Emsdetten - Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Travel, arrival and lunch at Apfelhof Helmig)

Friday 30 August 2019

Finally the day has come that I have to leave for my planned overseas holiday.  Sadly enough I am going on my own, but will try to make it a pleasant time anyway.  With modern technology it’s easy enough to stay in touch.

It’s 8 am and time to leave for the airport, as it is peak hour traffic time.  We make it with plenty of time left, so we park the car and go to the check-in counter, which has changed enormously since I last travelled, and that isn’t even so long ago.  All the counters have been replaced by baggage drop-off points and in front are the stations where you obtain your baggage label and boarding pass.

As I am not sure about how they go about allotting you a seat on board I ask a friendly young man for help.  Luckily I did, because he could rectify a mistake I made at home with the on-line check-in and he also helped me to get a center seating changed into an isle seat.  Particularly important on the longer flights.

Suzanne, Kevin’s daughter, rang to say goodbye.  Very kind of her.  We had a brief chat only, because it just happened that the young man turned up to help me with my boarding pass.

Next we have plenty of time to have a last cup of coffee together before we have to say goodbye. I am so glad Kevin came up to do so, instead of dropping me off at the drop-off area, because I would have felt very much lost all of a sudden.  This is a more pleasant way to say our goodbyes....

Customs and security were pretty quick and I was at the boarding gate in no time. The flight to Singapore uneventful and quiet.  I did watch two movies, but can only remember one: Laurel & Hardy.  Missed that one at the local cinema, so could catch up.

At Changi airport I had 5 hours in transfer and they went very quickly indeed.  First I talked to Kevin via messenger and next I updated facebook to keep the rest of the family and friends up to date.

I was pretty tired at first, because it was in the middle of the night on my Australian watch (!), but found the energy to go in search for the geocache in the butterfly garden.  I took the airtrain from T1 to T2, but discovered that the garden I needed was at T3.  So, another trip with the airtrain.  There was no time to also visit the Jewel, a big dome with an enormous fountain showing different colours, but the train slows down when going past the fountain, so you can have a good look. 

At the butterfly garden I again looked in, what later appeared, the wrong spot.  Had done that already twice before.  No wonder I couldn’t find that darned cache!  The GPS doesn’t work very well at the airport and so I kept going to the wrong sign.  I had been looking at the sign ‘carnivorous plants’ but thanks to a recent message from Nicole, my Dutch geocaching friend, I discovered that I had to go to the ‘hungry plants’ sign.  

Why did I never look there, you may ask.  Well, that is because I always enter the garden on the right side and that particular sign is on the left where I never entered!  As my GPS jumped around near the other sign it never occurred to me to look elsewhere! Anyway, cache found and logged and I will get my virtual souvenir for Singapore now! :-) Thank you, Nicole!

After a few trips with the airtrain and endless walking I was ready to sit down for a while.  I found a quiet spot and had a bit of a rest before it was time to board the plane for Frankfurt.

The flight was long and a bit boring, but I managed to at least doze for a couple of hours.  Both flights offered real nice meals too, which I totally enjoyed.

Saturday 31 August 2019

Although the flight was delayed in Singapore, we arrived at Frankfurt quite early.  The weather was nice and I also had plenty of time to find the next boarding gate.  Of course there is always the long walk everywhere.  Airports get bigger and bigger.  It’s good exercise though, and I never take the escalators if I don’t have my big suitcase with me. 

A quick message to Kevin and off we go.  This is only a very short flight of just over an hour and a relatively small plane which was only half full.  We get coffee on board and a few nice biscuits, a kind of KitKat.

Because of the smaller plane we travel at a lower altitude, so there is plenty to see.  In particular closer to Amsterdam.  We fly over the IJsselmeer and I can see Marken.  A bit later the North Sea and lots of wind generators.  Also the enormous glass houses (hot houses) of the Westland, before we land at Schiphol airport. 

The wait for my luggage is long, but finally I see a suitcase that looks familiar and I can pick it up.  I walk to the ‘meeting point’ near the railway station, but Wim and Gerrie are waiting at a different one.  We didn’t know there was more than one.  This could be confusing for many people...

Anyway, a brief phone call and we meet.  What a great moment.  It’s more than a year ago this time since I was in the Netherlands. 

Next we go in search of a coffee shop.  The first one we see serves everything except coffee, because the coffee machine is broken!  The next two, for which we walk the distance of the airport (!) have closed down!  Our familiar places.  What a shame.  Finally we find one back near the railway station and we can sit down for coffee and a chat.  So much to catch up on again.  I also have an early lunch, as I will be on the train for a couple of hours.  (Lunch: the very Dutch open sandwich with croquettes and mustard!)

