Monday,September 16th, 2019 A Day with Margot

On Monday morning, I went with Carla to the Toolenburg mall but on the way there we stopped along the IJweg at Walter's house to drop off some dishes

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Walter, who is fighting cancer right now, has his house up for sale.

At the mall I went into the cheese store while Carla was in the grocery store.

I also went to look at all the goodies in the bakery.

I thought it was cute to see a Canadian beaver in this fall display. I bought a box of chocolates for Dick and Carla to enjoy.  We spent a few minutes looking at the clothing store where I decided that a clothing purchase from that store would be a nice thank you gift for Dick and Carla. We decided we would come back tomorrow to shop for the clothing. 

Margot picked me up at 2 pm. She had decided to take me to the locks in Ijmuiden. The port of Ijmuiden is the gateway to the Netherlands. On the way we stopped at this ice cream "paleis" to enjoy a cone. 

We could not get to the SHIP museum the way Margot had planned because it was blocked off due to construction so she drove back to where there was a ferry to cross the water.

I got out for a minute to photograph all the students crossing to the other side...

...and Margot's car...

...soon we were approaching the other side to the Pontweg and then the Noordersluisweg.

Industry

We came to the SHIP museum (Sluis Haven Informatie Punt) and could enter for free.

We watched an interesting movie where you feel like you are in a very fast moving boat going through the locks and going toward Amsterdam.

Diagram of the locks

Photo of the locks

Margot tried successfully to operate a lock by changing the water levels to allow a boat to go through.

Well done!

Various diagrams showing the digging out for the lock, and the make-up of the lock door

Before we left, we watched the first movie again because it was so fast the first time. I concentrated this time on the growth and expansion of Amsterdam and the locks as the years went by.

Then we went outside and took photos. Here we see the Hoogovenkanaal.

The closest lock is the Noordersluis.

A big empty ship

The Tata steel plant

A big cruise ship coming through the lock

It was huge and I started waving and then Margot waved also and we were successful in getting passengers to wave back at us. Then we drove on the busy highway to Akerslot and Margot's house.

I met Gijs, Margot's living partner now. Tante Thea was already there and we had a cold drink and visited for a while. Then Gijs made a nice supper for us. Inge and her boyfriend, Bart, also joined us.

With Margot and Gijs

With Margot and Tante Thea

With Inge and Bart

After supper we had dessert of an ice cream bar and then played a game of cards called 51. Bart took this group selfie.

Beginners luck I think because I won the game!

I gave Tante Thea her scarf and  a neck scarf to Margot and Inge. Bart was playing around with it but had the maple leaf upside down.

Now it is better. He looks like he is touching the ceiling.

We finished the evening by looking at photos of Margot's trip to Canada in 1980 with Carola when they were younger. There was this photo of my father.

My father and mother

We all said goodbyes and Margot was kind enough to drive me all the way back to Dick and Carla's house. We hugged goodbye. Thank you Margot for a nice afternoon and evening with you.