Sunday, 24th July - The Trip Continued

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6.30am came around with a rude awakening of a lovely lady telling us to get up and that we would be docking at about 8.20am! After being on of the last people to get off the boat and going through 'customs' we jumped onto the train to Rotterdam Central Train Station. We went and asked at the information stand about getting to Coevorden and the lady laughed at me because apparently my pronunciation was not very good! Got the instructions then went had to wait for an hour, we were getting hungry by then but not a single place in any train station seemed to accept credit cards (Steve thinks it is because the Dutchies will need to be charged a transaction fee and they can't have that!). Had a few dramas with disruptions on the tracks but we made it eventually to Coevorden, cold and hungry, to be greeted by Uncle Albert and a lady snapping photos (Aunty Margareth). Aunty Margareth and Uncle Albert were kind enough to take us in (they were even happy to take Steve... little did they know about him!!!).
They brought 2 vehicles to the train station so all the luggage went into Uncle Albert's van.It was very funny because both Steve and I went to get into the front passanger seats only to be greeted with a steering wheel. We very quickly learned that Europeans (except England who are a law unto themselves) do things backwards! It only took about 20 minutes to get home and we had our first of many Dutch cup of coffee! We got a house tour after that, it is very cool how they have transformed what used to be a barn into a house while still keeping features of the original barn style. We are sleeping in the 2 rooms upstairs and got ourselves settled in!
After tea the rain 'stopped' so we put on our walking shoes and walked around to Martin and Lisette's house (my cousin and his partner) who have a new baby. Martin hasn't changed a lot since I last saw him (about 6 years ago). He gave us a tour of his house and we snuck into Fenie's room (she was squirming and woke up while we were in there... she is adorable and definitely looks like Martin). When we went to leave it started raining rather hard so I told Aunty Margareth we would have to run home... I don't think she liked that idea!
After another day of travelling and lack of sleep we were in bed at about 11pm.

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Photos

Photo 2
One of the many train trips

Photo 3
Standing in 2 countries at once (Netherlands and Germany)

Comments

[Mum B]

Photo 3
Wonderful summer weather!

[aunty M.]

Rain.
You can add to your have done/had list; we have experienced both dutch and german rain. Not everyone gets a chance to do that !!!!