Blauwe Meer

It's Friday afternoon, miserably hot, and the office has mostly cleared out because the Holland Brazil game is about to start. I'm the only one still at my computer and Rachael's adviser, Zsolt (or something like that- pronounced Schultz) stops in to say bye. He asks if we've heard of Blauwe Meer and I'm like huh? At first I thought he was talking about a pub in Dwingeloo where everyone was going to watch the game. It turns out that Blauwe Meer (meaning blue lake) is an artificial lake outside of Dwingeloo that all the locals go to on summer days. I'd been sitting in my own sweat all day in my UNAIRCONDITIONED OFFICE and just the sound of a cool lake to swim in made my mouth water.

So Saturday morning Rachael and I set off to find Blauwe Meer. It was a bit more difficult than we expected...
Please note the 4 mile detour we took at the begging of the trip. Oops.

Anywho, we finally got there and it wasn't a moment too soon. Not only was I HOT (mitigated only by the self created wind of biking), but my butt was seriously sore. We park our bikes in the bike parking lot (yes, you read right) and grabbed our packed lunches and hit the beach. It was so amazing. Obviously artificial sand piled high on the shore of a blue, blue lake edged by green forest and reflecting clear blue skies. It was still fairly early, about noon or so, so it wasn't too crowded. I laid out my blanket and stripped off my shorts (swimming suit already in place) and headed to the water to cool down.

It was COLD. And marvelous. I sat down at the edge, water up to my waist and reclined back on my palms, digging fingers into wet sand. Along the water's edge people played hacky sack with a soccer ball, tossed a volleyball, little kids splashed. It was a typical beach scene (with fewer obese people) but at a remote lake in the middle of BFHolland. What more could you ask for, especially on a hot day?

Finally almost cold, Rachael and I went back to our towel that we'd laid out on the sand. I slathered some on some sun screen and let the sun bake me while I napped. As I slept the beach became crowded with people. When I woke up at 3 there layers of towels three deep laid out along the shore. Rachael and I got in the water again and then after drying out once more, packed up and headed home. I could tell I'd gotten a bit of a burn. I'd take a picture to show you the damage (I'm almost, but not quit lobster red) but I figured I didn't need a picture of my chest floating around on the intertoobs.

Ominous clouds had rolled in and we didn't want to get caught out in a down pour. We made it to the market in Dwingeloo in time for the rain and watched it drizzle on the green leaves from the gazebo in the town center. Finally, we were on the road home after picking up some veggie burgers from the store. The smell of ceder scented the air, heavy with the new rain.

UPDATE 5, JULY @ 15:45
I forgot to mention that while in the water, we happened to run into Rachael's adviser. He was wearing a speedo. And that's all I have to say about that.