Holland on our own

August 6, 2018: Well. The car is packed and we head home tomorrow. Hard to believe it has been 8 weeks for James and the girls and 7 for me. We have had a fun time the past few days exploring Holland. On Saturday we took the train into Amsterdam and explored the city. We were surprised to find out that it was the gay pride parade in the city that day. Things were so busy and chaotic but it was so much fun. We wandered around the 9 streets area, and out to the canal that the parade was on. The canal was absolutely packed with people partying on boats and on all the streets lining the river. It was such a fun atmosphere. We wandered through flea markets, and went to a diamond factory for a tour. The kids each got to hold a diamond, examine it through the magnifying glass and take a turn polishing it. In total we spent about 6 hours in the city before heading back.

Sunday we went for a long bike ride from Pamela's house. We went east into the farming areas and rode all around the canals to see old windmills. In total we bike 20 miles. It took us 5 hours to do the ride including water breaks, a stop at the windmills, and an ice cream break at the end. It is such a beautiful county and amazing how much infrastructure is in place for biking. We were on bike trails almost the entire time and you feel so safe. It is really cool.

Monday we did a lot of cleaning, laundry, packing and organizing. The car had to be scrubbed from top to bottom to return it tomorrow. When we had most of our tasks completed we drove about 30 minutes to a farm where you can see them make cheese and clogs. It was such a cool farm and they are the nicest people. We had to wait awhile for a few tour buses to pass through so we killed time looking around the farm at the cows and horses. The kids were happy to pet the calves and baby chicks. We then had a demonstration of how they make the clogs and the guy doing it was so nice that he gave us the demo shoe. We saw how they make the cheese and then we wandered around in the gift shop and bought a few souvenirs. After dinner and final packing we took an evening bike ride.

It has been an awesome summer of travel and hopefully the kids will remember some of it.

Holland with Pamela

August 3, 2018: We arrived in Wassenaar on Tuesday around 5pm. Pamela and her family live in a beautiful house in a suburb of the Hague. The kids played in the yard and we caught up. We had a fantastic dinner outside once Ate got home from work. One Wednesday the touring began. We all got onto bikes and biked into the Hague. Our first stop was "Madurodam", an attraction park that has the majority of Holland's main buildings in miniature. It is actually a war memorial opened by the parents of Dutch WWII hero, George Maduro. The kids had a ball checking everything out. Then we biked into the center of the Hague and Pamela introduced us to poffertjes and pannenkoeken (dutch mini pancakes and crepes). Delish lunch!! The kids watched the guy make the mini pancakes and they tasted sooo good!

We biked into Ate's office to pick him up from work so he could bike home with us. The square outside his office had recently had a sand sculpting contest and we got to see the work. Thursday we biked about 25 minutes out to the beach. It was a beautiful ride through the dunes. The beach had lots of naked people and the kids could not get over it. It was a strange thing to witness. We biked home after a few hours at the beach and then we went for a boat ride in the canals.

Ate has a small boat and took everyone for a ride in the canals around Leiden, which is the university town in the next town over. We rode around, the kids jumped off and swam in the canals, and we picked up pizzas to eat in the boat. It was a really beautiful way to see the town and we were so lucky to have that opportunity.

Friday Pamela and her family left for their beach vacation. We are staying here until our flight on Tuesday morning. We hung out with them in the morning and then just had a quiet day at home. We felt extremely grateful for good, old friends and the chance to have a local's perspective on things around Holland for a few days.

Belguim

July 31, 2018: Monday we got off the ferry in Calais around 2pm and drove into Belgium. It was only a 1 hour drive to Ypres, the central location of a lot of WWI fighting. We made a quick stop at the tourist office and then headed to the Passchendale museum. This was a great museum and a perfect intro to the war for the kids. We each had an audio guide and they got to see a lot of artifacts and a short film. There was also a great trench system to walk through. After our visit to the museum we went back into the center of Ypers and got some food and then went to the Last Post ceremony. Every single night at 8pm local buglers from the fire brigade play in the Menin Gate, which was the gate at the edge of the city that tens of thousands of men passed through on their way to the front. This ceremony has been taking place every night since 1928 to honor all of the men who lost their lives.

