Halloween
Although the Dutch don't really celebrate Halloween, Deborah contacted her neighbors to see if they would be willing to hand out candy for an American-style Halloween. They had done trick-or-treating 2 previous times. This year about 20 houses participated, with some providing their own candy and others using the candy from the participating families. Jim and I loaded up our two Tiggers and rode to Deborah's street. The weather wasn't too bad - cool with a chance of rain.
Deborah and Laurents opened their house as the gathering spot for the list of houses, mulled wine, and hot chocolate. We were meeting Gina there at 6:00 to trick or treat together. Several families and even some neighborhood kids participated in the festivities.
Alexander and Miles look at each other to see who will make the first move.
Eliot stepped right in to start the big cats growls - ROAR. The little ones were so cute, taking turns growling at each other.
Are you ready for trick or treating?
Yes, say Merrick and Martijn.
Eliot smirks like he knows that there is candy waiting for him inside the houses. Miles wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole scene, though he was happy to follow where ever Eliot went. He and the other
little ones would patiently wait for the big kids to move out of the doorways for their turn. Though the trick or treating was to occur between 5 and 7, it seems most of us were walking in a big wave from house to house.
The kids had a blast. Jim and I enjoyed our mulled wine along the walk. Right when we had finished one of the two streets, the skies let loose. Hoards of people and costumed kids ran into Deborah's for shelter from the pouring rain. When the rain stopped 10 minutes later, we did the other half of the route. A lot of houses let the kids choose their treats rather than placing it in the halloween bags. There were lots of Dutch favorites: marshmallows, gummy treats, and even some Sinterklaas cookies.
Hey, wait for us!
Eliot and Miles enjoyed sampling some of the yummy treats they received. After everyone had pretty much left,
the boys played with a Wooley Willy board.
Timo shows us his lollipop!
By 8:00,
we started for home. Tomorrow was another school day! We saw older kids in costume heading over to the de Vries household as we turned onto the Buitenwatersloot. It rained on us and we dropped two different umbrellas in route, but we made it home safely.
Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us when we got home from trick or treating around 8 pm.
Eliot shows Grandma all the goodies he got in his Halloween bag. He and Miles took off their costumes and then their clothes. They love to be free of clothes! It was time for marble run.
Miles decided to use Grandpa as part of his run.
Can you tell who the best buds are?
Miles' candy bag - it was so cute. At some houses the children got to pick out of the candy bowl. Most of the time, Miles chose a box of raisins and one time a heavy juice box.
Eliot shows off his bounty the next day after school (after several things had been eaten).
Miles carefully studies a package of gummies.
Mary knew she had to return to Holland. Even though their first visit was 3 weeks, we never made it to the
Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. After dropping Eliot off at school, I picked up their train tickets and then John and Mary headed to Amsterdam for a day at the Museumplein.
Miles and I went to playgroup at Courtney's house. We left from there to pick up Eliot at school on the bike. In Delft, we had rain clouds in the sky. I hoped the evening would be clear enough for trick or treating!
Big transition day today! After being out of school all last week for Herfsvakantie (fall vacation), Eliot returned to school Monday morning. It was the first time he's gone
to school since Grandma and Grandpa got here. John rode with me to school so he would know where it was for later in the week.
In the afternoon, we saw this
party cruiser docked in de Kolk. It was gone 2 days later.
Eliot and Miles at our apartment door. Eliot had spent one day last week making all these pumpkin faces for the door. Eliot told me what size to cut them and then he drew the faces. He thought that it would make it easier for the Halloween party goers to find our apartment!
Amsterdam
This was our only day to sightsee with Jim while his parents were visiting, so we decided to head to Amsterdam. We
walked along the harbor and caught some nice scenes along the water. The Stedlijk is closed for rennovation, but we found its temporary location along our walk. Since our museum cards let us in for free, we went inside. There was a small special exhibit on airplanes in the bottom floor. It had some interesting models of airports (Dulles, Schiphol), airport benches across the decades, and flight attendant uniforms from the 1960s to present across various airlines. The boys enjoyed a blow-up plane (thanks to ABN Amro) to play with while we were in the museum.
The art exhibit did not have of the art we expected - Monet, Gaugin, others. Those have been dished out to other museums during the rennovation. The exhibit focused on art since the 1960s, including a bunch of contemporary art pieces. Highlights included: candy on the floor in a pattern, gigantic pipe-cleaner-like pink tubes (a large room), and the performance artist hugging the wall. Not quite our style, so we moved on toward our intended destination - Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum.
Walking along the harbor by the museum we saw some interesting old boats, like the
Anna Sophia steamer. The NEMO science museum is the green building shaped like a boat. It had this
really cool upper deck with cascading staircase that is turned into a beach party in the summer.
