When my parents came to town

This week I've been playing the host to my parents. Before they came I realised that I just spent more time in America than I did at home this Christmas, so it was great to see them both again. And I don't say that just because they might be reading! I'm sure they'll thank me for the photo.


We spent the week travelling around the Netherlands by train, but due to engineering works I think we actually spent most of our time changing trains at Amsterdam Centraal! Nonetheless we managed to visit The Hague, Gouda, Schveningen, Leiden, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Enkhuizen, The Zuiderzee Museum, Kasteel De Haar and, of course, Utrecht. So that's quite an impressive list for a six-day visit. I'd been to most of the places before, but it was nice to go back to them for a better look around.

I'd been interested in seeing the sea front at Schveningen for some time to see how it compared to Zandvoort which is a little further north. I thought Zandvoort was a little tacky, but Schveningen manages to surpass it and comes pretty close to being Brighton. Still, it was a lovely evening when we got there with a terrific sunset setting things off nicely.


I fact, sunsets would become a recurring theme. With the weather being extremely nice (too nice?) here recently, the sun seemed to be putting on a show every night, especially in Haarlem.


It was good to get to Gouda as well. I've passed through it a number of times on the train without every getting off, but it was worth a little detour despite being very similar to Delft. I'll try and go back later in the year when they start up the weekly cheese auctions again. In Amsterdam we managed to take in the so-called 'premier' Farmers' Market in the Netherlands at the Noorderkerk, and it was indeed quite a place - stalls selling nothing but mushroom varieties anyone? I also found the time to fall asleep in the Vondelpark.

Highlight of their trip though was probably the Zuiderzee Musuem and the neighbouring town of Enkhuizen. About an hour north of Amsterdam the Museum is an open air reconstruction of a Dutch turn-of-the-centry fishing village, and it's very well done.


I'd been there before on the 'Discover Holland' trip last year and though at the time that it would be a good place to go back to, and it was, especially seeing how we got there on a 'Museum Weekend' which meant it was free. We were less rushed this time and we had a chance to have a proper look around and in it's multitude of ye olde shops selling everything from cheese to sherbet.


There's a place there where children can get fitted out in authentic Dutch clothing as well which is a good way to add to the atmosphere of the place, although I wouldn't imagine that many would choose to keep their clogs on for long!

After we'd done there we stumbled into the town of Enkhuizen which hides behind the Museum, and it's lovely. I guess it's very different in the summer when it's busier, but at this time of year it came across as being a quiet, laid back town on the water front with an extremely friendly and musical populace.


One of those "I'd like a house here" places that the Netherlands seems to be worryingly full of.

Perhaps though the most bizarre occurrence came about on the last day. Before leaving Washington our mooting coach, had suggested that he meet my parents while they were here. I decided that it was best to think of it as a kind of grown up parents-evening, but how wrong I was. On Tuesday morning we trotted over to his office, only to be taken on a guided tour around Utrecht where he pointed out all of the University buildings and their history, as well as telling us about the history of the town and the canals etc and he even explained everything to be seen in the Dom Kerk. This in itself was quite remarkable, but he topped it all off by taking us all to lunch in the Faculty members only restaurant! It was an incredibly generous thing for him to do, and certainly beat the boat cruise we'd planned on taking! Although he was quite quiet when it came to the subject of a grade for the mooting competition...

The award for 'piece of information of the week' though has to go to the apparent fact that my hairdressers back home apparently take note of the size of my sideburns each time I go in - such that they had enquired to my mum whether they were surviving in the Netherlands.

Coupled with the excellent weather recently, the week also gave me a nice opportunity to play around with taking photos.





It was also nice to confirm on any number of occasions that I am indeed my father's son, and that my mum and I are still capable of having a conversation at cross-purposes for quite a length of time before either of us realise. But I wouldn't have it any other way.