Courtney and Rob hosted a
family picnic & barbeque for the international group on Saturday afternoon. We had great attendance with 11 families joining coming together for potluck and grilled meat - Yummy! It was nice to meet more people and the families of the women I had met already. The kids had a blast with their water guns, an inflatable wading pool, and the sandbox in the backyard. Miles was so tired that he almost fell asleep standing up with a shovel in his hand. He rallied and enjoyed the water too.
Gina had a grand scheme to get all the kids lined up for a picture - Popsicles. Perfect for such a hot day!
We spent today recovering from our zoo trip and straightening up. After dinner, we took a short walk to the mailbox which have been converted from red to orange boxes. We mailed some postcards and came back home. Jim came home very late from his weeklong trip to Vienna, Austria.
His trip was fine; though a bit of culture shock. One of his few emails said: "Things going ok for now!! Sitting in a room with a bunch of Austrians,who are all typing and clicking and chain-smoking. Seriously." It sounded like the IT guys who he was working with didn't speak much English, liked to drink and one had a hobby of making his own schnapps. Needless to say, we now have two nice bottles of cherry and peppermint schnapps to bring home! It was quite hot and the guys wore shorts and sandals. A little different from the typical business attire in Europe. Jim was glad he left his ties in his suitcase!
Today we ventured into Amsterdam for the first time to see the Artis Zoo. Our double-decker train was pretty crowded, so
the boys sat in one seat and I sat across the quad. Miles demanded, by pointing at Eliot's seat, to sit with Eliot. So off we went on our hour-long ride to Amsterdam Centraal Station (CS). Once we arrived at CS, we took Tram #9 to the entrance of the zoo. Amsterdam is a big city. We passed great sights on our way to the zoo: Koninklijk Paleis, Muntplein, Rembrandt Plein, and the Amstel River.
It is an oasis of peace and quiet admist the hustle and bustle of the city. It really is in the middle of the city. We got to one edge of the park and there's a huge canal with apartments and boats and buildings. Pretty amazing.
We saw this drawbridge just outside the gates across from the African Savannah exhibit.
Artis, the Royal Zoological Society 'Natura Artis Magistra', was founded on 1 May 1838, at the initiative of the book dealer G.F.Westerman. Its purpose was: 'to promote the knowledge of Natural History, in a clear and agreeable way; both by assembling an extensive collection of living animals and by displaying mounted exhibits from the animal kingdom.' This gate looks like it did in 1854. The zoo is the oldest in the Netherlands and by some accounts mainland Europe.
Eliot stands between a wonderful art display in the aquarium. I have the wingspan of a Egyptian vulture - how about you?
I love zoos! For some reason, this one really stands out as one of the best. The zoo is so old and historical.
People enjoy the 19th-century atmosphere of the gardens: the winding paths, majestic trees, the fascinating sculptures and the monumental historical buildings. Throughout the zoo you see beautiful, old buildings that are used for maintenance, offices, monkey houses, and other animal exhbits. Even many of the cages are from the 1800s.
This scene with Miles is typical: he's sitting on a bench across from the elephants with mature vegetation above and a historic building (housing the wild dogs) in the background. You might expect the animal spaces to be small, but they really have a nice areas. The vegetation is real - the red panda was sleeping in a real shrub with lots of shrubs and grass in his pen.
Two Grevy's zebras come down to their pond to drink at the African Savannah exhibit. Pelicans and cranes were hanging out on the shore; white-tailed gnus and other zebras were up at the shelter eating. The habitats are really well done. The trees are old and provide plenty of shade and cover for the animals and the visitors.
The five elements that make up present day Artis are each represented in the logo: Artis as a Zoo and Aquarium, Botanical gardens, Zoological Museum, Geological Museum and Planetarium. Artis contains more than 200 different species of trees. Some of the trees predate Artis itself. One such example is the common oak next to the outdoor chimpanzee enclosure. This tree has been estimated to be about 250 years old.
