Freisland (with a night in Amsterdam)

For Loretta's last weekend in Europe, we knew she had to do something crazy, we had to go somewhere wild, we had to make this the greatest weekend bash ever! So how did we end up going to Freisland? I really don't know. All I can say is that it was a most hilarious weekend filled with the usual humorous adventures that Loretta and I often find ourselves into. But before heading up to Sneek, Freisland, we had one night in Amsterdam. And so our adventure begins...

This might be hard to imagine, but I've been in Holland for almost three months and had not seen Amsterdam until last Thursday! We booked a night at a really cool hostel and arrived by mid-afternoon. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and even more gorgeous city. Our hostel was right in the center so we were surrounded by the canals and beautiful arcitecture. We started off by checking out an open-air market and then headed to our canal tour!

Canal tours are a very typical touristy thing to do but still well worth it. What better way to take in the city and sights than on a canal ride? Besides the fact that Loretta stabbed her finger on her Swiss Army knife before departing, the ride was a lot of fun. We had a good laugh over the 'Botel' (not a boat, not a hotel... a botel!) and had a great look at the Batavia - a ship recreated from the golden age sitting in the harbour.

By evening we got back to our hostel to get ready for Loretta's last night out on the town. We had signed up for a pub crawl in order to maximize our night. This night was a lot of fun and we met some really cool and interesting people. (Don't worry - we didn't visit any 'coffeeshops' :) ) By the morning we were really tired and had a very relaxing morning in the city. Loretta was very sad to be leaving the unbelievably good Dutch coffee so we made sure to indulge in a cup often.

We were having so much fun laughing and talking and kept running into the strangest people. While having coffee, an old toothless woman stood in the same position for over 10 minutes right beside us! As we were laughing a boy stopped on his bicycle and asked if he could have his picture taken with us... how random?!?

But by noon it was time for us to head out to Sneek (pronounced 'snake') Now, we had been warned that Freisian people are about 50 years behind the rest of the world..... they were RIGHT! So many incidents happened in Freisland that created the most unconventional vacation we had ever been on. And so the Freisian story begins.....

First of all, we got lost on an old country road trying to find the hostel. We were walking up and down up and down on this road not finding the correct house number ANYWHERE! The numbers weren't even in order! Finally, I called the hostel number only to be told to look for an old farmhouse with the Freisian flag in the yard. Great.... what does the Freisian flag look like? Finally, we found our hostel... or rather an old BARN... with a half-tattered flag flying on a pole. Even if we had known what a Freisian flag looked like, it wouldn't have mattered because the flag was so dirty you couldn't make out a pattern.

We were scared to say the least. We checked into the hostel and decided that we would like to ask the receptionist about water activities for tomorrow. We were after all, in the most popular watersporting town in Freisland as the guide books explained. On the way up, we kept thinking how cool it would be to go sailing or a river cruise! We asked the lady if there was anyway we could get onto the water tomorrow and she responded with a "No". Hmmm... 'no?!?!' How could this be? We were in the most popular nautical town?!? We saw sailing schools on the way! "NO?!?" We were rightly confused. Clearly this woman was misinformed.

By this time it was getting late and we were very hungry. Sneek really isn't the most 'happening' town so we made the first of many trips to a local fried food place down the street. By the end of the weekend, this couple thought of us as their best customers... breakfast lunch and dinner we were there without fail! I couldn't get enough of their kaassouffles and the owners loved helping me with Dutch. What's the word for 'straw' again Loretta?

There wasn't much of a nightlife here and our curfew was midnight anyway so we headed back to the hostel. Without movies, TV or internet... Loretta and I got to know each other real well. I don't think we've ever done so much talking in our lives! At this point I was feeling quite bad. This was supposed to be Loretta's 'big last weekend' and here we were in an old barn in Freisland in the boating capital of the land which apparantly you can't boat in at a hostel with a midnight curfew! Thankfully, we were able to laugh at our situation.

By morning we were determined to find something to do in this quiet town. After a visit to the tourist office we had a phone directory which listed all the boat rental places and what kind of boat they had. I called two places that were listed at having kayaks only to find out that they don't actually have kayaks. I asked the last one if he knew a place that did had kayaks and he told me 'top n' twel' did..... although they were listed as not having any. In turns out they did have a two-person kayak! After a very frustrating phone conversation to try to pick a time (Loretta is my witness) we headed out for a very longwalk to the boat dock.

This boat rental place was actually another old farmhouse. The nice lady showed us the kayak and informed us that if she and her husband were not home by the time we were done, to just bring the kayak back to this wood pile (my these are trusting people!) We were pleased to find we had matching lifejackets! Us girls hauled the kayak down to the river and headed out on the open sea... or really... very slow canals. It was a beautiful ride to say the least! We just casually made our way towards a village the lady had told us about. It was on this ride that I discovered something about Loretta that I had not known.... she is obcessed with ducks! Over half of our photos consisted of ducks! Ducks swimming, ducks diving, ducks nesting, ducks fighting, male duck, female duck and baby ducks! I was beginning to question whether this friendship could last because as some of you know, I have a great fear of all birds. Loretta did her best though to convince of how cute these creatures were.... I'm still not convinced though.

Our kayak ride took us to the evening and as we were docking up the couple we had rented the kayak from engaged us in some nice chit chat. They absolutely loved Canada and had vacationed out west a while ago. It maked me feel so patriotic when I hear things like that!

Well as you can guess, we had our last dinner in Freisland back at that fry place. We were sad to say goodbye to the couple but it was time for us to leave this place. It had been an interesting weekend to say the least! Although our experience in Freisland was not exactly wild.... we made this trip truly memorable. There was however, one thing missing from Loretta's Holland experience that had to taken care of before her flight home.... tulips!! (to be continued)