Back to the Lake

By Thursday afternoon we were back in Holland at the marina, planning some maintenance chores if the weather held. Luckily it did and on Saturday, Cathy Jo was able to get some serious painting accomplished while I did laundry, cleanup, and a little varnish and repairs. After some more chores on Sunday morning we took off on our bikes for another "only in Holland" experience: a Shanty festival at a canal-side bar. Needless to say, much beer was consumed. The groups would arrive by barge, perform for about 45 minutes and then it was off to the the center of the nearby village of Leimuiden for more drinks and singing. One of our Dutch friends described something very country-Dutch as "cloggy", as in the wooden shoes. You couldn't get more "cloggy" than this.




Monday was our last full day for this year. We filled up the diesel tank, drained the water tank to prevent freezing water from bursting pipes and gave the inside a good cleaning. It's hard to imagine we won't be seeing it for another 8 months.

I have also been remiss in earlier posts not to mention the office manager at the marina in Kuddlestaart. Marion was the only one in the office the first time we saw the boat and it was one of her first days on the job. She answered our questions and translated some of the dutch terms we didn't understand on the listing sheet. She kept all the "high finance" straight and cheerfully put up with our constant questions and requests. Everything went much easier with her help.


By Monday night it was raining cats and dogs. We had returned the car Monday afternoon so it was busses to the airport for us. Luckily, it was only sprinkling when we said goodbye to Odysseus about 6:30 Tuesday morning and headed for Schiphol.