Friday holiday shopping before I leave Groningen

So what happens after there's a national holiday on a Thursday?  You take Friday off of course.  This is a traditional four-day weekend in the Netherlands.  Schools, government offices and many businesses are closed both Thursday and Friday.  That means that today's Friday market in the city center of Groningen is full, like a Saturday says Liesbeth.  This is great for me because I get to see it all in action.







Groningen is a great city of about 200,000.  It's a college town with lots of students, more than 50,000 college/university students.  It has a very old world feel in the city center, but of course has every modern convenience.

Today we had kibbeling, which is small pieces of fried fish, very typical here.  Then I had to try poffertjes, which are a very traditional dough, made on a special cook-top, served with butter and powedered surger ... heel lekker!



We really took it pretty easy today, especially since yesterday was such a full day.  My trip is coming to an end.  Tomorrow Liesbeth will take me to Amsterdam and show me around a little with her brother who lives there.  Then I will spend the night there and catch my flight in the morning on Sunday.  The funny thing is because of the time difference I should be in my own living room before 5pm on Sunday evening.

We went to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner and so I could get my final "Dutch stuff" to take home with me ... some sausage, mustard and hagelslag.  I finally got a picture of a wild swan on the way ... these Mute swans are found in fairly large numbers in the countryside, nesting in farmers fields near the canals.


This evening we had mustard soup, a Groningen specialty, which Liesbeth prepared.  So delicious ... heel lekker!





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