The Apartment

Here are some pictures of the apartment we stayed in. It is owned by the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolosky. They own a 5-star hotel right in the center of Dam Square. They also own these apartments that are at the back of the hotel and around the corner. The apartments are just on the edge of the Red Light District, so there are a few DVD/video cabins across the street from the apartment, but nothing major. We like the apartments because we have access to all of the hotel services (concierge, cleaning service, room service, etc), but we have a full apartment all to ourselves.

This apartment was advertised as a 2 bedroom apartment, so we thought we would have the ground floor apartment that we had last Novemeber, but they gave us this one instead (for the same price!) This one was on the 3rd floor and had a big living room, dining room, kitchen, large hallway, master bedroom, 2nd living room area, 2nd bedroom, and a loft. It also had two water closets (extremely small bathroom with a toilet and small sink) and a big utility room with a gigantic bath-tub, 2 sinks, a shower, and the washer and dryer.






Jeff and Justice enjoyed playing video games on the laptop while watching BBC World news footage and documentaries.



Journey and Jagger were coloring some picures at the dining room table.



The master bedroom.



The long hallway with a small stair that I ALWAYS forgot was there!



Justice's bedroom with a staircase leading to the loft.







Journey really liked the loft bedroom, except for the scratchy carpet!

We're home!

The trip back was pretty smooth. The flight from Amsterdam to Newark went well. The kids were entertained by the seatback TVs and video games that Continental has. They watched "Fantastic Four", ate some dinner and we all napped. The kids have become really good at flying. They know the routine at the airports - how to get through security and be responsible for their own items, how to read the monitors to know our gate and flight status, and how to STAY WITH US!

The little tow-truck like thing that pulls the airplane to the gate wasn't functioning right when we landed in Newark so we had to wait while they got a new one out to us. Turns out that the one that was broken pulled us in at the wrong angle so they had to back the plane up and then pull us forward over and over and over again to get us to the gate the right way. It took awhile and everyone on the plane was getting quite irritated.

Newark airport just sucks! Everytime we have a layover there it is so chaotic! For the last trip we rented a car and just drove home (about 3 hours), but Jeff and I were both too tired to drive and knew that traffic would be bad after Thanksgiving, so we waited the 3 hours and 40 minutes for our connection flight. Of course we had to collect our luggage and go through immigration and customs and then recheck our luggage for our domestic flight, so that took some time.

Our flight to BWI took only 37 minutes (in the air) and they kids couldn't believe how small the plane was or how quick the flight was. Journey sat next to a really sweet elderly lady who kept doting over him. She was asking him all sorts of questions and showing him things out the window. I thought I overheard her saying "SHE" when she was talking to Jeff about Journey and Jeff told her that Journey was a boy, but she didn't hear him! I told Journey to tell her that he was a boy, but he didn't want to. I guess the long hair doesn't bother him that much!

When Journey crunched into his little baggie of airline pretzels he finally lost his 2nd front tooth! It had been haning by a thread for days. He was very excited and he looks adorable! I found a little baggie in my purse to keep it in, unlike the other front tooth that I put in a plastic bag on the counter and probably threw away - thank goodness he forgot about it!

The pet sitter was phenomenal! She came twice a day - morning and evening. She sent me a couple emails while we were there to let me know how the dog, cat, and bird were doing. And she left a log on the kitchen counter with the dates and times she was here and what they did - cute details about how the dog and cat snuggled with her, the walks they went on, what sweater she put on Lily in the cold weather, etc.

The kids were up around 6 am yesterday morning and we all went to bed around 7:30 pm. This morning the kids had to go back to school. Journey was awake at 5am and couldn't sleep any longer. Jagger and I were up at 7, Justice got up at 7:30 and Jeff slept in until 7:45. I think it's going to be a *long* day for the kids, especially Journey! He will probably be ready for bed when he gets home from school!

I still have lots of pictures to post, so I plan to do a couple each day - keep checking back!

Weather

It never fails....we come to Amsterdam and this weird abnormal weather pattern begins.

November is normally the rainiest month here. We knew that. Up until now it has been sunny every morning and then starts to drizzle around 2-3pm. It usually drizzles on and off for the rest of the day. It's really not that bad because it's not a heavy rain and we all brought our waterproof coats, gloves, hats, etc.

This afternoon the air turned VERY cold, the wind became VERY strong and it was a complete downpour! It has been raining pretty heavy since then (almost 8 pm now). The streets here are not equipped to deal with the heavy rain - not a good drainage system, mainly because they don't usually need one. So many of the streets are accumulating water. The bike-riders (millions of them) don't want to ride through the big puddles of water so they have taken to walking their bikes on the alread-crowded sidewalks. It's a mess!

Now we just heard on the news that it is supposed to SNOW tomorrow! Light dustings are typical here, but accumulation is not. We'll see what happens now that we're here!

Dam Square

I won't be taking any nice pictures of the queen's palace this trip. Every winter they build an ice-skating rink in Dam Square in front of the palace. It's kind of a neat idea - go ice skating in the winter in such a unique setting. It's especially nice since it has been quite a number of years since the canal water has been cold enough to freeze for skating.

The problem is not the ice skating rink itself, but the JUNK around it. They also put up a number of food booths (mostly baked goods and meat stands), some junky carnival rides, a suiker-spin (cotton candy) booth, some junk booths where people sell cheap jewelry and hats and scarfs, and even some port-a-potties. Basically, Dam Square looks like CRAP!

I've been reading the newspaper editorials and many people are complaining. Dam Square has always been for the people. It is a place for people to meet, play, and in the typical Dutch style, demonstrate against the latest perceived governmental injustice! It has been filled with junk for too long and the people want it to end! So while I think the ice skating rink is neat, this might be the last year for it. I don't understand why they can't do the rink and none of the other stuff!

Justice is frustrated because the pigeons no longer hang out there like they did before. He was really looking forward to feeding them and holding them....but I'm kind of glad he can't....we don't really need to be exposed to the bird flu, do we?

~FOOD!~

It is so neat to go grocery shopping here- you never know what you will find!

