Rob's Surprise Party, An Engagement, Lederhosen & Dirndls.

July went by, August came and so were Sanneke and Hugo. Both arrived on the same day in different places. Rob picked Hugo up from Spittal an der Drau and I fetched Sanneke in St Veit.

Rob was still recovering from his 11 days hospital experience. Very tired but getting better step by step, day by day.

On Sunday it was a beautiful sunny hot day, so we drove the scenic route to Velden am Wörthersee and rented an electric boat and went on the lake. It was just lovely to swim a bit and enjoy each other’s company. In the evening, we played games, because that’s something we really enjoy doing.

We had nice small hikes together and Hugo and Rob made a huge one from Falkertsee to St Oswald. It took them 4 hours with 400m ascending and 900 meters descending. Rob had muscle aches for the rest of the week, but he was so proud he did this after all the misery he went through.

The week flew by, Sanneke went back home again and so did Rob. He had to work again, but Hugo and I stayed at Don Papa.

Hugo built stairs in the garden, therefore we went back to the DIY store to get all the supplies at home. He loves to work outdoors, learns things from You-Tube and just tries it. We had to lift the stairs and turn it upside down and I stumbled, we both fell underneath the stairs which was quite heavy. The result of the almost finished stairs was and still is amazing.

End of August Rob and I saw each other again in the Netherlands. I organized a surprise party for Rob 60thbirthday, he had no idea at all.

Friday evening, we had game night in Zoeterwoude, Jack and Ailsa, Noa and Mahdi and Hugo and Anna were there. Robin had a hen’s party of her best friend in England. We would see her the weekend of September 7th.

Saturday morning 4 of our children took our two electric bikes to Rotterdam by train, and the others joined us in the car. We were meeting at the Hilton where Noa worked. Yes, worked, the very next day she was moving to Prague to start a new job for Hilton Prague. Timing was perfect as Noa planned and organized a lot for this surprise party.

We were with 14 people to ride through memory lane in Rob’s hometown city; Rotterdam. When Hugo and I were together in Austria we made a pub quiz for all the stops we were going to stop. We had a lot of fun organizing this! We rented twelve bikes, Rob and I had our own ones, because I have a basket at the front of my bike for Ayo. You know, Ayo goes where we go, also this day.

We started at noon from the Hilton. first stop Kabouter  (Gnome) Butt Plug, then we rode to the high tower, Euromast and from there we took the Maastunnel to get on the other side of the Maas. The Maastunnel is amazing, it has escalators, or you can take the lift, it’s nicely renovated. From the south side of Rotterdam we carried on with Rob’s memory lane journey to his middle and high school, Hugo de Groot, a massive and impressive building.

From there we saw the tennis club where he used to play tennis, and he was also a tennis teacher. I played competition there as well in the same team with my father-in-law. The tennis courts, were totally abandoned, this beautiful Saturday end of August and not one single person was playing tennis, why?

After the tennis a few of the ladies needed a toilet and we were thirsty and hungry. We stopped at a place that still existed, where Rob’s dad took little Rob sometimes for a drink after he went to the barber. From there Hugo and I decided to shorten the route a bit. We skipped the Erasmus university, we planned to take a water taxi to go there, because at a bar in the center more people gathered for the next surprise for Rob. So we rode to the place where Rob was born and lived till he was 23 years old. Then we saw the flat where his parents later lived and there we carried on in the direction of the center but of course with stopping at the best club of the Netherlands, Feyenoord, the Kuip.

At Vader Kleinjan, the bar, another 25 people were waiting to wish Rob happy birthday. We did not have only Rob’s birthday it was also Louise’s birthday, so Noa bought two cakes and candles. The partners of our nieces brought it in. Louise was really surprised!

Around 8pm we slowly went home, we were knackered!!! I think at 10pm we slept like babies, dreaming about the fabulous day we had.

 September 1st a day never to forget: our wedding anniversary. 1-9-1990, was a beautiful day, we said yes, not knowing what an adventure we would get together.

