Today represents dad's chance to play tour guide, and if he is informative and interesting, we might even given him a tip! More than half a century ago, he was one of the boys, and this was his hood. Whilst the scenery has slightly changed, enough has stayed the same for the memories to come flooding back. Good memories such as skating on the rivers, and riding to nearby towns, and bad memories such as the last years of the german occupation in WWII, or the pranks he and brother Laurent used to get up to as kids.
A full day in Utrecht beakons, and given the presence of morning rain we decided to hire a car. A car would not only keep us dry, it would also allow us to cover more ground, and even venture outside of the immediate Utrecht area. It seemed like a good theory.
Car Hire sounds simpler that it ever proves to be. I put car hire up there with paying taxes and organising life insuranc in my list of least favourite activities. Today proved no exception, when the first 5 companies advised no cars were available. The sixth company advised that they had a car available, however they would not lease us a car without a printed address verification. When I said we were travellers, we didn't have access to a printer, and we could provide our passports as evidence they rejected this proposal. The employee was very stubborn... I felt like I was dealing with a whole country of stubborn Dutch people! Up until now I mainly had to deal with dad, and once a year the Sparrius family Xmas party.
The last company advised that they had a car, and when we arrived on site they rejected us on the basis that Cinthia's Australian driving licence did not have an issue date. This was frustrating, however eventually he rang the insurance company, and they cleared the insurance for the car hire. Cinthia was the only one with an International lisence, and also had the most experience driving on the right side of the road. Finally, we were away.
Firstly, we visited the house of which Dad grew up, at 25 __________ St. The house still remains with only minor modifications, and the street is a nice cobblestone street, as opposed to the ashphelt we are used to in Australia.
A full day in Utrecht beakons, and given the presence of morning rain we decided to hire a car. A car would not only keep us dry, it would also allow us to cover more ground, and even venture outside of the immediate Utrecht area. It seemed like a good theory.
Car Hire sounds simpler that it ever proves to be. I put car hire up there with paying taxes and organising life insuranc in my list of least favourite activities. Today proved no exception, when the first 5 companies advised no cars were available. The sixth company advised that they had a car available, however they would not lease us a car without a printed address verification. When I said we were travellers, we didn't have access to a printer, and we could provide our passports as evidence they rejected this proposal. The employee was very stubborn... I felt like I was dealing with a whole country of stubborn Dutch people! Up until now I mainly had to deal with dad, and once a year the Sparrius family Xmas party.
The last company advised that they had a car, and when we arrived on site they rejected us on the basis that Cinthia's Australian driving licence did not have an issue date. This was frustrating, however eventually he rang the insurance company, and they cleared the insurance for the car hire. Cinthia was the only one with an International lisence, and also had the most experience driving on the right side of the road. Finally, we were away.
Firstly, we visited the house of which Dad grew up, at 25 __________ St. The house still remains with only minor modifications, and the street is a nice cobblestone street, as opposed to the ashphelt we are used to in Australia.
We walked along the river and the surrounding area, and dad told us how he used to skate on the river during winter, and how one day he fell through the ice and nearly died.
Give we had the car we decided to use it and see some of the surrounding area. Maarsden was a nice closeby town where we had lunch.
Post luch we decided to drive to Ziest, which was quite a wealthy town. Many of the wealth would live there however commute to Utrecht for work. It contained a palace, and a lovely tree lined road leading up to it.
The houses along had bridges over a small river, and they were generally charming. There was also plenty of flowers and other stuff for Cinthia to take photos.
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