Bilthoven

Monday, June 1
The day starts out sunny and after a nice brisk walk in the early morning sun all by myself, I have enough energy left to start cleaning Mama's kitchen cupboards.
But we're not just here to work, we want to do some fun stuff as well.
We pack a lunch and walk to town to the bike rental place. It's a holiday today and the place is closed.
No problem, Mama goes back to pick up the car and we drive to the park.
I already entered a Geocache in my GPS and look forward to learn about the history of the "Knights in training" who played a big role here in the forest in the past.
After we follow several instructions and answer questions, we find the cache and walk back to the parking lot for our well deserved lunch.





















Tuesday, June 2
We take the car to Utrecht, the city where I was born.
It's a busy city and parking is always a challenge. But Mama knows a spot at the edge of the city where she can park, and from there we take the bus to the centre.

We walk to the canal and buy a ticket for the boat tour along the Oude Gracht (Old Canal) We learn a lot about the history of the city, which dates back to the 1100's.
Wow, I never knew there has been so much happening here before my time. I thought it all happened while I was the growing up and getting into trouble.

Lunch is at a Greek restaurant on the wharf below street level and next we walk to the Dom tower. After having lived here for the first 23 years of my life, I don't recall seeing so much beauty, the carvings, the old churches. Amazing.
There is so much happening here. people everywhere.

We shop at the hardware store for a few things for the house and go back home to do some more gardening.
Meanwhile Mama has received a call from Walter and we arrange to meet him and his wife Joke for lunch on Friday.











Back at home we tackle the garden, were lots of work needs to be done.
Mama has a list of tings that need to be done and Ramiro is the perfect person for it.

Ramiro is totally in his element, as both Mom and him love their cake and there is plenty of that in the house.

Later in the evening we receive a call from Loes who had heard via a long time school friend, that our friend Walter had given a presentation about the history of our old neigbourhood. I must surely known more about this? You see, Walter and I had a thing going when we were young.
The history research Walter has done sounds interesting. We need to find out more. Walter was also looking for more information, and the only person I could think of being able to provide Walter with more details is Mama. So we put them in touch with each other.






Wednesday, June 3
There is no sense to spend the day indoors if the sun is shining and the garden invites us to get our hands dirty.
So far, I have only covered a very small portion of the pruning and shaping of the shrubs, there is a lot more thinning out and weeding to do. But this is fun; More fun than in my own garden, which almost seems impossible to manage.

While I am at it, I might as well tackle the bathroom. I am really in the mood and love to see things sparkle.

We buy a new range hood for the kitchen in Zeist and spend the rest of the evening resting from a busy day.

Thursday, June 4
We have all sorts of plans, such as going to the market and do some shopping, but we don't accomplish a thing. it has cooled off significantly and every now and then it starts to rain.
All we seem to do is walk, but it seems to lead to nowhere. We decide to go home and have lunch.

Later in the afternoon Mom goes to church and Ramiro and I ride with her to the edge of town and walk to the Biltse Hoek to attend a Rotary meeting at the Bilthoven/De Bilt Club.
We are welcomed very warmly and enjoy the speaker, who talks about the Airport developments in Eindhoven, which is becoming a large competitor to Schiphol.
The fellowship is great. We meet some very interesting people, most of them dressed in suit and tie.
At invitation of the chairman, I take advantage of the opportunity to talk about the 2010 International Convention in Montreal. Unfortunately, as in many cultures, the average Rotarian is not interested in the convention, that's for District Governors. I do however receive a few requests for a brochure.
Will they plan on attending after all?




Friday, June 5
There is one more bathroom to be cleaned. I ask Mom permission to throw out a few things, just to make things look less cluttered. She agrees that it does result in a more peaceful look.

It's become cold and windy. We drive to Bunnik where I lived for a few years with my ex. I did not recognize a thing. I even had a hard to time to figure out what the house number was where I lived.

There are some really neat stores there however and we picked up some delicious snacks from the cheese store.








Ramiro is asked to drive the car and we direct him to Rhijnauwen, where we will meet up with Walter and Joke. How will this be after all these years? After all, we did have a special friendship in our younger years.
It was strange meeting Walter. We have all changed and we try to remember how we looked some 40 years ago.
We start out with coffee and talk mostly about the street we lived in and the neighbourhood. Walter had brought his computer and shows us a powerpoint presentation with pictures from the olden days. He presents me with a beautiful book about the history of Utrecht. What a nice gesture.

There is so much history, I was too young to really pay much attention to it. It was neat to see so many familiar places. Mama also contributed and may have filled in some of the missing information.

Later we find out that Loes also has provided Walter with lots of information about some of the buildings on our street.
It was getting late and we want to eat lunch. This was the place to eat Dutch Pancakes and that was what most of us order. I had a delicious salad with goat cheese, which has now become my favorite cheese.
We had great conversation over a few glasses of wine. We chat, we joke and laugh. It was as if we all have been long time friends.

Walter and Joke are a great couple. I enjoy Joke's company a lot. We have a lot of things to talk about.
After a nice walk on the trails through he woods we all go our own way, promising that next time we're in the country we will meet again.

At night we clean out Mama's dining room closet, out of which came boxes and boxes of pictures. Not much comes of cleaning, but more time is spent on looking at old pictures.
But I do manage to replace the paper on the shelves.

Saturday, June 6
The sun has come back. Ramiro hides in the garage for a major clean out and throws out all the wood, which is infested with woodworm.
There is more cleaning to be done in the kitchen and after Ramiro has installed the new range hood I tackle the walls and floor. Everything is looking Spic and Span.
Mom is doing her own thing, because there is also something that needs to be taken care of.
After lunch we walk to the shopping centre to do some shopping. The walking was more than Mom could handle and we are all pretty tired. After a nice and relaxing dinner we spend the rest of the evening watching TV.
Once it is getting dark, Ramiro and I remove all the wood and junk out of the garage and dump it in the construction container on the corner of the street.

Sunday, June 7
Mom and Ramiro go to church and I start packing and clean up our room.
I still have enough time left to make a short visit to our neighbour Emmy, from whom I still receive a birthday and Christmas card every year.
I start preparing some dishes for the meal tonight. Fred and Annemieke will come back to pick us up again and we have planned to have a meal with them.
Due to the busy traffic after the long weekend they arrive much later than expected, but we still are able to eat at a reasonable time.
Then it's time to say goodbye. We had a great week here. Did a variety of things and helped Mom out. It was so "gezellig" that we can do this again sometime.