Monday – November 3
Lara a post-doc student of Esther’s, who now lives and works in the U.K., came in last night to visit for a few days. Esther went to meet her at the train station and escort her to our house. I stayed behind to prepare dinner and I was a little nervous because I was cooking in a new kitchen. I braved a heavy rain to go the market on Saturday to get some fresh salmon for dinner. After finally figuring out the oven I roasted some veggies – potatoes, beets and carrots. I also baked the salmon, made mashed cauliflower and a salad. Dinner turned out good.

We were going to eat out for dinner but decided to eat out for lunch instead.

Lara helping me make a Spanish Potato omelet. I got the recipe from Celia but Lara is from Galicia, Spain and knew very well how to make it – I’m ready to go solo next time.

Tuesday – November 4
Esther did a short run this morning and she and Lara headed to the lab at 7:45 this morning. It has been so busy over the last several days that I got behind on my journal so I took some time in the AM to catchup. A very rare weather day today – is was sunny and around 55 degrees a little windy so I took advantage of it an went for a bike ride.

Wednesday – November 5
I went to the market this morning to get some fresh fish for dinner tonight – fresh fish from the Wednesday market has become a thing now. after that I rode my bike to the Ede-Wageningen train station and took the train to Utrecht, a short 40 minute ride.

Utrecht – founded around 47 CE as the Roman fort Traiectum, is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. Located in the heart of the country, it grew into an important religious and culture center during the Middle Ages and remains a vibrant university city today. Know for its iconic Dom Tower, medieval canals with unique wharf cellars, and historic architecture, Utrecht blends centuries of history with a lively modern atmosphere. It serves as a major hub for education, culture and transportation in the Netherlands.

The Dom Tower of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, standing 112.5 meters (368 ft) high. Construction began in 1321 and was completed in 1382 as part of the Cathedral of Saint Martin.

Thursday – November 6
I rode to the city of Ede, explored our town, Wageningen and did some grocery shopping today – I needed a low key day.

Friday – November 7
Sunrise: 7:43 AM Sunset: 4:58PM
For Esther’s birthday Gerard, aunt Sonja and probably a few other aunts gave Esther a gift certificate from this nice jewelry store in Hoofddorp, where aunt Sonja lives. Hoofddorp is a town in the Netherlands, located in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, in the province of North Holland. It’s situated just southwest of Amsterdam and very close to Schiphol airport – it was about a 1-1/2 hour train and walk away from the Ede-Wageningen station. We had planned to meet on this evening so Esther could use her gift card and then have dinner. We left our house at 1:45 and arrived at aunt Sonja at 4:05.

We had a great time and Esther picked out a beautiful necklace and 2 pairs of earrings and dinner was a place called Fort Noxx – it was in an actual historic fort.

Saturday and Sunday November 8 & 9
After Esther did her run on Saturday we took off with our bikes to visit Emiel and Annamarie, Esther’s aunt and uncle, in Emmen. We biked to the Ede-Wageningen to Amersfoort station, then changed trains (different platform) to go to Zwolle, we changed trains and platforms again to go to Dalfsen. Once in Dalfsen we we had to ride our bikes to Ommen because of train track repairs. In Ommen we got back on the train and traveled to Emmen. Emiel met us in Emmen and we rode, in the dark, about 8 mile to his house. They have a nice, cozy house and we had a good overnight stay. They feed us dinner and breakfast. We headed home around 11AM and did everything again but in reverse.

and that ends a very busy week 6.

Monday – October 27
Sunrise: 7:23AM – Sunset: 5:18PM – rainy conditions expected around 8AM with wind gusts up to 31mph making the temperatures feel like 36 degrees.

Esther had an appointment at 11 am in Nijmegen to get her DIGID number. Nijmegen is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is also one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands and the first to be recognized in Roman times. In 2005, Nijmegen celebrated 2,000 years of existence. It poured cats and dogs the whole and we got soaked especially our feet.

It’s the end of October and on Thursday we move from Hanny and Roy’s house to Franc and Esther’s. To help make the move a little easier we are loading “Big Red” with some of the clothing items we know we don’t need any more and taking her to Gerard’s place in preparation for me to take back to the states in November.

Tuesday – October 28
Sunrise: 7:26AM Sunset: 5:16PM Weather was overcast and with no rain in the forecast.

