Tokyo to Utrecht

Friday, July 29th, I departed from Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan to eventually arrive in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

At Narita, my plane to Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong at the gate to board the plane to Amsterdam.

It is about a 3.5 hour flight from Narita to Hong Kong.  I had a 2.5 hour layover in Hong Kong and then flew to Amsterdam for a 12.5 hour flight.  I arrived in Schiphol at about 7 am, The Netherlands time on Saturday, July 30th.

Annette Huizenga-Kalma was at the airport to pick me up and visit them in Lippenhuizen, Friesland.  I have never been to Friesland and found it a lovely place, a lot of farmland.

First cabin

Annette and I went on a bicycle ride around the neighborhood.

They are building a new milking parlour.  

Lippenhuizen is having a 700 year celebration in September.

Of course I bought some zoute drop! 

There are a few Dutch food items that I miss.  One is drop, which I have not been able to find in Japan.  The other is ring wurst, and according to Annette, I had to have one, so she bought one specifically for me.  How good is that, eh?
Sunday, we went to church in Groningen and drove around.  We also went to Sneek, to see the sand sculptures and walk around the city center.  The weather turned beautiful which added to the great visit.

This has to do with World War II and the Jews being moved on the trains to concentration camps.

Church near the central square in Sneek

Ducking as they go under the bridge.

If your boat was too large, you can pay for them to raise the bridge.

Making a deal, a duck for a...

A typical walking street.

On Monday, Annette and Sjoerd took me to Rheden where I met my de Regt cousins, my mom's side of the family.  In the evening, Henk and Wies took me to Ede where I meet up with my Langelaar cousins, which did include my 93 year old aunt, my dad's sister.  The Dutch is coming along, although understanding it is much easier then trying to speak it.  Occasionally I manage to get a decent sentence out.  Most people here have some English.  I spent the night at Teus and Ineke's. Sorry totally forgot to take pictures, spent time chatting instead.  

Tuesday, I traveled by train and bus to Schiphol to meet up with Joel and Julie Holtrop.  

On my way to Schiphol by train.

They arranged for an airbnb in Utrecht for the rest of this week.  It is a neat place and gives a good feel of what it's like living here.  

Stairs up to where I'm sleeping, quite an incline.

The bedroom where I sleep

Looking down out of the window

Kitchen

Hallway to the front door

Living room with Joel and Julie

Dining room with window right by the sidewalk.

Sunday we head back to Amsterdam to connect with the bicycle tour.  I'm really enjoying this holiday.  Lots of memories coming back from previous visits to The Netherlands.  I have been very blessed to be able to come here and enjoy this time with friends and family.    

Jean and Tami's visit

This past week Jean V. and Tami V. came from Maryland for a visit.  It was a very fun week where we were able to go see and experience a lot of things.  Here is a few pictures of what we saw and did.  First day, we went to Mashiko, a pottery village.  This is a sake cup Jean and Tami purchased for me.

The second day, Jean and Tami spent around Kiyose and Higashi Kurume since I had my online class and a meeting at school as well as going to Haneda Airport to pick up the VanderHaaks.  No pictures from me this day.
The third day, we were up pretty early in the morning to catch our shinkansen to Kyoto.  We ended up touring Kyoto that day visiting four different places.

From the shinkansen

Heading up to Kiyozumi-dera Temple

Nijo Castle

Kinkaku-ji

Arashiyama

Elizabeth and my room at the New Miyako Hotel

Dinner at Man in the Moon, an Irish Pub.

The fourth day, we took a train from Kyoto to Nara, to Nara Koen.  

Octogonal Hall near Kifukuji Temple

Looking up under the gate at Todaji Temple

Elizabeth and many of the lanterns at Kasuga Taisha

They had a dark room where the lanterns were lit.

The fifth day, we went to Lake Kawaguchiko near Mt. Fuji.  It was the lavender festival by the lake.  It was a cloudy day, so we were unable to view Mt. Fuji.  We did catch a bus up to the 5th station and walked around some.  I don't have any pictures of Mt. Fuji.

The day ended with a visit to a typical Japanese restaurant.

The sixth day took us to visiting Tokyo.  Our first stop was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.  On the 45th floor, they have windows that allow you to look at Tokyo and its vastness.

I live waaaaay out towards the center of the photo.  

We also went to the Harajuku area and walked down the Takeshita street which has a lot of stores.  We walked to Shibuya station and watched the crossing for multiple cycles.  Here is a link to a live camera.  Live Camera Shibuya Crossing
We also visited the Imperial Palace gardens.  We were pretty much only able to see the Edo Castle ruins in the gardens before they closed the gardens.  The castle ruins gave us a bit of a view of the area.

Panoramic view from the Edo Castle ruins.  (Scroll to get the full picture)

This and the above picture gives a 360 degree view. (Scroll to get the full picture)  

That evening we had dinner at Ruchira which is an Indian restaurant, run by friends in Higashi Kurume.  It was another delicious meal.

The seventh day, Tami, Jean and I went to Tokyo Union Church for worship and then they headed out to Narita to catch their train.
What a great week it was.  I realized I didn't take as many pictures as I thought.  It's all good and I was blessed to have friends come visit.  I am also grateful to Naoko, Elizabeth and Rie for helping me arrange parts of this week.