Leiden

A few days after mom and dad left, on Wednesday I guess, Bruce left on Sunday for Leiden just outside of Amsterdam in Holland. I then got the kids up the next morning, leaving the house around 7 am to meet him there via the Harwich/Hook of Holland ferry. Actually bought the ticket ahead of time this time, and made the scheduled ferry with about seven minutes to spare. The ferry ride itself was five or six hours. It was much better than driving in a couple of foreign countries, but still a little long for the kids. Amazingly, I managed to find Bruce's hotel despite the fact that it turns out I had not properly setup my phone for international calls, and therefore had no way to call for help.

Short story short, Bruce attended a conference for the three or four days we were there. I took the kids into Amsterdam for one day and once again decided against attempting the Anne Frank house due to the long line. The kids had read about her in preparation, but were okay passing up the actual site. We did visit the Van Gogh museum (kids thankfully free) via canal boat which was much more relaxing than bus or tram, even if it didn't entertain the kids as much as I had hoped.

The sky looked like rain, but never came, though it was cold. If I had my pictures I would include one of the small urban playground that the kids were thrilled to happen by. It was hidden along a pedestrian street, pavement all around, complete with graffiti. Nothing special about it, Olivia would have stayed for hours. While they were playing, a school across the street (I would have guessed it was an apartment building) apparently got out and flooded the playground with kids. I took a picture of Olivia, standing at the bar that she had been twirling around, with her arms crossed. She was furious that a girl had come over and started twirling on it before she was done. I pointed out that apparently in Amsterdam, they twirl two to a bar.

Showing unusual forethought I abandoned the possible visit to the larger urban park down the street to get back to the canal to catch the second to last boat, to avoid any possibility of being left in the middle of town to figure out how to get three kids back to the train station. The kids each carefully picked out a souvenir apiece and we headed back to Leiden where I was shocked to realize that I had paid no attention whatsoever to the number on the bus we had taken to get to the train station that morning. It was quite a little puzzle figuring out which bus to take back to the hotel and where to find it. We then attempted to drive to a pizza joint which was more difficult than we had imagined it could be I think because of poor directions, very limited automobile access, the apparent general dislike for credit cards in the Netherlands, and the tiredness of the kids. We got very lucky and ended up at a nice family restaurant and leftovers.

(Olivia already refers to this outing as an example of the ridiculous things she is asked to do, walk all over town to find a place to get money to find a place for dinner when she was already starving. Typically at full volume, and asking to be taken HOME. Bruce almost left her on a curbside, she was skipping and dancing so much as she complained the whole way that she injured herself multiple times and then complained about that as well. I'm sure he would have made use of a straightjacket had one been available to him.)

The next day I gave into the kids' (Olivia's) plea for a kids day. She didn't want to do anything. So they watched cartoons speak Dutch all morning and then I insisted that we visit the windmill in the center of town. I drove straight there, parked in the first spot I saw, and we had a great time seeing the town center while we once again searched for cash to get into the windmill museum that was actually a windmill. Leiden is a beautiful town built on canals, lovely to walk through. We managed to agree on waffles and ice cream for our treat (still recovering from the night before), took pictures of the bridges and a favorite swan and got back and up the windmill. There were at least five stories, and the stairs were actually ladders which was quite an adventure for the kids. Most fun was walking out on the circular porch that sat right below the turning sails. Very exciting and thankfully we do have postcards.

We got back to the hotel with just enough time to run out to the Northern Sea before we were due back for our dinner out with the conference crowd. Thankfully, the 45 minute drive to Scheveningen (something like that) proved easier than the drive to dinner later, giving us time to walk the beach and have our usual games with the waves and stroll the boardwalk on the way back to the car. The kids took their shoes off as usual, I believe I wore my down.

The drive into old town to find the restaurant was more than Bruce cared to endure, making us even later than we already were. Bruce stuck it out, people rearranged tables for us, and the host was unbelievably understanding and gracious. I had a nice time chatting with adults from all over the world, and even had a drink or two with a few of them back at the hotel later. It was worth it, I think. Bruce opted to stay in Leiden and finish out the conference rather than joining us on the ferry back the next day, which meant he got to be in the group photo. He beat us home but was locked out for a second or third time since we've been here, (in the conservatory) until we got home pretty much in the middle of the night.

Okay, maybe not such a short story. Hmm. Maybe it's not so surprising that Bruce says his favorite city so far is Edinburgh.