Today was a very unproductive, moody day – the weather was cold and rainy and we hadn’t heard back from Hanny as to the exact day they were moving back. The contract said the 30th but there was some talk about the 29th so we were in limbo and affected our moods. Finally, midmorning they emailed Esther and confirmed they were moving back on the 30th which was a big relief for us because Esther and Franc aren’t leaving until the 31st.

Wednesday – October 29
Sunrise: 7:26AM Sunset: 5:16PM Weather was overcast and with no rain in the forecast.
I wanted/needed to work out the moody feelings from yesterday and since the weather forecast didn’t include rain, I decided to ride my bike to Nijmegen for lunch and to explore a little. It was a fairly easy 18 mile ride to the city center and even though the weather was okay the wind picked up considerably on the last 5km – it took about 95 minutes to make to Nijmegen.

I parked and locked my bike on one of the main streets and took a picture of the store across the street so i could Google map the store when I wanted to to return. I explored the city for a while then had some lunch at this small, cozy and very busy cafe. While waiting for lunch I used the ns.nl public transportation app to see about getting a train ticket for my bike so I could take the train back home.The process was fairly easy and I decided buy a ticket and give it a try.

Thursday – October 30
Sunrise: 7:29AM Sunset: 5:12PM Partly cloudy conditions with lows: 47 degrees and high: 56 degrees – prefect day to move into our new house for the month of November.
Our first night at our new place was good and we both slept very well. Esther had a trip to a company to give a talk in Leeuwarden which is all the way to the north end of Holland – a 3 hour train trip. She left the house at 9AM and didn’t get home till 9PM – a 12 hour day.

I got the old house all clean and met Hanny and Roy at 3:30PM so we could hand back their house and go over anythings that came up while they were gone. I made them some tea and we had a conversation about their trip and our time in their house. I was a little nervous about meeting them without Esther but we had a good conversation and everything went well – they want us to come back.

Esther and Franc had a party in Utrecht so they were leaving the house when I got back from meeting Hanny. I was physically and mentally tired with moving and the long conversations with both couples so I was happy to just relax in our new beautifully home. Esther wasn’t going to be home until late (8PM or later) so I was on my own for dinner. I hadn’t had time to buy any groceries and was to tired to go out so I just grabbed some items from the fridge and managed to make a mushroom, onion, red pepper, cheese omelet – it was tasty. . –

Friday – October 31 – Halloween
Franc and Esther left on their trip around 7:30 AM and even though they are a wonderful couple, who I like a lot, it was nice to have the house to ourselves now. We had coffee and breakfast together and then, after Esther left for work I went to Het Depot. The Het Depot is museum/gallery, located in Wageningen, which focuses on exhibiting contemporary sculpture, particular works that explore the human form. The works are presented across three interconnected buildings and a beautiful sculpture garden that overlooks the Wageningen Arboretum (Belmonte Arboretum).

We had a wonderful time and dinner with Annemeike and William – they are so fun and easy to be around.

Saturday – November 1
Sunset: 5:08PM – Rainy conditions expected around 8AM with wind gusts up to 25 mph making the temperature feel like 49 degrees. I got completely soaked at the market but, I wanted some fresh fish to have for dinner when Lara was here on Sunday.

We left for Den Hague around 10AM because Esther had an appointment at City Hall to be finger printed and photographed which is all part of the process of getting her Dutch citizenship back. – not there long enough for photos but, we’ll be back. After Den Hague we took the train/bus to Aalsmeer to have dinner with Garard and then we all went to Aunt Annemeike’s 75th birthday party/

Gerard drove us to the Schiphol airport around 10 PM so we could take the train home – its usually an 1-1/2 hour train trip. But, because of a soccer match and a big concert letting out at almost the same time the train station was packed. We took a very packed train from Schiphol to Utrecht where we had to change platforms and trains as we got to our correct platform, with hundreds of people waiting, we saw Annemeike and William also waiting for the train – what a coincidence. They had gone to the concert and were one of the thousands exiting. Since they had driven to the train station and are living next door we were able to ride home from the train station with them – saved us about 40 minutes. We got home at 1:40AM, exhausted and ready for bed.

Sunday- November 2
Because of our late night we got up late and had a leisure morning with a nice frittata for breakfast.

Esther and I went on a beautiful 18 mile bike ride and had lunch at restaurant right across the river from the ferry.

Esther left the house around 3PM to go the airport to meet Lara, one Esther’s post-docs students who worked in lab, who has come from the United Kingdom to visit for a couple of days.
….. and that ends another adventures week.