All of a sudden it was Tuesday and I found myself on a rather rough flight to Amsterdam. Fortunately the plane was only half full and even before the plane was in the air I had abandoned my isle seat and claimed 3 free chairs in the middle row so I could actually lay down and stretch out.
I didn't have the illusion that I might fall asleep because I never can but it's so much nicer to at least lay down instead of sitting up all the time.
The movies 'Money Ball' and 'Jane Eyre' offered some distraction from the horrible turbulence but at times like these I do a lot of praying and bargaining with whomever is in charge up above! Probably pretty useless
since I don't have any credit there but just in case I give it a try.

I made it safely to the other side of the pond and arrived in a very wintry Holland. Coming down in the plane I had a beautiful view of the snow covered fields,  frozen canals and white rooftops of the towns below.
There was even talk of the possibility that Hollands famous 11-city skating tour was going to be held but unfortunately the ice never made it to the 15 cm needed for such an event before it started to thaw again.
Too bad, it would have been fun since the last one was held some 25 years ago and it's a spectacle involving the whole country for days.

On Friday the 10th of February my niece Anouk married her Bert on a freezing cold but beautiful sunny day. The wintry landscape made for the most unique wedding pictures!
She was a beautiful and radiant bride, I don't think she ever stopped smiling and Bert looked adorably nervous and beaming with pride at the same time. I'm so happy for them, they have overcome so much together, I hope they live 'happily ever after'.

There was a great party afterwards!!
                                

                                                                        



The next couple of days I took it easy to recuperate from the flight and the wedding, visiting my sister, drinking a lot of coffee and eating too much pie.
I stayed with my Mam who lives in an apartment on the 3rd floor, right on top of the major shopping area in town so every now and than we went downstairs and checked out the 'sales' and did some grocery shopping. The variety in the dutch supermarkets is incredible, I do miss the delicious dairy and all the 'dutch' stuff, the spices, mixes and pastries and the fantastic breads!
There's a weekly Saturday market that sets up right under her window that is fun to watch from above and also provides wonderful stuff like fresh fish, vegetables and great dutch cheeses.





On Sunday I went skating with my niece Lotte. Unfortunately we only had one pair of skates but we made it work by taking turns an running along while the other was skating.
I had not skated for years and was a little rusty but after a while it came back to me and I managed to go a few rounds without falling on my butt or worse like breaking a leg!






People were skating everywhere in and around town on the canals. This is what a real dutch winter looks like!