Vaarwel naar Nederland

We left the Netherlands on 16 September. There was a steady drizzle all morning. The closer we got to actually leaving the apartment, the more this matched how I felt.

The night before, Jannie had taken us out for dinner at the La Baraque restaurant. The monthly VW get together happens in the parking lot so we we had been there a couple of times before, but we had never been inside. Even Jannie said that it looks very industrial on the outside, but she promised that the inside was a very cozy and elegant restaurant. She was certainly right about that!

We all had a dish called "Stoofpotje" - stoofvlees, fijne boontjes en rösti of met aardappelblokjes of frites en salade (pot roast, fine beans and hash browns or with diced potatoes or fries and salad). That sounds pretty good, but comes nowhere close to doing it justice. Of course we were so busy visiting that I failed to take any pictures, so the best I have come up with is this recipe.

It makes my mouth water just to look at that! Not only was the beef incredibly tender, but the juice was just wonderfully rich (Okay, that's it - I'm getting on a plane and flying 12 hours for dinner as soon as I can. I'm sure tomorrow isn't too soon ;-) ).

Here are a few photos of our home in Zevenhuizen.

Some views out of the windows.

We had time to wander the back roads to make our way to Schiphol. We actually intended to take a route we'd previously driven, but missed a turn. It was fun to take a route that we had not traveled previously. Although there were long lines, getting through security was easy (love European airport security). By the time we were on the plane I was more ready to go than I thought I would be. At least we were flying KLM so we could keep the Dutch experience going for a few more hours. Unfortunately, the experience of going through U.S. security in Atlanta brought home the harsh reality that we were back in America.

It may be hard to imagine, but a trip of 3 weeks was far too short. As I've looked back through the photos I'm reminded of all the photos I didn't take and all the things that we didn't do. Well, as I've heard Rick Steves say, "Assume that you will return" - the more often I go, the more I'm determined to return.