UK Visitors

This weekend we had visitors from the UK! Justin met Martin at res at UCT and they shared an apartment together for a year. Both are now married and doing the work and travel abroad thing. We love getting together to catch up especially in new and exciting places. Martin and his wife Kirsten joined us in Southern Spain in Jan 2012 and we caught up in London in May 2012. This time they popped over to stay with us in Rotterdam and we introduced them to some local Dutch favourites.

Things have been a hectic lately for all four of us so we decided to take it easier and not mission too much. Also, it snowed most of Saturday morning and temperatures were still below zero. Not so great for exploring and sight-seeing. After collecting Martin and Kirsten from Rotterdam airport on Saturday morning, the bags were dropped off at home and we set out for exploring Rotterdam! First stop was the local Saturday market to ogle all the cheese, herring and flower stands. On the way we sampled fresh hot stroopwafels! A must on any trip to the Netherlands! The tour continued with a walk around the old harbour area, the pencil and cube houses which started the funky modern architecture craze that Rotterdam has going on. Of course a few snow balls were thrown and many photos were taken! Time to warm up with a hot chocolate in a local bakery and then head home for an awesome meal prepared by Justin! Thank you Boib! A cosy evening at home with a movie on the couch followed =)

A seagull in the snow is such an odd sight! Makes for great photos though.

Stroopwafels!

Fresh fish at the market

Fresh produce at the market

The old harbour frozen over

Bron and Kirsten

Martin and Justin

Duck tracks in the snow on the ice

Sunday dawned rainy and gloomy with sounds of ice falling off the roof. Yay! We were finally above 0ºC for the first time in two weeks! Hooray for the rain and warmer temperatures to melt all the icy snow. The snow has been quite pretty but also caused a lot of disruptions and we are so over the freezing temperatures! A day sloshing around in the melting icy snow ensued…

Despite the rain and 5ºC, we headed to The Hague to experience an older Dutch city and find a good pancake place! We showed Martin and Kirsten the important old parts of The Hague, such as the Nieuwe Kerk, the Mauritshuis (although it is covered in scaffolding for renovations), the City Hall and the Binnenhof. We did some high street browsing and found an awesome kitchen gadget shop!

Then it was pancake time! Dutch pancakes are so different to the crepe style pancake we know. They are thicker, bigger, not rolled up but served flat, and the filling is baked into the dough. Sweet or savoury, they are delicious! Our favourites are bacon or ham, cheese and syrup and just good old apple.

Then it was time to head back to Rotterdam and get ready for the airport =( 

Kirsten, Martin and Bron at the Binnenhof in The Hague

Pancake time!!

Thanks for coming to visit us Marts and Kirst!! Was awesome having you! Come again soon! Next time we will do Amsterdam, the tulips and the windmills! Have a good week and good luck for all the deadlines and craziness!

Have a good week everybody!

x