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Those Idle Ides of March
March 2009
Marloes & Lucky in Maastricht (we arrived the day after Carnival, so the locals were a bit logey)
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Slowly shaking off the pangs and arrows of relentless Dutch winter, March was a time for visiting friends and family. Firstly we visited our long-time pals Jennifer and Thomas in Munich (Munchen), Germany. Not wishing to leave the lovely Lucky behind, we opted to drive in our freshly purchased Opel auto (which clattered along the autobahn at unsafe speeds). The journey itself was an adventure, stopping over in Maastricht (in extreme South Netherlands - during the hangover of Carnival, see last month), and Schwedelbach (near Ramstein Airforce Base in Germany - the locals were mystified by us as they apparently are not frequented by tourists). Lucky was, err, lucky in that she got put-up in a luxury dog resort near the Munich airport which cost largely more than a human hotel. She called us each evening in the midst of her grooing and massage treatment while watching doggie TV and eating veal bon-bons.
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In Munich we had a grand time with Jennifer, Thomas and their son Milo (of 'Phantom Tollboth' fame). We got to visit their apartment, meet their pals, visit the local sites (including a traditional German evening beer pub with live singing accompanyment to old balads). We otherwise walked about and enjoyed the vibrant city that is Munich.
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Thomas in Munich March 2009 |
Enjoying a tall German beer in a typical wooden beer house with Thomas, Jennifer and Marloes |
Marjan and Dirk: baby on board! |
After returning from our fun Munich visit (which involved a marathon 9+ hours driving back with Lucky on the speedy autobahn), we settled back into Leiden. We had visits from Marjan and Dirk as well as Simone and Berdina. As well, we visited JP Ligtenberg (Marloes' brother) and Mirjam Boom to celebrate the birthday of their children, Pieter and Elise. |
Indeed, despite the lingering dreary weather, March was full of visits with friends and family. January and February had been quite intense with studying and tests, at time becoming information overload. Thus catching-up with those special people in our lives was an enjoyable break.
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The growing Elise Ligtenberg (2 years) with grandmother (Oma) Loes Ligtenberg and her husband Peter Krans |
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Ahoy Simone and Berdina! |
For additional photos from February 2009, see my Flickr photoset here!
Scott - taking a break in Leiden!
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Photo madness! Artist at work ;-) |
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