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Julie:

 As we landed at Schiphol Airport, I said to Jake, "It feels like we have come home." As the day wore on, I realized what I love the most about this country is the architecture, water, and the people; but it's mostly the people. We met some incredible people.

Our first stop was Volendam. Volendam has been on my list for a couple of years. It's a beautiful fishing town with colorful houses and a large harbor. We rented bikes and got a little turned around, on our way to the harbor, and found ourselves in the residential area. This area was gorgeous. The homes are well kept, and although they all look similar, people adorn their homes to set theirs apart. I was very excited when I found the row of colorful homes that I had seen in pictures. If we had not been in the residential area, we would have missed them.

The harbor was peaceful, beautiful, and a place where the locals meet up. As we sipped our drinks, I noticed person after person saying hello to two tables of customers, and a quick exchange and smile was had. The longer I sat there, the more I thought that I could live in this adyllic Dutch village.

So who did we meet? On our way to Volendam, wet observed an older man converse with the bus driver like they were old friends. I figured that he must be a frequent passenger by the way they spoke and laughed together. As I watched the older man, I had the deep desire to become fluent in Dutch and be a congenial old lady. 

Before exploring the village, we rented bikes. The woman who helped us was very open about her experience of being Dutch. She took her time to get to know us, and really made us feel valued. She gave us a map to use while there, just in case we wanted to ride to  the next city over: Edam. We would have liked to do that, but after learning that I'm not as adept at riding a bike as I thought I once was, we decided to stay local. 

After a couple of hours, we decided to head to Delft to settle into our Airbnb. Once we settled in, we headed to the city center for dinner. We enjoyed sitting on the terrace, under the large umbrellas, and right next to the heater. 

We got back to the Airbnb, cleaned up, and fell asleep around 9:00. We were exhausted.