on Saturday, I met up with the geologists at Den Haag CS as we thought we would go on a day-trip somewhere together. Thinking of somewhere close enough that I had not yet been to, I decided to take everyone to Utrecht, which is only about 1 hour on the train (or less).
large shopping centre, where we spent about an hour having a good look around a buyingThe Utrecht Central Staion is huge! Much larger than in the Hague, and gives out onto a very various bits and bobs. Just outside, there is also a square with a really nice market! where Tania found the handbag she had been searching for all this time, and I felt a little envious at the displays of fruit, meat, veg, cheese and fish...I seem to have picked the wrong town to live in!!
We bought some bits for lunch and hopped onto to a boat for a 1-hour tour of the town, which gave us a really nice overview of what Utrecht has to offer. Like Amsterdam, it has picturesque houses along its canals, but with a difference: the houses were originally built a lot further back from the edge, and then when the water/canals were re-organised and water levels better controlled, cellars were built out to the edge of the water, going right in under some of the houses.
This was really lovely to look at, and after the boat trip we headed to a pancake house on the edge of the water (based in one of these cellars). Lots of entertainement :-)
After which, we followed the walking tour in my trusty Michelin guide, although we didn't make it up the tower (465 steps) as all the tickets were sold out for that :-(
left: The Cloister at the main church
We headed back to Den Haag around 6pm, this time catching the fast train, which was lot better. We decided to spend the evening together in the Grand Winston, so I went home to drop off my stuff and grab my laptop so we could share photos, and cycled into not-so-sunny Rijswijk.
Fun evening watching Shrek 3 in Russian and drinking wine in Alexey's room-very strange being back in the Grand Winston! and even stranger to see twin beds rather than a double (with that bathroom?! what were they thinking). Also run into Konstantin (well engineer who works with Bert) who had just got back from Antwerpen with Yuri (his B2B) so we went on to his room to chat a bit more. After which it felt rather too late, so Kostya left me his room and went and stayed with Sergey, which was pretty decent. Another fun day!
Drenthe
Yesterday I got up fairly early, planning on cycling home to work on my CV etc. However, while I was enjoying the nice Grand Winston breakfast, Yuri joined me and said that Kostya and him were going to see Bert at home, and why didn't I join them as a surprise for Bert?
A bit of quick thinking and I decided to go for it-after all, I can do my CV tomorrow and there is something rather nice about being flexible and just going for it in this kind of situation. Unfortunately, this meant that I missed my lunch date with Nova, which I was looking forward to, as well as those choc chip and cherry muffins advertised on facebook. Ah well, there will have to be a superlunch next time I am back :)
It took about 2 hours for the boys to get organised, after which we finally set off for the Hague taking my bike on the train. I said goodbye to Alexey&Tatiana who were off to Amsterdam, and to Sergey too...I'm sure we'll see each other again on some course or trip...
We had 23 minutes before the next train, during which time I bombed it home on the bike, had 4 minutes to change and head back out to the station on foot. I made it with several minutes to spare, I will have you know! Clearly, it was a mistake for this geologist to trust those drillers with the organisation ;-)
Da boyz
We took a couple of trains all the way up to Hoogeween, which is near Bert's home and close to the German border. To keep ourselves busy, we played battleships which was really good fun after all these years-and I won, which was even better :-)
We finally arrived at 2.15 and found Bert waiting for us on the platform-he didn't seem too unpleasantly surprised when I bounced up!
A short drive later we arrived at his home, a typical Dutch farmhouse which they have renovated. The first thing we did after meeting his wife Thea was inspect the work he had done in one of the rooms which he has completely converted, and which we heard about quite a lot on the last few shifts!
After a beer (brewed very locally), snacks, and a nice chat we headed outside to have a good look at the Harleys :-)
as well as the garden, which was lovely. Thea rides a horse which lives in the back, and they also have some sheep (hiding somewhere) and some Friesian hens who looked very pretty with their large black eyes. There were beautiful hydrangeas in bloom just outside the house, too, which I enjoyed looking at along with all the other plants.
After a fair bit more chatting, Bert took us to explore the area a little while Thea kindly prepared dinner for us all. It was really nice being able to get an idea of what this region looks like, especially as it is really necessary to have a car round there so having a chauffuer/guide was ideal! Bert's home is close to the town of Emmen, which we drove around, noting on the way some of the wells from the Schoonebeek field and the H2S processing plant for the Schoonebeek sour gas, as well as the brewery where the above-mentioned beers originated from. This apparently is going to be moved over to Germany soon, as the gas gets exported over there anyway at the moment.
In Emmen, we stopped to have a look at some Hunebedden (stone graves) and then drove past Bert's daughter's house (in construction) which for me was very interesting to look at. After Emmen we headed for Schoonebeek village and passed through the old village-another set of lovely typical old Dutch farmhouses, which used to have wells in their courtyards (Bert's father apparently drilled some of the first Sch wells back in the 40s) but which have now been fully returned to their owners. There were a few nodding donkeys, but only as mementoes as they are no longer connected to wells.
However, on the way out of Schoonebeek we drove over the border to Germany where the nodding donkeys were doing their thing, pumping away as we watched. Always a nice sight!We headed back through some picturesque villages and arrived back in time for a lovely dinner. After which we rushed off to catch the 8pm train with 1 min to spare!
Another lovely day discovering a part of the Netherlands I had never been to and catching up with Bert/getting to know Thea a little. Nice :-)
Incidentally, I see I am still on Salym time on this blog so will have to delve into the settings fairly soon to try and sort this out...
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