Journey has decided that he prefers the European trend of eating mayonaisse on his fries instead of ketchup. So when we were grocery shopping the other day, Jeff took him up to the produce section to get a bag of aardapples (pre-peeled potatoes cut into neat little shapes) while I headed for the condiment section. I was surprised when I found these tubes of mayo that looked exactly like tubes of toothpaste! (no, I'm NOT crazy, they were right next to the jars of mayo and bottles of ketchup - I'm not gonna make my kid eat mint toothpaste on his aardapples!) The best part was that each tube of mayo was only E.29 - yep - TWENTY-NINE CENTS! Journey thought it was so cool....

They make these awesome little fruit crackers here - cracker layers filled with dried fruits. Our favorite was the berry flavor - chunks of dried strawberries, blueberries and raspberries - YUMMY! Well, now they have teamed up with the YOGO people and put a layer of sweet yogurt on top of each craker to create a granola-bar-like snack. We have gone through waaaayyyy too many boxes!

Jagger absoloutely loves the drinkable yogurts here - not the sugar-filled Danimal/Dannon ones back home, but the real yogurt fruit-sweetened ones. They make one kind that comes in a foil-like pouch (similar to the Capri Sun foil pouches, except this has a drink spout at the top) called Breaker. They come in different flavors like cherry, raspberry, strawberry, peach,etc. And all of them contain sunflower seeds! Seriously, as you are drinking the yogurt you get these pieces of soft sunflower seeds in your mouth and have to chew them up (sunflower seeds are normally pretty crunchy, but they lose some of the crunch after soaking in the yogurt for awhile).

Jeff loves the liverwurst/braunschweiger here. It is soft and spreads onto the bread. I can't get past the nasty smell of the stuff, let alone taste it. He pairs it with rye bread and this thin goat cheese with rye seeds in it. YUCK! But it satisfies his late-night munchies!

I guess the Dutch think that hot dogs don't have enough additives - throw some aluminum in there! They have all varieties of canned hot dogs! Yes, I bought a can the other night. Jagger loves hot dogs and these were only E.59 so I thought we'd give them a try. He and Journey seemed to really like them, but I don't think I'll buy them too often!

I'm still amazed at the number of products on the store shelves that contain Saccharin - gums, mints, candies - even the toothpaste!

Serious Mid-Life Crisis

I went to Albert Heijn last night. It is the grocery store behind the queen's palace. I arrived just as most people were stopping by after work so the lines were very long. As I stood there waiting to purchase my stuff, I was listening to the couple behind me. The man had a very THICK Boston accent. The woman was speaking English but definitely had a Dutch accent.

As I was bagging my groceries, I realized that the clerk had accidentally put the couples' milk on my side of the counter (the end of each check-out is divided so that the clerk can start ringing up the next order while the customer is still packing their groceries). I moved the milk over to their side and the man looked at me and said "Oh, thanks. I guess that is our cah-ton (carton) of milk!" But then he made a face and turned to the woman with him and said "I keep fah-gettin' the people he-ah don't undah-stand me!"

I looked at him, smiled, and said "What part of Boston are you from?" He looked shocked for a second and then asked how I knew where he was from! I told him we lived north of Boston for about 6 years.

He told me that he grew up in Foxboro, but moved to Peabody after college. And then he said "My wife and kids still live there!" The woman with him made a "Tsk Tsk" clicking-like noise and looked away.

He smiled and reached over to hug her and said "Yeah, yeah. My friends and family think I'm throwin' my life away, but I love this girl and I'm gonna marry her!"

I wished him good luck and walked off. But I couldn't stop thinking about it as I walked home. I bet this young girl went to college in Boston and they met there. He had an affair and left his poor wife and children to follow this woman half-way around the world. I felt like screaming - "GO BACK TO YOUR FAMILY MISTAH!!", but I didn't. He looked like he was in his mid-40's and she couldn't be more than 21. I wonder what will happen when she tires of him.....will his wife take him back?

My children.....

One of them was almost left on a tram in The Hague.

And the other two were almost tossed out the window on the sneltrain back from The Hague!!

We took a trip to Madurodam (pictures and description will be posted later) on Monday. The kids had a great time. We had to catch a city tram from Madurodam to get back to Den Haag Central Station, where we took a sneltrain (fast train) back to Amsterdam.

When we were getting off the tram, Justice and Journey stepped off and I told Jagger to go with his daddy. I had the big diaper bag (Skip Hop!) and the umbrella stroller slung over my shoulder so my hands were full. This is normally not a problem- Jagger likes to hang out with Jeff on trains, van, rides, etc. But this time he decided to be disagreeable. Jeff started to reach for Jagger's hand and Jagger flipped out and went running and screaming down the aisle of the tram - the opposite direction from the doors we were disembarking from!

Jeff was trying to get back up the train stairs to get to Jagger, but lots of people were trying to get OFF the train. Most of them probably had no idea what was happening and thought that he was just trying to be rude and push his way onto the train before they had a chance to get off.

Jeff pushed his way past the people and grabbed ahold of Jagger as he was starting to run further down the tram aisle. I stood there pressing the DOOR OPEN button so that the tram wouldn't start moving to the next stop.

Then as Jeff was almost off the train carrying a SCREAMING and KICKING child, Jagger grabbed ahold of one of the silver posts that commuters hold onto when they are riding while standing. Jeff literally had to pry his fingers off the bar and pull him away, Jagger screaming at the top of his lungs the entire time!

Keep in mind that spanking a child or any sort of physical punishment is against the law in the Netherlands. Give your child a smack on the bottom in public and you could go to jail! I kept thinking that someone was going to mis-interpret the situation and think that Jeff was harming Jagger or even kidnapping him! With the way that child was screaming you would think something was seriously wrong. But no, it was just a case of a nasty, rotten, almost-4-year-old.

So then on the sneltrain back to Amsterdam (about a 45 min ride), Justice assumed his I'm-the-older-brother-and-I'm-tired-so-I'm going-to-be-as-bossy-as-possible role. Journey countered that with his I'm-the-younger-brother-so-I'm-going-to-be-as-picky-and-annoyinng-as-possible-role. These two children fought about who was sitting where, who was looking in which direction, who would be able to push the train faster, who could count higher, and the meaning of the word "infinity". Then Journey started with all the annoying songs and riddles he has learned since he started public school - God Bless my Underwear, Hi-Ho-Hi-Ho It's off to School we go....and some other lovely tunes. These didn't sit well with Justice, who was starting to close his eyes and doze off. He didn't use his "debugging skills" (a list of steps that the school teaches the children to deal with someone who is bothering them) and just resorted to KICKING his brother. Of course this brough LOUD screams and cries from Journey who acted like the innocent victim, even though he was told NUMEROUS times by his parents to be quiet and let the other passengers on the train rest.

