Reading up on the gray European sea lion this morning, and noticing how far my skills at reading Dutch have declined since 1998 when we lived in Leiden.
No sea lions haunt the sugar-sand North Sea beach near our Vlieland hotel, so I’m setting off on a last-minute quest to see some. Vlieland is a lovely peaceful family resort that Dutch families know about and other folks mostly don’t, so the amount of signage in English is little or none.
Fortunately, there is a “super snelle rubberboot” (super-fast rubber boat) that likes to take local tourists out to ogle sunbathing sea lions (“Zeehonden die liggen te zonnen”). And we might also see some “kleine dolfijn” (little dolphins, I hope!)
Lord knows what I’m getting into here, but surely going off on a Dutch-speaking boat adventure comes under the heading of “making trouble today for a better tomorrow.” Niek today posted one of Frank’s own mantras about making trouble, so I’m sure he’ll sympathize!