Europe - Trip 5

Day 1 - February 4, 2002

The cultural heritage that the catholic church bequeathed in the form of the Martini Kerk.

An early morning again - this is not feeling like vacation. Sue called a cab for a trip to the Kings Cross where we had to catch the train. It didn’t arrive – so Todd and Sue had to haul 170 lbs of luggage on the tube, during rush hour – Todd is getting very strong again.

Off the tube and onto a train ride to Luton then a flight to Amsterdam where we caught a direct train to Groningen. We were originally going to stay a day in Amsterdam, but Sue was indifferent to going and Todd’s enthusiasm was significantly reduced by the prospect of lugging the luggage around the city. The direct train ride was a nice time to sit and read and type and nap and look around and do nothing.

Todd’s Mother’s cousin Ite was waiting for us at the station with the car and promptly drove us back to his place. His wife Willemien and youngest son Rolf were there and we sat down for dinner after an unload. Marten, their other son and the most recent visitor to Canada from Groningen, also stopped by to welcome us. We were not anticipated until the next day so we shared the dinner for the evening, mostly eating the food that Rolf, the young growing man, would have had.

More fabulous night time architecture - U of G.

Ite had a meeting that evening so Willemien took us on a tour of the city, showing us sights like the Hanseatic canal houses, parts of the university and the two primary central churches, the Martini and the Aa. A short detour through the north red light street, to get a flavour for Dutch city living, and we stopped at the home of their eldest daughter, Luci, for a cup of tea and some visiting.

We came back to the house after a few more sights, chatted for a bit and hit the hay in very comfy beds in a nice chilly bedroom.

The weather today was not crisp nor balmy, more like north east England with more rain and harder wind.