Jetske (in The Netherlands) kindly volunteered to introduce postman Paulo and postwoman Ana to Dutch delights. They were really happy to have such warm introduction to the country of tulips, clogs and vla, and wrote back to tell us their adventure! :)
Arriving and checking a mailboxHere we are, arriving in Jetske’s mailbox after traveling across Europe.
So this is where Jetske picks up her Postcrossing postcards and now she finds us here as well. How exciting!
Of course, since we are mail carriers we are curious to see what a Dutch mailbox looks like. We’ve learned there are red mailboxes and orange mailboxes. The red mailboxes are older. When the Dutch postal service changed to TNT Post, some years ago, they changed most of the mailboxes to new orange coloured ones. Don’t fall in the mailbox Paulo!
Meeting day!
Today is a big day! We are going to our first Postcrossing meeting. The meeting is in Rotterdam, which is a drive of about 100 km to the North.
Here we are, in the car, on the Zeeland Bridge, which is the longest bridge in The Netherlands.
We arrived in Rotterdam and met in a cafe with Dandilion and JokeJacket where we enjoyed a delicious apple pie.
After coffee and apple pie we went to the best postcard shop of the country, De Egel. Here we also met the rest of the Postcrossers.
The woman in pink is a Postcrosser too. She had no idea there was a meeting that day and just came to the shop to buy postcards. When she saw us she asked if we were Postcrossers too and we all said yes! :D We invited her to stay with us for the rest of the day, and she did.
There are many cards here! We want to put them all in our little yellow basket!
Two hours later and with many new postcards, we travelled by tram to a restaurant called Bazar for postcard writing and lunch. Here we also met some other little travellers.
Time to go home but before we left we sent the postcards we wrote in the restaurant. Here they go, into a red mailbox:
Exploring a TNT Post office
Back to exploring mail services.
Here we are at the counter of a TNT Post office. The office is rather small and located inside a bookshop. Bigger post offices are closing down and now there are several smaller TNT Post counters in other shops instead.
In the Post office there’s a mailbag for bigger parcels that don’t fit in the mailbox. Luckily we are small and light, checking our weight on the scales, so we don’t need to travel in this bag!
On the picture in the bottom righ, you can see the “Boekenweekpostzegel”: a stamp in the shape of a small, real book, with real pages. The stamp was issued for a special event regarding books.
It’s our last day in The Netherlands already! But before we leave we enjoy this dish Jetske prepared for us. Poffertjes, they look like small and thick pancakes covered with lots of powdered sugar but they taste a bit different, nicer!
Bye! See you soon on our next destination!
59 comments so far
Hi Little Paulo and Ana! It was really special to have you both here. Enjoy the rest of your world trip! :)
Wow, nice story and great photos!
Sorry! No vla but poffertjes instead! :D
I see Jetske and dandlion are good hostesses and kept you safe, well fed and entertained. Bon Voyage.
I love the picture of them enjoying the drive in the car front and center. :D
Fantastic! Must've been difficult seeing all that delicious food but not being able to enjoy it too! :D
Hey, it's Pikki!! I loved this blog from beginning to end, but I was so surprised and happy to see Pikki (the yellow bird) here as well! Now I am jealous of Pikki. Heehee. Great stuff, Jetske! Thanks so much for this wonderful blog post!
hehe..what a lovely story it is.
Yeah, I was there too. So fun to see it on the blog now! :-)
great :-D
This is a really nice story! The pictures are funny.
But... tulips actually come from Turkey ;-) We just show them off like their ours.
Lovely story !! Again a nice surprise ;-)) !!!
Wow! Really great story and pictures! I can see Leonie :) I wonder- why didn't we go to that great card's shop than we were at Rotterdam? :)
great!
Wonderful story and adventure. I loved seeing their travels.
loved the story and the pics!
Great storey and pics. Nearly feel like I was there too
Lovely blog! I wished I shared that day with you.
Next time I'll visit Rotterdam I am going to search for "De Egel".
hey, I'm so envy both of u had a great moment journey... I wish I am there also... :)
Great story and looks like they had a fantastic time :-)
great Story Jetske. De egel in Rotterdam is the place to be for postcards!
What a great story! I recognised some of you :) Too bad I couldn't be there.. You made some beautiful pictures! It was nice to see 'De Egel'! They really have a lot of postcards.
How nice to read and see more about the adventures of little Paulo and Ana. Seeing this makes me feel homesick....especially when I see the "Zeeland Bridge" ;)
Lovely! Hope they come visit me :) lol
Lovely story. I hope to visit De egel one time when i´m visiting my family in The Netherlands.
A wonderful story! Can't wait to see where they travel to next. :-)
I loved the story,wish I could have met up with all the Postcrossers there, then allowed to be let loose in the postcard shop. I'm not an envious person but this once I will make an exception!
Brilliant!
way to go dutchies! The world tour of Ana and Paulo is on good start !
Wow... this is so cool and so funny!!! Loved it! I hope we can see more of their travels soon! XD
Good luck little guys ;)
what a cute story. :) I loved to read it and see the photos. Ana and Paulo have an interesting life. ;-) Happy postcrossing everybody!
I can't wait to read about their next stop! Too cute. Hope they get to visit me soon as well. :)
wonderful story - have fun guys!
What a great blog---I love the photos and all the interesting things I learned---Thank you :)
This way we can share travel experiences and feel like visitng distant places...
And remember postman Paulo and postwoman Ana are very welcome at my place!
Such a delightful travelog! Maybe one of the photos of Little Paulo & Ana will end up as a postcard ....
That is way WAY too adorable! :D
This is one of the cutest blog posts I have ever seen! Love it so much!
Nice story, well done!
Jetske made me curious about a surprise.. not knowing Little Ana & Paulo came out of her bag!! I was very excited!!! The meeting (as always) was fun! Its nice to meet with people who share the same great hobby!
Have a safe journey my dear little mail carriers :-)
I want meetings as well :D:D:D
Lovely story, lovely photos! :)
Jetske is a good story teller! ;)
Great blog! Great to see a couple of familiar faces (and my beloved Rotterdam!)
Wow wonderful! :D I especially loved how the woman in pink stayed with you lol It's incredible! Was nice to "see" you again Lotty and Leonie! Hugs, girls! :D
I got one of the postcard sent after the meeting in Rotterdam. :-)
so cute
Little Ana & Paulo are so adorable! =) They have a good time in the Netherlands and we can watch it on the photos. Big thanks for Jetske! You make me smile. :)
hee, I'm at the pictures twice ^_^ girl with dreadlocks next to the woman in pink, and in the middle writing cards.
Lovely :)
Magnifique!
Why didn't we know you were there! Saturday there is a new meeting in Rotterdam. Maybe we also find some walking-around-postcrosser. Great story, great picture.
Oh, lovely to see you busy with the postcards!
Really enjoyed reading about their adventure!
Argh! I can't believe I missed this and I live right in Rotterdam, to make it worse! That will teach me not to check the website more often.
Very funny story and pictures as well.
Muito bom!! faz lembrar o duendo de Amelie!!
wow are replicas of Paulo and Ana available for sale - I would love to order...
Thank you for sharing this story with me, Jetske. And thank you for sending a card from Rotterdam that was signed by Postcrossing members attending this meeting! Oh, I am so envious of the wonderful postcard shop you have there! I think I need to make a trip to De Egel!!
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