This year Noa and Mahdi moved on the 1st of September to Prague, to start a new job at Hilton. Noa’s third job at a Hilton hotel. Her first was in Qatar, then Rotterdam and now Prague.

After two weeks they found a nice studio, 20 minutes with the tram to the office.

The weekend of September 7th we had a wedding in the UK, the wedding of Hayley and Bryce. Hayley is Robin’s best friend from Munich years. Robin had her hen’s night/weekend in the weekend of Rob’s surprise party. She stayed in England, got the key of our house at the porter’s. I planned my trip back to London on the Monday evening night ferry. Jack brought me to Hoek of Holland to where the ferry embarks. I checked in and the lady behind the counter said it was an outbound journey. I asked her what she meant? Well, you’re traveling from Harwich to Hoek of Holland and not from here……Oops, little mistake. I asked if there was still a hut available. There wasn’t a pet cabin available. She booked me on the next ferry, the day ferry from 14:15 on Tuesday and what were the costs?? 15 euro’s only! I called Jack if he could turn around and pick me up again. So, I spent another night in Zoeterwoude.

The next morning I left around 10am with Ayo, with public transport as Jack had to work. When I was at Schiedam I noticed there was something wrong with the Metro (underground) to HvH. Apparently the Botlek had a power outage that among other things, also prevented the metros from running. I called a taxi to pick me up in the middle of nowhere. When we were looking for each other at the car park, I heard from other passengers that the metro was running again. The lady of the taxi said that she would totally understand if I would continue by metro because that’s so much cheaper than a taxi. I arrived with a little delay at the ferry but still good in time. Ayo and I know the drill, where to go first, which paperwork to get, and after this was all done we settled in our “huge” 5 person cabin, more two bunk beds where one bottom bed is a bit bigger.

Around 10pm I arrived at Liverpool Street Station where Robin and Rob were waiting for me.

We straight away brought Ayo to his groomer Jessica, he needed it badly.

Robin and I had a good time together in London. One evening we went out for dinner at Happy, she loved it. On Friday she left to Suffolk to be with Hayley.

Hayley's Hen's Night;

Armin arrived in London too, but he continued his journey to Liverpool and on his way back to London he stopped in Milton Keynes, but there’s nothing there though.

We saw each other at the car rental on Saturday morning and we had all the time to get to the wedding which started at 2 pm. We had the scenic route because Rob wanted to stop at a certain store to get some ice cream sauce. We had a quick lunch and arrived at the wedding perfectly on time. The location was stunning, a little church with next to it a big barn where we had dinner and the party.

Hayley was beautiful in her wedding dress. Robin was maid of honour, she walked in as the first person. We could see she was a bit nervous. She looked stunning. After the ceremony we had to walk to a field where we threw confetti over the wedded couple. Then they were making photos and we had a drink or two.

Around 5pm we went inside the barn where the speeches started and we got some nice food served. After all this the dance floor opened. We left around 10.30pm because it would take us 2,5 hours to get back home. We handed in the car, left the keys in a key box and found a taxi. Our taxi driver was Nigerian! Rob sat in front with him and chatted the whole hour it took us to get back home about Nigeria.

The next morning Robin and Armin were heading back to Austria but were facing some troubles with the underground to Heathrow. They called us up and she said it could take two minutes or two hours, luckily it was right after our phone call that they were going.

After the wedding on Tuesday the 10th Loes paid us a visit. It was wonderful to have her here. We took the DLR to Greenwich and the boat back, we saw the musical Wicked, which I’d already seen, Rob made a wrong booking. Loes didn’t know it, that was most important. And we also saw MJ, aka Michael Jackson, the musical. This was brilliant. The guy who played Michael Jackson was so good. He was perfect in singing, same voice and he could also dance like MJ.

Sunday morning, I brought Loes to St Pancras where she took the train back home.

