Kia ora! Hello!

For a week Linda's cousin and her family took us in and let us crash at theirs, spend First & Second Christmas with them, but they also took us on excursions and shared heaps of insights with us which was a lot of fun.

It was nice to be in a home and be able to get a little comfy for a week after moving around a lot and being in hostels, but also to spend some time with Linda's family and learn about typical Dutch life and history.

We squeezed a fair bit in so this is a lengthy read!

Day trip to Amsterdam:

- Visited Anne Frank's House which was an incredible experience.

- Of course we went to a Coffee Shop, so we went to the Bulldog Coffee Shop - the first one in Amsterdam.

- Sex Museum which was full of history within the Netherlands but also internationally.

- Fries with sauce - this is really odd to note and whilst they are pretty good, I don't understand the craze but this might be because we get some good fries at F&C shops in Aotearoa.

- Tried stroopwaffel from the tiktok videos at Van Wonderen Stroopwaffel

Christmas eve last minute grocery shop and lunch at Saigon Cafe. Ended the day with our first cheese fondue, olibol, red wine and watching The Polar Express.

First and Second Christmas were spent with different sides of Linda's cousins family. Both days we had Gourmetten (mini grills on the table and mini foods, so you cook your dinner at your own pace), red wine and playing Hipster (music guessing game) - very wholesome.

Day trip to Utrecht:

- UNESCO site

- One of the oldest cities, there is even a marking on the ground around the town of where the Roman wall was

- There are streets that are for cyclists so as a car or pedestrian you give way at all times.

- There was a storm which destroyed a large section of the church. There is an outline of grey stones to show the outline and where the pillars stood. There is also a secret garden within the church grounds and the architecture is beautiful, you can only imagine the beauty when the plants are all flowering in Spring.

Day trip to Zaanse Skchans:

- Village with working windmills, museums and workshops on the likes of making clogs, cheese, chocolate, spice trading.

- First ever Albert Hein - supermarket chain.

Then for the eve we went to Haarlem:

- Hofjes, houses & a garden hidden by a discrete door, typically single females and nuns live/lived here.

- Didn't have online tickets so didn't get to visit but saw the outside of Corrie Ten Boom Museum, which was an old Watch Shop that hid Jews in WWII.

- Shopping for some small changes to our wardrobes for the next leg of our trip.

- Followed by dinner and drinks with Linda's cousins with some pretty tasty green mac and cheese.

Day trip to Maastricht and walked around the 1200yr old village. Tried Poffitjes for the first time, covered in butter and icing sugar.....LEKKER!!! (yummy)

Then drove out to Les Trois Bornes, the point where Belgium, the Netherlands & Germany all meet. Even though we'd had Belgium fries in Amsterdam, we had to also have the true experience of Belgium fries in Belgium, before then crossing the border to Germany where we walked through multiple Christmas markets in Düsseldorf.

After an amazing week settled down in the Netherlands, off we go for the next leg of our trip

Haere rā! Goodbye!