De Koningin van Pieterburen

A while ago I went to Groningen, Pieterburen to volunteer at the Seal Research and Rehabilitation Centre Lenie 't Hart. In this centre, stranded seals that are ill or separated from their mother are rehabilitated until they are strong enough to be released back into the wild. I went there for a full month and stayed at a campus together with 20 other volunteers from all over the world. The volunteerproject was very nice and interesting, I met some great people and getting the chance to get this close to seals and being able to handle them is something I will never forget.

However, during my stay there, I often got bored, because the area is very quiet in contrast to the busy city life that I'm used to. I killed my free-time mainly by cycling along the pastures and farms through the strong sea wind. Luckily, my awesome friends Lisa and Margo came all the way from the other side of the country to visit me! Because it was a long trip for them, I had to look for a place where they could stay at night. There were several Bed & Breakfasts close to my campus, but there was one place that attracted me the most: The Koningin van Pieterburen (translation: The Queen of Pieterburen).
  

After my friends arrived in Pieterburen and I gave them a tour at the Seal Centre, we went to the promising Bed & Breakfast. What we saw was probably the most happy, strange and theatrical place we have ever stayed. Everywhere we looked, there were flowers, dresses, shoes, hats, wigs, fabrics with crazy prints, teacups, stuffed animals, paintings and paint, jewelry.. We didn't know where to look and how to act. The hostess was a very nice lady. She told us that we could do whatever we wanted. "If you want to paint, grab some paper and paint! If you want to drink some tea and make cookies, please use the kitchen! If you want to have a dress-up party, you can take all the clothes you want (these were literally hanging everywhere in the house). If you want to watch a movie, there are movies in one of the closets!" (a bit out-dated though, we watched Spice Girls on Tour:)). I was also welcome to stay with my friends , even though I didn't pay for the night.

We had the most fun and outrageous night ever, and the most ridiculous pictures of ourselves:

During the process of taking these pictures late at night, suddenly  one of the other guests, a boy from the U.S.A, came back , took a quick glance at our hideous outfits, stood still for a while and then slowly backed off while trying his best not to burst out laughing.

The next morning, when we wanted to get some breakfast, we heard strange music coming out of the kitchen. Slowly we went to watch what was going on, when we saw the hostess and her friend dressed up in dramatic pink dresses while they were cheerfully practicing their theater act. After that she decided that it would be fun if we and the other visitors of the Bed & Breakfast joined her with practicing. This resulted in some sort of morning gymnastics of crazy dances and crazy music to start the day with. We really had a great time and I would recommend everyone to stay there if you are by chance, visiting Pieterburen.

Ivanna

Hoofdstraat 63, Pieterburen

The Netherlands