We left NZ on March 15th 2016 and returned June 2016.
The reason we went is to see our newborn granddaughter, Violet.
We started planning this trip towards the end of last year. It would be a big trip.
It had always been on our no 1 on the bucket list to visit Israel.
Israel has always been on my heart, and had never left me. My sister went there in 1977, and my school friend also worked there in 1981.
Then our son went there in 2014 and worked as a volunteer with a family . I saw the pictures and my desire grew stronger.
Also it is the birthplace of Christianity and we have been Christians for a long time. It would be great to see the places of where Jesus walked and talked and even where David slew Goliath.
So it came to pass after a series of miracles, we had the money to do it.
If we were going to go all the way to Holland, was there a way to go to Israel on the way? Our travel agent said, yes, go to Rome and then with ALITALIA to TelAviv, so we made it a stop over first in Singapore, 2 days, then 4 days Rome and then 3 weeks in Israel.
15 days on a tour through the whole land of Israel on a Jewish Heritage tour. The tour was like being on a school trip, with lectures throughout the day on the locations we visited. The days were full on. Up at 6.30 am and being dropped off at your hotel again at 5 or 6 pm. But we had Saturdays off, which was Shabbat.
The other people were all Jews, mostly from New York. I made friends with one lovely lady in particular.
After the 15 days were over, most of the people went straight back to their country but we went back to Jerusalem with a taxi( shared taxi=Sharut)
We wanted to see the sights we had missed because it wasn't a Christian tour, we still wanted to see those Christian sites in Jerusalem. We had the lonely planet book and planned to see things like: The old city, the Western wall, the church of the Sepulcre, walk down the ViaDelarosa, go to the Mount of Olives, visit the garden tomb, see the hill of Golgotha, and go to the garden of Gethsemane.
To see the photos of Israel go to this link: Jerusalem by ourselves
For Brian probably visiting Petra, in Jordan and for me, snorkelling in the Red sea and seeing beautiful coral and colourful big parrot fish and other colourful fish.
Going back to Jerusalem and meeting awesome people from Holland at the Western wall....
There were so many feelings going through me while being in Jerusalem, and specially standing at the Western wall and praying there. Many were of joy that I was there. Sometimes still hard to believe.
Meeting the guy from " Neverbesilent.org or " neverbesilent.nl
They walk the rampart walk on the walls of Jerusalem starting at the Jaffa gate. We went there and met Bart Repko on our way back from the walk . We saw nobody so we thought we had missed them, but we saw him on our way back. After talking to him for a while, we also met the other people, proclaiming the scriptures from the walls of Jerusalem.
After the Israel trip was finished, we then went on to the Netherlands. We loved meeting our then 3 months old baby girl.
It was a delight to meet her and she loved and smiled at me straight away. She must have known that I was her Oma.
We spent time with her and the family, getting to know the area, biking and going on the bus to the city. I felt like I had become a local, doing " normal" things like cooking dinner, going to the Albert Hein Supermarket, waiting for the bus and go to the city...
Being at the top floor of the 3 storey house, reminded me a lot of my childhood. I also used to have the top floor back in Voorschoten, in the house I grew up. Also a " rijtjes huis" or terrace houses.
Also looking out over a small square with garages.
The only difference was we had canals and a lake nearby, and they have the forests nearby.
One hour bike ride and you can be in Belgium.....
One of our first days trips we did together with the family was visiting the famous tulip gardens of " The Keukenhof". Spread out over 32 HA or 80 acres. What a fantastic day that was. Colours so vibrant and beautiful beyond words. It is a " must see" for everyone visiting the Netherlands in the months of April and May.
So while we were in Europe we made the most of it and did several " side trips". One was to Prague, for 5 days,
It was a genealogy trip of Brian's ancestors homes and workplaces. We found graves of Brian's ancestors and cotton mill facory that Brian's ancestors owned in Blackburn. We also went to the village called" Haworth" , known for the Bronte sisters that wrote books like " Wuthering Heights".
For us it more like, let's get a picture with the name Haworth on it and we bought some mugs and other items with the name Haworth on it to take home. We went through the Peakes district and stayed in a castle and also went through " Chatsworth" estate, the place where " Pride and Prejudice" was filmed. ( house of mr Darcy)
With our son and daughter-in-law and baby we did a road trip to Belgium, stayed in Ieper and saw the big museum of Paschendaele and the world war 1 memorial and the 13.000 graves. Also visited other grave sites and went to North France LeQuenoir which is known for the New Zealanders liberating the town from the Germans in WW1. This was also an emotional time as we saw how many young men died in this war in terrible conditions.
