Family!

This week we had the first of the South African family visiting us in the Netherlands. Dad Cross arrived on Monday morning and we were there to meet him at Schiphol Airport. Unfortunately Mum had decided just 2 days before the trip that it would be best if she flew down to Cape Town be with Granny. Gran's health since the stroke had deteriorated further and the news from Cape Town was not good. (Latest: Granny's condition has improved this week. There is a good chance that she will be discharged from hospital at the end of the week and move to a frail care centre). 

Some of the highlights of the week:

Dad arriving at Schiphol

Dad was very impressed with the architecture in Rotterdam. 

These are two new buildings that have just been completed near Central Station.

Of course if you are going to look at architecture you have to see the Cubic Houses

Bron and Dad at the Oude Haven

A Rotterdam landmark: The Erasmus Bridge

And more interesting architecture

And then it was time to head home and check that we were properly prepared for Dad's arrival

Bron and Justin had to be back in the office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so Dad used this time to explore more of Rotterdam (including the Maritime Museum), Amsterdam (including the Anne Frank House and Van Gogh Museum), The Hague (including the Escher Museum) and Delft. Then it was Friday and Bron and Justin could officially say that we were on holiday. 

Day 1 of the holiday was spent visiting Kinderdijk. We hired some bikes, rode down to the river, caught a water taxi to Kinderdijk, and spent some time enjoying this UNESCO world heritage site.

Justin and Dad at Kinderdijk

Cycling alongside the windmills

And then it was time for a pancake lunch

Saturday morning we got up early(ish) to collect our rental car and headed out to Dingden to have lunch with our German family. We all met at the Gasthof Kupper (http://www.gasthofkuepper.de/). The food was fantastic and everybody was happy with their steak or pork or schnitzel (and salad and chips and ice-cream and the food just kept coming. This is the German way after all). 

Three generations of Wubbels. Hans, Lukas, Werner, Hans-Gert and Jasper in the front.

After lunch it was time for cake and coffee back at the house. By now we were starting to see where Gran gets her feeder gene from. In this photo is Christel, Horst and Martina in the background. 

Magdalene, Hans-Gert and their friend Roland (centre)

Jasper, Lukas and Werner

Dad and Hans

Hans, Martina, Jan and Udo.

All-in-all we had a great day with the family and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with those that we had met before and meeting the rest of the family for the first time. 

Today, Sunday, we headed out towards the Hoek van Holland to show Dad the Maeslantkering Storm Surge Barrier. It was our second visit to this impressive feat of engineering and once again we were impressed by the scale and ingenuity that had gone into this project.

Passing some sheep on the way to the barrier

Stopping for a photo of the Maeslantkering

Once again there was cycling involved

A picture of a picture. The barrier is closed once a year to check that everything is working, and of course during severe storms (of which there has been one since construction was completed)

Now we can start thinking about the serious part of our holiday: Iceland and USA. Tomorrow we leave for Reykjavik. The forecast is rain (lots of it), wind (ridiculously strong), and low temperatures (the kind that makes South Africans nervous, very nervous!). Hey, nobody said Iceland is for sissys!

Mum: we are missing you (LOTS) and wish you were here! xxx