Five days have passed and this is the first time I have touched a computer since my last update. Our flight was uneventful - the way I like it. I miscalculated the sleeping part. Just as I was about to put the eye cover over my eyes to get a bit of sleep they switched on all the lights to allow passengers to get ready for breakfast.
Sonja, a cousin of Ingrid's, fetched us from Schiphol airport after we landed on Friday morning and took us to Blaricum when Opa stays. Pretty-well the first thing we did was go to bed for three hours. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, chatting to Opa, and going for a short walk around the area. In the evening Rob another of Ingrid's cousins, and his wife brought around the car (Suzuki) that Opa used to drive. Meanwhile Judith had developed a temperature along with a sore throat and went to bed early.
We had planned to spend the Saturday touring Amsterdam but started off instead with a drive (my first time ever to drive in Europe) to the hospital for a doctor to look at Judith. The doctor diagnosed a viral infection and suggested we just treat the fever symptomatically and proceed with our plans to go to Amsterdam. This we did, going by bus and train, meeting up with Sonja and her husband, Giljam, and their two children, Rebekkah (18) and Daniel (13). We did a boat tour through the canals, looked at the oldest church in Amsterdam and then, by way of contrast, took a stroll through the famous(?) red-light district of Amsterdam with its "coffee shops" (where you can legally buy and smoke marijuana) and large windows where prostitutes stand or sit in lingerie, typically, or in one case a skimpy Santa Clause outfit.
On Sunday we drove the 200km from Blaricum to Heerlen where Ingrid's brother, Vincent, and his family live - Marjoke (15) and Ruben (14). Jeroen and his two children, Levien(17) and Sera(13), live nearby. They came across and we spent the rest of Sunday chatting and catching up. It is 18 years since I last saw Jeroen though I have spoken to him on the phone a few times since coming to Canada.
Well, I am going to accompany Vincent on a stroll (23:00 at night) to the local bus station to see the times of buses tomorrow when we plan to go to Maastricht so I will catch up on Christmas day next time.
