Groningen

We ate breakfast at a lovely outdoor restaurant about 20 minutes from Arlette's flat.  Once back home, we made plans to go on a mud walking tour (or "wadlopen") for the following day.  Arlette had described it to me and it sounded exciting, although I was still a little unsure of the details.  She said it was a walk in the Wadden Sea. During low-tide, the ocean recedes to create a land bridge between the mainland and several islands in the Wadden Sea.  The hikers have to sometimes fight their way through layers of mud, surrounded by nothing else but sea, sand and birds. All groups are accompanied by experienced guides.  It sounded like fun.

In order to get to the start of the walk we needed to take a 2 hour train to Groningen and then a 45 minute bus ride to town called Lauwersoog.  From there, a ferry would then take us to the one of the dikes along the sea where the walk would begin.  The tour left at 10am Sunday, so we decided to best to head out Saturday and stay at a Bed & Breakfast for the night. Unfortunately, there was a motorcycle grand prix going in the area and there was nothing available. We tried calling hotels but the price was now at 190 Euros a night (with exchange rate $300 US) - ridiculous!

We finally came across a B&B that promised a room with 2 beads, separate bath and breakfast for 70 Euros.  The owner also said he could pick us up at the station.  There were no pictures of the place online, so we were a bit skeptical.  But our options were limited, so made the reservation and took the 8PM train to Groningen.  We arrived two hour later.  Jack, the owner, met us at the station and drove us to his home.  We were relieved to find a lovely room in the attic.  It was perfect.  

The owner's wife, Alma, invited us to the block party that was going on on their block. It was the last day of school for the kids and every year ten houses on the block threw a party before everyone headed out to summer vacation.  We went to our room to change and then immediately headed over to the block party and met the neighbours. They were all nice, but after a glass of wine we left to see what the rest of Groningen was like.

Jack recommended a great bar with live music.  The band was really good. We enjoyed the music for a little while then left about 11:30 since we had to get up at 7am to make a 8am bus to the ferry. While walking back to the house, we happened upon a street party with DJ on a platform and dancers in the street. It was really good dance music so we stayed for 1/2 hour before heading back to the B&B to get some sleep.