First Snag

Everything was going really well today until the train from Schiphol to Groningen decides to go no further at Assen. Some incident on the tracks up ahead, apparently. Everybody gets off the train and waits and wonders what to do. We feel irritated by this delay because it throws the next train and bus schedule off. However, after 45 minutes or so another train arrives and we soon get to Groningen. We thwart the temptation to hop into a taxi and are soon on our way again in a very small train, to Winsum. There, bus #68 (really a van) brings us to the Oude Smidse in Westernieland. We feel proud that we did all this with public transit. From Vancouver to here took 17 hours and we are in the backwoods (er, fields) of Holland. We have met some very kind, helpful people already and also saw a big, orange sun sinking behind a distant tree line on the unusually low horizon. We are on the second story of a very old building. To get there we had to climb super narrow and steep steps, with our luggage! 

So far, an awesome day!