The Chileans have arrived!

This weekend we had our good friends Joan and Mayira visiting from Chilé! They arrived on Friday night after spending a week in Italy and moved onto Paris today. They will travel to London on Saturday where we will meet up with them again before their final destination of Barcelona before heading back home to Chilé.

A quick tour of Rotterdam shortly after arriving

It has been a very busy weekend and we are very stoked with all the things Joan and Mayira were able to see and do in the short time they were here. Saturday was spent exploring Amsterdam, Sunday we hired bicycles and took the waterbus to Kinderdijk to windmill gaze, Monday we had a great time strolling through the tulips at Keukenhof Gardens and today was a much slower day at the market and exploring Rotterdam before they caught the high speed Thalys train to Paris.

It was quite chilly with lots of cloud and a fair amount of wind most of the weekend. Although rain was forecast for large parts of the weekend, we were fortunate that it rained only on Tuesday. The poor weather didn’t stop us from getting out and about though, and we had fun exploring the best of the Netherlands!

Arriving in Amsterdam

At the Heineken Brewery

Friday was Remembrance Day when we remember all the fallen from World War II and Saturday was Liberation Day, celebrating the day the Netherlands was liberated from German rule. Remembrance Day is a somber occasion but Liberation Day is packed with parties and festivals. All the World War II statues and monuments we saw this weekend were surrounded by wreaths of flowers. It is quite humbling and brings home the many losses of the war and how much had to be rebuilt, buildings and people’s lives, after the war.

This weekend also saw many firsts for both us and our guests. It was the first time we hired an OV-Fiets or public transport bicycle, caught a waterbus and cycled around Kinderdijk! Thank you for showing us this awesome, fun and much easier way of getting to Kinderdijk! We also know that from now on, all the tourists we see on the waterbus on the way to the windmills have the Lonely Planet travel guide ;~)

The Waterbus

Ready to get our day of cycling started with the OV Fiets

On the Waterbus

View of Rotterdam

Kinderdijk!

 

At Keukenhof

 

Coffee on the go in Leiden

A quick nap on the way home

Preparing a Chilean style dinner

 Weekend Highlights:

- Catching up with our dear friends =)

- Introducing Joan and Mayira to Dutch cheese, Stroopwafels, pancakes and Belgian beer.

- The amazing Chilean meal Joan and Mayira cooked for us.

- Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

- Anne Frank House in Amsterdam (Mayira & Bron)

- Heineken Experience in Amsterdam (Justin & Joan)

- Pancakes for lunch! (Amsterdam)

- Walking around and enjoying the sights and sounds of Amsterdam together

- Catching a waterbus for the first time, and with bicycles!

- Cycling around the windmills at Kinderdijk

- Enjoying the tulips at Keukenhof Gardens at probably the best time of this season, super lucky and good timing!

- Exploring around Leiden

- Justin showing us how it’s done playing Ticket to Ride (aka the train game). Well, at least for him it was a highlight :p

- Exploring Rotterdam

It was so awesome having you guys!! Thanks for coming to stay with us on your European holiday! We had a great time and are looking forward to hanging out together again in London this coming weekend! We already have a lot of fun things planned =) Travel safe and see you soon!

x