Callen thought about it. They already went to Indianapolis together for the super bowl so why not go to a soccer match in England as well. But going to Holland with her probably meant meeting her mom, he didn't know if he was ready for that. Sure they were great friends, maybe starting to be something more but meeting her mom would be a huge step, although he had already met her dad. But on the other hand it would be nice to see where Zoë grew up.
Zoë watched Callen waiting for an answer. She could see him going over everything in his head.
"It's okay if you don't want to. I just thought it would be nice. You could just go with me to the match not spend new year's in Holland," Zoë said.
"No, it's fine. I would love to go."
"Great. I was thinking about leaving after Christmas if that's alright with you."
"Yeah sure, that's perfect."
"Great. I'll see you Monday."
Zoë exited the car and went inside her place.
….
On December twenty-seven they left for Holland. Luckily Callen was back on time. They had been stuck on an aircraft carrier during Christmas after finishing a case. Their flight didn't leave until the evening. They dropped their baggage off at the check-in desk and waited till they could board their flight. Their flight left around 8.30pm. It would a ten hour flight to London and then a two hour layover before their flight to Amsterdam would leave.
"So what are we gonna do in Holland? Are we gonna go straight to your family?" Callen asked once they were up in the air.
"I've planned some things, if that's okay with you. I wanted to show you the country."
"Sure that's fine by me."
"Great."
They relaxed on the plane and tried to get some sleep. The next day they were in London around 3pm, local time. They checked in for their flight to Amsterdam and they could board right away. It was just after 7pm, local time, when they landed in Amsterdam. They grabbed their bags from baggage claim and exited the airport. Zoë picked up the car she had rented for them.
"Brrr, it's so cold here," Callen stated as they walked outside.
"Yeah, it's winter here and the winters here are a lot colder than the LA winters. I hoped you packed warm enough."
"Oh yes I did, just like you told me. But I didn't think it would be this cold."
"Come on, let's get in the car and I'll put on the heater."
"So where to?" Callen asked after he had loaded the bags in the trunk and they had gotten in the car.
Zoë sat behind the wheel and Callen in the passenger seat.
"To our first hotel. It's about thirty minutes from here. It's close to our first stop which we will go see tomorrow."
Zoë left the parking lot and drove south on the A4 towards The Hague. About thirty minutes later they arrived at their bed and breakfast in Scheveningen. They had a simple room with two separate beds and a bathroom. They unpacked some of their stuff and went for a bite to eat before going to bed.
"So where are we going today?" Callen asked as they were having breakfast the next day.
"We're going to Madurodam. It's Holland in miniature. So you'll see all the sights of Holland in small in one place."
"That's nice."
After breakfast Zoë drove them to Madurodam. She parked the car and they went to get a ticket. They walked through the park and saw a lot of things. They saw the Dutch trains, Schiphol airport and they could make their own wind energy.
"A cheese market?" Callen asked as they walked past and exhibit.
"Yep. Cheese is very popular in Holland. A few cities have their own cheese market," Zoë explained.
"Why do they carry them around like this? Isn't it easier to put them in a car or something?"
"It's tradition from back in the old days to carry them in these kind of slings."
Next to the exhibit was a cheese scale, you could see for yourself how much cheese you could carry. Zoë managed to lift up four cheeses and Callen lifted up seven. They walked further and came across flowers, Amsterdam, carnival, a lot of old historical buildings of Holland, the Dutch palaces, "Het binnenhof" which is where the Dutch ministry is housed and of course the harbor. The harbor in Rotterdam is one of the biggest of Europe. They walked around the park for about three hours. They had some lunch before continuing their journey.
"That was really nice to see. It's amazing how they can make that so small," Callen stated as they walked back to the car.
"Yeah it is. And it are exact replicas. It looks like that in real life as well."
"Where to next?" Callen asked as they got back into the car.
"To Rotterdam. Where just gonna drive through there on our way further south. There are a few things there I wanna show you."
Zoë drove back to the freeway and got on the A13 towards Rotterdam. The A13 turned into the Stadhoudersweg when they were in Rotterdam. They followed this street and took a right onto Schiekade. On the roundabout she took the third arm onto Pompenburg and then took a right onto Goudesingel. She took another right onto Mariniërsweg. They had to stop at the street light before turning right onto Blaak.
