November 2004: A trip to Europe.
Go to Karina Bik's HomePage.
Written by Elies Bik (aunt of Karina).
A trip to Europe!
To celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of Han and Ellen Bik-Huls, the grandparents of Karina, their children (Aart, Charlotte and Elies) decided to surprise them with a little vacation in a vacation parc in the Netherlands. Without telling them! This was easier said than done, because two of the three children (Aart and Elies) live in California, and it was very hard for us to keep our mouths shut. But we managed to keep it a secret.
The long flight
Aart, Renu and Karina (11 months old), and uncle Gerard and aunt Elies, all flew together from San Francisco to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. That is a long flight, about 10 hours...... Especially long if you are 11 months old. Karina wanted to explore the plane, but kept on encountering legs keeping her from crawling too far away. Luckily, she was not too unhappy, and even slept a couple of hours in her crib.
Left: Aart with Karina, just before boarding.
Middle: Karina is almost ready to walk, she just needs a little support.
Right: Aart with Karina, Renu, and Elies. Gerard was seated in another row. Wow, don't we look tired!
The big surprise
Tired and sleepy from the long trip, we arrived in Amsterdam. From there it was still a 2-hour drive to the vacation parc. Our parents and sister, together with her husband and their two children had already arrived. We knocked on the door. "Who's there?" "SURPRISE !!!!"
My parents, who had not suspected a thing, were completely overwhelmed. "What? How can...? But.. All of you together? In the same plane? Oh, look at Karina. She has grown so much!"
The last time Han and Ellen had seen Karina was in February, so 9 months ago. That makes a big difference!
For us, it was also the first time that we saw our little niece, born two months ago.
Cake
Our sister had secretly ordered an anniversary cake, and our parents had to cut this, of course.
In the meantime, our nephew Daan (dressed as his hero Knight Floris) gave a hug to Karina. They had met in February, and Daan still remembered. Aren't they adorable?
The Bik Picture
In the previous months, we had spent many weekends shooting a movie, in which we look back to our youth. With Aart as director, we talk about our memories, our vacations together as a family, the car trips, the garden. It was great fun to make the movie, and even more fun showing it to our parents. And..... action!
So happy together
It was a fun week together. When you live so far apart, it is great to be together with the whole family. We stayed in two vacation cottages, next to each other, and moved some furniture to one of the cottages, so that we could have breakfast and lunch together.
Left: Elies with Karina
Right: Our sister with her 2-month old daughter, and Karina, Renu and Aart.
Left and middle: There were a lot of squirrels around our cottage. Karina liked watching them.
Right: Our two cottages, with the two strollers. Ready for a walk!
Bad Bentheim
Just across the border, in Germany, we visited the old castle of Bad Bentheim.
Unfortunately, the castle itself was closed. So we had no other option than to enjoy some hot chocolate milk with apple pie and whipped cream in the sun. Mmmmm, life is not so bad.
Via a beautiful route through the countryside, we drove to the watermill of Singraven, near the town of Denekamp. Aart, Renu and Karina are posing in front of the House Singraven, a nice old mansion opposite of the watermill.
We ended the day with a pancake dinner in the little town of De Lutte. The restaurant had over 200 kinds of pancakes, in all varieties, sweet or with vegetables or meat.
Kasteel te Vorden
On the last day of our little family reunion we visited the castle of Vorden. It was sunny, but very cold. Especially for those among us who live in California. But we were well prepared with our thick coats and hats.
Poffertjes
On Sunday November 6, we gave a party for a lot of friends and family, in a old fashioned Dutch Poffertjeskraam. Now, this might need some explaining for the non_Dutchies among you folks. Poffertjes are mini-pancakes, served with lots of butter and powdered sugar. Our party was in a special poffertjes restaurant in Gouda, called In de Salon.
Karina enjoyed playing with her niece Roos, at our parent's home.
Bon Voyage: France here we come!
The second week of our stay in Europe, we went to France. More specifically, to the Loire. we had rented a VIP cottage in Les Hauts de Bruyeres, a luxurious vacation resort in the French Sologne, about 100 miles South of Paris.
Our cottage was well equipped, with two bathrooms, one with a Turkish steambath/shower, the other with a jacuzzi. The hot tub was large enough for four persons!
We had a good time together in the cottage. Karina danced, and played, and YES: she started to walk! What a privilage to be part of this big step in her life.
The first of the Loire castles we visited was Chambord. The silhouette resembles that of too many pieces on a chess board. Big and elegant from the outside, the castle turned out to be very cold and empty inside. Only a couple of rooms were furnished. The most famous feature of the chateau is the double staircase, which might have been a design of Leonardo da Vinci.
Villesavin is a much smaller castle, but it had a lot of charm. It had a bridal museum, a pigeon house and cute donkeys.
The next day we visited Chateau Cheverney. Herge, the writer of the Tintin comic books, was inspired by this castle for his drawings of Marlinspike Hall (Moulinsart, Molensloot) where Tintin (Kuifje), Captain Haddock and professor Calculus (Zonnebloem) live.
Unlike Chambord, the castle of Cheverny has luxuriously decorated rooms and halls, and it was nice and warm inside......!
In the gardens surrounding the castle, there were some weird things to see: a hall with the anthlers of shot deer, and a dog kennel, reminding us on the main hobby of castle owners: the hunt.
Another famous Loire castle we visited was Chateau Chenonceau, a beautiful castle, built over the river Cher. They had a cool audiotour on an iPod.
In Amboise we visited chateau du Clos Lucé, a nice old mansion where Leonardo Da Vinci lived for the last three years of his life. In the basement, as well as in the surrounding parks, models of the machines he designed were on display, such as bridges, helicopters, guns, and a tank. A spectacular sunset created a perfect end of another great day in France.
On one of the last days of our stay in France, we visited the
City castle of Blois, a strange building consisting of a Gothic hall, a Renaissance wing and a neoclassical addition, all centered around a large courtyard.
After visiting the castle, I wanted to go to the Houdini-museum on the opposite side of the square. Unfortunately, it was closed after November 1st. It seems that a lot of attractions in Northern Europe were closed during winter. Similarly, we could not find a place to eat lunch in Blois after 2 pm. There were plenty of lunchrooms and cafe's, but you could only get a drink, the kitchen was closed from 1 - 6 pm. That was quite a unpleasant surprise, if you normally live in the US where everything is always open!
The last days we were back in The Netherlands, where we spent some more time with our parents and sister's family, visited some more friends, and did some shopping. And.... then we went back to the USA, another long flight, the end of a great vacation!
Go to Karina Bik's HomePage.