes (thank you) and scrumptious french toast with homemade berry syrup. It was a great way to start a Saturday especially since it was foggy, cold and rainy outside. However this wasn't going to stop us since we had a fun day planned on the Rhine River. We got ready and headed to Germany for the day. Our first town we came to on the Rhine River had a beautiful church that we visited. Then we had a tasty Italian lunch with views of the river. We then headed south down the river. We stopped at one of the many castles on the Rhine this one just so happen to be one we could actually see. It was so foggy and rainy it was hard to see any other castles. This castle looked to be closed but we ventured up the road on foot anyway. After we were sure it was closed we stopped half way up the road and went back to our car. We decided that it would be worth driving up the road in the car just to get a closer look at the castle (what was the worst they could do tell us to turn around). We discovered a deserted stable house (which looked like a small castle to us). We parked the car, hoped it wouldn't be towed away and walked to the castle just up the hill. When we got the castle much to our surprise it was open. We took some pictures and then got asked by a lady who worked at the castle if we wanted a tour. After 7.50 Euro for all three of us we got a fun tour of the castle. There was only one other couple on the tour with us, needless to say this isn't the busy season. We were so happy we didn't give up on our castle adventure it was an exciting day. It was 4:30 when we got back to our car and it was getting dark outside so we headed back home. We stopped at a town called Valkenburg for dinner which ended up being dessert and alcohol. Soup and cola for me : ) When we got home Jaimers started packing for home while Jim and I talked on Skype for a little while. We all stayed up till 1:30 in morning talking not wanting the adventure to end.
It was a great visit and much needed Jaimers time. I can't believe after a full week of chit chatting we NEVER ran out of things to talk about. Jaimers was a wonderful first guest and we were happy to have her visit us in the Netherlands. We already miss her, it had been quiet here today without her. Thanks Jaimers for the adventures and memories : )
(For Jaime) I told you I would put this entry up before you got home : ) Have a great week and I will talk to you very soon. Miss you!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment