Road trip to Holland and Belgium summer 2016

We have brought Dylan over to Holland to spend a month with Tristan during the school holidays.  The dog has come too and it's been an experience to say the least! We are getting the hang of it though and he seems to be taking everything in his canine stride :)

We had a lovely afternoon all together at Haarlemmermeerse Bos (lake near Hoofddorp) and walked the dog all the way round before having a nice dinner together at our hotel.  

After a rather emotional and weird good bye which was really hard, we got on the road today and drove south towards Utrecht and then Culemborg to meet my friend Diana for lunch. Wow is all I can say. It was the most delicious pasta meal I have eaten. Chicken, Gorgonzola and herbs. Lemon maybe?  Anyway very good indeed.  The building was cool and unusual. It used to be the station house and is now a cafe called Una Volta, which also rents out work space and meeting rooms complete with table tennis - and a swing! The area is called gelderlandfabriek. 

Here are Joseph and Diana 

We then walked around the local area and saw how the local people live in 'hofs': groups of houses arranged around a communal garden where inhabitants each share an interest and responsibility for the gardens' upkeep.  The houses have solar panels and some are built into the ground or have walls made from hay bales. It's meant to make their inside temperature more regulated in both summer and winter. 

We then drove south west towards Antwerp to the Novotel where we are spending the second night of our trip.  It's not a very pretty city but it was on the way and is fairly cheap.

 The dog can stay in the room and since neither of us fancied the dish of the day "Dutch weed burger" we decided I would venture out to Albert heijn and buy food (salads and crisps) and drinks to bring back to the room.  I'm exhausted now and although I know Dylan will have a wonderful time and holiday with his dad I do miss them.  But for now, it's time to have some quality time with J and he is doing so well so far on this trip.  More pics and updates to follow....