"Look to your right Callen. Up on the overpass."
"Are those houses?" Callen asked as he turned his head to the side to get a good look at them.
"Yep, they are the cube houses."
"It looks so weird. People actually live in these houses?"
"Yeah I know. Yep they do. It's not exactly like this on the inside."
When the light turned green Zoë took a left onto Blaak. Callen looked at the houses. They looked so weird. Zoë continued driving and followed the street and took a left onto G.J. de Jonghweg. She continued driving and parked the car along the side near the water.
"Where are we going?" Callen asked.
"Look up there," Zoë pointed to her left. Callen looked up the massive tower. "That's the Euromast. If was planning on going up there if you like."
"Sure that's fine."
They went up to the viewing platform and looked out over Rotterdam.
"How about we take a selfie?" Zoë suggested.
"Sure."
Callen and Zoë posed with the city of Rotterdam in the background. They stayed up there for a while before going back down. They got back in their car and Zoë continued driving. She drove them back the way they came for a bit and took a right onto Westzeedijk and took another right onto Erasmusbrug.
"This is one of the most famous bridges of Holland, it's the Erasmusbrug."
Zoë crossed the bridge and took a left onto Wilhelminakade and a right onto Laan op zuid and followed the street.
"Is that a soccer stadium?" Callen asked.
"Ugh… yes," Zoë spoke a bit disgusted.
"I take it this is not your favorite team?"
"Nope, not at all. It are the biggest rivals of my team. Feyenoord play here. I'm an Ajax fan. They play in Amsterdam. We'll drive past there on our way back to the airport before we fly to Liverpool."
Zoë drove past the stadium and took a right onto John F. Kennedyweg and got on the left ramp towards the freeway, the A16. She followed the road and took the ramp onto the A15.
"You know, I'm looking at this signs with the city names on it but I have no idea how to pronounce them. They sound so weird when I try to pronounce them," Callen stated.
"Haha yeah, that's Dutch. Dutch is a very complicated language. It's very difficult to spoke for foreigners."
Zoë continued on the road until the exit towards the A27. Next she took the exit towards the A59. She got off the freeway at exit thirty-seven towards Waalwijk and Tilburg. She followed the road till Kaatsheuvel and took a right here towards the Efteling. She took a left onto Horst and another left up to the hotel.
"What's this? The Eeftealing?" Callen tried to pronounce it correctly.
Zoë could help but smile a bit as Callen tried to pronounce it. "It's called Efteling, you say it like ef-tuh-ling."
"Ah okay and what it is?"
"It's an amusement park. It's a bit like Disneyland but then with fairy tales. You have different rides and such. It thought it would be fun to do. I used to love coming here as a kid, but it wasn't near as big as it's now."
"Yeah sure it's fine. I would love to see where you grew up and what you did as a kid."
Zoë parked the car and they grabbed their luggage before going into the hotel.
"Good evening, welcome to the Efteling hotel. Which language do you speak?" A friendly hostess greeted them at the desk.
"Nederlands is prima.[Dutch is fine.]"
"Goede avond, u heeft een reservering bij ons? [Good evening, you have a reservation with us?]"
"Ja, onder de naam Foster. [Yes, in the name of Foster]."
The woman typed something on her computer. "Ah ja, ik zie het hier. In de comfortkamer.[Ah yes, i see here. In the comfort room.]"
"Ja, dat klopt. [Yes that's correct.]"
The woman explained where the room was and how they could get to the park. Two tickets for the park where included in their stay. With the keys and the stuff in hand they took the elevator up to the fourth floor. Zoë opened the door to the room. They had a room with two separate beds, a desk with chair, a sitting area and a bathroom with tub and shower in one. Everything in the room was with blue accents. They put their stuff away and freshened up a bit before going down to have dinner. They went down to restaurant "De hoffelijke Heraut".
"Goede avond[good evening]," a waiter greeted them as they walked in.
"Goede avond. Een tafel voor twee aub.[Good evening. A table for two please.]"
"Tuurlijk, volgt u mij.[Of course, follow me please.]" The waiter took them to a table and gave them a menu card. "Wilt u iets te drinken? [Would you like something to drink?]"
