Netherlands

Well after 1.5 years we finally made it off the island! For our first road trip to the continent, we visited Dave's extended relatives in the Netherlands. It is really cool that his American family still keeps in touch with their Dutch family. So we decided to take advantage of that and pay a visit! The boys (well me, too) though it was pretty cool that in one day we drove through four countries! Two hours to the port of Dover, 2 hour ferry crossing to the French port of Dunkirk, 30 minutes in France, 2 hours through Belgium and 1.5 hours in the Netherlands to get to their home in the countryside near the city of Utrecht.

On the ferry with the cliffs of Dover behind us. It really makes the port so nice (compared to Dunkirk). I was imagining  the joy and relief of the WWII pilots as they saw the white cliffs on their return home after they did their bombing missions over Germany.

On the ferry

So here we are with David's second cousin, once removed (I think) named Henriette and her husband Peter. This is the town where Dave's great great uncle was born, he was the one who came over America. It was a lovely Dutch village.

Eating outside with more extended family. We had lovely weather.

We went on a walk thru the countryside and stopped to see some French cows. They were a bit stinky.

The above are pictures of Henriette and Peter's house. It was a beautiful, spacious house in the countryside. They had a huge garden, swings, swimming pool, and plenty of chickens (whose eggs we enjoyed for breakfast). It was great to stay with a real Dutch family in the countryside. We enjoyed their hospitality and hearing them talk about their lives and families.



Cheers!