North Holland

I am sure that I have mentioned it before, but Sunbear is a Dutchie and and he brought me to his hometown (I think the word "hometown" is just so cute!) which was Steenwijk. It was really weird being introduced to his parents (his dad knew very little English and his mum didn't know any) and to see his childhood bedroom (he lives in Rotterdam for university) and to see that his mum had assembled a little bed for me.


Travelling like pack mules.



I sometimes do wonder how I managed to share a single bed for nearly 3 months as I now sleep sprawled  in the middle of my double bed.







We went for a drive in his dad's old Saab and his dog, Hella. The Netherlands is flat. So incredibly flat. Literally. Also, there was so much planning it was really weird and unnatural. All the trees along the side of the road/ in the "forest" were arranged either in a line or a grid formation. Seriously. It was also really strange to see that even in the middle of no where, there would be a bicycle path next to the road. Yes, I know that bicycles are ingrained in the Dutch culture, but there was nothing in the surrounding area. For example, it was an empty field for at least 15km in each direction and yet, there would be a bicycle path. Okay.









We stopped off at another town (towns are really close together in the Netherlands) for lunch which consisted of pea and ham soup, amazing coffee and pumpernickel bread.

Dinner was at his parents and it was so awkward and adorable. His mum made mashed potatoes for me (I love mash) and also custard for dessert (I love custard) and there was a really awkward story that his mum was telling and then got translated for me. So when his mum and and were dating, once she slept over at his place but in a separate room and during the night, she crept into his room but the door creaked. Next morning, the dad's grandfather announced at breakfast: 'I oiled the door. Tonight it will be alright'. I think they were hinting at the fact that even though there were two beds, it was completely okay to be sharing one (which we did). I felt a little bad though because if they knew that, then it was such a waste of effort to set up the other bed. Ah well.





After dinner, we went to Dutch Venice aka Giethoorn. We walked his dog and it was a nice walk ... in the drizzle. I never knew what drizzle actually was until I visited Europe. I always thought that there were: showers, sprinkles or rain. Drizzle and mist is actually really strange, it feels like it is raining but it also isn't. 

We had a second dessert at this random cafe with amazing hot chocolate. The thing I found interesting (perhaps it is a country thing rather than a Dutch thing) was that the dog could go into every single cafe/ shop and the owner would often bring a bowl of water for the dog. 

Where we went: