Friesland or freezing land : Harlingen
Friday afternoon we took half a day off from work to drive before the announced black ice/snow that night up up north to Friesland in the Netherlands. We had booked there a small B&B hotel.
Whereas I had spent multiple get-aways with my family in Friesland visiting friends there (my parents did a school exchange with a frisian school every 2 years and had made very good friends in the exchange process), Jan had never been there.
We had not really made a lot of plans beforehand as it was a very short stay, roads could be dangerously slippery (at night), I had a nasty cold and of course we always need to adapt our travel rhythm to Kabouter. But we left in time, Kabouter slept well on the road, we didn't hit traffic around Amsterdam and with one short pit-stop we arrived at our destination nicely a quarter to six. Very comfortable to get into our room, get some playing time with our little man that finally got released from his car seat and then explore the city in the icy cold. We found a nice eatery with a child corner but we bravely stated we'd come back in 20 min after another walk to the beach. ...well, we regretted that decision already by the end of the street. The wind was an attack of little ice knifes into our faces. Kabouter didn't understand and cried but we had to continue to the next spot where we could descend from the dike (not far...but if the wind cuts your face, each step is too far). So we quickly returned to the eatery for our dinner to enjoy our food in the warmth :).
The next morning we woke up to a white landscape...not much, but just enough to have transformed the world. Also as predicted, the sun came out and the world warmed up so roads in the sun were quickly snow free, whereas spots in the shade remained slippery. But we enjoyed another stroll through the picturesque little town, this time in day-light and enjoyed the typical Dutch "grachten" full of boats.
Whereas I had spent multiple get-aways with my family in Friesland visiting friends there (my parents did a school exchange with a frisian school every 2 years and had made very good friends in the exchange process), Jan had never been there.
We had not really made a lot of plans beforehand as it was a very short stay, roads could be dangerously slippery (at night), I had a nasty cold and of course we always need to adapt our travel rhythm to Kabouter. But we left in time, Kabouter slept well on the road, we didn't hit traffic around Amsterdam and with one short pit-stop we arrived at our destination nicely a quarter to six. Very comfortable to get into our room, get some playing time with our little man that finally got released from his car seat and then explore the city in the icy cold. We found a nice eatery with a child corner but we bravely stated we'd come back in 20 min after another walk to the beach. ...well, we regretted that decision already by the end of the street. The wind was an attack of little ice knifes into our faces. Kabouter didn't understand and cried but we had to continue to the next spot where we could descend from the dike (not far...but if the wind cuts your face, each step is too far). So we quickly returned to the eatery for our dinner to enjoy our food in the warmth :).
The next morning we woke up to a white landscape...not much, but just enough to have transformed the world. Also as predicted, the sun came out and the world warmed up so roads in the sun were quickly snow free, whereas spots in the shade remained slippery. But we enjoyed another stroll through the picturesque little town, this time in day-light and enjoyed the typical Dutch "grachten" full of boats.
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