We drove down to Oostvoorne after breakfast to spend the day with Ishani and her family (Mark and Mia). I think the last time we saw Ishani Ben was around Thomas’s age and it has been a while. It was a lot easier driving out of Amsterdam this morning and before long we were on the freeway. Holland is a very flat country and there are wind farms everywhere and right up along the freeway. It was great to catch up with Ishani and Bunty was there as well. Mia took a little while to warm up to Emily and Tom but before long she was playing with them – and by the end of the afternoon was inseparable from Tom. We went to a beach restaurant for lunch and afterwards got a tour of Brielle.

We drove back into Amsterdam and the traffic again was horrendous – though we were better prepared for it. We had a booking at a restaurant called Pasta e Basta which is an Amsterdam institution and has been around for decades. It hires theatre performers as wait staff who, between serving tables, sing for the customers. Each one of them had an incredible voice and it was an awesome experience.