Eliot and I ate lunch looking at the penguins while Miles slept. A sign by the pengiuns showed the 30+ different species of pengiuns and another gave the location of pengiun colonies around Antartica. We should have taken a picture of the sign - Eliot really liked it. The aquarium is shown in the background. Inside the aquarium, they have a display of the canal water system, large tanks with big fish (like Tropical Discovery at the Denver Zoo but bigger), salt water tanks with vast coral displays, and fresh water tanks too. The big fish dwarfed Eliot and the tank was angled up to the ceiling about 10 ft tall; he didn't like them being so close. It was pretty cool. We saw a giant Japanese salamander (the name does not lie), upside down white-and-blue jellyfish, and the largest catfish I have ever seen. At one end of the aquarium is the Zoological Museum. The exhibit hall had skeletons of a giraffe, an elephant, and this big whale among other animals. Eliot wasn't too sure about this part - the skeletons were pretty big. Miles slept through the whole thing and woke up as we left the aquarium building.
Lots and lots of zoo babies:
the lion cubs get ready for a pile-up on mom; Yindee, the baby elephant, is nearly 1 year old; a momma coot with her two babies steal a spot at the zebra pond (these birds are all over Holland); 2 baby sea lions bask in the sun.
Up Close and Personal - the animals were so close, amazingly close. This
ring-tailed lemur came to the edge of the cage (he and his 2 comrades also had a big space inside) to check out a blade of grass on the ground. He sat inches from us and went about his business. We could have touched him he was so close. You could hear him crunching on his grass stalk. A few minutes later, 2 friends came to look into his activities.
This pygmy marmoset was housed in a small mammal house. They had a full jungle growing in there for the monkeys and deer and rodents. We walked by
some very big tortoises (this one was moving to get some fresh grass that I heard him crunch on), passed through the insectarium, and toured the very hot reptile house. Eliot and I weren't big fans of the insect house and all it's insects sounds and giantcockroaches. I just don't like bugs that much! At predator row, we watched the
lions (1 male, 2 females, and 3 cubs) playing in the water, drinking, and knocking a ball around.
This black jaguar looks so regal and relaxed.
We saw several animals that we had never seen before:
a hoofed oxen (cow) laying with the Bactrian camels, European bison, a European lynx, a maned wolf, white-tailed gnus, beaver rats swimming in their stream,
an animal that looked like a cross between a giraffe and a deer,
great white pelicans, and this
beautiful bird trying to woo his mate. Of course, we didn't remember the names of some of the new animals - we needed to write them down. Next time!
After 4.5 hours at the zoo, we took the tram back to Centraal Station. The tram came right away so I quickly folded up the stroller, swooped Miles up, and asked Eliot to jump on the tram. It was standing room only and took off before I even had time to get my stroller situated. Luckily, Eliot was able to hold on by himself as it lurched forward and around a curve, while I tried to keep the stroller and Miles standing until I could load him in the Ergo carrier. Eliot did quite well fending for himself, and we did get a seat after a couple of stops. The boys and I were much too tired to do anything else.
It was my fantasy to do a walking tour after the zoo. It was nearly 4:00. The station was so busy and the line for information was very long, so I just looked for a train going to Den Haag Centraal. I knew we could switch there. A lady on the train said we could get off in Leiden to catch a train in Delft, so that's what we did. Another passenger carried my stroller and I held the boys. She said that was our train on the platform next to us, getting ready to leave, so we jumped on. It was the stoptrein (stops a lot along the way), but it got us to Delft (just 10-15 minutes slower than a sneltrein) and both boys got a catnap. At Delft, a very nice gentelman helped me take the stroller off the train (he got back on because this was not his stop). I carried Eliot, Miles on my back, the stroller and our two bags down the stairs and out of the train station. At home, we ordered pizza and were exhausted. It was quite an adventure but loads of fun!
We desperately needed to get out today. By Tuesday afternoon, the rain had cleared to sunny skies. I thought it would be fun to take a bike ride and go over to a mostly empty parking lot near the train tracks to play some baseball. The boys batted, pitched and chased balls. We watched trains pass right by us,
including this engine - maybe it's a maintenance car? We're not sure, but it was fun to see.