"Een fles Merlot, aub. [A bottle of Merlot please.]"
"Komt eraan.[Coming right up.]"
They looked over the menu card. The first page was in Dutch which Callen didn't understand, luckily there was also a page in English.
"What would you recommend?" Callen asked Zoë.
"The tomato soup looks nice or the turkey salad."
A little later the waiter returned with their wine. "Heeft u een keuze kunnen maken?[Can I take your order?]"
"Voor mij de kalkoen salade en de varkenshaas.[For me the turkey salad and the pork tenderloin,]" Zoë answered.
"En voor u meneer? [And for you sir?]" The waiter asked, turning to Callen.
"The tomaaten soap," Callen tried to speak in Dutch. "And Rundarburger."
The waiter looked a bit surprised at Callen but he got the order.
"That was actually not bad," Zoë told Callen once they waiter had left. "No bad for a first try at Dutch."
"Thanks. I speak a lot of languages but this looks completely weird to me."
"Yeah Dutch is pretty weird. Dutch language has a lot of weird sounds no other language has."
"So what I ordered, how would you pronounce it?"
"Too-maa-tun suoep," Zoë spoke. "And Run-dur-bur-gur."
Callen tried to do it just as Zoë did and it sounded a bit better.
"Not bad. The oe like in soep[soup] is the one of most difficult sounds in Dutch, no other language has this."
They enjoyed their dinner and they ordered some dessert. Callen and Zoë both had the cheesecake. After paying for dinner they went up to their room. They lounged around for a bit before going to sleep. Next day after breakfast Callen and Zoë left for the park. It was about a five minute walk to the park. There was a special entrance for guests of the hotel. They showed their tickets at the booth and walked into the park. They came into the park at the back. Zoë had the map of the park. It was winter so not all the rides where open and it was pretty cold outside. They had dressed themselves in a winter coat with a hat and gloves. The park was decorated for Christmas.
"So where to first?" Callen asked.
"Over here, this is one of the most popular rides. It's been around for a really long time."
They went over to the ride and Callen read Carnival Festival on the building. They went inside and stood in line before they could board the ride. They had their own cart as they road across the ride. They were funny figurines showing stuff from all around the world.
"Ooh this music is so annoying, it will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day," Callen stated.
"Haha yep, it's always been like this."
A/N: for those who don't know it look it up on youtube.
"Oh we've gotta pose for the picture. Around the corner is a photo-up."
Callen placed his arm around Zoë's shoulder and they smiled as their picture was taken. After the ride was over they bought the picture. They went next door to the Vogelrock[Birdrock]. This was an indoor dark rollercoaster. It went pretty fast and it was pitch black inside.
"Look they have magic teapots," Callen said as they exited the Vogelrock.
"Ugh, I never went in those things, they make me sick. But you can go in if you'd like."
"Nah, it's okay."
They walked towards "Het Land van Laaf" where they got on board the monorail. This was a cart which they had to move by themselves with two peddles like on a bike. They took a selfie on the ride. After the ride they walked through the rest of the part and saw "De Laven" 'living their lives'.
They walked further and came across Villa Volta. They stood in line and went inside. First they got a bit of a story from "De bokkenrijders"[The goat riders]. After that they went inside the ride. There were two rows of benches across from each other. When the ride started it looked like they spun upside down, but in fact it was the room that turned around the benches. After the Villa Volta they went to the Droomvlucht[flight of dreams]. This was an indoor hanging roller coaster that took you through an elf enchanted land.
"It's beautiful how they can make something like that," Callen remarked as they exited the ride.
"Yeah it is. This is one of the most popular rides."
They went to "Ravelijn" after to watch a show. It was a show set in medieval like times with people on horses. After the show they sat down at Restaurant "T Poffertje" for some lunch.
"Hmm what's good?" Callen asked Zoë.
"Oh you should definitely try this. It's typical Dutch."
Zoë put a portion of fries on their trays and a "frikandel".
"What is it?"
"It's a frikandel, it's a snack."
Callen paid for the food and they found a spot to sit. Callen took a bite of the frikandel.
"And what do you think?" Zoë asked.
