241. Europe Bicycle Trip--Goodbye Thank You Supper With Ome Frits, Tante Thea and Margot

Today is Day 83, Tuesday, July 8th,2014. I have been sleeping in each morning because I have been going to bed so late after visiting with Dick and Carla. After I wake up, I read a Psalm, pray for family, friends and people that I have met and then work on blogs until I hear Carla moving about. Dick gets up early every morning and is working in his office.Years ago he was a History teacher and principal but became unhappy with the diminished hours of teaching and with the bureaucracy in education. He went back to school for Economics and started his own accounting business 25 years ago on a part time basis. For the last 8 years he has been doing the work full time. . He has about 180 clients and wants to keep his business small and personable so that he and his son, Marnix, know each client as a person and not just as a number. He is at his home all day for work and gets to see Carla and share coffee time and lunch time. He enjoys his work even though certain months, like tax time, can be very busy.  It was a rainy day today so I was glad to be in a house with all my belongings.Carla usually does her groceries by bicycle but today when I went with her to a nearby mall, we took the vehicle to keep dry. I needed some money and found a bank machine. I enjoyed following her around the grocery store and looking at everything without having to hurry back outside to my bicycle. I had lunch with Carla, Dick and Marnix and after lunch, Marnix showed me all his airplane photos. He is a terrific photographer and has had his photos used by airline companies (KLM). He knows everything there is about different planes and spends a lot of time around airports. At 2 pm. Ome Frits and Tante Thea came by and picked me up. First we went to their apartment in Velserbroek and enjoyed a cup of tea together and talked about my trip. Ome Frits and Tante Thea are avid followers of my blog. After a while, Margot arrived and then she followed us in her car to the Ijmuiden and Kop van de Haven Seafood Restaurant, the same place that Ome Frits had brought Sarah and I on our tour with them back on Friday,  April 18.

The fish couldn't be more fresh because the restaurant is right close by the fishery where the fishermen come in from sea and unload their fish.

A toast to a wonderful, hospitable Dutch family and the completion of a bicycle tour of the country of my birth!!!

The food was on the plates and looked and tasted delicious!!!

Close up of part of my meal. The fish was delicious.

My dessert was called Oma's Boot and I enjoyed it very much.

Tante Thea and Ome Frits shared this dessert.

Margot also had Oma's Boot for after all she was Dane's Gramma while he was here in the Netherlands. She spoiled him big time!!

I was fascinated by this BIG cup of tea and asked to have my picture taken with it.

A HUGE cup and saucer

The view out of the window --We could see a rowing academy boat in the foreground through the rain and wind and in the background was the steel mill. During dessert, I took out my computer and downloaded the Keukenhof photos onto Margot's stick so she could give them to Pauline. Margot talked about her upcoming 4 day trip to Berlin. It was very HARD to say goodbye to all of them. Margot had been such a wonderful hostess to Sarah, Dane and myself for 12 days at her house and our guide in Amsterdam, the tulip fields, Zaanse Schans and so much more and Ome Frits and Tante Thea had been so generous driving us everywhere, giving us a tour of Ijmuiden and area and taking us to Keukenhof and bringing me to Hoofddorp multiple times. THANK YOU TO YOU ALL from the bottom of my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ome Frits and Tante Thea dropped me off to an empty house in Hoofddorp as Dick and Carla were at a party across the street so I did some packing, worked on blogs and Skyped Dave. Then I watched Germany trounce Brazil 7-1 in World Cup Soccer. It was a disaster of a game and almost made me cry for the losing team until they scored their one goal. After Dick and Carla came home we talked for quite a while and it was another late to bed night. .