Later in the day, Deborah invited us over to play at her house. Timo, Eliot and I played voetball (soccer to us). Astrid, Eliot and Miles liked playing on the wipkip (seesaw) and just running around and exploring. Deborah has a little garden and playground just next to their house, so that's where we played. Deborah and I played some baseball and the kids chased balls.
I thought I remembered where Deborah lived, so I rode off in the right direction. After 5 minutes of circling the same block, I had to look at the Delft map. Funny enough, Deborah lives just off the highly decorated street we passed by on Sunday. The flags were still flying high and proud today. Today was an important biking milestone, for me at least. After dinner, we needed to go to the store before our big trip to the zoo. I rode the kids over to the small C1000. I successfully rode home with my bike bag, a heavy bag in my basket, a lighter bag on my shoulder and 2 boys on my bike. Luckily, I didn't have to stop until we got to our parking garage door!!
Today was market day. At the bakery, we got 1 loaf of Waldkorn and a half loaf of brown sesame bread. We went to the Albert Heijn grocery store to get some fruit, meat and cookies. We ran into Casia and her 2 kids. After paying, we left with our two free (gratis) orange Wuppies.
Another cultural misunderstanding happened with these fun little creatures. About 2 weeks ago, I was at this AH store. Before checking out, I put two Wuppies onto the conveyer to buy for the boys. The cashier gave me a funny look, but I didn't really think further about it. Later that week during a world cup game, I watched the Albert Heijn TV commercial carefully.
It's a great commercial with people wearing Wuppies as hats and dogs with Wuppie vests. The song was stuck in my head for a week. http://www.ah.nl/wup/article.jsp - this video captures the Holland spirit for world cup and their Oranje - just watch it. Pretty funny! Apparently, the cashier gives you a wuppie free with your receipt when you spend 15+ euros there. Whoops - I only spent 10. No wonder she looked at me funny!
On Sunday morning, we went for a family bike ride in the countryside around Delft. Jim took Miles on his bike; I had Eliot on the back of mine. We headed out the Buitenwatersloot toward Den Hoorn, which is a small town about 2 km from central Delft. We rode past old houses, draw bridges, and boats along lovely, quiet canals.
Here we saw 3 horses being ridden across this interesting green draw bridge. We also saw a white draw bridge, similar to the green one, that was drawn to let a boat pass. Eliot thought that was pretty neat. Along the route between Den Hoorn and Schipluiden,
we passed by this beautiful English garden. Eliot commented that "this is the wildest garden I've ever seen."
At Schilpluiden, we decided to follow the bike path toward 't Woudt. The scenery included fields with dairy cows, canals, windmills and greenhouses. Holland provides much of Europe with its vegetables. Given the moderate climate and the abundance of water, this makes sense.
Along our route we saw roses and tomotoes being grown in greenhouses. Most of the windows were fogged over, so it was difficult to see what was growing inside. Where there is water, there's bound to be water fowl. We saw plenty of ducks and coots with their black bodies and white beaks. In a still pool,
this beautiful blue heron walks in the water looking for food.
't Woudt is a small village 5 km from Delft. The town seems to have a few houses and farms, a koffiehuis (coffee), a
beautiful thatched building, and a
nice church. On one plot, there was a field with goats and a pig surrounded by canals - idyllic. Since it was Sunday, the village was empty.
Miles fell asleep, so it was time to take the direct route back home with Jim providing head support.
It is amazingly easy to get around on bike here. The bike paths are everywhere, safe, and flat. Even when we were traveling along the road, we were on a separate path adjacent to the road. People of all ages (even 80 year olds) use their bike as a mode of transportation - you see people out running errands or just taking a stroll. We did see some people road biking in all their gear (it felt like Boulder), but these riders are in the minority. It is easy to navigate too because crossroads and intersections are marked with red and white signs. These signposts show direction and distances to towns and landmarks. That's how we got to t' Woudt [Ap and Gina had mentioned the name but we didn't know where it was]. Eliot exclaimed during our ride, "It's really fun being on the bike." We probably traveled 12-15 km in a leisurely 1.5 hours. We greatly enjoyed our little tour and even got some exercise!
Gearing up for the big game - Holland's round of 16 game against Portugal.
Jim gets a new hat for Father's Day. Eliot and I liked it : ).
