Vienna and Zoeterwoude

I flew to the Netherlands on May 25th on the evening Rob was opening the Heineken House in Ikoyi. The Heineken House will be a great location in Ikoyi where you can feel the premiumness of the Heineken Brand.

On Monday 27th of May I had a dentist appointment in Zoeterwoude, afterwards I flew to Vienna for my regular check up and the ENT doctor. 

Like the other times I stay at my dear friends Ulrika and Erik. This time we had a bit more quality time together than my last visit in February. My ears were cleaned by dr Budik and as I already suspected I had an ear inflammation. So I left the place with medication. Then I went to see my professor Singer, everything was fine there. I’m allowed to stay away a bit longer. Next visit will be November/December, perfect timing with the Christmas markets. On Wednesday I saw my dutch friends, this was wonderful. On Thursday Robin came to Vienna. We had a long walk in the centre with first a stop at our rose in the Volksgarten. It feels very special to see the rose growing. For the ones who have no clue what I’m talking about, the rose in the rose garden in the garden of the Hofburg was a gift of Brau Union, Rob’s previous work, when we left. It has a nice note on it, see photos under this article. It will be in the Volksgarten for 5 years. We even have decided to have a rose in our garden in The Netherlands.  Robin and I had a great day. In the evening she drove back home again, instead of the next morning because then she had to leave very early. Friday I flew back to The Netherlands. Jack and Ailsa flew that same day to Italy for a dear friend’s wedding. So Rob and I were dog sitting for the weekend. Zara, Jack and Ailsa’s dog is now four weeks in their lives and she’s such a sweetheart. She’s a year old and comes from Romania. They were back on Monday. Rob went to the Africa Finance Conference of Heineken in Amsterdam and stayed at Hotel L’Europe, a very nice hotel with great view. On Tuesday I went to see my mum’s cousin with my cousin Nikki. This was a lovely day. First we went into Breda, had a nice stroll and then in the afternoon we went to see tante Kitty. She loves to paint too. She’s really good at it. On Tuesdaynight Rob came back but left the next evening to Brussels for a meeting with another Heineken Company, Ibercor. I also saw my friends from Kindergarten, elementary school and high school, Monique, Jet, Astrid, and Mariska. We went to Noordwijk aan Zee, because Astrid moved there a short while ago. We ate a the beach, had a beautiful sunset, good food and great company. When we walked back I bumped into Milo and his daughter Nova. He had already seen me, I was so surprised. Happily surprised! The girls were waiting for me so we only had a short chat. 

On Friday we saw big Hugo, he’s the builder of our house in Zoeterwoude and will make some nice adjustments in our house and also an extension, like a veranda, fireplace and outdoor kitchen. Big plans, can’t wait to see the end result, but this will take a while. It takes time to do this. On Saturday Rob and I went shopping for the extension of the house, which was very successful. We ended up in Oud-Beijerland a really nice village under Rotterdam.

On Sunday I flew back to Lagos, and ended up in a long traffic jam on my way home, welcome back in Lagos. Rob flew the same day to South Africa, Johannesburg for work. When he was there he, in the few breaks he had, visited Soweto and passed the house of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu in Soweto. He told me it was a very nice city but apparently very unsafe after dark. He came back on Thursday night and we are not planning any major travelling until our summer break end of July. The photos below are from Zoeterwoude, the Hague and Vienna.