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Utrecht with Eveline!
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WEll, today I am going to Utrecht where my cousin Eveline lives and studies!
But first, I am travelling to the Enkhuizen Zuiderzee (South Sea) Museum - an interesting museum about the places in Holland near the South Sea - fishing villages etc: Urk, Volendam, Enkhuizen etc etc etc. They had information about the cargo on the boats, huge boats inside the building (!) and information on the dykes, old fishing stories, paintings, clothing worn at specific times and places - it was all very interesting, and i got to learn a lot about this quaint little country!
It's strange, i feel such a fondness for this country - part of me wants to stay here and live near my family and ride a bicycle everywhere i go.... but another part for me longs for my sunburnt (and dry!) country back home - even with its spiders and snakes and bushfires and lack of water and extremely hot weather. I miss my Australia, but i do not want to leave the Netherlands...
But after that I caught a train to Utrecht. I had heard that it is thought the dutch train system is the best and most efficient in Europe. I find that it is definately the most efficient, but the tickets are really difficult to buy (the machines don't take notes! - only cards) and incredibly expensive! you will pay 10 or even 12 euros more for a ticket than what you would pay in sydney (Enkhuizen to Utrecht: EU14.30, the same distance in sydney would cost $2.20!). But never mind, i enjoyed the journey!
I got to Utrecht at 6.15 - where Eveline met me at the station, on her bicycle! I'm not exactly skilled at riding on the back of someone's bicycle - but here I was riding sidesaddle on the back of Eveline's bicycle - i had no idea it took so much concentration (or abdominal strength....!). But that was fun anyway - or at least the memory of it was!
But we got to her place - a cabin in a caravan park 15 minutes by bicycle from the trainstation which she shares with 2 other friends from her old school. And they were both really nice girls: Marijke and Saskia, both very pretty, friendly, funny and interesting girls. What an fun house they must live in, with those two girls and eveline! I am so jealous of the Dutch student-life - it looks so..... well, great! But maybe I am seeing it all minus the bad bits!
Eveline made me dinner, which really really nice -a pizza-spinach-ricotta type thing on pita... mmm
We went out to a bar in the city after that - their favourite hangout! - i only had to ride 5 minutes on the bicycle (minus the time where at one point i attempted to jump off the bicycle mid swing and ended up in a heap in the middle of (a quiet) street!) and then we caught a bus in.
But that was nice, we all sat at a table - drinking wine and having girly talks about our lives here or at home. I told lots of stories about my travels etc - only the amusing ones which still make me laugh! I have so many memories... But this lovely night is one of them...!
We got back quite late, at about 2am and went to sleep. A very nice day with 3 very nice friends!
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