Kind of a lot of days this time, let me think what happened.
We arrived to my parents in Ouderkerk on Thursday after an exhausting drive. Dinner was just being served outside in the garden, so we got in right on time. For the next days we didn't do much, mostly we hung around the kitchen table alternating meals, coffee and tea. And we showed lots and lots of photos. Saturday was day of the wedding of K&N, so while I packed up the van Federica did her hair. With our fancy clothes hanging in the back we drove to a farm campsite outside Brummen. Here we parked and got changed in full view of a group of curious cows. (The wedding was fantastic by the way, thanks again you two and we wish you all the best!) Next we drove the last bit to Enschede to meet up with whom we could. And we did a bunch of a little errands that we had saved up the need for over the last months.
During the drive back west on Monday things went south a little. When it started raining we found out the wipers wouldn't move. Maybe we're lucky this next bit of car trouble is in the Netherlands, but we do already have a ferry booked in less than a week. With help from my dad we start confidently taking apart the wiper mechanism. When we can't clearly find the problem, we pass with the van by my dad's retired car mechanic, who points out the wiper motor is broken. We order a new one, with just enough time for delivery. Of course when it does actually arrive on time a metal piece is snapped, likely broken in transit. With no time to return it again, we instead spend a day mixing old and new parts to create a functional drive train. But we manage in the end (thanks again, dad)!
In the meantime Federica had an appointment with friends that had moved to Lyon recently. Because of awkward timing she went by herself, up and down with a Flixbus. She had a good time, Lyon feels like a pleasant and modern city. And apparently every other building houses a bakery.
We had some more outings, to the duinen, a loop by boat, biking around and a mountainbiking tour.
Then finally on Tuesday morning it was time for us to head out again. This day we needed to get to Travemunde, Germany, as the next morning our ferry departs to Sweden. There was a bit of a tense moment because my mountainbike was still in a shop, but we got it back just in time. And so we start part 2 of our journey: Sweden and the Baltics! We first going to spend a little time in Sweden, amongst other reasons to meet friends of Federica's and my brother and then we'll take another ferry to see Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
