Hotel De Doelen Groningen

No photo's this time guys!
I just wanted to share the fantastic news with you all that I am officially a Dutch resident.
The lawyer called us with the news on Monday morning.
We are ecstatic. This means I can reapply for a five year residency in July next year.
It also means I can now search for work.
I will keep you all informed of how that search goes and of my ongoing travels.

Wish me luck!

Shannon.

... in the main arena and did several celtic dances to celebrate.

As we were so close to the german border, I had to go there and jump from side to side between Germany and Holland... Just so I could say I've done it! hahahaha.
After my antics, as we were heading back to the car, we realised we were surrounded by a gigantic Hemp plantation and I decided to get some more humerous shots of myself amongst it.
It's not like you see that everyday!!!

On Saturday, Petra, her mum and I took a day trip to Appingedam.
This city has the famous hanging kitchens.
The kitchens of the houses closest to the canal hang out over the water.
This was so, back in the 16 and 1700's, the occupants could drop a bucket down through their kitchen floor and gather water for the house.
We also had a look ...

... I left from Liverpool Street station London, on Thursday the 23 July, and we're off to Berlin tomorrow where she leaves me and I fly solo.

Hopefully the photos speak for themselves...in this, my very first entry on 26 July.

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... years or so. They are very proud of this as there are many much larger places close by that maybe called cities but have missed out on being included.

One of the things that is rather difficult to get used to is the vision of a sailing boat seemingly sitting in the middle of a paddock hidden somewhat by the farmers crops but moving along at a steady pace. More so in Friesland than other parts of Holland do you see this.

Thanks for the emails and messages

Het is hier koud en leeg, de verhuisdozen zijn bijna vol en wordt echt tijd om te gaan... Wie had serieus echt gedacht dat we zouden gaan...? Toen wij meer dan een half jaar geleden opeens kwamen met het plan om weg te gaan... Ik weet zeker dat er genoeg mensen waren die dachten dat het wel los zou lopen... Maar we gaan echt! Nog precies 10 dagen... En nog zoveel te doen... Inpakken en weg wezen is niet precies hoe wij weg gaan... maar we gaan in ieder geval... Ben ...

... the architecture - promising, but I just wasn't in the mood today. There were a couple of markets going on today, at Folkingestraat and the Vismarkt - mostly junk, but with some books and records. I came across a church that was hosting a free art exhibit - I couldn't actually see much of the church because of the art on display, but who really cares? I also found a free photo exhibit in a gallery - nothing special, though there were one ...

... good few hours in the open air before a car stopped claiming he could take one of us, although we convinced the driver to take all three! After a tight squeeze we all made it in the car, now enroute to Bremen. Thanks to a plane delay (his girl friend was flying in from Bratislava) we were able to get dropped right in Bremen's center, after thanking him...we made our way for the first internet cafe.

... night. Mostly junkies that were talking random giberish to me but nothing too bad. Groningen is a very nice city and as I found out later it's a student city, which explained the presence of young people all night. At around 4-4:30 am I decided to leave the main square and head to the train station. I started early to wander around the city a bit more on my way there. I ended up getting completely lost since I ...

... of it that even after all these years I could not bear to go near one again.

But in the spirit of reconciliation and letting by-gones be by-gones, I was willing to relinquish my long standing gripe with the Dutch delicacy by having another crack at it. Unfortunately it didn’t even seem to exist in its homeland. I had tried to find it along the beach promenade in The Hague and at stalls in the market square in ...