A week of Kiwis and Amsterdam

The week that has just passed has been very busy and very good. We saw a different set of Kiwis everyday and as has always happened this year, whenever we have been around kiwis the weather is always good. Monday we were visited by Lyn and Neil Laurensen and Neil's Brother David who is based in New York. Lyn and Neil have a friend who lives in Banbury so they could catch up with her and then join us for lunch. We were pleased to be able to turn on the sun and have lunch outside at the barn beside the pond. It is a very pretty setting. Lunch was very simple - fresh slabs of ham and a yummy bean, feta and pesto salad with fresh beans from the garden. It is a recipe I have just found and is delicious. Tuesday evening we had John and Barbara Hill stay en route to see an Uncle in Cambridge. They have had a busy stint working for over a month without out a break, so we're so excited to get away finally. we had a gorgeous meal at an Indian restaurant in Banbury which serves such gorgeous tasting and beautifully presented Indian food. Wednesday Kate and David Mountfort caught the train up from London where they have been staying with their daughter Anna. We had lunch at Knightcote then took them for a drive to see some local sights finisheing with a beer at the Saxon Mill in Warwick. It is a pub which was an old water mill and is located right on the river. The water wheel that used to grind the wheat is still turning. It is quite impressive to see. Thursday evening we joined Our new friends Kate and David (another lot) at the Butchers Arms to celebrate David's birthday. The Butchers Arms is our favourite restaurant and has been owned by a Portugese family for 40 years. The staff are so friendly, professional and well dressed and the food sublime. Friday we had to ourselves so caught up with chores and Saturday Alissa Baker came across from Oxford. She has been based there nursing but has a new posting to St Thomas' in London. We showed her some of our favourite Cotswolds villages and had lunch at a lovely cafe at Bourton on the Water, which sits on the Windrush river. This river is one of the 4 rivers that contribute to the source of the Thames. To recover from all those visitors we visited Amsterdam. It is such a busy city, filled with so many bicycles and bars and restaurants. We stayed very close to one of the Main squares which has food of every cuisine possible. Apparently you can eat out every night for five and a half years and not repeat a restaurant. Our favourite meal was Argentean steaks. They were jucy and full of flavour and the nearest thing to a decent NZ steak. We loved our visit to the The Van Gogh museum which houses a major collection of his work and letters. His Brother was an art dealer and was bequeathed all Vincent's art. His brother died very young also and it was his wife and nephew who were responsible for the exhibition. The museum has art collections also of all the artists who had the most influence over Vincent. The Rik Museum also houses a fantastic collection of Dutch artists from the 1600's. They were such remarkable painters. Being new to drawing myself I was in awe of their skills with shadow and light. We next toured Coster Diamonds, and this was the family responsible for cutting the Kohinoor Diamond which is in HRH's crown. It is the largest diamond in the world and weighs 186 carats. It is about the size of a duck egg. They have a replica of the crown there and the diamond is surely very spectacular. The diamond has just been repolished by Costers and in doing so it lost 7 carats. Imagine a one carat diamond ring and times it by seven - that is a lot of diamond. We took a tour up to The Hague, Delft and Madurodam. Loved The Hague, it is well presented with many fine buildings. It hosts embassies from all over the world and has the royal palace, international court of justice which is where the war crimes are tried, plus headquarters of the United Nations. Delft is, of course, the pottery we all know that comes from Holland, but most of us probably only see the replica stuff. This factory we visited is one of three privately owned producers of Royal Delft pottery and it is quite lovely. The bowl I fancied was 555.00 euros, so decided it was probably too big to pack!! Madurodam is otherwise known as miniature Holland. It was established in 1952 as a memorial to a war hero and resistance fighter George Maduro who died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. The replica models are on a as scale of 1:25 and the greenery and gardens are tended daily to keep them to scale also. They display the history of Holland and how it has grown and has used water both as a friend and foe. 20 per cent of Holland is built on reclaimed land and most of the land is 10 feet below sea level. The good old windmill and pumps have been used to get rid of the water. We spent a day in the south at Floriade which is a horticultural show that Holland hosts every ten years. This was located about a three hour bus ride from Amsterdam and was a good way to see the country side. Very flat, green and lots of water!! The Floriade site covered 66 hectares and showcased gardens native to 22 countries plus new innovations in plants. The inspirational garden themes were focused on Eco friendly and were designed to be domestic, public and commercial. (Spaces created for business meetings, team talks and staff recreation). Luckily there was a cable car that took you from one side of the venue to the other and you could decide what took your fancy. One afternoon we enjoyed a canal trip which toured many of the canals in the city. They certainly make the city pretty. We did the expected tour of the Red Light District. This also makes the city very interesting. All the girls are 'on display' behind glass doors and there is a real mix of looks, sizes, shapes, degree of clothing - from a little to almost nothing - and strutting and flaunting. There was standing room only in this area of the city. We really loved the city. It is so interesting and full of live and found the Dutch people very friendly.