The walk back from Amsterdam Central Station to the apartment was just as bad, as the children were hungry and we had to pass about 20 different restaurants, fast food joints and convenience stores. WHINE WHINE WHINE!!!

Jeff and I were LIVID when we got back to the apartment. We got the kids some sandwhiches and had a BIG family discussion!! We explained that when we are traveling in a foreign country, they are representing ALL American children. I know the people on the train were really annoyed with their behavior - you could see it on their faces and the way they shook their heads. One man even stomped out of our compartment between stops, probably on his way to sit somewhere quieter.

We explained the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behavior when in public and at home. We made them each tell us what they did wrong on the trip and how they could improve their behavior. Then we made them do chores in the apartment (just like at home). Justice had to vacuum the living room/dinig room/kitchen and empty all the trash cans. Journey had to make all the beds and switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Jagger was upset because he was not assigned a chore so he helped Justice turn the vacuum on and off as needed.

The kids were not allowed to watch TV the rest of the night and had to go to bed early (they were exhausted anyway!)

I'm happy to say that they behaved fairly well since then. I can tolerate a bit of whinning because their bodies are still adjusting to the time difference and they get tired out easily, but the disrespect and obnoxious behavior will not be tolerated AT ALL!

Pictures

WAAH! I'm tired! I can't believe that we only have a few more days here! Time is just FLYING by!

I have a TON of pictures to post, but I just haven't had the time to uplooad them to the computer and resize them. I really don't know if I will get to them before we leave on Sat. If I don't, I PROMISE I will get them up as soon as we get home!

I also still have some pics from our other trips here that I haven't gotten up yet!! I may even put up our pics from Turks and Caicos too and make this a general vacation journal. We're thinking that our next family trip will probably be to St Johns in the spring. We loved it there when we were in St Thomas for a friend's wedding. There is a great campground on St John that the kids would LOVE!

Shopping

I just love this little Tibetian store near Spuii square (near the house we rented for 5 weeks). The store has some of the neatest things. I'm a big fabric junkie - love the textures and colors and this store has so many neat bags, purses, coinpurses, tops and coats. I could spend forever in there!

When we were here in July, Jagger and I were in a bookstore and performed a very graceful stunt - I squatted down to look at a book on the bottom shelf and my knee got caught in my purse strap! I stumbled and fumbled and the strap ended up breaking. So I went over to the Tibetian store and paid E10 for a really cute brown purse that I have carried since then.

So yesterday I was telling Jeff that I wanted to stop by that store and then a few minutes later I was zippingmy purse shut and the zipper broke! I did NOT do it on purpose - I SWEAR!! I can fix it but I'll have to buy a new zipper and I'll need my sewing machine. I can't walk around a major tourist area with my purse hanging open (pickpockets!) so I went over to the Tibetian store and got a new one!

This one is really cute too and I love the style of it. I'm already planning on creating a pattern from it and making some myself. The style of it is too cute not to!

The guy at the Tibetian store remembered me from last time! He only charged me E8 instead of E10 for the new bag because they had been hanging in front of the store (they hang them outside for display) and was a little wet from the rain.

The Stroller Post

You knew it was coming - I can't come to Amsterdam without doing some serious stroller-watching!

Bugaboos seem to be losing their popularity! I can't believe the number of QUinny Buzz's I've seen! Lots of Koelestras too. I LOVE the loooks of the Easy Walker, but the price tag is just toooooo high! We saw a tan Stokke Explory today - just looks ridiculous to me! And of course we have seen lots of old Gracos (one with an older child standing IN the basket) and Top Marks.

So what did I bring? Good question! I really wanted to bring the purple Baby Jogger Twinkle that I picked up for $20. I love the suspension on it and could it gliding over the cobblestones. It's narrow enough for tight areas too. But since it doesn't have a canopy and a rain cover is essential here it just wasn't practical. The fold would have been too big for the shuttles and when we're eating out too.

So I brought along our PURPLE Maclaren Triumph! The seat was the light blue allure color and Jagger and I died to a neat swirly purpley tie dye. Kind of cute! I added a black canopy and drink holder and it looks pretty cool! (Jagger is in a major purple phase right now!)

However......when we got off the plane there was a major downpour. I don't know how long the stroller sat outside while we waited for them to bring it in, but it was SOAKED!! Jagger had just woken up and he totally freaked out because he didn't want to sit in a wet stroller. Journey offered his coat and Jagger sat on that in the wet stroller. I felt bad for the people who had an infant with them. They had a Graco stroller and a Snugride infant carrier. I can't believe that they didn't bring the carrier on the plane or at least put some sort of cover over it - but they didn't and it sat in the rain too.

The airlines ended up cutting a slice into one of the foam handle grips on our Mac and the new canopy is broken. It still functions but the plastic strip that is inside the hood to help it keep it's form is cracked in one spot so the canopy kind of slumps at the back. Not a good enough excuse to get a new stroller, but still darn frustrating!

I'm going to try to get to the PreNatal store tomorrow and then the Baby Anco Plaza (where they have TONS of Teutonias) on Thursday.

This, that, and the other

Whew! You'd think we would be used to the time change thing by now....I even made a schedule of activities for us, making sure to give our bodies extra time to adjust.....I feel like we're the laziest tourists ever!

You won't believe the big fashion trend here - yes, anything knitted is still "in"- knitted scarves, shawls, ponchos, even purses - but now they have added LEG WARMERS! Gosh, I grit my teeth even when typing that! Leg warmers are everywhere - in all the colors, prints, textures and styles you can imagine. They are even in the souvenir shops!

Here AGAIN!

We just can't get enough of this place - so much to see and do!

We left on the 16th and it wasn't an easy trip! Our flight was supposed to leave BWI at 5:20 pm. We planned to take the kids out of school a little early and the shuttle was supposed to pick us up at 2:50. Around 11:30am Jeff got a call from Continental saying that our flight to Newark was cancelled! There were lots of strong winds that day and tons of airport delays. They decided they were going to send us to Newark on an Amtrak train to catch our flight to Amsterdam, but we had to get to BWI ASAP!!!

I called the shuttle company, who said they could be there in 25 minutes then ran to the school to get the kids. Jeff finished getting things settled around the house - locking doors, getting the luggage together, etc.

