roermond is GREAT! the weather is BRILLIANT! peter is REALLY NICE and (almost too) GENROUS!!!
since last time: we got an email from my MUM asking whether we'd visited a coffee shop yet, and since we hadn't, and mum seemed to be implying that we ought to, we went to two that day. once was the home of hash brownies (mmmmmmmmmmmmm chocolate and drugs, together at last!) and was decorated my the mother and daughter team with new agey crystals and pot (not POT) plants... heehee, so cute. we lost ourselves again on the way back (which is really unbelievable, when you look at how easy amsterdam is to navigate), and dan fell asleep on me, while i read... we were in the hostel bar to escape from the SURLY GOTHPUNK who coughed and grumped and didn't wash or change clothes and slept in our room... then our other room mates escaped and we had a couple of drinks with them and went to the Bulldog (one of a chain of coffeeshops) and smoked some very smooth joints... well, one was enough, really... dan was really VERY zonked... and i knew when i'd had enough, so i was happily stoned. now, what to do with our remaining joints???
arrived in roermond, and peter picked us up from the station. we had a walk around the town, got some stuff (incluing dutch liquorice, or zotadrops... spelling?) from the market, and had a bbq on peter's balcony in the evening with some of his lovely neighbours!... talked into the night, sang bad 80s songs, etc... hilarious!
yesterday was very family-history-ish. i visited the place where mum lived when she was a kid before moving to australia: no house left, but peter's mum (my great aunt) says they used to play along the hedge which is still there. we also visited the place where oma spent most of her life, and where my uncle john scattered some of her ashes when he was here a couple of weeks ago. it is a peaceful little corner of a field of flowers and grass, near and oak-lined avenue, and inhabited by a power-shed!!! we drove past the house where oma was born, and also visited anty anne's grave (that's mum's aunty, my great aunt) which isin a very pretty little cemetery. in the afternoon we went to a family gathering in celebration of peter's nephew (my second cousin) graduating from highschool. the dutch have a cute tradition - when someone graduates, they hang the dutch flag out the front of their house, along with their schoolbag and books! ... oh my god, there were so many people! oma was from a family of 14 children (i think) and peter's mum (one of the 2 left) had 7 kids, so you can imagine the number of aunts and uncles etc. who were there!... very cool to meet them all, especially oma's sister... and i have to say now, that if there is such a thing as a gay gene, then mine definitely came from that side of the family!!!
today we drove to maastricht, and walked around the old part of the city. it's very beautiful and trendy, and not at all old-looking, except when you round a corner and find yourself face to face with a water wheel, or one of the old beautiful churches... and now we're writing to you!
the sun is hot, the sky is bright blue, people are biking everywhere, there are canals (in which the braver people are swimming, others are boating, and some are lying in bikinis beside them), there are fields of wheat and asparagus (white asparagus, which peter has peeled in preperation for dinner!), there is hagel slag and other such sprinkles for your toast in the morning, the cafes serve tostis (toasted cheese s'wiches), people say ja (pronouncing it yor/yoh) and it is generally GREAT!!! don't want to go to paris afterwards. paris will suck compared to this! might prolong the inevitable by going to brussels first!
pleas eleave us a comment so we don't feel abandoned - even though we are going on about our great SUMMER weather!
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