The planning of our arrival date in Europe wasn’t perfect as the 9th of May is Ascension Day, a treasured public holiday here, and one we miss out on in Australia. Naturally, all shops and businesses were closed, while pubs, restaurants and trains were full to the brim, and so was our ICE train from Frankfurt airport to the North of the Netherlands. It looked like standing room only, but then luckily a hens-party on their way to Amsterdam offered me the seat reserved for an ailing friend left behind, and Austin scammed a disability seat. Sitting in between the excited group of girls, I found myself in the middle of discussions about the famous Amsterdam brownies, when to open the bottles of rosé and the many fun things planned for this weekend.

It would have been an entertaining way to travel, if I wasn’t so jet-lagged! Five hours later, after a change of trains, we arrived in Meppel with our four suitcases. 

We couldn’t have wished for better weather for our arrival! The skies were blue, and the spring sun was already warm. Fortunately, the railway station's café was open, so we bought a couple of soft drinks and a mini carton of milk for the next morning—coffee and water being the only refreshments we knew were still on the Lodi.  

Now one thing about Yachthaven Meppel is, that it is about 3km out off town and nowhere near a bus line. 

Although relatively close to the station, the car hire company was also closed on this holy day. We rang several taxi companies and Uber, but none were available either—all booked out or closed! So, in desperation, we rang our friendly yacht harbour family, who had given us lifts before. But alas! They were enjoying the rare day off cruising on their own boat. However, “Don’t worry; we will organise a friend or neighbour to drive you!” 

Soon enough, we were picked up by a charming Dutch boat rejuvenator who dropped us off right in front of our cleaned and prepped “Lodi”.

Today, on the anniversary of Napoleon's Battle of Lodi (Italy), we are sitting on our sun-drenched deck, wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt (oh, and underwear, of course) and feeling celebratory! Our first day has been taken up with unpacking and shopping, and while we didn’t last past 8pm yesterday, tonight we will be toasting Lodi, safe arrivals and Napoleon, if you like! Fittingly, we watched the movie “Napoleon” with Joaquin Phoenix on the plane - a rather meak Napoleon, I have to say, with Josephine definitely wearing the pants. “Much like us", Austin would say!

I will talk more about Meppel and the Dutch province of Drenthe in my next post.