So we took the shuttle van to BWI where we checked in and took a bus to the Amtrak station. The train took us through Delaware and PA and then into New Jersey, where we got off at Newark airport. We rode the monorail to the terminals and then grabbed a bite to eat at a really nice steak house. When we arrived at the gate we were surprised to see that they were boarding the flight early. Got on the flight to find out that there was a 60-90 minute delay for take-off!! We sat on the runway for what seemed like forever!

The flight was relatively smooth -arrived in Amsterdam only an hour later than planned. The shuttle to the hotel was a load of fun - the driver drove quickly with lots of twists and turns and Jagger ended up puking! Poor guy!

The apartment is really neat. It's owned by the same hotel we stayed with before, but this time we are on a higher floor. It's nice because we have a good view of the canal and can watch the people in the streets. Of course since this is an old canal house there is no elevator and the stairs to get up here are STEEP and NARROW! I don't breathe until Jagger gets to the bottom!

Amsterdam is still the same as always - lots of interesting, colorful people, beautiful scenery, and lots to do!

Grote Markt - Haarlem

Our next stop in Haarlem was the Grote Markt (Great Market), the main square in Haarlem.



Haarlem's Town Hall.




Stores and cafes in the square.





The Grote Kerk (Great Church)







We enjoyed the beautiful weather at an outdoor cafe in the square. Jagger had some Dutch pancakes (poffertjies) with powdered sugar. When he was finished he enjoyed feeding his left-overs to the pigeons!


While we realaxed in the square and enjoyed our day, we couldn't help thinking about where we were sitting. The square was a round-up point for the Jews being carted off to the "work camps" (the Germans originally took the Dutch Jews off to a camp in northern Holland called "Westerbok". Here the Jews were required to make military uniforms and equiptment to aid the Germans in exterminating Jews. Later, the Jews were taken directly to concentration camps in Germany.) The trucks would sit there in the square while the German guards went house to house to round up the Jews and bring them back to this central point. It's impossible to imagine what was going through the minds of these helpless people as they sat there waiting for their truck to fill...

Corrie Ten Boom

Yesterday we made another train trip to the sleepy little town of Haarlem, the Netherlands. We enjoyed our visit the last time we were there, and decided to go back to take another look at the Grote Kerk (the "Great Church"). I had just finished a book called "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom, so I was excited to see the house where the events in the book took place.




Corrie (Cornelia) ten Boom lived with her father and sister in this little house near the main square in Haarlem. Their father owned a small watch repair shop located on the first floor of their home. Mr ten Boom thoroughly enjoyed his work, so much so that he regularly forgot to send his cutomers their bills! When Corrie was in her early 20's she took over the business end of her father's work and was able to make the business a profitable venture for the family.

The ten Boom family were devout Christians. They regularly took orpans into their home, gave hot meals to beggars, and housed pregnant young women who had no where to go. When World War II broke out, Corrie and her spinster sister Betsy were in their mid-50s. The family was horrified by what was happening to their fellow Dutchmen - the Jews.

Corrie's brother Willem owned a nursing home in the rural area of Silversum, the Netherlands. When the Dutch Jews were being deported for work camps, he began housing Jews in the nursing home, saving them from the yet unknown.

One day there was a knock at the side door of Corrie's house. It was a young pregnant Jewish woman. Her husband had been taken to a work camp and she had no where to go. The towns-people had told her to get help at the ten Boom house - they always helped people in need!






After this, the side doorbell rang more often. Corrie and her family began helping Jews who were threatened with deployment to the work camps. Because the ten Boom house was close to the center of town, it was not a good hiding place for those trying to flee the Nazi reign, but it did serve well as a transitional home for those awaiting a permanent safe hiding place. Soon Corrie became a sort of "ringleader" for the Dutch efforts to protect the Jews. Not only did she open her home to those in need, but she coordinated theft and falsification of ration book coupons.


One passage of Corrie's book tells of her surprise when visiting her brother Willem's nursing home. She couldn't understand why he had so many young nurses working there. Surely he couldn't afford hiring all of these young women! But then she suddenly understood....these "young women" were actually young Dutch men! The Germans had begun recruiting young Dutch boys to serve the German army. It was now time for the Dutch to protect their own young men!

Corrie also tells the story of "The Bulldog". Corrie and her father took reglular morning strolls. Each morning as they walked, they passed a man who was walking with his two bulldogs. She thought it uncanny that the man himself had the face of a bulldog! It was interesting that he chose bulldogs as his pets! One morning as she and her father were taking their walk, they passed "The Bulldog", but he was walking alone, with his eyes toward the ground. Where were his beloved pets? Corrie and her father followed the man to his home, where he ran a bookstore. They asked the man if his pets were ill. He told them that he was a Jew. He knew that the Germans would be coming for him soon. What would happen to his dogs? He didn't want to abandon them. He didn't want them to be starved or worse.....so he used all of his ration coupons to buy meat. And he give his bulldogs the best meal of their lives...along with a dose of poison for each. He sat and held his dogs as they fell asleep, then buried them and said goodbye. One week later the ten Booms walked past the man's book store and found it boarded up. "The Bulldog" was never to be seen again.

Corrie also had a sister named Nollie, who was married and had children. They lived in hte outskirts of Haarlem. Nollie's son was a piano prodigy. He learned to play piano at a young age and played well. When the family got their first radio they witnessed a miracle. The young boy listened to a song on the radio and then went to the piano and played the exact same song, after never having heard it before! When Corrie's nephew was 14 years old, he entered an organ competition. The event would take place at the Grote Kerk - a beautiful old church in the center of Haarlem. When the day of the competition came, the whole family gathered at the church, prepared to hear their nephew play the massive old pipe organ, and ready to celebrate afterwards. Imagine their shock, when it was the nephew's turn to play, and instead of playing the piece he had practiced for weeks, he broke the German law and played the Dutch national anthem! This was strictly forbidden, but was a welcome relief for the Dutch congregation, who began weeping and singing with all their strength. The family was terribly worried that the authorities would find out, but breathed a sigh of relief when there were no repurcussions. Two weeks later, the 14 year old nephew was taken off to jail. He served in the federal jail in Amsterdam for 8 months before there was talk of taking him off to a work camp to free jail space. At this point Corrie was able to convince the Haarlem authorities to take him back to the Haarlem jail, which was not overcrowded. The Dutch police captain in Haarlem was able to authorize the transfer and "lose" important papers, so long as he would never see the nephew again.