A neighborhood street in Delft has all of its colors flying. I think this is near the college.
The boys get their naps in prior to the game, which starts at 9 pm. They are both decked out in their Holland orange shirts. During the game, Eliot didn't think we had enough orange to help Holland win. They were behind by 1. He decided they should put
orange play-doh all over the TV. It didn't work. Holland had a disappointing 0-1 loss. With 65% ball possession and 20 shots, you would think 1 would go in. It was not to be. We were sad largely because there won't be any fun orange people to watch and now we don't have a team to cheer on!
Today we had traditional pannekueken for breakfast - though I think the Dutch only have these for lunch or dinner. There are only 1-2 restaurants open for breakfast here. The boys had theirs plain with butter and syrup, but Jim and I had apples, bacon and cheese on our pannekueken. After a lazy morning, we biked over to the Markt to have a light lunch at the Waag restaurant. There were marching bands of school children performing on the square. The number of people out was amazing - tourists everywhere! It's easy to spot them - either on yellow tour scooters (think razor with handle bars) or standing in the middle of a bridge or road looking at their map. Isn't it a little funny that we aren't the tourists? I like getting out on the week days because there are still tourists but the town doesn't seem to be overrun with them - at least not yet! Summer is coming though. Jim went to the store and I took the kids home.
Gina and Ap (short for Albert) invited us over to their house for dinner Saturday night. Their children are Merrick 2.5 and Martijn, nearly 6. They live on a nice quiet street. When we arrived, Martijn was playing with other neighborhood kids on the sidewalks and in the alley behind their houses. It's nice that they can play safely outside with other kids.
This hut is a community area for the street. It is decorated for Oranje voetball World Kup (of course). Gina and Ap have a nice backyard that the boys all played in. It was lovely weather and we ate outside. We all had a very nice meal and visit. Our dessert was fla - a pudding/custard. Eliot exclaimed "Mommy, I tried the fla and I liked it!"
Several of the toys that Gina had were checked out from a toy library. Basically, a non-profit/volunteer organization checks out toys to families for 3 weeks at a time. Each of the parts for the toys are numbered, so you'll know how many pieces to return. They had checked out puzzles, water toys, sand toys, and games. Pretty neat idea for all those toys we have to get rid of and worry about how they can best be used. I can't remember whether she paid a joining fee or maybe a nominal fee for each item.
We did not do much today. In the afternoon, Eliot and I went out to get some fish for dinner. We also stopped for some printer cartridges. Miles was home (with Jim) sleeping. After dinner, the boys and I went out for ice cream. They had stracciatella (chocolate chip) and I had a cappucino cone. Jim joined us after his work call in time for a very melted cone. While standing in line, a Dutch woman (mom of a teenager) picked up Miles so he could look at the choices while I was doing the same for Eliot. She tickled and kissed on him. I have noticed that the Dutch definitely show their affection for children. It was very nice.
Gina and Merrick called to see if we wanted to join them at the playground and then onto the market. We met her at the flower market under the train tracks and then we went to a couple of small playgrounds. There are lots of small playgrounds, each with a couple of pieces of equipment. They seem to be tucked into little courtyards or plots amongst the houses. You definitely need to be in the know to find them. It was Thursday, so we bought some orange Gerbera daisies at the Hippolytusbuurt and moved on to the general market. Gina treated us to some fried fish with a salty seasoning. She offered to get us some salted haring (herring) or paling (smoked eel), but we declined. They are Dutch staples. I bought Jim a gyro to bring home - he was very happy about that!
Thursday night was a treat for me as Gina coordinated a mom's evening out for drinks at 8:30 pm. I left Jim on the phone with his weekly staff meeting, Eliot asleep on the couch, and Miles watching Blues Clues. Gina picked me up and we biked over to the Waag restaurant - housed in the 1644 weigh house. It was fun to discuss politics, healthcare, and kids. I had my first taste of bitterballen - a pub food of deep-fried meat balls served with hot mustard. All three boys were asleep when I got home at 11:30 pm.
