Happy Birthday Lee

I find it so difficult to believe that I arrived in Amsterdam on Tuesday - late afternoon and here I am on Sunday night doing my blog - so tonight will be my sixth night here. Time has really flown.

We're obviously having a great time as it was my son's birthday on Thursday (and he didn't have to work on that day)

Of course it was Valentines Day so it was a double celebration.

We decided as a family that we wanted to make memories and have adventures as gifts going forward.

Jack, my oldest had an evening out with his wife at a gorgeous Italian restaurant on the Marina. Les, his wife celebrated at her favourite vineyard in Cape Town and was able to spend time with her family and take home some wine - which made its way back to Cyprus.

So, Lee had a full weekend of birthday surprises. We started off the day with American pancakes and coffee and then had an early snack of a cheese and ham roll and then departed on the train to Utrecht, which is the town where his grandmother grew up in - so very special to enjoy his heritage on his birthday.

The shopping Mall across the road from the station in Utrecht

The day before Lee went to work on Wednesday and the team all sang happy birthday to him and had two delicious cakes - a sponge cake with chocolate chips and some apple pie.

Sponge cake and apple pie

Gorgeous cobbled streets along the canal

The outside of the store

South African Store - which we could not resist

We found a South African store advertising Boerewors Rolls so of course we popped in and met the hosts Emilio and Jessica

Lovely South African couple at the South African Store

Of course we had a lot in common and chatted away with the very friendly couple. We decided to share a Boerewors Roll - as we had already had lunch.

Lee then showed me the Dom Tower which was built in the 1300's next door to the famous church. We walked - (12000 steps) and finally arrived at the hotel, which was a gift to Lee from the family. We decided to order dinner from Uber Eats and found a Greek Restaurant - ironically - and had Chicken Kebab and Chicken gyro.

Our view from the hotel room

Breakfast was included and we thoroughly enjoyed the choices available to us

Lee ordered an omelette and it was perfect.

Perfect omelette

I ordered a fried egg. There was a large selection of breads, rolls and cakes.

Assortment of little cakes	Fruit Salad and Watermelon	Cappuccino

A satisfied birthday boy

After checking out of the hotel we had another treat - will write about that in my next post.