It was lunch time and pancakes were on the menu. Take a 17th-century farm house and turn it into a modern, country eatery and what you get is Pannekoeken by Helènè. It’s literally in the middle of a lake in the middle of nowhere, yet there was this place. Wild. Whoever Helènè is, she has nice taste.

It was self-service so off we went to order from the purely Dutch selection – it was pancakes (which are really crepes), uitsmijters (bread slices covered with ham and fried eggs), and sandwich rolls. Even though we were the only ones there, an oddly-impatient counter girl took our order, and soon we were given a beeper along with one of the best cappuccinos I can remember. Sitting outside with the sun playing hide and seek behind the clouds, it felt almost like a real holiday in some far off place. It was quiet, relaxing, and just about perfect.

The pannekoeken was good, but then again is it really that easy to mess up a crepe. It filled the right places though, so much so that I couldn’t even finish all of it. It did give me the boost I needed, and then some, because I did still have an entire island to discover.