Since getting home from Australia and Singapore, I've been sick twice (a cold from the airplane home and then food poisoning from who-knows-what). I've also been crazy-busy at work and being sick didn't help any. It also doesn't help when it's gorgeous outside - sunny and beautiful - and it's yucky hot inside with no air-conditioning. Last year, summer was so short-lived that we're trying to appreciate it as much as possible this year. So far, we've been pretty lucky and it's been especially nice on the weekends.
Last weekend, Dennis and I took the kayaks out on the Vecht River (see pictures above). A couple weeks before, we had looked for the kayak dock that was supposed to be near the Hemelje Lock, but we couldn't find it. I was out on a bike ride in the area and decided to look again. Lo and behold, the dock was right where it was supposed to be and exactly where we had looked. But from the car, you couldn't see the dock down the steep river bank. It's hard to find a good place to get the kayaks in the water because most of the land along the river is private property. But we finally found the right spot.
The Vecht river doesn't have any current to speak of. It sort of flows south, except after a rain when it goes north. So, it's easy to paddle out and back and not have to worry about which direction you go. We had a really warm day for paddling and there were lots of boats and kids playing in the water. I am not so sure the water is clean enough for swimming, but that doesn't seem to stop the kids. There are a lot of house-boats along the river and I'm pretty sure they dump their sewage into the water. It was really cool to see the house boats and pretty gardens along the river. The hydrangeas are in bloom and they thrive in this climate. I'm amazed at the colors of the hydrangeas - everything from dark pink to baby blue to snow white.
This weekend is a little cooler - barely 70 degrees, but the sun is still out. It's perfect biking weather. We got out for a ride today and went past a bunch of dairy farms. The cows always look so happy when they can relax on the cool grass with the sun on their backs. We keep saying that we should take the time to see the rest of Europe while we're here, but honestly the Netherlands is so beautiful I don't want to miss it.
I did manage to see a bit of Germany last week. I had a training class in Solingen, a small town outside of Dusseldorf. It's only a two-hour drive away. It was my first time driving in Germany and I didn't think too much about it until I noticed some cars going super fast. Yes, I was driving on the autobahn! Too bad I drive like a grandmother on Sunday. I had to be careful when I was passing slower vehicles because the cars would come up so fast behind me. Most of the really fast drivers were in BMWs, Porches, and Ferraris. The Toyota Rav4 is just not made to go much over 70mph.
Maybe as we get closer to fall, we'll do some more sightseeing outside of the Netherlands. We are still planning to get to Paris, but we can do that when it's cold. We are also planning to get back to the US this fall. We just need a rainy day so we can make some plans.
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