Europe 2013, blog 3/3

Our last leg of the vacation took us to vacation park Erperheide in Belgium, where dad rented a few bungalows for us to come together for his 95th birthday. It was also a good opportunity to invite friends to come visit us, as we were only one hour away from both our hometowns. We finished this vacation in Bottrop before flying back home from Düsseldorf again.

August 23

Landgraaf

On our way to the vacation park in Belgium, we took a break at a big rest stop (Raststätte Brohltal) on the German autobahn. We were confronted again with having to pay for toilet use, something we’re not used to anymore in Canada. These days they even have an automated pay system for the toilet area (see pics).

After crossing the border, we made the only stop in the Netherlands in this vacation. To visit Chantal, Roald and the kids, esp. to see their newest addition Avalon. Too cute! Chantal’s brother Theo also popped by.

August 23-24

Peer – Center Parcs Erperheide

When we got to the Center Parcs vacation park in Peer, Erperheide, we were welcomed by our family in the three units dad rented for all of us (we had bungalow #439). We’d be there with dad and Amalia for a full week, but Ton & family could only stay for the weekend. The next day we celebrated dad’s 95th birthday together!

August 25-27

We spent the 25th just with the family and received some visitors on the 26th. Like Jos, Hennie and her sister Anita, Dinie and Ton, and Cordy, Anneke, Marjan and Erik.

The park is beautiful. A lot of trees, water and pathways. The buffet restaurant is way too good, we ate way too much! We also checked out the nearest town, Peer.

August 28-29

We spent a lot of time at the park with its beautiful pathways. There were also some more visitors, like Els and Maurice, Miranda, and aunt Resy and cousin Dionne. The last day we did some geocaching in the area, like in Peer and in the area of Bree.

August 30 – September 1

Bottrop

In Bottrop in the Ruhr district, we visited Volker & Martina (and little Johanna) for a relaxing last weekend of the trip. Good times, good food, good company. Friend Jörg also visited and we went to Sascha’s record store Yeah Records in Essen. We even did some geocaching in a graveyard and park Quellenbusch. In the last evening, Volker showed us the oldest working class neighbourhood in the Ruhr area, Eisenheim. It was built in the 19th century and the first in Germany to be listed as a historic monument.

September 2

Flights home

Time to fly home again from Düsseldorf to Toronto and then to Regina. During our changeover in Toronto we had a good view on Missisauga. This time we liked going through Toronto, back in 2004 we still had to go from one terminal to another by bus and it was terrible! Thankfully not this time.

It was a great trip, happy to see family and friends again, and it was most of all also a vacation this time!