The ten Booms used the watch and clock display in the store window to communicate with Jews and other Dutch sympathizers. A small triangular shaped sign that said "We now sell Appel watches" was displayed in the window when the "coast was clear". The understanding was that if the sign was not there, then it was not safe to come to the house. Corrie would remove the sign if things went bad....or so she thought. One day a man came into the shop and told her that he needed help. He explained his dreadful situation and Corrie promised to help. He was to come back to the store later....and he did, along with the German police force. It was a trap and Corrie fell for it. She should have realized that he didn't come to the side door. She should have noticed that his eyes would not meet hers.

When the German police came to arrest the ten Booms, the family was in the middle of their weekly prayer meeting. Corrie, her sister Betsy, her father, sister Nolly, Nolly's husband and son, her brother Willem, and Willem's wife and son were all arrested. But instead of carting them off to jail, the German police held them prisioners in their own home...and waited. They waited for more and more people to show up at the side door. In all, 35 people came to the door that night - some of them Jews looking for help, some of them part of the Dutch underground, some just delivering messages about the underground operation. All 35 of those people were taken to jail and later concentration camps.

Corrie and her sister Betsy were taken to prison and later to a concentration camp. While in the camp they held nightly bible reading sessions and helped the people there cope with the horror that they were living.

Mr ten Boom died soon after being released from prison. Betsy died while in the concentration camp. Corrie survived and went on to travel to 64 different countries, giving lecures about her experiences during the war and in the concentration camps.

More random photos

The Westerkerk (West Church) on Prisengracht (Prince's Canal). This beautiful church is a few houses away from the AnneFrankHuis (Anne Frank House).



The line that wraps around this building is to get into the Anne Frank House. It was exactly 9am, the time that they open. The house that Anne and her famiy stayed in (which was actually an industrial warehouse) is the second from the corner - you can see the beginning of the line starts at the left. The tree is covering the house on the corner, which was purchased by the Anne Frank Foundation as their headquarters. It also houses the store museum. The headquarters was completley remodeled, but the Anne Frank house itself has only had a few renovations. The outside front (bottom half) was redone to make it more secure and the ticket window was added. In side everything remains very much the same - the first two floors show details of the business warehouse and the upstairs show the living quarters. One of the inside staircases was closed because it was a VERY steep wooden staircase that was too dangerous for visitors to trapse up and down (esp those with kids!). They put glass panels over it so that you can look up and see what it was like, and built an additional, safer staircase for museum visitors.

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A view up the Singel canal - the height of the church is phenomenal - it makes the 5 story townhouses look like typical houses!

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Jagger enjoyed playing at a little playground on NassauKade.

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Dinner at a neat Irish Pub. We ate fish and chips in a cozy little room with old leather furniture. Jagger enjoyed playing with the coasters on the table!

Historisch Museum

The Amsterdam Historisch museum tells the long tale of the city of Amsterdam. As you walk through the different exhibits on the many floors of the building, it is as if you are walking through time. The journey begins with the founding of a little town along the Amstel river and how it grew into an important trade community. It is fascinating to read (and see diagrams) of how the canal systems and dikes were built. And there is an interatvie demonstration that shows the growth in population, trade, and modes of transportation through the years.







Suits of armor worn by the Dutch Royal Army.



Jewelry that has been handed down through the royal family.



A "horn of plenty" made from an animal horn and laced with silver embellishments. This horn was actually used by the royal families of long ago for entertaining puposes.





A little-known Rembrant painting, this was created when Rembrant was asked to make illustrations for medical research. Many books of illustrations were found, along with a number of full size paintings. This one shows a physician dissecting a brain.




Jagger took one look at this painting and said "Mommy, take my picture with this one!" And then he promptly ran over and stood in front of the painting and said "Cheese"! Given Jagger's Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia birth defect and subsequent abdominal surgery, it is ironic that he chose to stand in from of a painting that depicts a physician dissecting an infant's intestines.




This is an actual yellow star that the Jews were required to wear during the Nazi occupation of Holland. I am currently reading a book entitled "The Frank Family that Survived". It is about a family of wealthy Jews who lived in Berlin. They fled Germany during Hilter's regin, heading toward the "neutral" country of Holland. After living near the Hague for a few years, they were forced to relocate to Amsterdam, as Jews were no longer permitted to live near the coast, for fear they would aid a British invasion. Myrtle Frank and his family then went into hiding in an apartment in the Hague, only a few doors away from a Nazi command center. Mother, Father, and two teenage daughters hid in the apartment for three years before they were allowed to again walk freely in the streets. There are many similarities between this Frank family, and the Otto Frank family (of which Anne Frank was a part) - the one major difference is that this family was able to survive the horror.


Amsteram history wouldn't be complete without information about the liberal Dutch policies on drugs and prostution. The museum has an interesting display, along with photos and video footage, of the Hippie Movement of the 60's and 70's, of which Amsterdam was at the center.




Jagger stands in front of a marijuana "coffee shop" of the 70's.




Here, Jagger stands in front of an advertisement for a "Smart Shop". The Smart Shops carry herbal energy drinks, herbal supplements, and hallicunagenic mushrooms.

Unique and Interesting....

Some random toughts on interesting things we have seen lately...

Amsterdammers (or is it Amsterdamites?) will do anything they can to grow grass (no pun intended!)....



This lovely houseboat is painted in a unique peeled paint green color. It offers a spacious living area, canal view, and roof lawn. No football playing allowed! Yep, someone is growing grass on the roof!





Making use of all possible space, this house has a roof garden that looks like the plants took over!

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This is MY bench and you can't have it!

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Bikes are the major mode of transportation here. You have to have a bike to get to work, school, etc. Unfortunately there are many bike thefts. Some people even steal them and then resell them! So many bikers decorate their bikes in dreadful colors - bright neon color combinations, spray painted with stripes and dots - some even adorn their bikes with outrageous amounts of fake flowers! So maybe this guy is thinking that if his car is ugly no one will want to steal it?

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I find it very interesting to watch the construction and moving process here. Since land is scarce, everything was built UP - as a result Dutch houses are very tall and narrow, with steep winding staircases. Each house has a large hook on the gable that is used with a pulley system to move large objects up and in through the large windows. Smaller moving boxes are packed into a large metal box and then hoisted up.