Tuesday we went to see a few more historical sights before leaving town. Hill 60 was a small hill that saw a lot of battles and changed hands between the Germans and the Allies several times. It is still pock marked with craters from shellings and there are bunkers in varying states of decay. In typical fashion, James found several pieces of shrapnel and one shell casing. Amazing that these items are still at the surface after more than 100 years. We then went to Tyne Cot cemetery where 12,000 British soldiers are buried and lastly to the German cemetery. We drove north to Holland after that.

London

July 30, 2018: We've spent the past 6 days exploring London. Here is a brief summary of what we've been up to: Tuesday- got into our flat to drop bags, found our parking spot and went walking. Kensington and Hyde Park walk. Met up with James's parents at London Bridge and walked all along south shore of the Thames. Great burger for dinner and kids got to ride the swings near the London Eye (wait was several hours for the eye). Ice cream from a double decker bus and home late.

Wednesday- got to Buckingham Palace before 10 for a space on the gate to see the changing of the guard. Very pushy and obnoxious people around. Kids enjoyed seeing it all. Our kids have been battling some little bug with fevers and upset stomachs. Casey and James went to British Museum and I brought Julia and Molly home for some down time. It is very hot in London and walking the city while not feeling well is sapping their energy. We rejoined the group by St.Pauls a few hours later and went and sat for Even Song mass at 5:00pm. Afterwards we wandered into a nearby square showing Dirty Dancing on a big screen. We sat and had ice cream and beers and watched. We said goodbye to Donna and Lou who were flying home early the next morning.

Thursday- James took the girls into St.Pauls first thing to go up the dome and int the crypt. I went to wait in line at the theater for day of tickets. We got $20 tickets to see School of Rock that night. I met up with the fam after for lunch and we explored in Soho, Chinatown, Picadilly, Covent Garden, etc. The girls love watching the street performers. James met up with one of his old teammates from Romford. I took the girls up to Kings Cross to see the Harry Potter platform and store. We also went into the nearby fountains to cool off as it was 96 degrees in London today. We came home for a bite to eat, shower and off to the play. We all loved the show, but man was it HOT in there. I felt so badly for the main actor who is a heavy-set guy dancings and singing all over stage.

Friday- Had a slow morning after out late night at the play last night. We wandered over to watch the changing of the horse guard, then just ambled around Westminster, Big Ben, etc. Unfortunately a lot of Parliment and Big Ben are covered up by scaffolding. We went over to Tower bridge, cooled off in more fountains on the south bank, had lunch at a food truck festival by the Saint Katharine's Dock Marina, then made our way out to Greenwich to see the prime meridian. The heat has sapped every last drop of our energy so we came home to chill out for now.

Saturday- Today we took the kids out to Romford to see our old digs but mostly to go to the dog track. We didn't tell them where we were headed, they had to figure it out once we arrived. James and I used to go to the track quite often. It is very close to our flat, free to get in, and you can decide to bet or not. Today we stayed for about 2 hours and watched about 7=8 races. A race is only a minute long, then they bring the dogs in, get the new dogs ready, set the odds, etc. After they got a feel for it we let the kids each take a turn betting on the winner. On the last race before we left we all bet on our favorite dog. Molly and I finally won and we reclaimed almost all of our money. She was so excited! We made our way back to the train station with James stopping at a fish shop for fish and chips (he cannot leave a country without trying it's most iconic foods). When we got back into London I took the girls to Covent Garden to watch more street performers and do some souveneir shopping (their requests). James headed to the Army Museum. We came back to the flat and made dinner then went for a walk around Sloane Square.

Sunday- today we went to the world cup of field hockey which is being held in London. One of our old friends from when we lived here got us tickets. Unfortunately it was a cold and rainy day, but the kids were good sports and despite getting rained on a bit during the walk out to the stadium the weather held off for the most part. We saw Korea vs China who tied 1-1, then we went to the fan zone where the kids did some challenges to complete a booklet. They met a former Argentinian olympian (forget her name, but she's in the photo). We grabbed some burgers and dogs from the concessions and went back in for the second game, Italy vs Netherlands. This time we went right into the front row on the 50 yard line. We were sitting in the Italy family section. Holland absolutely demolished them 12-1. It was great to see high level hockey. We're back at the flat now and packing up.