What an amazing day. Our whole crew rented bikes and we rode out to Deinum, the city where my grandpa, Willem Greydanus, was born. From there we rode to Beetgum, just a few miles down the road, where my grandmother, Alida Vander Schaaf Greydanus, was born. We saw the church where they got married. It was a gorgeous day, and we passed fields full of contented Frisian cows, and had a close call with a drawbridge that Schuyler almost didn't make it over (I think he'll get a lot of mileage out of that one!) We ate more bitterballen (a type of deep-fried meatball--don't ask!--served in pubs) than I ever want to see in my lifetime. We had a day chock-full of things I'm going to reminiscing and writing about for a long time--so more on that later.
Then in the evening, some of our group packed into a little tavern in Leeuwarden to watch the Netherlands play Uruguay in the semi-finals of the World Cup. When we--the Oranje--won, it was absolute pandemonium of the very best kind. As walked back to our boat, the streets were full of deliriously happy Dutch fans in orange, singing and cheering and whooping it up. I couldn't stop smiling.
a glorious day
family history by bike
a city aglow
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