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Jagger loves the Chinese restaurant across the street from where we are staying now. The restaurant lobby has beautiful marble floors and walls and is adorned with golden Buddha statues. The Koi fish pond has some of the biggest fish I have ever seen and the spiral, open-backed staircase winds above the pond so you can watch the fish as you climb the stairs!


Jagger enjoys counting the fish, naming their colors, giving them names, and deciding if they are male or female!



"Mom! I don't know how my hand got wet!"

Jordaan Pictures

These pictures were taken during our walk through the Jordaan area of Amsterdam yesterday.




A quiet Sunday morning on a side street in the Jordaan.



One of the many old bridges



The brown house boat is Te Koop! (for sale). Should we buy it?




Unlike other canal houses, these houses are directly along the canal without a sidewalk or street in between.







A typical tree-lined street with canal houses and houseboats in the Jordaan.




The houses in the Jordaan are known for their brightly colored shutters.







This enormous canal house has the royal crest (red with 3 black X's) on the gable.

A SPECIAL DAY!!!!!!

Today is a very special day! Justice is 10 years old!

Justice - we are VERY proud of you and we hope you have a very happy birthday today! We will give you a call later. Make sure you don't eat too much cake!!!

Sounds through the window

motor boats

squeaky bikes

hoofsteps of horses (police on horseback and horse-drawn-buggy rides)

the church bells

airplanes heading to or from Schipol Airport

motorcycles

police sirens

horns honking for yet another traffic jam

music from car stereos

people talking (every language you can possibly name)

car alarms

drunk men singing

drunk American men playing Marco Polo (I sincerely hope "Marco's" eyes were not closed as he searched for his friends near the canal!) (And how do I know they were American? First of all, they were speaking English, and second - everyone can point out the college-aged American male - the cool dude who struts along the street, bragging loudly about the joint he just smoked so everyone can hear - get a clue, dude! It's legal here so no one cares!)

A Six Hour Walk

A six hour walk - A three hour tour - I suddenly have the Gilligan's Island theme song running through my mind...........

We walked and walked and walked today! We started off walking through the streets of the Jordaan. We went past the Anne Frank house and at 9am (when it opens), and the line to get in was already forming the whole way around the corner of the building!

The Jordaan district was absolutely beautiful! The streets were quiet and peaceful. It was sunny, low 70's with a light breeze. There were not many people out and about, as is the case on most Sunday mornings, but there were a number of boats sailing through the canals.

Jagger was enthralled with the duck family we saw - a momma duck with 8-10 little babies. A man on the balcony of an apartment threw some bread into the canal and we were able to watch them eat. When they were finished we were able to walk along the canal as they swam along beside us.

We looked at the different houses and picked out what we would like to buy if we had an extra E500,000.

We ended up waaay on the other side of Amsterdam on Nassau Kade. There was a cute little park there so Jagger played on the playground a bit. Grassy spaces are few here, so it was nice to find a little park (that wasn't full of dog crap!) with a bench to sit and enjoy the weather. We do plan to go to VondelPark later in the week.

Then we headed over toward Spui Square (pronounced "Spou" and rhymes with "cow"). We grabbed lunch at a little sandwhich shop called Broodjies and Kootjies. Jagger and I used the bathroom and saw that Mary Kate Olsen (or at least someone who writes graffiti on bathroom walls and wants to be her) had been there!

Next, we stopped in at the "Green Bakery". It's the Turkish bakery that I wrote about before. It's actually called "Turkish Bakerij", but since the sign was green, the kids gave it a name to distinguish it from the "Red Bakery" that had hand made stroopwaffles. The Turkish man had just opened the bakery right before we arrived last time. He is right across the street from where we stayed last time and we visited his store daily. When we walked in today he came out from behind the counter and shook Jeff's hand. We have a hard time talking with him because he speaks mostly Turkish and a little Dutch. He was happy to see us and asked about the other "kinderen" (kids). Jeff told him they were back in the US and he grabbed a package of chocolate cookies and threw them in the bag and said "Da Kinderen". (So Justice and Journey - we will bring you back the chocolate cookies from the bakery guy!)

I panicked when I didn't see any Turkish Baklava at the bakery! I came all the way from the US to get some! The guy's wife makes it and it so do delicious! It is made of crispy pieces of phyllo dough, pine nuts, and a sweet clear syrup. I asked him about it and he pulled out a little tray with the last 4 pieces. Of course he threw that in the bag for free too! He said something about having more on March 1st.....I didn't realize until we were out the door and down the street that he was saying "Mondaag First"....Mondaag means "monday" in Dutch and I think he thought "First" meant "more" or something. So I guess we'll have to walk all the way to the other side of town again tomorrow!

Our next stop was the Amsterdam Historich Museum. We went there in March, but Jeff wanted to go back again. We went through it pretty quickly last time (it's a pretty long museum) and he wanted to be able to actually read the history of the city and descriptions of the paintings. Jagger enjoyed it because there were lots of buttons to push and things to touch. He loves to look at maps and likes to look at replicas of the Queen's Palace. I was able to look at the parts dedicated to WWII, since we missed those last time when the kids were tired.

The Historich Museum used to be a building that housed the city's orphans. It is next door to a nunnery (still in use). When the plague and other diseases hit Amsterdam, many children were orphaned. The children in rich families went to live with relatives, but the poor children were sent to the orphanage. One of the most intersting pieces in the museum is a beautiful old wooden chest or trunk. They believed that the chest had some sort of miraculous power, as a number of different terminally ill children had sat on it and it had cured them. The chest was hidden in an attic for a number of years before it was brought to the museum.

After spending a couple of hours walking through the museum we went to the shopping area to look for a cord to connect my camera to the laptop so I can upload pictures. I was frustrated that I forgot it and wouldn't be able to include photos with the blog. And then I realized that I WILL run out of disk storage space if I can't upload photos! Unfortunately the computer store and the photo store neither one had a cord. But I did realize that I can stick my disk into one of their instant photo machines and have the photos printed on CD. That way I will be able to put them on the blog and have permanent copies of them! Now all I need to do is get my bottom back there to get some CD's made!

