9/18 Arrival in Eindhoven to a ticker tape parade
We arrived in Eindhoven in good time(about 2 hrs from the Windmill city). We had our friend`s address, but no idea which exit to get off at...
I got lucky and managed to stop at a local Thomas Cook travel to get somebody to google map their place, which ended up being only 10 minutes away. Our friends, Sue and Jelle were kind enough to put us up for 2 nites at their awesome flat in Eindhoven. Not only did they show us great hospitality, they also moved out of their master bedroom to let us use it(thanks again guys!). We headed out to the local downtown area for some food and lo and behold we ran smack dab into a big parade. You know what they were celebrating? Thats right...the allied liberation of Eindhoven took place on this day back in 1944-which is celebrated with a festival of lights(The Lichtjesroute) at nite. I have to say I was bursting with pride and nostalgia as veterans from the war along with other American military personnel marched along thru the downtown area. I swear it felt like I was taking a step back in time-watching the procession.
I said to our friends that you shouldn`t have gone to all this trouble just for us...
Finally, we found a Chinese place nearby(decent Chinese!). Jelle, you didn`t have to treat us to dinner....thanks again. Our hosts were so incredibly sweet-not only to they let us stay, but they let us do laundry, got Zach a really great book and made us breakfast two days in a row. Moreover, Zach had a great playmate in Timo, who was very good about sharing some awesome toys with him for 2 straight days(zach had to be getting sick of having mommy and daddy as his playmates!).
9/19
Woke up and had a wonderful breakfast( the Dutch like to eat ham, cheese, bread, jams and sometimes a boiled egg). We then headed to a park/zoo that had a fantastic slide(Zach got airborne and managed to smack his bottom pretty good-he is a tough little soldier!) Stayed at the park til 5 and decided that we would stop by the supermarket to pick up some food for dinner at their house. They finally allowed us to buy some food for the dinner and I was able to grill up some lamb chops, top round, rib eye and fish for our dinner on their roof. It was a nice break from all the dining out that we had been doing. Finally got to bed around 12am or so....
9/20
Had a quick breakfast and bid adieu to our wonderful friends in Eindhoven. Next stop is Belgium...where you have a friend in the diamond business-Antwerp.
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