NH Zandvoort

... bikes and walks everywhere because the Edam and Gouda cheese is very high in fat - no wonder it's so delicious. We also walked by several windmills and were able to go inside one that was a dye mill - it makes dye. There are several kinds of windmills - Polder Windmills remove water ...

... we can really take advantage of that. We are on the 3rd and 4th floor of the unit, so carrying the luggage and the baby up was strenuous and I think we may lose a couple pounds this week. Everyone around us has their blinds up so we can see right into other apartments. I feel like a voyeur. Russ is bummed that the guys right across from us look like they are having more fun...no kids with them - as evidenced by ...

... the city with no real destination in mind. During our days, we found ourselves at the FOAM photography museum, Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum (where we posed with everyone from JP II to Bob Marley), the floating flower market, and the hundreds of nearly-identical souvenier shops scattered around the red light district. We ate in Amsterdam's delicious array of memorable restaurants. We ate Indonesian dumplings, the best Mexican food we've ever had, and we left Amsterdam after eating ...

Hey everyone! I've only got a few minutes, but I wanted to let everyone know that we made it to Amsterdam. We were total tourists today and took bus and boat tours of the city. We're taking it pretty easy today. We rented bikes again, since it seems to be the best way to get around here, but it's raining now, so we're stuck inside. Hopefully, tomorrow, we'll have better weather. I'll post some more pictures then! Kathleen

... is right outside our door). We stopped off in Rembrantplein, a square full of restaurants. We ate at a schwarma place as it was quick and very cheap. We then walked around the Jordaan area and admired all the houses. They all lean in different directions. It was confusing walking around as there is a sidewalk, a bike lane, trams and cars. And it seems everyone is on a bike! Makes it hard to cross the streets as I am not used to ...

... people riding bikes with obvious new sun burns. We took Lily to the dunes, just down the street from our hotel. She LOVED it. Other dogs and smells. Most of the dunes are protected so you can't take the dog but these areas were fenced off. After a run around the dunes we went back to the room and crashed! Long day of travel. Lily, being in a new place slept with us.... Which didn't leave me much room. Oh dog.

Hi there, Cannot believe it is already March, going on April! Easter weekend.. with SNOW!!!! Already parked my motorbike outside, counting down the days to be able to ride again.. I count myself lucky being able to live in the same anti-squad appartment all this time. After a sale gone bad it has been put on the market again, so only time will tell for how much longer I can live here..but for now I am happy here and love the neighborhood! Still working at Elsevier, not ...

... out to the country and check out windmills and all that ****, plus the Rembrandt Museum etc. What we did do was go to the Anne Frank House (but not inside, the queue was too long!), the Van Gogh Museum (great) and Rembrandt's House. At night we did a pub crawl, it wasn't as good as the Berlin one because it seemed like they played the same songs in every pub, I heard Wonderwall at least three if not four times and so on... And that was it. Wed, we came back to London...

... Our host, Hans, who has been a joy to chit-chat with, calls them "elder persons" and I've fallen in love with the term. It congers up memories of "respecting your elders" and "societies governed by elders." And using the word "persons" really highlights their continued status as whole individuals - not decrepit, useless, old folks. This is the kind of thought-provoking, horizon-broadening that traveling provides, isn't it? This morning we actually set ...

... lined along the docks. Next stop, Muntplein, with a beautiful flower market unfortunately not in season (I had to settle for a picture with wooden flowers!). Waterlooplein, which is famous for its flea market (which we clearly walked through), and also gave us a superficial peek at the old Jewish Quarter. We saw Museumplein with all the surrounding museums we would eventually visit and finished our tour at the Anne Frank museum. I had already toured this museum the last time I was ...