Our last stop was the bookstore (again!). I bought a book called "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom. The story takes place in Haarlem, the Netherlands and is the other side of the Anne Frank story. Corrie's family hid Jews in their home during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The book chronicles the hardships and risks that the family endured during that time. We plan to go back to Haarlem in a few days to visit the Grote Kerk (Great Church) again, so maybe we will stop by the Corrie ten Boom house for a tour too!

Jagger fell asleep in his stroller after we were finished at the museum (around 2pm) and is still sleeping now at slightly after 6pm. So it looks like he will do the same thing as yesterday - sleep all afternoon, wake up in the evening to eat dinner and play and then go back to sleep again, only to wake in the wee hours of the morning!

Why am I awake at 6am?

Because my 3 year old isn't use to the time change! I guess I shouldn't complain - it's better than 5am, which was yesterday's wake up time!

We took a walk down Kaalverstraat last night - that is the major shopping street in the center of Amsterdam. The new Harry Potter book was released in Europe yesterday, so we went to Wordsworth and bought a copy (and we got a free copy of a book called "Lion Boy"). The people at the American Book store said that they ordered 2500 copies of the Harry Potter book and they were almost sold out at 6:30pm last night.

The weather has been beautiful so far! Sunny, warm, light breeze, in the mid 70s. Record breaking weather seems to follow us wherever we go on vacation, so this has been a nice change. It's nice to see the country when there are leaves on the trees and everything is green. But once again I will not get to see the tulip fields! We were here a little too early to see them bloom in March and now it is too late! It has been neat to see all of the outdoor cafe's though. They were just starting to put tables outside in March. Now that the weather is beautiful the sidewalks are cluttered with tables and chairs - so people can eat out in the sunshine and fresh air while watching the canal boats go by. You just gotta watch where you sit.....yesterday Jagger and I were going to meet Jeff and I sat down in a wicker chair outside of a resturant. Jagger was still in his stroller in front of me. A young dreadockled British girl came out and politely told me I would have to move, as this was a coffeeshop! OOPS! I guess they don't like 3 year olds to smell the "coffee"!

We're going to take a walk through the Jordaan (pronounced "Yor-dahn") today. It is an upperclass, yuppie type neighborhood in the western part of Amsterdam. If we were to move here, that is probably where we would want live. It is absolutely beautiful and we always enjoy our walks there. And then I'm going to try to find a computer or camera store where I can get a darn camera cord! Maybe we should find a toy store too.....I didn't bring much for Jagger to play with. I brought a bunch of his Magic School Bus books (his obsession right now) but I didn't bring any actual toys. I did buy him a plastic cup last night. I was going crazy watching him drink from these thin little glass glasses here- holding it with one hand, not pushing it back far enough on the table, drinking water from a glass at night while his head was bobbing cause he was still sleepy....so I found this little housewares discount store and grabbed this little round sippy cup - shaped like a football with a bear face on the front. I *thought* it was just a cute cup. But Jeff and I watched last night while Jagger played "Hide and Seek" with his new sippy cup! He would hide the sippy cup, then cover his eyes and count and then search for the cup. Then it was the cup's turn to count! It was really quite bizarre! Since the TV shows here are "not real" (Jagger's description of Nickelodeon cartoons in Dutch), the poor kid is bored! I'm hoping to find a toy store that has some neat little compact playsets that we can easily take back with us.

We're baaaaack!

Visiting Amsterdam again! This time it is just Jeff, Jagger and I. My mom was generous enough to come down from PA to stay with Justice and Journey. Of course we're both regretting that decision, just as I thought we would ;) Jeff asked me (on the plane on the way here), how old a child has to be to fly by themselves. I didn't understand why he was asking until later when he said we should have brought the other two guys! Nope, they're not gonna do a 6 hour flight by themselves!

Jagger is missing his brothers like crazy. Yes, they fight A LOT, but boy do they keep him entertained!

Jagger is convinced that we came to the "wrong Amsterdam"! I think he thought we were going to stay in the same house we were in last time. I tried to explain it to him, but he didn't get it. That was a big place for 5 people for 5 weeks! We will only be here for 10 days this time and there are only three of us. We rented an apartment through a hotel we stayed with the first time we came as a family. It's a nice place - overlooks a canal with a nice size living room, a small kitchen, and a big bedroom. The bathroom is rather large for European standards. We're on the top floor so we have a nice view of the canal and street and we also have windows in the ceiling. I would call them "skylights", but they are more like windows that you can open (with a long metal screw bar that you crank). Jagger was thrilled when a pigeon feather floated into the living room awhile ago!

When Jagger was tired last night he kept telling us that he wanted to go home to the "real world!" No, I don't think he wants to star in any MTV reality TV productions. The kid was just tired and missed his brothers and wanted to go home! He's also obsessed with Six Flags ever since we went to their Hurrican Harbor water park a few weeks ago. He's still talking about going back and now he wants to go to Six Flags Amsterdam! We're hoping to take a trip to Scheveningen, a beach resort along the North Sea sometime this week, so maybe that will satisfy him for awhile. I can't image what the water temp will be like though. This kid was swimming on the tropical beaches of Turks and Caicos a few months ago......

I realized awhile ago that I forgot to bring the cord that connects my digital camera to my computer, so I'll have to wait until we get home to upload pictures, darn it!!!

Our last night!

We leave tomorrow! WAH! I'm NOT ready to go! I really like it here. I like the people, the sights, the smells, the food, - everything!

Our flight leaves Schipol airport at 2pm. It takes about 3 hours to Iceland and then we have about a 2 hour layover there. Then on to BWI -another 7 hours or so. We arrive at 5:45. So basically we will have done a TON of traveling (and we'll be exhausted!) and only 3 hours and 45 minutes will have passed with the time difference - can you say JET LAG?! BTW - we're 7 hours earlier than the EST now because we had to change the clocks the night before Easter Sunday. I have no idea when you all change them!

We went for a long walk today all around Waterlooplein and the University of Amsterdam. Then Jeff took Justice and Journey for sushi and Jagger and I did some last minute souvenir shopping. Jagger was in no mood to sit in a restaurant!

Don't worry - this won't be my last post! I still have a lot of pictures that I want to share so I'll be posting more when we get home. We're getting ready to go on an evening walk and see the sights at night!

Another houseguest

This time our houseguest doesn't have beady little eyes, a long tail, and hang out behind the garbage can ;) Jeff's friend and co-worker Joel came to stay with us for a few days. He has never been to Amsterdam and Jeff has been wanting him to come over and visit, so he arrived on Saturday.

