Day 2: Of trampling giants, leaking closets, high tea and fancy hats

Giant at the doorstep ...

Three lousy hours of sleep was all I got, frequently disturbed by Biedjee’s visits to the toilet. Since my head was positioned at the doorstep of his room my dreams were haunted by gigants trying to trample me like some helpless insect. Fortunately the gigant could contain himself long enough to actually make it to the toilet every time, otherwise things could have turned into a real nightmare.

Shortly before nine o’clock Devi stormed through the hall into Majo’s bedroom, to loudly proclaim that she couldn’t sleep and ask her flatmate to join her in her room. This left me half awake and the constant stream of chatting and giggling that followed made it virtually impossible to get any more sleep. Mandy would later claim that ‘really, not all young people are like that’, instantly making Biedjee and me feel like two old geezers.

High Tea

More life began to stir in Devi’s apartment and we soon took turns taking a shower in the funny little room that was more like a leaking closet than an actual bathroom. Biedjee made us some tea while we slowly made ourselves ready to meet the rest again at Nijmegen’s Central Station.

The closing activity of Devika’s MeetUp was High Tea at Restaurant van Buuren. And bloody excellent it was. Alex and I had been wondering if we would have to choose from the various sandwiches that were mentioned in the menu but as it turned out all of them were included. Joy ! So besides tea and orange juice we were treated to delicious sandwiches with bacon, salmon and mayonnaise, chicken, carpaccio & pesto and small brownies and chocolate cake to top it off.

Like my new hat ?

With the possible exception of the people that had not been present yesterday (Grace, Bas, Rene and Ciska) most of the TravBuddies were still knackered from the previous night’s party. As such, conversations were less lively today and we often spent our time outside on the terrace catching the few rays of sunlight that sometimes appeared through the clouds. I shared some travel experiences with Eef, especially being interested in her trip to Laos since I’d be going there later this year. Also worth mentioning was the moment when Alex and I found out that one of the sandwich plates could actually be worn as a fancy hat. Queen Beatrix eat your heart out ! ;-)

Unfortunately, unlike yesterday today wasn’t such a good day for hay fever patients like me.

High Tea

All in all another fun MeetUp where I made new friends and finally met some people in the flesh that I had only been having online contact with so far. Thanks to our little goddess Devika for organizing it all, and to her and Majo for allowing me to crash in the hall of their apartment. Thumbs up!

Pictures by Biedjee.