From Bloemfontein to Parys - a holiday tale

 25 December 2024 to 1 January 2025.

When Kayla and her family went on a short pilgrimage to both Bloemfontein as well as Parys to hug both her grandmothers, she decided there was no way she was NOT introducing Dylan to them. 

Even if he had to sit in the boot! Which was a possibility since even the family dog went with. It's not a big dog but he has a sizeable personality and these things take up space. 

Luckily her parents like him (Dylan, not the dog. Well l mean they obviously like the dog as well but I ... man, you get the picture) so she didn't have to argue to get her way. They quickly agreed, and after some negotiation even agreed that he didn't have to ride in the boot after all! Which was kinda nice of them because car boots don't have seatbelts. Safety matters!

Off they went to the Free State to visit, in no particular order, granny number one. Much fun was had - as much as one can have in Bloem where one of the biggest attractions is to park on Naval Hill and watch the next weekend approach. This is made possible by the fact that much of the Free State is flatter than the underside of a pancake. Bloem is also known as the City of Roses, and Naval Hill got it's name from the fact that British Forces positioned 2 naval guns there during the Boer War. No ships were harmed during that exercise...

Just before anybody grew so attached to the place that they developed the urge to become Cheetah rugby supporters, it was time to hit the road to Pragtige Parys where granny number two lives. The Parys much closer to home where the closest anybody gets to French is when they order coffee and "gee sommer vir my 'n cross sant ook asseblief!" 

It has evolved over time into quite the artist hangout, with loads of art galleries, coffee shops, restaurants, antique dealers and beer breweries - in fact a little bit of a Cullinan spin-off but with a river. The Afrikaanse Seine - the Vaalrivier.

Very popular daytrip destination for people from the nearby cities, and a handy holiday destination for those who want to rather skip the long drive to the coast. Of course, if you like fishing and things like river rafting, it's heaven. 

Kayla, her sister Natalie and her dad like fishing. Dylan has done some fishing himself. So time was made to maak lyn nat - Kayla caught a 5kg yellowfish, Natalie caught a 7kg barbell, their dad caught a moerse big carp and Dylan caught them all napping and dreaming of catching these huge fish. He quickly woke them up and as a result, the most they caught were some photo opportunities of them posing next to the river. Peculiarly, some odd gnomes also ended up in the photos. It is unclear if they were fishing or merely hanging out by the river as it is difficult to tell with gnomes, they are known to be unpredictable. 

Anyway, everybody had a good time and enjoyed being spoiled rotten by the two grannies. 

As far as holidays go, this was a good one.