Greyson's 4th Birthday (A Day Early)

Since we're headed to Paris early tomorrow morning, we decided to celebrate Greyson's birthday a day early (which caused a lot of confusion for him.) We decorated our apartment with balloons and streamers to try to make it more festive. Greyson picked a Greek restaurant for dinner (it is his favorite restaurant in town because they give you lollipops and peppermints after dinner.) We ordered a cake from a local bakery that dates back to the 1700's. Out of all their cake designs, he chose a ladybug cake! We assumed since the bakery dates back to the 1700's that the cake would be very good--well, we were wrong. Jon thinks the cake may have actually been leftover from the 1700's. Even Greyson didn't think much of it. So after cake and ice cream he opened a couple of presents and played them for awhile.

We leave for Paris on the high speed train early tomorrow morning. It is about a 3-hour train ride. We're celebrating Greyson's 4th birthday (which is the 29th) and our anniversary with this mini-vacation. We're going to see the sites of Paris and take Greyson to Disneyland Paris for a day or two. We'll update the blog after we get back our trip on Monday afternoon.

The Park

Yesterday, Greyson and I went to the big park here in Delft. We've been to the park many times before; but it was the first "warm" day since we'd been here. We headed to the pirate ship play area that Greyson usually plays on. It is surrounded by a little canal and a man-made beach area. Well, on that day, the beach area was crowded with Dutch people in their bathing suits as though we were at the beach! The strangest thing was a lot of the boys, (who looked to be about Greyson's age) were totally naked playing in the sand and on the playground equipment. I wish I had captured the look on Greyson's face, when a naked Dutch boy was right next to him....priceless! It was a very strange morning at the park.

The Nemo in Amsterdam

On Friday, we took the train to Amsterdam and went to The Nemo, which is an interactive science museum for children. Greyson had a blast doing all the different activities. His favorite part was the replica of the Amsterdam boat. He was able to explore the entire boat. Afterwards, we walked around Amsterdam and then had dinner. Shortly after dinner we caught the train back to Delft.

Rotterdam and Delfshaven

Both Thursday and Friday were holidays here in The Netherlands. Pretty much everything was closed on Thursday for Ascension Day. So we decided to take the train to Rotterdam and walk around. Rotterdam is a modern city, in which most of the "old" city was destroyed by the Germans during World War II. There are only a handful of buildings in the city center that date back before the war.

After walking around Rotterdam for a bit , we hopped on the Metro (subway) and headed to Delfshaven for dinner. The historic center has been very well preserved and is now full of museums, a brewery and many restaurants. Delfshaven is where the pilgrims actually left from on the Speedwell in July of 1620, before realizing their boat wasn't seaworthy and then crowded onto the Mayflower. The church where they prayed before leaving is now known as the "Pilgrims Church." And the place they stayed the night before they left has been turned into a brewery and restaurant, called The Pelgrim. We had a few beers and dinner here before heading back to Delft.

The Legermuseum

Today, Greyson and I went to the Legermuseum here in Delft. It is an Army Museum that follows the Dutch military history from the Roman Empire through the present. They had all sorts of swords, guns, tanks, cannons, and uniforms. They had a interactive exhibit that allowed kids to "train" for the military. Most of the interactive exhibit was too old for Greyson; but he still had fun doing the obstacle course over and over again. The entire museum is in Dutch--which worked out fine because Greyson wasn't interested in any of the history, he just wanted to see "stuff."

Sights of Delft

Greyson and I have done a lot of exploring around Delft since we arrived. Below are some pictures of our surroundings here.

The is a picture of the only remaining gate of the original city walls of Delft. It was built around 1400. The other gates were all demolished during the 19th century. This is one of the places that I go to with Greyson to watch the boats.

This is a typical tree lined canal here in Delft. We come here often to feed the ducks.

This a picture of the Old Church (Oude Kerke.) This church was built in 1246. It leans 2 meters from vertical. The church tower has a massive bell that weighs nearly 9 tons. It is only rung on special occasions due to the potentially damaging vibrations. When the Germans occupied The Netherlands during World War II, they removed church bells throughout the county to make weapons. This bell remained intact because it was too heavy for the Germans to remove. Johannes Vermeer (famous painter) and Anton van Leeuwenhoek (invented the microscope), among others are buried in this church.

