Sunday we enjoyed our second visit (as in the first time being August 2017 without Hannah and family) to the VB’s church, where, being Pentecost Sunday, we had an excellent sermon on being filled with the Holy Spirit (the evidence of which is not miraculous events but careful, caring living – Ephesians 5:15-20). As last year, the church provided a live English translation via wireless headsets so we were able to truly take part in worship with God’s people. In the afternoon we relaxed with a walk along the Kromme Rijn (river) that runs through Bunnik. It was good to be with the family!
Monday was a public holiday so Rick was able to be with us – taking us all firstly to Volendam, a picturesque fishing town on the edge of Markermeer, a vast (700 km2) lake created when dykes enclosed the sea. Much of the town itself is on they dyke separating the Markermeer from the farms. From there we went on to Zaanse Schans (pictured) where a few working windmills remain from the hundreds that pumped the polders (low-land fields) dry (lowering them 9 metres from their original height, so that now they are several metres below sea level). This was Claude Monnet’s space! Several of the windmills that feature in his paintings still stand.