"It's actually pretty good. What is it?"
"It's made from pork and horse."
"It's not bad."
After lunch they walked on and went into Het sprookjesbos[fairytale land]. A lot of the fairy tales were there, Tom Thumb, the Chinese nightingale, the fakir, Cinderella, Snow white, Hansel and Gretel, sleeping beauty, the little mermaid, Pinocchio and little red riding hood. There were also some Dutch fairy tales that Callen didn't know.
They also went inside the Indian water lilies. It was a show within het sprookjesbos.(A/N: for those wondering you can find it on youtube.)
They exited het sprookjesbos and walked on. They went inside the Pandadroom. This was an indoor 3D movie. It was a movie with special effects where you could feel some of the things that happened on the screen.
They went to Fata Morgana next. This was a boat ride take took them through Egyptian/Arabic like settings. Next they went in the bob, which was a sort of bobsledding. Sometimes it was closed during the winter but it was open today. They stood in line and waited till it was their turn. The next ride they came buy was closed for the winter.
"What's that ride?" Callen asked.
"It's called the Piranha, it's a water ride so it's closed during the winter."
"Yeah too cold to get wet now."
They continued walking towards the next ride.
"Is there a ride on this lake too?"
"Yeah, the gondoletta but it's closed for the winter as well."
The next ride they went in was "De Vliegende Hollander"[The flying Dutchman]"
"Is that like the ship from Pirates Of The Caribbean?" Callen asked as they stood in line.
"Yes it is."
This was a water ride as well but it was open today. It was a thrilling ride and luckily they didn't get too wet. They went to the next roller coaster afterwards, "Joris en de draak.[Joris and the dragon.]" It was a roller coaster with two lanes and the carts 'raced' each other. Callen and Zoë got onboard the blue track. They went very fast over the wooden roller coaster and they 'won'. After this roller coaster they went to the Python, which was another roller coaster but with loops in it.
At the game Gallery Callen played a game of "Muiterij[Mutiny]". This was a game with a shotgun where you had to hit targets.
"Have you ever used a shotgun before?" Zoë asked.
"A few times," Callen answered.
Like a pro Callen shot all the target.
"Why don't you try," Callen told Zoë.
"I've never shot a gun before."
"I'll teach you."
Callen put another Euro in the machine and gave the gun to Zoë.
"You're right handed right?"
"Yeah I am."
"Okay. Then hold your right hand on the rigger and with your left support the barrel."
Zoë did exactly as Callen told her.
"Almost perfect." Callen touched her hand to move it to the right place. Callen went to stand behind Zoë so he could guide her. "Now put the end against your shoulder." Zoë put the gun against her shoulder.
Callen stood behind her with his hands on her hips to put her in the right stance and together they lined up the shot.
"Now focus on the shot and when you have it in your sight pull the trigger." Zoë focused and pulled the trigger. The shot went just wide. "Not bad for a first time."
They shot nine more times. Zoë managed to hit four targets.
"Not bad, not bad at all." Callen remarked.
"I'll leave the shooting to you and the others."
Callen thought back to that moment just now. It was a bit strange to stand so close to Zoë. He was just teaching her, like he had done more times. But this felt different. He didn't know exactly what it was but it felt different.
Callen also did a game of basketball where he won a stuffed dolphin for Zoë.
They walked further and got on board the "Halve maen" which was a rocking ship. They sat in the top row. After the ride they walked towards the exit. They exited the park and went back to the hotel. They went up to the room and freshened up a bit. Zoë just walked out of the bathroom when Callen walked up to it and they almost bumped against each other.
"Oh, sorry," Callen spoke apologetic.
"It's okay," Zoë replied as they looked into each other eyes.
Neither one of them moved as they looked into each other eyes. Callen thought back to the moment they had earlier in the park and the other times he spend with Zoë. There was definitely something between them, but Callen didn't know what it was. Was he falling for Zoë? As Callen looked in Zoë eyes he could see her having the same kind of thoughts, or so he figured.
Zoë could help but look into Callen's eyes. For the first time she noticed just now blue his eyes actually where. It was like they were even bluer than before. There was just something about Callen. She felt it whenever she was around him and she sorta felt that he had felt that too