At the Menin gate, in Ieper, Belgium, they play the last post every night at 8 pm. Quite moving hearing that.
We visited my cousin in Gouda and my first brother-in-law in a beautiful small farm nestled against the big river " the Lek".
Also visited my nephew Maarten in Amsterdam and his step mum, and an other friend that used to be my neighbour in Voorschoten.
Other good friends showed me around in Rotterdam and we did a harbour tour and then visited the famous Kinderdijk the next day.
Also visited Maastricht on a rainy weekend, but still enjoyed it as we did a river cruise that brought us to the StPeters hill. From there we did a tour in the StPeters tunnels underneath.
We saw the Vrijthof square and now we know what that looks like when Andre Rieu comes to play. In fact, I talked to a cafe owner who said it's easier to attend the concert while eating in one of the cafe's than sitting in the huge crowd in the middle of the square, so that's what I want to do and aim for July 2018.
And at last I was able to go with the family and Brian to the Efteling, that is like a theme park based on the fairy tales , like snow white and the 7 dwarfs, and other stories like that. I was there last as a child.
Was good to see it again after so many years. Obviously a lot bigger with many more roller coasters now.
So our last weekend was spent in Leiden, with a reunion of our youth group from the Leiden Baptist Church. So funny seeing everyone again after all those years. Some I took awhile to recognise and others I could see it straight away.
So on the 10th of June we flew out again towards Singapore and there we rested for 3 days and the first day there was really our night, so I slept most of the day( we arrived early that morning at 7 am) I still slept all night again and then the next day I felt less tired. So we did more sightseeing and a river cruise of an hour.
We met up with an other lovely local Singaporean whom I had met at a Chuck Missler conference in NZ 2 years earlier. She and her husband took us to Pa Lau Sat ( Sate festival night ) and we had a great time catching up.
Then it was time to fly home to NZ.
Our very good Dutch friend came to pick us from the airport and after 2 hours drive we were home.
And then the shit hit the fan.....
The house sitters had left us a note that they had left earlier that morning , to give us space and that the dogs were fine.
Well the dogs were OK, actually Amber was very overweight, and Bella was OK. But then we stepped in the house, it was a PIG STY!!!!!!!!!
They had NEVER cleaned the house ONCE!! Never did the dishes or even folded towels or put them away , the shower cubicle was BLACK with mold. NEVER vaccuumed ONCE...
We had to clean for 3 hours before we even unpacked. This is after a flight with no sleep for Brian and 1 hour for me.
The shameful people are Catherine Evans-Freke and Adam Petrie. Both hippies, and unfortunately, FREELOADERS.
We didn't have proper time to find the right housesitters as the people lined up had baled out after they had an offer from someone in Rarotonga and the other lady also cancelled because she was either an extreme animal activist( nothing wrong with our dogs) or someone who was against Israel, seemed really friendly at first, then pulled out 2 days later after she became friends with me on facebook, and then de-friended me a day after that. No idea why. I hardly knew her. She has never replied to my emails nor of the "kiwihousesitters" website headquarters.
Hence I now have joined " trusted house sitters" website( a paid one) and only ask people that are mature and that have references that can be verified.
The turkeys that came to us, came via a friend of theirs that was a member of the kiwihousesitters.co.nz who saw our ad and then told them about us. They ( the turkeys) rang us to say that they were available.
That's how we ended with the wrong house-sitters. If this situation ever happened again, the dogs will go to kennels instead of the wrong house-sitters .
Yes I have learned from this but it was a bitter-sweet end to a fantastic trip.
We have been back now 6 weeks. Life is a bit boring at the moment, as there is winter weather, lots of rainy windy weather, so you can't do too much with horses or dogs.
Amber has lost 4 kilo's so far. She was a whopping 39 kilo's. She is now 35 kilo's.
I had one ride on Prince on the beach as soon as I was back but not back on him since.
I did one round pen session with Gemma. I think Gemma is the kind of horse that needs to ride with an other horse and needs to get more confident.
I have now started asking Workaway girls to come and help only for the month of August. One German girl is coming on the 1st of August to help me oil and clean all my tack and also help ride Gemma when the weather is fine.
An other girl is coming on the 15th of August, doing much the same thing.
And then no more. Because I have stopped the riding school, I only need the 2 girls to help me get started again with Gemma and catch up with the tack.
Now I am happy to be at home now that everything has turned back to normal again, and the first night sleep in my own bed was the best sleep I have ever had..
So that's my thoughts for today....
Marianna.
