Waddenzee

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A reasonable night's rest and a mediocre breakfast (although can't complain for the price) and I was ready for my Waddenzee adventure. Turned out to be a calm one but as I'm winding down my holiday, that seemed like a good idea. Bought a ticket that included both train and boat and made my way past the cows to the coast. Took the lunchtime fast boat from Harlingen and sat next to a guy who quickly realised he was on his way to the wrong island. Luckily, you can island-hop here so he wasn't too stranded.

As I only had a few hours on Terschelling, I went to the tourist office to ask what they recommended. They told me about the nearby beach, which I wanted to see anyway. And I was so blown away that I decided to stay there and get out my watercolours. The vast expanse of sand is exposed at low tide, which meant a lot of boats dotted around, standing still, and you could walk for miles if you wanted among the huge dunes. But I was in the mood for chilling, so I spent the afternoon trying to capture something of the essence of that beach. Didn't really produce anything worth posting here but maybe when I get home I can use my photos and my memory to paint something better. I'm just glad I had the chance to sit there for an afternoon, staring at it all, even when the drizzle came. The only thing that spoilt it was people letting their dogs loose and making a racket.

Got the slow boat back (about two hours - fast boat takes about 45 mins) and when I arrived in Harlingen it had started to rain more heavily. Back in Leeuwarden, it was pouring down but I needed dinner so I dived down a side street near my hotel. I found a small Ethiopian place and stuffed my face with Ethiopian pancakes and various (vegan) sauces and stews. It was quite a rough and ready place and I felt like I was her first ever customer but the food was delicious and very spicy. I even got to wash my hands in the traditional way before the meal and ate using the pancake only. A nice little experience to round off my time in Leeuwarden.

Spent the rest of the evening deciding on how to end this trip and plumped for a night at a spa hotel just outside Hamburg, then home on Thursday. At the time of writing, Trump is threatening to unleash "fire and fury" on North Korea so I figured that if the world is going to go out with a bang, I may as well go out in style. But I sincerely hope those two insane leaders back off.

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