Netherlands and Fonterra catch ups

Roermond 

We bused to Roermond from Antwerpen and were met by Anne - a friend of Paul's who we first met through a Fonterra connection. We last saw Anne in 2018. She is now smart and independent young lady with a gorgeous personality. It was very hard to say goodbye to her.

But we had a great three nights with Anne and thoroughly enjoyed Roermond and a nearby village called Thorn. 

We did a self guided tour of Roermond taking in all its history.









Anne was our tour guide in Thorn. The nearby town is known for its striking white-painted houses. It was really pretty and at the end of our self-guided tour we enjoyed Dutch pancakes for lunch!






Utretch and Zeist

We then trained to Utretch and had a day exploring this city with its mediaeval centre.




Then out to Zeist to catch up with Laura, another Fonterra friend of Paul's. Laura returned to the Netherlands in 2015 and now has a very nice home in the centre of Zeist, a beautiful family with a (Dutch) husband and a three year old son and a one year old daughter. We enjoyed a walk in their local forest with Laura and her son.




We stopped back in Utretch on our way to Zwolle to do a guided tour up the tower. Was very informative and great views.



We have to show a photo of the typical mumma bike! So cool and so many! Netherlands REALLY is the cycling country!


We also bumped into this shop, and since have seen two more exactly the same, so must be a chain. Mostly selling wool products - hopefully wool from NZ!



Zwolle
Next stop  was to see Wing - yes another friend of Paul's from Fonterra! Wing left NZ last year, but is still a bit unsettled and would love to travel a bit more. We strongly encouraged her to do this sooner as it can get harder once you start to settle down!!

Zwolle is a lovely old city that was originally a completely walled fortress and still has a moat around it. Once again we enjoyed a self guided walking tour taking in the city highlights and history. Climbing another tower for a view over the city.






This was originally a women's prison but is now a classy restaurant!!


We enjoyed an hour bus journey out to a small village called Giethoorn. A car free village with waterways, boats, footpaths and centuries-old thatched-roof houses.






We enjoyed an evening with Lisa (yes another ex-Fonterra) and Wing. Lisa left Fonterra and NZ in June this year, along with David, her German boyfriend who she met in NZ a couple of years ago, and they now live in the Netherlands, south of Amsterdam, on the coast. She seems happy and settled.

Quinn
Our last Netherlands catch-up was with Quinn, who still works for Fonterra over here in the Netherlands. He has been here for two years and has extended his contract for another year. He appears to be loving the life over here-I think he converting to Dutch as he lives in an apartment and only owns a push bike and bikes to work along with every other Dutch person in the Netherlands! He has an American girlfriend who is currently working in Paris and the day after we met Quinn, the two of them were off to America for Quinn to meet her parents!! For those in NZ who want to catch up with Quinn, he plans to be in NZ for Christmas and New Year.



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