Edam, August 28th.

What happened in the last 3 weeks? A lot.....

I left France on the 3rd and my brother picked me up at Rotterdam airport. We spend quite some hours on the bike, went to Leiden and Delft (remember the movie: Girl with the pearl earring) the city were the dutch queens and kings are buried.

We were treated with the annual sailing Flower Parade and beautiful weather. sitting on the waterfront and enjoying all the beauty of Dutch flowers, fruits and vegetables in the most stunning themes and creations.

60 boats passed with music bands, ballet dancers, singers etc. It was one big happening

Delft, flower parade

look at the beautiful color arrangments

easter influence with Indian dancers

authentic flat bottom boat

market square in Delft

My brother had arranged a sailing trip on the Wadden Zee, part of the North Sea which is partly dry because of the low tide. Only 'old' boats can sail here because they have a flat bottom, called the 'brown fleet'. The trip was called: 'Island Hopper' means that we sailed from island to island, starting at Texel, to Terschelling and last one Ameland. During our stay on the islands we were on the bike or on the beach.

traditional sheep cottage on the island of Texel

Leaving Texel on the flat bottom boat the 'Avontuur' (adventure)

Oudeschild, the fish and leisure harbor of Texel, here we embarked the boat for our first trip to the other island.

The harbor Oudeschild, Texel

the boat in the background is of the same type as the Avontuur

brother and sister having lunch

Terschelling on the bike. When I took this photo of the wild horses, a new project on the island, I leaned unsuspectingly on the electric wire (no notification) and that was au...

The south part of the island, the Wadden Zee, dry land at low tide.

The kids caught dozens of crabs with a piece of rope and some bait on a peg, when the bucket was full we enjoyed the crab-race. Great fun

photo taken from the hostel, looking to West Terschelling.

what a beautiful sunset we had before the bad weather came from the south with lots of rain and thunderstorms

Again a perfect day, here on another boat, the 'Willem Jacob' on our way to Ameland

Everybody had to work on the boat, here my brother Ber coming back from the steering wheel

At low tide the seals find their sunny spots to relax and sun bathe.

What a fun to watch a 'stolen-dans' (chair dancing) with horse and riders.

On august 17th my darling daughter Sanne arrived at Schiphol airport Amsterdam, finished her Masters in Science (geology), engaged with Nick and now time for 3 weeks relaxing and enjoying her birth country. Here with her cousin Dirkje, my brother's daughter

Happy together.

Borie Basse, Languedoc France

2 weeks with my younger sister Monique,  she is the proud owner of 2 houses in a tiny village. only 6 houses. The first time I came there was in 1992 with Jan, Sanne, Manon and Ruben. We had our tent in camping Le Gatinie (only 1 star, nowadays 2 and a half). Over the years we came on a regular base and helped Monique with renovations, a never ending story with lots of fun.
The Languedoc is now a National Park with many high-lights like 'gorges': Gorge d'Heric is a famous one, castles, abbey's and of course the interesting history of the vanished and slaughtered Cathars.
Places like Carcassonne, Beziers, Montsegur and Albi, places with impressive remains of those brave people, who lost the battle and their lives against the Catholic Church in Rome.
I love this part of France, it is authentic, rustic and not very touristic. The French kitchen is my favorite. The super markets overwhelming and absolutely not good for my weight. uhmmmm but so yummyyyyy. Ah well, in Nepal and India  I will lose those extra kilo's anyway.

Dinner in restaurant La Forge in Bedarieux, a real beauty with an exquisite kitchen. Here the waiter comes with the Cheese platter, wow so many choices with smelly goat, sheep and cow cheeses.

a small selection of the pate's, the other side was the cheese department.

The people of this village made a copy of the cave in Lourdes, where Bernadette le Soubiroux received messages from the Virgin Mary. Bernadette is one of my baptise names.
Many people come here to visit, pray and offer.

the village, where we had a coffee and enjoyed the peaceful view. Remarkable how quiet it was everywhere we went and then to realize it was holiday time.

the road leading to the village Borie Base where my sister lives. Borie Base means literally: lower shelter and in this case for the sheep.

 Monique's home

finishing one of the paintings for my sister's house

every night dinner on the roof top of the house, full moon with in the back the mountain village Margal.

Asking for trouble? A bucket of water was the reward

a refreshment in Olargues with Monique and Silvia

Olargues, one of those beautiful, picturesque villages

picnic lunch on the banks of the Canal du Midi in Narbonne

Court yard of the impressive Abbey Le Font Froide, going more south to The Pyrenees

abbey of St. Sylvanes + cemetery, specially for Manon. As a little girl Manon always wanted to visit these kind of places with me. This church is nowadays a place for performances and a culture centre for art students from all over the world.

mineral water for free. Not far from here is the bottling factory.

Clairac, our favorite place with swim holes and giant rocks to jump from. For many years we came here with the whole family.

and the other side of the bridge

Restaurant in Combes, where we had our 'Last Supper", a real amazing and beautiful place

a  free geste from the chef, an amuse. How beautiful presented and how tasteful

our entree: garzpaggio (wrong spelling)  with tomatoes, pate of seafood and a sorbet on top. Unbelievable. The main was with pigeon and potato puree with truffles, followed by a choice of cheeses from the cheese plateau and the dessert was a coulis with raspberries and a sorbet of nectarines.

   Here the kitchen team, mum, dad and 2 sons. The waiter left from me, goes to Wanaka next year for the grape harvest. A very successful, culinary family.

My last sunset in France, who know for how long. I don't think it will be for long, I love it here