4 February ’06, Saturday.
Ok, now I’ve got to go back a few days to catch up… Tuesday and Wednesday were spent pulling our suit cases down about 50 times to see what we were going to take home with us and what things we were going to leave behind. It was amazing how much we had to go through. Some things that I had packed away were never even touched in the 2 years we were here, and those were most of what I determined to leave behind. Then there was the roll-up electrical cables, the “wheel stands”, radio/CD player, and on and on…all this was either being left with “Bumble Bee” or given to the neighbor in the caravan who has come to Delft to help his daughter move in to her new apartment. Our liquor cabinet…well, the crew at the Delft campground liked that. Of course there was the last walk into Delft to visit the market one more time, and the last cheap breakfast with as many espresso refills we could stand at IKEA. Then on Wednesday afternoon, finally having everything packed and re-packed for the last time, we said our good-byes to the crew at the campground and headed for our airport hotel. After checking in, lugging our bags (5 suitcases, 3 carry-on, and Lou’s purse) up to the room, we jumped back into “Bumble Bee” for the last time and headed off to see Donna in Utrecht. You know, I think we must have missed something or maybe it was that we just didn’t have the time, but we just didn’t get melancholy. All the way out to Donna’s was as if we were just going to the grocery store instead of coming to the close of our European Journey and saying good-bye to our faithful companion (Bumble Bee). As we pulled into Donna’s yard and the gate closed behind us, we knew that this was the finish of our first leg. Now onto our next “Journey”… We walked to the train station from Donna’s, caught the train to Schiphol (Amsterdam’s airport), and waited for the airporter to take us to our hotel. Early the next morning we were on our way back to Seattle. Our flight was taking us to London and then directly to Sea-Tac for a total of 11 hours of in air time (which is 10 hours more than I really enjoy). Well, “We’re Baaacccckkkkk!!!!
Ok, now I’ve got to go back a few days to catch up… Tuesday and Wednesday were spent pulling our suit cases down about 50 times to see what we were going to take home with us and what things we were going to leave behind. It was amazing how much we had to go through. Some things that I had packed away were never even touched in the 2 years we were here, and those were most of what I determined to leave behind. Then there was the roll-up electrical cables, the “wheel stands”, radio/CD player, and on and on…all this was either being left with “Bumble Bee” or given to the neighbor in the caravan who has come to Delft to help his daughter move in to her new apartment. Our liquor cabinet…well, the crew at the Delft campground liked that. Of course there was the last walk into Delft to visit the market one more time, and the last cheap breakfast with as many espresso refills we could stand at IKEA. Then on Wednesday afternoon, finally having everything packed and re-packed for the last time, we said our good-byes to the crew at the campground and headed for our airport hotel. After checking in, lugging our bags (5 suitcases, 3 carry-on, and Lou’s purse) up to the room, we jumped back into “Bumble Bee” for the last time and headed off to see Donna in Utrecht. You know, I think we must have missed something or maybe it was that we just didn’t have the time, but we just didn’t get melancholy. All the way out to Donna’s was as if we were just going to the grocery store instead of coming to the close of our European Journey and saying good-bye to our faithful companion (Bumble Bee). As we pulled into Donna’s yard and the gate closed behind us, we knew that this was the finish of our first leg. Now onto our next “Journey”… We walked to the train station from Donna’s, caught the train to Schiphol (Amsterdam’s airport), and waited for the airporter to take us to our hotel. Early the next morning we were on our way back to Seattle. Our flight was taking us to London and then directly to Sea-Tac for a total of 11 hours of in air time (which is 10 hours more than I really enjoy). Well, “We’re Baaacccckkkkk!!!!