More Hiking...

We had a picnic lunch and later stopped for a snack where we encountered an ambitious but unsuccessful seagull. 

Eventually our trail took us near the North Sea where we came across this path that Veronica and Brett ran up for photos. 

Our original intent was to hike to Zandvoort aan Zee, but Mother Nature had other ideas when it started to pour as we neared Bloemendaal aan Zee. 

Luckily we found shelter and a table at San Blas, named for islands off of Panama. Not only was the service excellent (which is always surprising at a beach café), but they had several interesting vegan options which we all agreed were delicious. 

Luckily we were easily able to catch a bus back to the train station without getting drenched. What a fun way to celebrate all of those crazy years together. Here’s to many more!
 

Our Anniversary Hike at Zuid-Kennemerland...

After the castle, we walked past this fancy house with a blue heron visiting its garden as we made our way to the national park.

It wasn’t quite as easy to find the path into the park as I was expecting, but we finally managed to find our way up the dunes and down to one of the lakes.

We came across some large snails unlike any we’d ever seen before. 

We also came across two befuddled photographers...

…and some tree climbers.

 

More Castle Exteriors...

As you can see, I was so excited to see castle ruins in the Netherlands, that I couldn’t resist taking a ton of photos...

…and Veronica couldn’t resist hamming it up. 

 

Ruins of Castle Brederode...

For our 27th wedding anniversary, we decided to go for a long hike with Veronica and Brett. While looking at the map of a national park about an hour from us, I noticed that there was a symbol depicting castle ruins in that area, which was a big surprise to us. 

After transferring trains in Haarlem and getting off at a small station, it was only about a 15-minute walk. I had completely forgot to pre-book our entrance tickets, which became a new requirement due to COVID-19, but luckily there were still spaces available. This is the Bailey gate of the front castle, which was the house of the manager and is now the ticket office.

There were traditional crafts for sale...

…and a special exhibit to show some history of the powerful Brederode family. This wedding dress apparently dates to 1638.

Other displays were made out of Playmobil. Castle Brederode dates back to 1285, but was destroyed multiple times, including in 1426 after which it was only half rebuilt. When it was destroyed again in 1573, it fell into complete ruins. It wasn’t until the 19th century that it was renovated as a national monument by Pierre Cuypers, the architect of the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Centraal Station. 

The Lords of Brederode moved to Castle Batestein after Castle Brederode became ruins. 

The castle had a dungeon and clearly held executions based on this exhibit. 

The views from the towers were quite nice.

The castle had many water closets, which were quite a luxury at the time.
 

Meanwhile in the Czech Republic...

One of the downsides of being months behind on my blog is that sometimes a situation changes and makes blogging a tad awkward. After dating for just over one year, Ashlynn and Bjarne broke up in early December. I think the long-distance thing had finally taken its toll. Hopefully they can still remain friends. Regardless, don’t be surprised to see Bjarne still pop up a few more times here as he’s part of our family’s history and my entries are about happy times. 

While we were in Switzerland, Bjarne drove Ashlynn from Germany into the Czech Republic for several days of exploring. 

She was really impressed with the beauty of the cities and the countryside. 

Our daughter—sometimes a goofball...

…and sometimes a lady.

Ashlynn especially enjoyed their hike around Velka Amerika, a partially flooded abandoned limestone quarry. 

Now both Veronica and Ashlynn have beat us to Prague. We’re still crossing fingers that the four of us will be going to Prague for Eurohash in August 2021.

Meanwhile in Holland...

While Jimmy and I were in Switzerland, Veronica and Brett took the train to Utrecht. They’d hoped to rent a tandem bike, but had to settle on station bikes with back-pedal brakes to explore the city and beyond. 

Their main destination was Scheendijk, a hamlet where folks have vacation homes on sand bars only accessible by boat, so Veronica could fly her drone, for which she got told off by a local. 

You can’t really see any of this from land, making these drone shots and video even cooler.

They also took Kati to the Friday market in search of warm stroopwafels. 

 

Highs and Lows of 15th Year - Part 2

We are happy that once again our list of highs is much longer than our list of lows. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that unlike past years, much of this list does not focus around traveling:

• Jimmy/Melissa/Veronica Travel: Holland - Veronica thought it would be too sad to celebrate Christmas 2019 at home without Ashlynn, so we rented a cottage near a national park and brought Kati along; Paris - introduced Brett to the hash cult with a fantastic three-night stay for Paris 1000th Hash Weekend in early March just before all the lockdowns
• Jimmy/Melissa Travel: Brussels - attended our first BMPH3 Christmas Party Weekend with great trails and an amazing party; Holland - explored a near empty Amsterdam on a two-night stay; Switzerland - wonderful five-night stay with Jim and Nina with lots of hiking followed by one-night stay in Basel
• Jimmy Travel: US - good meetings before the rush to escape before the travel bans were enforced
• Veronica Travel: Holland - cycling with Brett to Amsterdam for a two-night stay, sunrise at Museumplein; UK - Expedition Society trips to Cheddar and Wales; exploring Southwest Coast Path, Exmoor and Dartmoor with Brett
• Ashlynn Travel: Cairns - Tropic Days Hostel, camping, volunteering at Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, exploring Queensland; Czech Republic - hiking in Velka Amerika, exploring Prague; Germany - visiting Bjarne and Soso in Berlin, going to the Baltic Sea; Vietnam - loved Ho Chi Minh City, fantastic food, friendly people
• The White House Commune: brought two unknown boys into our house and it all worked; King's Night disco; outdoor movies; family lockdown hashes; Cruesli; 120+ vegan dinners together; Lekker Lockdown Cookbook; boat rides
• Proud Parents: so happy that both girls have embraced being hashers and have not only hashed on their own, but have brought their boyfriends along; went on a double date with each girl for the first time; proud new owners of a floating bathtub; celebrating 2020 Election victory with our Dutch neighbors; dining twice in a glass greenhouse
• Jimmy: Zombie Hash Awarded the Best Trail of 2019 for BMPH3; multinational defense innovation is finally picking up; IT knowledge has expanded significantly so reinvigorating old skillsets; DJing at HUB Christmas 2019 party; managed to make Voorschoten interesting for hashing
• Melissa: working with Terri after becoming Editor of Going Dutch once again; honing my superpower—controlling the weather while hashing; Lockdown Puzzle Project with Veronica; video calls with long-lost friends; walking the dunes with friends and Kati; making up for my high carbon footprint last year by not flying once 
• Veronica: achieving a Distinction at University of Exeter; moving in with Brett, first in Holland and then in Exeter—living in a love bubble; “best way to influence a meat eater is to go on lockdown with him”; learning drops at aerial class; self-portrait photography project; learning to develop film; six-course meal at Riverford Farms; learning how to bake bread; setting a birthday hash in Exeter for non-hashing friends
• Ashlynn: working as a bartender and waitress on a tropical island paradise in the Great Barrier Reef; falling in love for the first time; Rummikub; playing on Adam’s radio; starting University of Glasgow with nice flatmates 
• Visitors: most of our planned visitors had to cancel, but we managed to host Jim several times from Switzerland; spent a fun day with Gillian visiting from Edinburgh

Happy Holidays! Stay Safe!

 

Reflections on our 15th Year - Part 1

It’s hard to believe that we’ve lived in the Netherlands for 15 years as of November 22! Once again, the four of us couldn’t be together. Nor could Jimmy and I even consider following our tradition of eating at La Laterna in Scheveningen where we ate on our first night all those years ago, because restaurants nationwide have been closed since mid-October. For the first time, we had a “virtual” dinner together. I made salmon lasagna for me and Jimmy, while Veronica made homemade pizza for her and Brett, and Ashlynn had frozen pizza (she had just arrived back in Glasgow). So we were able to make the list of our highs and lows over the last year together. As usual, here are our lows first:

• No idea when the four of us will be together again
• Having to cancel our family holiday to California for Grandpa’s 80th and his and Grandma’s 40th anniversary due to coronavirus
• Political train wreck in both the US and UK
• Anxiety over life uncertainty
• Continuing collapse of biodiversity, natural ecosystems and the climate that sustains us!
• Horrors of George Floyd's death amid systemic racism
• Jimmy: best analogy of work situation—juggling ever more balls but instead of catching them, still getting hit in the head; brand new iPhone11 being stolen in Paris; having to escape from the US due to COVID-19 before seeing Buddy and Debbie; cancellation of FEATS and panto
• Melissa: being so far away while Grandpa battles cancer and Leigh got divorced; inadvertently causing Brett to be named Moist Incest in Paris
• Veronica: two broken Nikons; academic burnout; not being able to see friends; missing aerial class
• Ashlynn: missing spending Christmas 2019 with our family; having to cut Vietnam trip early; having a long-distance relationship means having to say goodbye over and over; uni being 100% online; not being allowed to have visitors in residence hall
• Melissa/Jimmy: hash weekends in Holland, Belgium and Slovenia being cancelled; not getting to bring Ashlynn to University of Glasgow; cancellation of Election Breakfast; Jimmy working most weekends since April

Last Bits in Basel...

This urban art was quite adorable. 

Prices in Basel were crazy high, but we managed to find another riverfront restaurant that didn’t break the bank for lunch. 

Ufer7 served excellent craft beer and salads that came in shakers. 

One last glance at the elaborate designs along one of the bridges with the cathedral in the background. 

Took these selfies outside of the train station before our journey home.