On Wedneday I took the train to Edinburgh (EDB) to find a house or apartment there. The plan is to move there beginning of November. So from September 18th (afternoon) till Friday morning 20th I had 14 houses/flats on my list. When I arrived at Waverly Station the weather was amazing. Blue sky, t-shirt weather! The very first house I saw was quirky, I liked it, it had a new kitchen with windows! And the living room was spacious with very British wallpaper only upstairs was a bit older, but nevertheless still very promising. So I called Rob if he had time to see it. He could only do Friday morning, so I booked us for 10am on Friday morning for a second viewing.

I worked through my list of houses, most of them were nice but just too small. Thursday we saw another flat together, one at the sea side and one opposite a beautiful building, that looks like Hogwards of Harry Potter. I used to be a school for blind people nowadays it’s rebuild in apartments. It was beautiful but too small.

We ended our ‘house-hunting-journey’ with viewing the first house again and Rob loved it. So, we found ourselves a house, it took 4 weeks to get the lease contract signed, but it's signed now!

Friday night Hugo and Anna came to see us in London, and we arrived at King’s cross an hour after them. We saw each other at St Pancras. It was wonderful to see them On Saturday Hugo wanted to show Anna where he studied in Brighton. We took the train to Brighton where it was still beautiful weather.

Hugo and Anna also saw some friends. On Wednesday we saw our friends from Vienna years, Ulrika and her daughter Elvira who’s our dogsitter on a regular base. We will miss her when we move to Scotland, but Hugo was a bit under the weather that day. We went to the Book of Mormon a hilarious, really funny musical. If you ever have the opportunity you must see it.

On Friday they took Ayo to Oxford and I took the train to City airport. I saw Rob there, we flew to Munich to go to the Oktoberfest with our friends Morgan and Kirsty. Our besties Ard and Louise were driving in from the Netherlands, and they fetched us from the airport. We arrived around midnight at the Zuill’s. For us it was kind of easy as it was an hour earlier. Anyway, we had a few drinks and lovely chat s with the other friends Angie and Jim and their son Jack. Our two sons both named Jack were in the same grade for four years at school at Munich International School.

The next day we took three taxis to the Wiesn and there was the Oktoberfest madness again. We had not been for more than 5 years and it felt fantastic to be back again. Rollercoaster, a funfair, thousands of people in their Dirndls and Lederhosen with big Steine of beers in their hands. Always good music and a brilliant atmosphere.

We had our tables from 12-5pm, then the whole group split up a bit. Ard, Louise and Rob and I were slowly heading back to Starnberg to the Zuill’s residence.  The others came back later in small groups.

On Sunday we had breakfast and afterwards a few of us were standing at the terrace when I looked at my phone. A few photos came in from Armin and Robin. It took a moment to realise what just had happened…..Armin proposed to our daughter Robin, she said YES! So we’re getting a wedding next year! Straight away when we heard this great news Morgan opened a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. I felt so happy and proud and blessed and a hundred thousand more feelings!

After this we went out for a walk and had lunch at a Biergarten in Aufkirchen, the sun was out, the Alps at the background, just stunning. What a day! What a weekend!

(Look how Daisy was wearing the ring for Robin.)

We headed back home to London at the end of the afternoon, where Hugo and Anna were still taking care of Ayo. They had to leave the next day very early, to catch the first train to Brussels.

On Tuesday Rob flew back to Munich again to go to the Oktoberfest with his Management Team. Some of them are working for 30 years in the beer business but have never been to the Oktoberfest. Rob organized three days, with also a (craft) brewery visit, a look behind the scenes at the Oktoberfest and so on. They were in the evening in our favorite Octoberfest tent, Himmel der Bayern, so he was very happy with that.

On Thursday afternoon I brought Ayo to Lindsey and John in Leigh-on-Sea. They were taking care of him for the weekend. We had the 60th birthday party of one of my best and oldest friends Jivan. We grew up next to each other, our parents became best friends. 59 years of friendships, this means the world to me.

More about this in our next blog, with the move and our new live in Scotland.

Stay safe everyone

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