Happy Solstice! Thank goodness, we have finally reached the longest day of the year. This shows
the night sky at 11:00 pm and 11:45 pm on the solstice. The sun rises slowly again by 4:30 am. That's about 18 hours of daylight. Crazy. The boys are a little confused with time. The long days in summer mean long nights in the winter. Everyone keeps telling me that we will be lucky to be home by winter.
Holland played their last pool game tonight. We went out around 8 pm on our bikes around town to try and find "orange people" [what we call them]. Those are the wild and crazy Holland fans dressed up for the soccer game. I think we were too early because we didn't see as many people heading into the pubs as I did on Saturday. We did see police setting up areas for lots of people near the Beestenmarkt - maybe the revelers after the game? Holland tied Argentena 0-0. They are through to the final 16.
We biked to the water playground at Delftsse Hout to meet the playgroup around 10:30.
We saw this periwinkle bike with an infant car seat attached to the frame on back. The Dutch do carry everything on their bikes. This week, Gina with Merrick plus Casia with Jimmy and Alicia attended. We had a nice time and the boys enjoyed the water and the sand. The sand is so fine; they are always covered in it by the time we leave. There were lots of older kids playing in the water, which gave us a glimpse into what is coming once school lets out for the summer holiday. That happens in Delft on July 7. Holland is divided into 3 zones and the 6-week summer vacations are staggered by 2 weeks. This is their way of somewhat managing the amount of people traveling and the terrible traffic in July and August around the Netherlands. Before heading home, we visited the sheep, goats and horses at the animal farm. Lots and lots of kids (the 4-legged kind: goats) and lambs.
Later on Tuesday, we walked to a smaller grocery store via stroller to pick up a few items. On our way home, we saw a
ladder firetruck taking out a window on the 3rd floor of an old building. It was quite a scene with the politie (police) and the fire truck with 2
firefighters.
The firefighter equipment and especially their helmet looked quite different what we're used to seeing.
Monday was a market/shopping day for us. The boys were tired from the weekend, so we kind of took it easy. I've been trying to do dinner menus, like at home. It makes it easier for cooking and shopping. We've been using Food Network's website for recipes - mainly the quick and easy ones. I miss my kitchen - the knives, my chopping block, big work surfaces, the food processor, spices, utensils, etc. We have to find things that are pretty simple, which is fine. I was a little spoiled at home! It seems like I still manage to be missing one ingredient when I go to cook!
The boys and I took the stroller and went to the produce market, the cheese shop and the bakery. This is my time to learn some Dutch. There is one woman at the produce market who is teaching me. I practice my vocabulary (either I know the word or I look at the sign) and she corrects my pronunciation.
The store is a box with the fruits and vegetables displayed on three walls. The front is the entrance. You tell the worker what you want and how much (# or kilos) and they pick it out for you. For avocados and melons and the like, they ask you when you want to eat it (today, tomorrow, in a few days). When you are done, they print a bill and put it in your bags. She usually comes and puts it under my stroller for me. Each time I try to add a few words. She is so nice to the kids and patient with me (I need to get her name). This week she taught me to count to ten, counting slowly while I repeated her words. I am sure the customer waiting for service was wondering what was going on. The produce market and cheese shop seem to know me and usually talk to me in English.
The boys and I also went to the drugstore Kruidvast (it's the discount one). It's funny because I was so careful to bring plenty of our shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. The drugstore has most of the brands and products we buy at home (except Tom's of Maine) - even the toothbrushes I like. They have Pampers too (no Huggies).
Monday afternoon we made a quick run on the bike to the smaller C1000 to get what we needed for dinner. After dinner, all of us went to the big C1000 to get groceries for the week. Jim has the paniers on his bike, so he has to go with us. I have the kids and a basket. We often get looks because the boys are out late (8:30/9 pm) and because we speak English. We are still time shifted, just like at home.
Wanting to see the countryside on this Father's Day, we headed south to Zeeland in southern Holland. We traveled via back roads to get to our first water crossing. The countryside is lovely with lots of molen (windmills), pleasure boats on canals, homesteads and farms with lovely gardens. Our photographer was too busy navigating to take any photos. We saw an interesting town that we can bike to and rent paddle boats on a canal. We discovered that we
had (got from Eliot's perspective) to take a ferry to cross a road that was on the map (obviously, our navigator did not pass Map Reading 101). So we drove the Volvo on board with the other cars and lots of bicycles to make our short ferry trip across the Nieuwe Waterweg from Maasluis to Vlaardingen.
