mid August till mid September.

Sanne arrived the 18th of August and Ruben came surprisingly 1 week later for 10 days.

For them it was 9 years ago since they left their Motherland. Great to go back to family, friends and places with lots of memories. 

The Summer Weather Gods were with us most of the time. 

 During the summer season many cities and towns have a Fair, like this one in Hoorn, historic city in the Northern part of the Netherlands. Sanne and I are here in the 'Zweef' (sway mill) overlooking the city

 You cannot leave the Fair without a delicious famous 'oliebol'

 The 'snoep kraam' all kinds of sweets. Huge candy sticks, gigantic lollipops and nougat.

 bikes, bikes everywhere. This is a protected area for which you have to buy a ticket

 Amsterdam, around the corner I had an apartment when I was 20 years old and lived their for 3 years.
The 'famous' coffee shops where you can buy your daily cannabis.

 The Dam Square with the 'New Church' and left the Palace where we visited an interesting exhibition about the time the Louis Napoleon (brother of THE Napoleon of France) ruled over Holland, the first king of The Netherlands.

 One of the canals in Amsterdam: the Singel. Left is the Flower Market. The stalls are floating sheds
A must visit for tourist where they can buy tulip bulbs and many others

 Isn't this amazing: hash-cookies, mushrooms, lollipops, you name it.....

 In the past this building was a storage, nowadays an apparent building. Typical Amsterdam

 The latest way of transport: de 'bakfiets' I have seen mothers biking with 2-3-4 kids amongst the groceries. A cheap and very economically way of transport.

 A typical Dutch landscape; the lowlands. 60% of The Netherlands is below sea level. Every year millions of euro's have to spent to keep up with the force of wind and water.

 The bridge in Edam

 MADURODAM in The Hague. A tourist attraction where the whole of The Netherlands is made in miniatures. Here the Cheese Market in Alkmaar

 The New Church in Amsterdam

 A stunning moment on the North Sea shore, Egmond aan Zee

 This is very unique even in Holland. I had one of those cottages for many years, my brother has it now. From May till end of August we spent most of the summer times here.

 Volendam, authentic village on the IJsselmeer. Not very long ago the people walked in 'costume'. Famous for their fishing: smoked eel, their music and their dialect.

 Here we get dressed for a picture in costume, it was so much fun.

 I choose to get dressed in the male costume.

 The 'smaller' house in Volendam

 Our little dream house, we found this beauty on www.airbnb.com. Little house on the waterfront in Edam. here you  see the back with a gorgeous garden. We rented this for 2 weeks.

 De Zaanse Schans, an open -air museum with working windmills (for spices,, grains and nuts). I went to college not far from here and biked every day 20 ks.

 authentic wooden houses

 The first grocery shop: Albert Heijn, a huge multi national nowadays

 clocks, clocks and more clocks. In this museum they have them for weddings, funerals, kids in all sizes. The varied from village to village. Awesome.

 We picked up Ruben from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. I love this new sign.

 We spend a few days in Egmond in our old 'beach-villa'!!!!

 Eating from the wall. Put 1 euro in the hole, open the door of your choice and there you go.

 Dutch cheeses and Dutch herring, a must have..

 Volendam, the quay with ice-and fish stalls and hundreds of tourist from all over the world

 The Brown Fleet, authentic sailing boats. Not for fishing anymore , now for tourists.

 Ready for the picture

 A novelty, water tanks with littles fish. They eat your dead skin cells. What a sensational feeling.

Cafe Spaander, the whole interior is hanged with paintings from. In the past many painters came to paint here. some of them could not pay the rent or had to stay longer because of bad weather conditions  and paid the bill with a painting. The staff members work in the authentic costume.

 Narrow streets in Volendam

 Sloot (ditch) with 'kroos' a kind of little green water plant

 Edam Cheese market. A summer tourist attraction

 picnic with my cousin Dirkje and Sanne's friend Aifa

 Sailing with my dear friends Sjaak (off-shore friend of Jan) and Ineke

 We sailed to Marken, another totally different old village not far from Volendam. Here you see their authentic costumes. right is a 'bedstee' In those days people slept in a kind of a cupboard

 Marken

 Ruben managing the boat, he picked it up pretty quickly. We were all amazed

An the last one, a photo from Volendam.
I can look back to a wonderful time in Holland. 2 more days for my next adventure starts.