Going exploring for the day

Yesterday, Matthijs and I went away for the day. Just because we could :) We've been relatively busy in the last few weeks, especially in the weekends - and although we've had quite a bit of time together, we both longed to do something special together. And so we went out exploring for the day.

The original idea had been Gorinchem and Slot Loevestein - but we discovered that it wasn't open this past weekend (fortunately on friday evening before we were there!). So then the question was 'where to?'

And it was the village of Maassluis. Why? Simply because it was the city in my 'city guide book (ANWB)' that was the right distance away and sounded the most appealing. So we headed out with the train to see what adventure we'd meet.

And what did we find?
- We discovered that the only coffee sold in the train station in Schiedam is from a vending machine (you can also buy dr pepper soda and mini-potato salads in the vending machine).
- We saw one of the first churches in the Netherlands built as a Protestant church - it was built in a cross with each 'arm' being of equal length.
- We got to tour a tugboat - an old steam one - including a detailed explanation of how it worked (between my machinal knowledge and dutch language skills, I must admit to not entirely following it at times :)).
- We had cappucinos and shared a pancake at a local cafe (delicious).
- We saw the birthplace of Abraham Kuyper (and took a moment to honour it) - and then wondered what he would think of his birthplace being now the location of a Kruidvaat (a cheap drugstore).

And then we went home, stopping along the way to each fried fish (kibbeling) and check out a place where we might spend a gift certificate from the wedding.

It was a lovely day - a delight to discover a new place together. Perhaps this kind of adventure ought to become a normal montly activity....