When we decided to fly to Glasgow for Martha and Gavin’s wedding, before our big trip to Ethiopia, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to bring Jon to the Netherlands to meet some family on my mother’s side. We originally hoped to go for a week, however, the wedding was on the 21st of December and booking flights during the week of Christmas is tough. What we ended up with was a 2-night stopover, essentially, one full day to be in the Netherlands on Tibb’s Eve. I am not sure what other cultures use this term, but Tibb’s Eve is what Newfoundlanders call December 23rd and it is usually a day to party with friends before Christmas.
I can’t count the number of people, both friends and family, I wanted to visit with while we were in the country, but our time was just too short. If you are just finding out now that I visited and didn’t reach out, I am so sorry!!
We decided it was best to contact one member of the family and concentrate on a visit with them instead of trying to coordinate multiple visits with people just two days before Christmas. I messaged my cousin Maike (she and her brother Frans are my only two cousins living in Amsterdam) to see if a visit would be possible. Maike and Ivo had stayed with me in Trinity for a few weeks in 2014, so we knew each other fairly well. Since then, they have had had a son and daughter who I had not yet met. They did not have a spare bedroom. Fortunately, we had our thermorests with us for camping so it made staying with them no problem.
We arrived around 5pm and lucky for us Ivo had use of a company car and was able to pick us up at the airport. Maike and her brother Frans were waiting for us at the house with a delicious meal, but we all turned in fairly early since they are young parents and we were still feeling the effects of partying at the wedding.
Our one full day in Amsterdam was chill and jam-packed at the same time. Maike and I hung out with Luca and Joanna at home while Ivo and Jon went out for a run after breakfast.
When the guys were cleaned up from their jog, we rode bikes to get to the more traditional areas of the city. They had one extra bike since Maike had upgraded to one that could accommodate both kids. Jon was able to use her bike and I sat on the back of Ivo’s.
This was a move I had learned during my last visit in 2015. I was a little rusty this time, but at least trusted that I could do it. I only had to sit on the back for 5 minutes until we found a rental shop where I was able to rent my own bike, adjusted perfectly for my rather un-dutch short stature.
We headed down to the local market (not the one that most tourists go to). Our first stop was for pickled herring, a traditional Dutch snack that Luca was a big fan of and then we picked a stall making fresh stroopwafels. For those who don’t know what a stroopwafel is, it is sticky caramel sandwiched between two thin wafers. No visit to the Netherlands is complete without one! Next we ventured into a coffee shop to give the kids a rest and Jon had his first taste of dutch croquettes.
With full bellies, we biked down to the Anne Frank House. We did not go in, but it was a launching point for our 1-hour boat ride through the canals to give Jon a different perspective of the architecture in the city. Once the tour was over, Maike headed home with the kids who needed a break and Ivo continued our bike tour. It was getting dark, which was perfect because Amsterdam’s Festival of Lights was taking place. We had seen some of the light displays along the canals on our boat tour. We rode the bikes along the canals to see the rest.
Our tour ended at Frans’ apartment and Ivo went back home to help with the kids. Frans had cooked us dinner, but before we sat down to eat we got the full apartment tour. During the tour, he noticed a picture that was slightly askew, but when he tried to fix it, it somehow got worse. Eventually, all three of us were trying to get it right. It was a large piece that he had rented (yes you can cheaply rent art in Amsterdam so you never get bored with what is on your walls) and it took two people on either side of the photo to adjust the hangers while one person stood back and coached. By the time we had finished (and by finished I mean the picture hung exactly as it was before, slightly askew, but the best we could do) dinner was ready. It was great catching up with Frans, even if it was just for one night. When dinner was done we felt confident enough to bike on our own back to Maike and Ivo’s.
Our day in Amsterdam was done and we were dropped off at the airport the next morning on Christmas Eve. Our flight to Ethiopia came with a 10-hour stopover in Vienna. The city has a great transport system from the airport and the express train even stores your bags for free to make stopover exploration even easier. A number of things were closed since it was Christmas Eve, but the Christmas Market was in full swing and we had fun wandering the streets. We even had enough time to watch the new Star Wars movie since the airport train leaves right from the mall.
Our plane landed in Addis Ababa around 9am, but our luggage was nowhere to be found. Eventually, after waiting for almost 2 hours in line at customer service, it showed up on a random luggage belt. We had a flight to Axum in the north the following day where we would meet up with Steph and her sister Cheryl, so we didn’t bother to see anything in Addis. Christmas Day was spent by the pool and playing Yahtzee in a lovely airport hotel.