Week 195: The Netherlands to Edinburgh
Exploring a little of the southern Netherlands, heading to Belgium for the day and then off to Edinburgh!
Thank goodness for the blog posts or at this rate I'd have no idea where we actually are at the moment. We're flitting around like mad. All part of a big master plan, just one that's not been especially well thought out!
We started the week in The Hague, pet sitting a cat. This was a great experience – Stipie is a very relaxed cat and easy to care for. It finished up on Monday morning and we decided still had four days to fill before heading to Edinburgh. We didn't find a pet sit, so instead, thought we'd just take an Airbnb close to the border with Belgium so we could go visit a barge on Wednesday.
Scenes from out and about in The Hague
There were many places we could have chosen, but we ended up in a town called Roosendaal simply because it was cheap. It turned out to be a good enough reason—Roosendaal was relaxing, comfortable, and just what we needed for a few days to recharge the batteries.
Scenes from Roosendaal. The meat platter was insanely big!
Wednesday, we caught the train from Roosendaal to Antwerp in Belgium (€17 euros and 1 hour), then hired a car at the train station to drive to Ypres, where there is an old hotel barge for sale. We were very grateful to the owner for making it available for us to see, and the visit was educational but not quite the right barge for us yet. Boat buying is like that, you have to kick a few tires (or fenders) to find the right one.
Antwerp Train station and scenes from Ypres. When in Belgium, you have to have frites for lunch!
Besides enjoying being back on the water, we loved the town of Ypres with its very cute historic centre. It was mostly destroyed in WWI, but everything was rebuilt the same way, which I think is admirable.
The black and white photo is the cloth hall in Ypres during World War I, the right, fully restored.
On Thursday, we took the train from Roosendaal to Schiphol Airport and then a quick flight to Edinburgh. It's getting busier here—we had a queue for immigration in Edinburgh that ran all the way through the immigration hall and almost back to the plane!
Karina and I took the tram to Ella and Inge's flat, left our bags there and then walked across Edinburgh to the edge of Leith to meet the new house sit. After a warm welcome and tour of the house, we walked all the way back to Ella and Inge's again – almost 21,500 steps that day! The sun was out, and after a day of trains, planes and trams, we felt like some exercise.
Scenes around Edinburgh. The view from the house sit window and Pickles the cat.
Thursday morning, we relocated to the housesit, and we're now in the Cannonmills area of Edinburgh, which is lovely. We have a view of the castle from our front windows and the sea from the back. In this part of the town, there are lots of green walking paths and places to stroll on pedestrian walkways/cycleways that run on the old train lines.
It's been a good chance to sit back, put our feet up, and relax! The homeowner was very generous and allowed Ella and Inge to come to visit us, so Saturday night, we had a roast pork dinner in the apartment.
This week will continue to be fairly relaxed. We have a few projects to complete for the wedding on June 1st, but other than that, care for the cats and enjoy Edinburgh!
As always, we're loving being in the UK. The food and the drinks are fantastic. All the little home comforts we don't get in Greece like good pastries everywhere, fruit toast, hot cross buns (still!), crumpets, sausages and pub meals. It's been a lot of fun.
Later this week, we'll head back to Ella and Inge's while they are away for the weekend. Then it's wedding season! There will be lots of last minute plans, people arriving from all over the world, and things to be done.
We'll enjoy the break this week.
Until next time,
Tim & Karina