Miles gives Eliot a push in the stroller as we near the museum.
The
shipping museum in Amsterdam is nice. The museum tells the story of Dutch maritime history from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. The story is mainly chronological and told by means of a unique collection of models, sea charts, globes, instruments and paintings. It has lots of models of various ships and boats used in Holland throughout its golden age and beyond.
Eliot and Mary are checking them out. I enjoyed seeing maps from the 1600s, which were surprisingly accurate (with one main exception I noticed - Australia being connected to Asia).
It also has an extensive temporary exhibit that presents The Netherlands' role in discovering "the new world" during the 1500 and 1600s: New Amsterdam (Manhattan), Indonesia, Suriname, and Japan. I didn't realize they controlled trade in and out of Japan for nearly 250 years. Having lived in Suriname as a youngster, I was aware of that relationship and unfortunately their role in the slave trade.
We all enjoyed learning about the great Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter (1607-1676) via the exhibit and audioguide. Miles wasn't sure about the battle sounds in some of the rooms and kept his ears covered. De Ruyter took seventh place in the election of the Greatest Dutch Person in November 2004. But who knows exactly why he is so famous? As a seaman, he not only possessed great courage and fighting spirit, but he also displayed shrewd tactical insight and superb fleet handling. The exhibition presents an overview of his successful career and the various naval battles in which he commanded the Dutch fleet. The Four Day's Battle (1666) was De Ruyter's first major success. His defeat of the proud English fleet was the talk of Europe. Even mighty Louis XIV spoke in glowing terms of the Dutch achievement: 'Sieur De Ruyter has done deeds with heart and head that surpass human strength'. 
There was even a special treat for John - beautiful wooden
pleasure craft from sailboats to sea kayaks and canoes. Eliot and I liked the 10-person canoe in the loft.
Miles slept (through most of the museum), while we played a kids game loading up a 17th century Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) ship for a journey east. We then headed for lunch in the cafe before heading outside to visit the
Eastindiaman Amsterdam ship.
After a low-key lunch, Miles woke up and ate his half-sandwich.
He drank the rest of Eliot's Fanta and a Chocomel (chocolate milk). Jim tried out his dad's wide angle lens and got some
interesting shots of Eliot and Miles with Whitney.
Mary says no more pictures please.
Aboard the
Amsterdam, we got to check out all it's decks and cabins. Given my last experience on a rebuilt 17th century ship (the Batavia), I kept close tabs on my camera this time. On the ship, we saw the galley, Captain's quarters and cabin, main cabin, surgeon's cabin, holds, storage areas, and gun room. It was very nice inside. The museum has a good description of the ship -
http://www.scheepvaartmuseum.nl/index.php?PageID=189. It's great just being able to wander freely about such a magnificent ship and see all the rigging and woodwork throughout. The pictures are:
Bow mastLion sculpture on the bowTwo of the three mastsShip toward the stern with VOC flag flying
Jim and the boys play while waiting for momma to come off the ship.
Mary and Eliot have a nice snuggle. Today there were some
volunteers (I presume) dressed in period clothes and playing live music on the ship and down below on the pier. Right as we were leaving the ship area, a group of 50 school kids were arriving being given an dramatic account of life on the boat by a museum person (in Dutch, so we didn't stay).
This group of musicians had moved to the atrium at the entrance of the museum. All three were having a grand time and really acting the role. Ironically, this group was singing a song about the Batavia when we were leaving the museum. Though I have bad memories of the replica, the song was quite catchy and we all sang it as we headed down the street toward the Bloemenmarkt.
My goal for this trip to Amsterdam was to buy some tulip bulbs to bring home in December. After the musuem,
we checked the Amsterdam map (this is a pretty normal scene) to set out route. We were going to take the tram, but decided to just walk so Eliot could rest. We walked along the Amstel and then toward Rembrandtlplein. It was a nice walk with many things to see. This
french fry man was cute. Along the way we saw some
huge box bikes for rent. These must be for a preschooler outing or something!
We made it to the flower market, and found the bulbs you are allowed to bring into the US (they have a special seal). John got this
nice shot of the Muntplein, which is next to the flower market. Before heading home, we walked along the Herengracht to see the Golden Bend and its large houses. We passed by this canal of many bridges as the sun was setting. Then it was off to catch a tram back to Centraal Station and home to Delft.
Although the Dutch don't really celebrate Halloween, Deborah contacted her neighbors to see if they would be willing to hand out candy for an American-style Halloween. They had done trick-or-treating 2 previous times. This year about 20 houses participated, with some providing their own candy and others using the candy from the participating families. Jim and I loaded up our two Tiggers and rode to Deborah's street. The weather wasn't too bad - cool with a chance of rain.
