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| coolest property: canals, animals, tramp, fields, barns |
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| biking to the shops |
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| who needs a child seat - got rope? |
Similar to our Fijian "layover" on the way home from Australia, we opted to spend a few days in Amsterdam on our way to the UK. What a treat! The Netherlands/Holland is a wet, green land of canals, bicycles, weed, pancakes, windmills, cheese, chocolate, stroopwaffles and wooden shoes. The people are friendly, the nightlife is memorable, and the history rich. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay.
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| one word: jetlag |
After a fairly uneventful ten hour flight, we hastily grabbed a few days' worth of things from our duffels and put them in storage at the airport (a 21 bag "record" - the workers even took pics, but in hindsight: possibly worth the struggle to have transported them, as it ended up costing an arm and a leg.) Darren had booked an Airbnb outside of town that boasted animals on the property and bikes for getting into town. Despite the major issue of having no children' bikes/seats (& the bed bugs!) it was a delightful, old place out in the countryside and the littles did love meandering amongst the farm animals. We arrived before it was ready so we all crashed on the porch for a few hours while the boys threw rocks in the green canals and pet the horses, pigs, chickens, sheep and froggies.
That afternoon as folks slept off their jet lag, I told Desi to hold on tight and we took a beautiful, bumpy ride through small dirt paths in green, wet fields to the nearest shop. Shopping for groceries in a new country is one of my favorite parts about traveling abroad, so we took our time and enjoyed the guesswork that foreign language/packaging affords. Unfortunately, I had to leave my cart full of delicious Dutch delicassies at the store as they only took cash or bank cards. The only other food option was a Burger King nearby (gross) and there my card was denied. But the manager took pity on me and my plight and comped us the food, asking that we come pay later. Once Darren awoke, we took a sunset ride back through the fields and paid the kind man, but alas the market was closed. Upon third try in the morning, I finally successfully purchased the food and had a lovely "European" breakfast waiting for all our sleepy heads.
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| girls were really soaking it all in on our canal ride... |
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| Van Gogh Museum was impressive |
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| Dan the Man |
The next day was spent downtown at three different museums, followed by a canal cruise and dinner. The Anne Frank House (which we’d followed good advice to purchase tix to months ago) was well done and much larger than I’d imagined. The “coffee shops” (where people buy/sell/smoke marijuana) were hardly noticeable and it seemed a very family friendly city to me. It’s truly an anomaly with all the waterways, myriad bikes, and cars/humanity flowing over each flower filled bridge.
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| always wanted to try a HOT stroopwaffle |
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| it only took this guy 5 minutes to make a pair of wooden shoes |
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| the green growth on the water in all the small canals was so beautiful |
We were all sufficiently exhausted to avoid another zombie night of jet lag, we hoped.
The next morn, I biked Will to a bus with my phone and some cash, to catch a train down one hour to see his friend Aiden who moved from Utah last year. Proud of him for having the courage to travel out on his own in a totally foreign place! The rest of us did some touristy things in the smaller surrounding villages, like cheese-tasting, windmills, painted houses, a wooden shoe factory and some seafood at the seaside.
A few of us were coming down with something, but after a hot shower and nap, I felt like a million bucks, and since everyone else wanted to hit the hay Darren joked "well, you can just bike in and see the famous red light district alone." I think he regretted it as I latched onto the idea, but with Google maps, a half working bike and our one working phone, I felt ready to take on the world. I'd heard Amsterdam is quite safe so I started off at dusk, (40 minutes each way but the bike paths were mostly lit except for the final 15 min stretch back to our country home.) Man, the nightlife of Amsterdam is world-renowned for a reason! While the night workers in the windows were more disturbing than enticing, the lighted bridges, canals, alleys and streets all crawling with people and action and food and movement - it was a smorgasbord of life. I'm glad I didn't miss it. (And I'm glad Darren and Will did!)
Our first day in England we were met by our kind sponsors, the Kimblers, who walked us around town and set us up in our temporary housing. A few days before, the lady who was to move out of the four bedroom house reserved for us, became too ill to leave, so they had to scramble on our behalf and threw a bunch of beds into a two bedroom nearby. Fortunately, four days later the adjacent flat vacated and we were able to spread out next door, connected by the back garden. It works. (pics at bottom of post)
Currently living just five minutes from High Street in Cheltenham with
all its restaurants, shops and action is a treat. But we were all ready
for school to start and get a bit more of a schedule going. The big kids coped with their homesickness through sleep, phones and Netflix,
so hitting the reset button there I thought would be good for everyone.
I was mostly right. (Some are adjusting better than others, but
hopefully once everyone finds a friend...) It was a really nice time to
settle in though before the more rigid schedules, and we were grateful
for the slower pace for a couple weeks. We even had a few (gorgeous)
outings, which I'll post soon.
