Saturday October 26

Saturday is Market Day in Haarlem!  This was only a small sample of the goods available for sale.  The breads smelled heavenly, and the Stroopwafels were to die for!  A very thin waffle sandwich with syrup or honey in the middle to hold it together.  Crispy and warm, fresh off the griddle.  Yum!

The market is held just outside the church.  Interestingly, low buildings containing shops have been attached around the outside of the church walls.

We had another little stroll around and outside the town.

There were a couple of tall ships berthed in the canal.

Brad at the edge of the old town with the traffic barrier in the background.  The centre pole just behind his left elbow retracts into the ground for authorized vehicles to pass.  All deliveries to shops and restaurants must be completed in the morning hours.

Rob, Imca and Thea picked us up and we drove up to Zaanse Schans for the day.  It is about an hour northeast of Haarlem.  This is us crossing the Noordzeekanaal (North Sea Canal) on the ferry.

Zaans Schans is like a pioneer village at home.  Several working windmills and other buildings were moved here to preserve them from destruction in the 1960's.  All the mills have names and are still working today.  'De Kat' is a paint mill that was built in 1664 (it also grinds pigments for paint, chalk used at the local linoleum manufacturer, and oil, also for paint).  'De Zoeker' (The Seeker) was built in 1610 and is a vegetable oil mill.  One of the mills is a sawmill, one grinds cocoa and another grinds spices.

You know that wooshing sound the movie superhero makes when he flies across the screen?  That is exactly the sound the sail of a windmill makes when you are standing next to it.  From a distance is looks like it is moving slowly, but when you are beside it, it is fast, and it makes the whole building shake.

The inner workings.

We took a short canal cruise and got to see some more homes right on the water.

My new obsession.  In Scotland it was chimney pots, in the Netherlands it is the symbols in the windows above the doors.

We also went to the clog workshop and learned how a block of poplar becomes a wooden shoe.

A last look at the pastoral Zaanse Schans, a land of farms and industry.

Friday October 25

After we collected our suitcase at Schiphol Airport, I finally got to meet Thea, Rob and Imca.  Thea gave us this beautiful bouquet of wooden tulips to welcome us to the Netherlands.

We went to their house in Haarlem for a visit, then they drove us to our hotel, the Amrath Grand Hotel Frans Hals (Frans Hals being a painter who lived from 1582-1666 in Haarlem).  The hotel is in the old city centre, which is only accessible by foot or by bicycle, although taxis and delivery vehicles have a special pass to allow them past the barriers.  This is the view out our hotel room window.  In the background is St.-Bevokerk, also known as the Grote Kerk (Big Church), built in the 1400's.

After we got settled, we went for a walk around the old city centre.  This is the church (which is huge!) from a different angle.

Some examples of the architecture.

After dinner we strolled around the town some more, taking in the sights.  These bicycles were parked across the street from our hotel, in front of the new courthouse.  We learned to watch out for cyclists, they are silent, they are everywhere, and they move very quickly!

The view from one of the bridges just outside the old town.

The weather was great, crisp and fresh.  We had an early night, as it was a long two days.

Thursday October 24

We got up very early for the ride to the airport (thank you Ryan!).  We booked an early flight because if the weather was uncooperative, we would have had to rebook the flight or, in the worst case scenario, catch a ferry.  We were lucky, the weather was fine, but it meant 10 hours at YVR.  So we took a selfie.

After breakfast and several hours of lounging, reading and wandering, I went outside for some air.  I discovered that just past the Fairmont, there is a beautiful path through the forest.  On one side is employee parking, on the other is the road in to the airport, there was construction and of course planes constantly taking off and landing, but even so it managed to be still and peaceful among the trees, just myself and a rabbit.  I don't know how far the path goes, I only walked in for 1/2 a kilometer, but it was a nice solitary break in the fresh air.

We were able to check in and check our suitcase just over 3 hours before our flight (since we were flying on two different airlines, our luggage was not checked through).  We learned that Brad's gold card for KLM would get us into the SkyTeam lounge, which he had never visited before.  They were very friendly there, and we had a drink (or two!), a snack, and were able to charge our phones.

Finally we were on board!  We had upgraded slightly to seats with more leg room, so we were right behind the first class bulkhead and could stretch out a bit.  The map shows the first part of our flight - to Greenland and beyond!

Countdown

T minus 39 hours.  Packing has commenced, I still can't believe it, 31 days in Europe, here we come!

Sunday

Well, two weeks ago we missed out on a Saturday, but this week we get two Sundays. It was tough to wake up to the alarm at 7 but we had arranged our shuttle for 9:00. On the way to the airport the minibus almost rear ended a car who slammed on his brakes right in front of us when he decided he didn't want to take the exit after all. Check in opened at 9:30 and thanks to Mr. Super Elite we didn't have to wait in line. And then, huge surprise, he had upgraded us to business class! So exciting, it will be so much easier to sleep, and to get up and move around.

Due to the snow situation in Vancouver, the incoming flight is late arriving which makes our flight delayed, because the same plane turns around and heads straight back. We're delayed about 90 minutes. It shouldn't affect our connection in Vancouver though.

We got to the Air New Zealand lounge around 10 and had a nice breakfast. Air Canada doesn't have a lounge in Sydney so we get to use Air New Zealand's. After we ate we headed to the duty free for some last minute shopping. Then back to the lounge, where we saw that we are flying home with the women's rugby sevens team. They just won the Sydney Sevens tournament.

We will be loading soon so that's all for now. I'll finish up on our second Sunday.

Friday and Saturday

One of my photos didn't load yesterday, so here it is: 

On Friday we just went to the beach in the morning and the adult pool in the afternoon. Back to the room for homework and dinner. Pretty uneventful.

Saturday we got up and packed, and met our cab at 11:00 for the airport. We flew out at 2:30 and again had 3 seats to ourselves. This is Denarau Island - our resort was on the top part of the island, the bottom part of huge bay:

 Flying over some reefs:

 Coming into Sydney:

 The sunset from our room at the Stamford Plaza hotel:

We spoiled ourselves with a steak dinner at the hotel restaurant:

Wednesday and Thursday

After a day off I'm combining two days into one post. We have done a whole lot of nothing for the last couple of days. Wednesday we went to the beach mid-morning, then had lunch at the poolside restaurant:

We never did get to the butcher so I was craving some red meat so had a hamburger. Then we did something daring and unexpected - we moved to the other end of the beach! We hung out there all afternoon,  then showered and went for pizza. It rained a bit before we went for dinner, but much less than Tuesday. 

Thursday we went for breakfast at the Sheraton next door. We caught the bus to Port Denarau and wandered around, picked up some souvenirs, had a drink and I got my nails done. We caught the bus back and basically hung out in the air conditioning for the rest of the day. It was 36 degrees feels like 41, so we both spent the afternoon working on homework. Brad is studying for the Advanced Cardiac Life Support renewal course he is taking when we get home, and I am taking Methodology: How To Prove It.

It rained very little this afternoon. We went to the beach at 6:30 to watch the sunset. A huge bank of clouds was right in front of the sun,  but I still managed to get some photos:

There are always ever-changing layers of clouds:

Some random photos to end the day:

Our unit on the second floor from the back:

They light the torches every evening. This is looking towards the big pool and the beach:

The main walkway from the pool back to reception: