238. Europe Bicycle Trip--A Van der Prijt Soccer Party and Victory

I left Noordwijk and zigzagged my way to Hoofddorp (30 km) following the knooppunten.

The late blooming tulips were still showing their colors.

Here I am passing some beautiful backyards along a pretty canal.

After cycling 89.18 km. today I arrived in Hoofddorp (the closest city to Schiphol Airport) and the home of my cousin, Dick, and his wife, Carla

Carla works some evenings from 3 to 11pm at Amstelring Wijkzorg, Het Oude Dorp.

They are a team of professionals caring for customers by tailoring to their needs. They even take them to farms to participate in work that they used to do when they were young or to see animals that they used to care for. I unpacked my belongings into the beautiful big bedroom that used to be Dick's office before he constructed his new office building next to the house. I had a shower and we had Chinese food for supper and then dressed warm to go to watch the Netherlands-Costa Rica soccer game in a tent at Dennis Van der Prijt's place. Dennis is the son of Dick's brother,Cook. So Dennis would be my second cousin.

Carla stirring her drink and Marnix in the DJ seat. There were about 20 family and friend's gathered under a small tent which had a big TV screen and we even had our own DJ. Marnix provided livened the atmosphere during every ad.Happy-go=lucky cousin Walter provided some of the warm food from his catering business.I also met Dennis' sister, Cindy and Barry, son of my cousin, Ron. Barry is very interested in coming to Canada and has even called one of my brothers in the Windsor area to ask him questions. Carla had two nephews here that she introduced me to.

Over 120 minutes-plus of actual soccer, there was little to separate the two teams. Two overtime periods failed to produce a goal by either team so penalty kicks were next. Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal replaced Dutch goalie Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul who had only played one minute at this World Cup but was known as a specialist at saving penalty kicks. The move paid off with Krul making his presence felt. He was seen trying to play head games with Costa Rican penalty takers and guesses correctly on two shots which proved to be the difference. Final score was Netherlands 4 and Costa Rica 3 and our tent went into ecstatic confusion!!!!!!!

Everyone in the tent, including myself were SO happy for the Dutch win. We had been on pins and needles all evening and it finally ended in our favor.