I take an early train to Amsterdam Central as there are delays (not so unusual!) and I don’t want to miss my train to Rheine with the reserved seat.  All goes well.  The train to Germany arrives early and I have plenty of time to find my seat. 

I am in the 8^th carriage and the restaurant is in the 1^st one, so I don’t bother with coffee. I just watch the country go by and doze on and off, and all of a sudden I have to collect my stuff, because the train has arrive in Rheine.

the railway bridge across the IJssel near Deventer

Even the German trains seem to suffer delays, so I catch an earlier train that is 20 minutes late, arriving 10 minutes earlier in Emsdetten where Rosel and Helmut are waiting for me.

Emsdetten railway station

Statue of Hilde (whomever that may be....)
outside the railway station

 After all the whatsapp message we finally meet.  They take me home and show me around first and let me have a shower and getting changed.  Much needed after the long trip in warm clothes.  Fine on the plane, because it's often cold, even with the blanket you get, but upon arrival at Schiphol I felt the temperature: 29 degrees!

And next another long awaited cup of coffee, this time with a beautiful home-baked plum pie.  And in particular for Patricia and Kevin: even in Germany they seem to follow the 'two finger rule'.  And no, I didn't take a sip of that coffee first.  :-)

In the afternoon Helmut showed me the bicycle I could use and we tried it out.  It went well and we did our shopping at Aldi on our bikes.  Between the three of us we could take home all the groceries in one go.

Dinner is gazpacho, bread with a kind of thick spread made of sundried tomatoes and a quiche, followed by a dessert made of cherry jelly, sweet yoghurt topped with almond slivers.  Next a cup of coffee and I am ready for bed...

Sunday 1 September 2019

I wake up early, quite refreshed from a good night's sleep and find my way to the kitchen to make myself a cup of jarrah, which I have in bed.  It's still quiet all around, so I get  my laptop for a chat with 'home' and a few messages here and there.

my cup of jarrah (selfies are just not my forte!)

my bed with the traditional big European pillow 

my bedroom for the next two weeks

and my bathroom

When Rosel and Helmut have woken up we have breakfast together and go for a walk to the river Ems. The name of the town, Emsdetten, means so much as 'a settlement on the river Ems'.  I thought you would like to know that! ;-)

Here in Germany they also have a problem in summer with the dreaded hairy processional caterpillers that many people are so allergic to. The above is a warning sign.  Here they favour the oak trees, of which there are plenty.

After our walk it's about time to go out for lunch, which we will have at a kind of apple orchard: Apfelhof Helmig. (click on the link if you would like to see more information)

I am offered to drive to Greven, but I decline.  I'd rather drive the first time without anybody breathing down my neck. ;-)

The weather has turned after a thunderstorm with heavy rain in the middle of the night (of which I was blissfully unaware!) and it is now a cool 19 degrees, but not really cold as there is hardly any breeze.

Lunch is great.  We have a kind of minestrone soup and a mixture of salads with the German rye bread.  There is a kraut salad, a beetroot salad with shredded coconut, a lentil & curry salad, etc. which can be taken with a warm lentil & curry stew and a stew made of eggplant, zucchini and a bright yellow tofu puree and also fried tofu strips.  For the bread there is a horseradish dip and a ketchup made of beetroot.  Dessert is plum cake, chocolate mousse and fruit with a plaum sauce.  Tea is a mixture of lemon verbena, mint and a flower of which I have forgotten the name.  All very delicious.

Upon our return Rosel and Helmut wanted to lie down for a rest, but I was going to type up this blog....  Well, that was the intention, but I had to give in very quickly and had a power nap instead.  Refreshed I downloaded the pictures and then it was time again to undertake something else again.

Rosel and Helmut wanted to take me to the annual fair in town on the bike.  That was okay, but I really needed my handlebars lifted a bit, so that I wouldn't have to stretch my back so much.  Oh for the original Dutch bike on which you can sit straight backed!

Anyway, after that was done we rode our bikes to the railway station where we parked them in the  undercover bike racks and walked to the fair in town.  Very much like the Dutch fairs I am used to and which I will probably miss this year as they are generally held late August, early September, like here in Germany.  (It's a bit like side-show alley at the Brisbane Ekka)

When we have seen enough we walk back to get our bikes, but not before we have a delicious gelato.  Our treat at the fair.

We ride back, have dinner and a quiet night.  At least, quiet for me.  Rosel and Helmut are packing for their trip tomorrow.  The take the train to Haarlem in the Netherlands and travel back home by bike.  It will take them till Friday and they will do an everage of 60 kms per day.  Hopefully the rain will stay away for a while longer, although everyone complains about the drought here too.  The river is far beneath its usual level as well.