Yesterday Jeff and Joel spent the morning walking around town enjoying the atmosphere and beautiful architecture. The kids and I did some errands and then met them at the Holland Experience 3D movie theater. We arrived early so the guys spend some time running around in the Waterlooplein square. The square normally holds a very large outdoor street market. There is usually a wide range of products there, but I have noticed that most items tend to have more of a hippyish feel - lots of patchwork bags, guatemalean fabric wraps and scarves, hand-made hemp jewelry, incense sticks, buddha statues, neat wooden carvings, and natural undyed fibers and clothing. It was a really interesting market, very different from the Albert Cuyup marketplace which seemed to have more trendy brand name clothing, leather jackets and coats, furs, and animal hair rugs.

Since the marketplace was not open yesterday the kids had a nice big area to run and play (and feed the pigeons,, of course!) Journey sat and studied the tree in the courtyard. It is a typical tree amongst a group of trees planted in squares amidst the plaza. But this tree has a number of brightly colored stuffed animals hanging from it. They are typical children's animals - mainly teddy bears but there were a few stuffed dogs and one cartoon character. They are hung from strings from the tree branches. Journey was very distraught. He collects teddy bears and was really upset that someone would do that to these bears. When we were visiting before and saw this tree I was thinking that maybe this was where Theodore Van Gogh was killed. I don't know if any of you followed the story, but Theodore Van Gogh was a prominent film maker. (yes, he is a descendant of Vincent Van Gogh). He made a number of controversial films and documentaries and his most recent one detailed the violence within the Muslim religion. His film partner is a woman who is in exile from Turkey because she spoke up about Muslim voilence. Theo was shot to death in the middle of the day a few blocks away from the town hall. His alleged killer was a devout Muslim. Theo's death caused a lot of racial tension within Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general. Anyway, I'm thinking that the teddy bear tree is probably a memorial to Theo (Teddy?) Van Gogh. I've been meaning to ask someone on one of the discussion boards, but I keep forgetting to.

So the show we saw was a 30-minute show that showed various places all over Holland. It was in 3D so we got to wear those *super cool* glasses! The theater was also on a moving platform that bumped and twisted in conjunction with the images on the screen. And when the movie took us through the Holland tulip fields we even smelled flowers! Okay, I'll admit that it was pretty hokey (and it was my idea to go too, darn it!) but the kids thought it was cool. I thought it was neat that the entire movie had no words - only music to go along with the scenery. Pretty clever idea since this is such a multi-cultural area with so many different languages spoken!

Today we went on a canal cruise. It took us through various canals throughout Amsterdam telling us about the history of the canals and the houses and buildings along it. Jeff, Joel and Justice then went to the Anne Frank House. We have been there before as a family, but I thought it would be good for Justice to go again. When we were there before Jagger and Journey were a little impatient (they just were not old enough to be interested) and we had to move through the house quickly. I could tell that Justice wanted a little more time to read things and visit the rooms, so I was happy when Joel suggested that they go for a visit. Jeff mentioned that when you go a second time you see things that you didn't see before. I'm thinking maybe I should stop by again myself before we leave.

I bought myself a cool speedy little stroller while we were here! It is a Quinny Zapp - a cute little stroller that folds even smaller than an umbrella stroller! It comes with it's own carry bag and folds down small enough to fit on the back of a bike or in the footwell of a car! I bought the steel blue color. Jagger likes it because it matches his eyes ;)

The only complaint I have about it so far is the lack of storage space. The one-handed steering and maneuverability helps make up for it though! For anyone who is interested in purchasing one - I highly recommend babycare.nl Erwin was a pleasure to work with and was very prompt in answering my questions. I ordered from him because I heard so many things about his good service. It was all true! And since I'm in Europe I only had to pay 6.95 shipping instead of the outrageous shipping costs to the US!

I've given up on my knitting projects until we get home. I have made a couple scarves while we were here. I also did a lot of practice with different stiches, needle sizes, and yarn weights. I'm still learning it all from a book :) I've put it aside until we get home because the yarn prices here are so high. I just can't justify paying so much for yarns when I can get them so much cheaper at home. The little yarn shop here is great but there is no competition and I miss the chain store selection and prices!

Since my stroller shopping is done, I've put my knitting aside, and we have 3 computer addicts but only 2 computers, I've started reading The Da Vinci Code. It was here on the bookshelf in the apartment and since we visited Paris I thought it would be neat to read it. I'm enjoying it so far - can't put it down at night until my eyes are droopy!

Scheepvaartmuseum

Journey, Jagger and I ventured to the Scheepvaartmuseum the other day. This is the Maritime Museum of the Netherlands. The main building holds all sort of ship models, ship replicas, maritime paintings, navigational instruments, and maps.




Since Journey dreams of being a pirate and sailing the seas to steal gold we thought this would be a great experience for him. (Jeff and Justice were supposed to go to a different museum but ended up going out for Sushi and then coming home to be computer junkies all day).

We spent about an hour in the museum before Journey spotted the ship outside. It is a full size replica of the Dutch East India Company's Amsterdam ship. The original ship sailed in 1749.


Journey and Jagger are sitting on the bottom step of the stairs to the ship.



Journey and Jagger climbing the stairs - they look so small compared to the ship!



The original ship had 230 sailors on board. After the ship set sail 50 men soon died from disease and 40 more became ill. Then the ship came face-to-face with a terrible storm.



The Captain decided to seek shelter in the Bay of Hastings, in Southern England. The crew and 300,000 guilders worth of silver were brought to shore. The ship and the rest of the cargo sank into the mud. The wreckage can still be seen at low tide.



Journey was upset because they wouldn't let him go up into the crow's nest! Yeah, right kid!



The ship's galley.



Jagger enjoyed himself, but kept wanting the boat to start sailing.



The ship captains were hard at work charting a course for their journey (pun intended).



Journey had his sea legs in no time!



The dining area, where everything was glued to the table!



Firing the cannon!



Jagger tried to pick up a cannonball - "It's heeeeaaaavvvy!".



The ship's helm.

There was even a ship captain on board. He was able to answer all of our questions and tell us stories about his sailing adventures.



After our tour of the ship we went into the museum gift shop where Journey and Jagger each bought their own little pirate flag. They both had a great time and of course it was educational too!