Goodbye Nijmegen + Jaap, Els, Gerard, Marya, and Esther

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After another great sleep, I spent much of my last day in Nijmegen walking around the city centre. It was a big market day again. Lots of locals were out shopping and sampling the in-season herring. I tried herring once the other day...once was enough! I videoed a lot of the city for my opa to see if he remembers any of it from his days here when I get back.

In the evening, Gerard and Marya invited me over with Jaap and Els for dinner. Marya had cooked up another delicious feast. My last home-cooked dinner for a long while I'm sure!

After dinner, Gerard brought out some photos he'd found of me and my family from last time we were here (exactly 20 years ago - 'Juni 87' was written on the back of one of the photos). It was amazing to see us all in the house I was staying now all those years ago. I actually remember being in one of the places in the photos (with the mortar boards for a graduation party, which I could only remember as black witches hats). There were also some old photos of my opa with some of his brothers and sisters (my great Aunts and Uncles), and Els and Gerard, and their sister Mary, a long time ago!

I really enjoyed my time in Nijmegen. It was amazing to spend time with family that I knew was here but really knew very little about. I can't thank Jaap, Els, Marya, Gerard, and Esther enough for their kind hospitality. I'm sure it won't be another 20 years before we meet again. And maybe next time it will be in Sydney...

After waving goodbye to Jaap and Els from the train, I headed back to Amsterdam for another 2 nights.

I thought I'd finished this entry but...

I made the last tram from Centraal station and arrived back to the hostel about 1am. This shouldn't have been a problem since I rang the hostel during the day to confirm it was ok. However, the night staff don't accept payment and said it was standard procedure to keep my passport overnight as security until I paid. I hadn't let my passport out of my sight since leaving home. There was no way I was handing it over. And I had already paid for the first of the two nights, so I couldn't understand why I couldn't pay the rest then and there or first thing in the morning. After initially refusing, I thought I may have been being a little paranoid (as I sometimes have a tendency to be!), and besides, it was clear that there was nothing I could do or say that would let me stay there the night without handing over my passport. I just had to hand it over and hope for the best. When I finally made it to my room, I found 12 beds instead of 6 as I'd booked. I wasn't too happy, but after getting knowhere with the night staff about my passport, I thought it best just to leave it until the morning to sort out.

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Photos

Australian Ice Cream + Chocalate Shop
You have to laugh yeh?