Heemskerk

Day 2 of the holiday took for a long drive across the country (1 hour) to a castle a short way outside Amsterdam. The castle is also now a hostel (and has been for many years) run by Stay Okay.

The girls were really excited about staying in the castle (it also has a moat). However, when it was time to settle the kids down, the presence of a large school group of young teenagers on the floor above us proved a problem. They were clearly very excited about being on a school trip and were running up and down corridors, slamming doors and yelling. The teachers clearly had no control and one of the staff members was very kind to us and swapped us to a really nice room in the turret (on the left in the first photo). This room usually costs much more, and was really novel, with high ceilings a chandelier and the big windows.

Dutch chocolate spread and chocolate sprinkles went down a storm.

The next morning we had a little bike ride and wander around the castle before going to the beach at Castricum am Zee. The sun came out. Joseph loved the sand, Bobbie loved the sea and Amy loved playing with some empty whisky and gin bottles she found on the beach!

Rotterdam

Our half-term Holland holiday started after sailing from Harwich to Hook of Holland. How hexciting!

We met with one of my old companions, Lesley Wieling, and his wife Margreet and their cute little baby girl. They live in a subrurb of Rotterdam. The evening was nice and sunny, but we didn't take a group photo until the drizzle had come in!

Our first night was to stay in one of the famous cube houses by Piet Blom. A youth hostel is in part of the complex and we stayed there. It gave a sense of adventure as we bedded down in this unusual building, with views to a marina with old ships out one window from the bed, and city views, with other peculiar buildings out the other side.

In the morning we explored Rotterdam. I loved all the architecture! The singingbicycle were an entertaining aside. The girls and I had fun playing 'What's the time Mr Wolf?' outside Sint Laurenskerk, which a pigeon decided to join in on. One particularly impressive building is the new Market Hall, the walls of which are made up by apartments, and the stalls comprise a colourful array of foods. Of course the girls and I wanted ice cream.