We all got out of the car to see the water and a few ships too.Zeeland's three fingers of land are really just islands set in the middle of a vast delta through which many of Europe's rivers drain, including the Rijn, Schelde, and Maas. The name, which means Sea Land, could not be more appropriate as the boundary between the two is thin indeed.
For centuries the plucky Zeelanders have been battling the North Sea waters, and not always with success. The St Elizabeth's Day flood of 1421 killed over 100,000 and forever altered the landscape - and some would argue the disposition - of the Netherlands and its people. More recently, the huge flood of 31 January 1953 killed almost 2000, left 500,000 homeless and destroyed 800 km of dykes.
The result of this last calamity is the Delta Project, an enormous multidecade construction programme that aims to finally ensure the security of these lands. It's easily the largest construction project in modern history and has greatly altered the entire region. [Lonely Planet guide]This description is what piqued our interest and set our itinerary in Zeeland. We wanted to see the Delta Expo - the museum on the Delta Project. It ended up being a disappointing adventure with lots of twists and turns. The first order of business was lunch. Here was our first mishap. A fellow passenger on the ferry suggested an area that was touristy and had nice beaches. We thought that would be a great place to get lunch, so off we went. Did I mention that it was Sunday? More to come on that. We drove to the beach figuring there would be food. Miles was asleep, so Jim and Eliot went to check it out. Everyone was arriving to the parking area with their bathing suits and beach gear. We hadn't brought anything for the beach. Jim and Eliot followed the people over the dunes; we had seen a sign for food, so that was good. Jim returned and said it was a 1/2 mile hike to get to the beach and the people and the food. Since we weren't prepared for the beach, we thought we'd head into the nearby beach town Ouddorp for lunch at a cafe. The town was dead - nothing was open. Bad decision #2 - we decided to head down the road to see what we could find for food. We munched on snacks.
Driving the N57 highway was different than we expected. It was along the north sea coast, so I think we were expecting a Highway 1 experience. Well, in Holland, between you and the coast is a tall dyke. You can't see the water except on bridges and dams. It's pretty much towns off to the side, windmills, crop fields, and every once in a while a beach with lots of boats, campers and/or people that you don't see until you pass it. Clearly, there are tricks that the Dutch people know. One is that nothing is open in towns on a Sunday and don't leave your house without food. We stopped at a gas station and got sandwiches and snacks. I am sure I over bought worrying about starving to death out in the middle of nowhere. We were back on track to get to our desitination - the Delta Expo.
We exited where the guidebook says. We drove around and found the building but it appears to have been turned into a hospital (in the middle of a causeway). We found the parking lot for all the beachgoers. We went to the other side of the highway and looked at the water play park. No expo. Maybe it closed becasuse the Dutch weren't intersted in going to a museum on the project. We went down teh highway to realize that it had to be here. We decided to go back to the building and get out. Aha - I found a sign. They've moved it to the water park (think wave machine and slides). So back across the highway we go to go to the expo. 5 euro to park. OK, this is what we came for. We check with the ticket office. 16 euro (x 1.3 for USD) per person including Eliot. They don't sell separate tickets for the expo; it's a combined ticket. We decide the parking is sunk cost; we'll just go back to the beach and enjoy it - darn it! The ticket office gives (yeah!) us a parking token to get out of the lot. When leave, we notice at least 2 other parties trying to locate the expo. We don't feel so dumb. It seems so strange to combine the two with completely different audiences.
Having not seen the museum, it still seems cool and a huge undertaking. The Delta project started in 1958 and was completed in 1996. Over time, the Dutch became more environmentally aware and
blocking up the estuaries was no longer acceptable. So the Oosterdschelde was left open to the sea tides and 3 km of movable barriers were constructed that could be lowered ahead of a possible storm surge. This picture shows the
movable (like gates) barriers on the right. There's also a wind park filled with wind turbines.
