We bought our ferry tickets in Harwich, and then headed to Colchester for the day. I was delighted. As I mentioned the other day, this is the oldest Roman city in the UK, over 2,000 years old. On the site of where the Roman temple had been, the Normans built a castle 900 years ago. The castle has been sitting there for 900 years, they decided to close it for renovations while I was there. But they couldn't cover up that 2,000 year old wall that dots the Colchester landscape.
The Public are earnestly requested to assist the owner in protecting the Ancient Roman Wall by checking children whom they may see climbing upon or otherwise injuring it and by giving notice to the police of any wilful damage to it or which they may be witness. By order of the trustees of the estate. (Translation: Narks wanted.)
Just past the wall was the most massive playground I've ever seen in my life. I'm not kidding. Hannah played on the zip-line for about half an hour.
We found a nifty contraption. It's soap, water, AND dryer all in one.
Then it was time to go home. We had to pack up for the ride the next day.
Oh, there is a little building in Harwich. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it looks like a church that was converted into a store front. Each time I passed it I longed to go inside, but I think it's a residence now. I guess I could've just knocked on the door and asked to see the place, but just in case anyone was in their skivvies, I saved us all from embarrassment. This is not one building in front of the other, it is the same building.
There was the horrible coffee encounter you all read about yesterday. I'm still shaking from that horrible and frightening experience. We got on the boat at 8:30 yesterday morning and immediately went to our cabin. I looked out the window and bid a farewell to the country I'm really falling in love with.
While waiting to get on the boat there was a young family right behind us; a mom, two little girls and a little boy. Turns out, their cabin was just down the hall from ours. The kids played together most of the 6 3/4 hours of the trip, with we mothers taking turns watching them. We ate lunch together too, and I learned that the mother is Colombian, but raised in The Netherlands, and now lives in China.
When we entered England they asked where we were staying, when we were leaving the UK, when we were leaving the EU, and what city we were departing from. That's it. When we entered Holland, the customs agent wanted to see my return tickets. RETURN TICKETS??? Who has those anymore? How does one even get them? I print my boarding pass while at home, and when I'm returning home I get the boarding passes from the ticketing agent. I told him I didn't have the tickets in my possession. He said he needed to see them before he could let me in the country. Here's where my first goal would be accomplished.
Ever since Snowden was holed up in the "transport area" of the airport in Moscow, I've been wondering what the heck that even means. Where's the transport area? I asked a man as I was boarding the boat if I was in England or Holland, and he clearly knew I was still in England, so I wasn't in the transport area. When I got off the boat, but hadn't made it through customs yet, THAT must be the transport area. I considered asking for asylum, but since I haven't committed any crimes, well other than crimes against good humor, I didn't think I would be granted asylum. My goal was to find out where the heck the transport area is.
He let me use his computer to access my email so he could see that I actually had a return flight booked. I asked if he wanted me to leave my email open so he could read it later when he was bored.
We had to take a train to Rotterdam, where we transferred to a train to Amsterdam, and then a bus to the neighborhood. Then we walked a short distance to the house. Guess who got lost? Go ahead and guess, you know you want to. I saw a woman and asked if she spoke English, and she indicated that she kinda/sorta did. She looked at the address and got all excited because she knows exactly where that is, the problem was that she couldn't really tell me how to get there. She called a man over and told him in Dutch, who told me in English. It was like that episode of I Love Lucy where they needed five people to translate from one language to the other.
When we got off the bus, an Asian family got off as well. They were looking around for something just like we were. While approaching the house (but not finding it, of course) we saw them again. I had a sneaky suspicion... I found the place eventually, and guess who was there. The Asian family!
She rents out 2 rooms. We have the upstairs room, they have the downstairs room. We got the better room. Marta, our host, asked if we had eaten yet, and offered to take us someplace. "Us" being Hannah and me. She drove us to an area that looked to be behind abandoned warehouses, and I recalled the man who helped us find the boat, whom I was sure was going to hack us up and turn us into fish food. She pulled up to what looked like an old airplane hanger, but is a restaurant/bar. They have a large grassy area, and live music. Hannah ran around chasing Marta's dog, while Marta and I talked and laughed.
I know I keep saying that our hosts feel like old friends, instead of hosts, but that's because they really do. We stayed up until 1:00 chatting away.
This morning we were served a huge breakfast of ham, cheese, fresh yogurt with fruit and granola, fresh bread with an assortment of things to put on it, and best of all REAL coffee! Woo hoo!
Today I'm taking Hannah to some old places. She doesn't know it yet, and so help me, if any of you tell her...
Oh yeah, Hannah was shocked to learn we had to pay to use the toilet in Rotterdam, and remember those old towel hand dryers, where you pull the fabric towel out of the machine and the used part gets pulled into it? I had to show her how to use it.
