Returning to Holland...

After weeks of stress, we were all greatly relieved when Veronica received her passport back from the Dutch Embassy complete with an Orientation Year Highly Educated Persons Visa in time to leave the UK before her student visa expired. Our immigration lawyer had truly earned his big bucks by pulling off this miracle.

Before she could get on the ferry to Holland, Veronica had to get two COVID tests, which turned out to be complicated to organize considering folks weren’t supposed to be travelling internationally. The closest testing site with results due back in time was 1.5 hours from Exeter. Luckily Brett went along and they made the most of the unexpected trip to take these incredible sunset shots.

On March 20, Jimmy met her at the ferry terminal and then Kati and I met them at the train station. We were so happy to have her home!

Jimmy surprised her with a carrot cake which tasted much better than it looked.

Since it was the first time we’d seen Veronica since she’d earned her master’s degree, we dressed up, popped a bottle of champagne and had a nice dinner to celebrate her graduation (yet another event cancelled by the pandemic). 
 

Reflecting on an Orange Sailboat...

I’ve taken so many shots of this sailboat that we pass by regularly, that I figured it deserved its own post. Here it was on November 26...

…lit up on Christmas...

...in some thin ice on January 9...

...in thick ice on Valentine’s Day...

…and as seen from our boat on March 7.

 

Returning to Voorschoten...

On our return journey, the winds had completely died down, so I could capture a bunch more reflection shots.

We then explored some of the smaller canals of Voorschoten...

…including the one we walk along daily...

…where we were surprised to discover houseboats on the far end.

Our timing was perfect to have a nice chat with Kay when we spotted her outside of her house.
 

Boating to Leidschendam...

Now that Bootjuh had a new floor, it was time to test it out. Kati was too impatient to wait until Jimmy had removed the entire cover. 

Check out that beautiful floor!

This time we headed to Leidschendam…

…up to the lock in the center of the village.

Spotted some unusual birds, perhaps magpie sandpipers...

…some low flying gulls...

…and some green parakeets amongst the cherry blossoms.

Also spotted this unusual musician.

Amazing Reflections...

We saw some pretty incredible reflections on our walk back through the Delftse Hout. We stopped for a snack along De Grote Plas (The Big Lake). 

I was surprised when Kati ran off...

…but was excited when I saw the view from the dock she had run to—a view that we would have otherwise missed.

It still amazes me how an ordinary canal can turn extraordinary when there’s no wind and fluffy clouds.

And what a show when those fluffy clouds turn pink at sunset. 

At the end of our walk, we spotted a swan chasing a duck.

Chris was out of town on a business trip, so I was glad that it worked out for Terri to join us for dinner. Jimmy made homemade bread for gourmet sandwiches. 
 

Remembered the Leash...

On our second outing to Delft in early March, I remembered Kati’s leash...

...so this time we headed through the Delftse Hout…

…into the city of Delft itself. On the edge of the city, we came across this very cute Little Free Library.

It had been a few years since I’d been to Delft. It was extra charming without all the tourists...

…and with bright blue skies.

I was thrilled to see that there were separate bins for plastic recycling, the first I’d come across in Holland outside of the airport.

The city is especially famous for its iconic Delft Blue Pottery, nicely depicted on this mural.

There’s lots of hidden architectural accent pieces around the city; thought this ship above a door was particularly nice.

Of course I knew that Delft was home to Johannes Vermeer, who painted Girl with a Pearl Earring, so would have expected to see the Girl scattered about in shop windows. However, I was mighty surprised when I recognized my friend Abbie as the Girl on the cover of a magazine in the window of a costume shop.