A trip to the land of the wooden shoes

John Deere isn't doing too well, and unpopular decisions had to be made such as considering relocation of production sites and parting with staff worldwide. Year end will also see me leaving the company as my contract won't be renewed. Since I had racked up a lot of overtime during the past four years, I opted to take an early exit making good use of it while still getting paid.

My besties (friends for 35 years) asked me spontaneously if I'd like to join them on a trip to the Netherlands end of September. I had just returned from France, and so, after one week in the office I took off to the land of the wooden shoes (no longer a thing except for folklore and tourists). 

It turned out to be a luxury apartment with a water view over the IJsselmeer, a former inlet turned artificial freshwater lake which was separated by a 32 km (20 mi) dam from the North Sea. Through draining the saline has long been purged.

I took over responsibilities for food preps and cooking as both ladies didn't like this specific chore I call hobby and enjoy with passion.

Sometimes we would go out for Poffertjes (mini pancakes, a Dutch specialty) or seafood (fish & Chips or Kibbeling as the locals call it) and of course consume lots of cheese, another Dutch specialty.

A special treat was watching the sunrise or sunset over Lake IJssel.

Wine & food pics and sunsets courtesy of B&U

(Sep 29 to Oct 6)