Today was very bittersweet… Silas came and woke me up at about 10:30am and I came down to breakfast. After that I went upstairs to shower and pack up my things. Christel had to go return a trailer she was renting to carry a new shed to her house, so I just hung out in my room. Silas and Benthe were with Michael for the day so Christel and I could have a day for just us.
When Christel returned, we walked to the river in Gorinchem – also called the “water gate” as it’s the only gate on the Gorinchem Wall that is through water. We boarded a water taxi and went to Worchum. This was a small, medieval looking town, with the streets lined with strange looking trees (photo below). From there, we walked down the Worchum wall to a different pier along the river which would take us to Slot Loevestein.
We got to Slot Loevestein and started our tour with the Castle itself. A lot has changed since I was last there in 2013. They modernized parts of the tour to make it more interactive! Each person gets their own key to the castle, and to even get into the castle you’ve got to put the key in a box and it tells you if you’re a Prisoner, Soldier, or Royalty. Christel and I were both Prisoners! My key was coded so that any informational slot I put it in the audio playback would be English.
After walking through – and getting lost in – the castle we took a little break at some tables and had some strawberries. We talked about love and loss, vacations, and the kids. It was so nice to have time for just the two of us.
We then went to the Gun Powder tower, where you got to make your own gun powder with the interactive voice, and if you got it right a HUGE bang would go off and the lights turned off! It scared the crap out of Christel and myself! Haha!
After that we walked around the gardens of the castle and then went to a small museum on the grounds with artifacts from the castle throughout the years! It was really cool to see, and something I’ll always remember!
The sky began to get very cloudy, so we headed back to Gorinchem. When we got back to Christel’s house, we had a glass of wine and talked for a while. Around 6pm we walked over to my dad’s aunt, Francis’, apartment. She lives a block away from Christel, so we brought my luggage and put it in Michael’s car. We got upstairs to her apartment, and it was absolutely beautiful! I wish our apartment back home was that nice! Although, I’m sure we would be paying double what we pay now for this kind of apartment!
We sat and talked with Jaap and Francis until Michael and the kids arrived. Then Francis made us the most delicious spaghetti dinner I’ve ever had! Jaap taught me some Dutch words, and we talked about Wisconsin. As it turns out, he was just in Oconomowoc this winter for business! I really enjoyed his company and getting to know him. After dinner it was time to say goodbye… I thought I’d be able to keep it together, after crying so much on Family Day…. But as soon as Christel hugged me I started to tear up, and then Francis hugged me and the tears started flowing! After I hugged her I had to just walk out into the hallway towards the elevator because if I had looked back I would’ve been an even bigger mess!
Michael drove me to my great aunt Elly’s house in Rotterdam, where I will be staying until Friday morning. When we got to Elly’s it was pouring, so we ran inside and had a drink with Elly and Han. Then Michael left, and Elly showed me where I will be staying. I decided to turn in right away, as I am starting to feel sick. Hopefully the worst of whatever cold I am getting will happy after I get home. I really would hate to be sick for an 8 hour flight on Saturday!
Tomorrow depending on the weather I will be exploring Rotterdam with Elly, but if it continues to rain we will probably just have a chill day in – and I will get to read my book I brought.
Enjoy the pictures of my day with Christel!
Trip to the Fatherland 2019 