This is a picture of the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) built in 1381. The Dutch Royal Family's burial vault is in this church. This church is in the Delft Market Square. We can see the tower from our apartment (one street over from the square.) The New Church is how I navigate myself in Delft when I take a wrong turn.

This is a statue that Greyson loves to play on. It is along one of the streets with shops and cafes.

This is Greyson playing at his favorite park here in Delft.

Greyson Falls In His First Canal

On Saturday, we took the train back up to the northern part of The Netherlands to visit our other friends Rene and Elaine. They live in a very rural part of the country. It's very quiet and beautiful--lots of flower fields, sheep, cows, and of course windmills. Elaine is a Norwegian Forest Cat breeder. They had 4 adult cats and 6 kittens! Greyson had a blast playing with all of the kittens. They weren't too sure of Greyson at first; but quickly warmed up to him.

Rene took us on small tour of his village. The first stop was to the fields across the canal from his house. His neighbor has a couple of ponies and several sheep. One of the adult sheep had had 2 lambs the night before. They were adorable. So to cross the canal, we had to walk across an anchored row boat. Rene was helping Greyson maneuver across the boat. Rene stepped off the boat into the grass and turned back around to take Greyson's hand and somehow Greyson lost his footing and he went into the canal. The lower part of his body was pretty soaked. Luckily, the canal wasn't too deep!

We also walked down to another canal to see a one lane floating pontoon bridge. I believe there are only 4 remaining in The Netherlands. We watched cars going over the bridge for quite awhile. I never could figure out what determines who has the right of way!

Then we stopped at small neighborhood park, for Greyson to burn some of his energy. It is interesting to watch Greyson and the Dutch children interact (since there is a language barrier.) Luckily, Rene served as a translator. When a little girl found out Greyson was an American, she assumed he was good at basketball. Greyson "played" soccer with 9-year old boy and had fun chasing after him trying to steal the ball! He then asked the boy to shoot the soccer ball into the basketball hoop. I don't think the little boy had ever taken a shot before! Greyson almost made his shot and the other boy couldn't even hit the backboard!

We had a very nice dinner with Rene and Elaine. We spent the night at their house and got up Sunday morning and went to a cat show in Alkmaar. Elaine was showing one of her cats (Delco) at the show. We saw lots of beautiful cats, including our favorite (Maine Coons.) Shortly after lunch, we hopped on a train and headed back to Delft.

Dinner In A Windmill

Tonight we took a short train ride to Schiedam (the home of Bols and Ketel One) to have dinner in a windmill that has been converted to a restaurant (Restaurant De Noordmolen.) This is the highest windmill in the world at 33.3 meters tall. There were originally 20 windmills along the Schie River that were used to grind corn for making Genever (also known as korenwijn.)

Rotterdam Zoo

Sunday was also Mother's Day here in The Netherlands. Jon and Greyson decided they wanted to make me pancakes for breakfast--not realizing how difficult it would be to find the ingredients. It seems the Dutch don't use baking soda to bake. So our pancakes weren't very fluffy; but they were actually pretty good. We decided to head to the Rotterdam Zoo to celebrate. So we took a quick ride on the train to Rotterdam to go to the Diergaarde Blijdorp (The Rotterdam Zoo and Aquarium.) This zoo is over 150 years old. The zoo'a original location was destroyed (along with most of Rotterdam's center city) by the Germans in World War II. The zoo has been at this location since shortly after the war ended. It was sunny and tad bit warmer than it had been. It was a typical zoo, divided up into the different continents. Greyson seemed to have a really good time. He especially liked the meerkats, sea lions, and the penguins!

Flowers (bloemen)

Here are some photos of the flower fields in the north part of Holland, near Anna Paulowna. The Obama portrait is actually made from individual hyacinth flowers!

Settling In

We have been here in The Netherlands for a little over a week now. We arrived on Friday, May 1st. Greyson did really well on the flight over. He slept quite a bit curled up on Jon's lap. Needless to say, Jon didn' get much sleep on the flight over! We're slowly becoming acclimated to our new surroundings. One of the hardest things for us (well me) to get used to is the chilly, damp, windy, and cloudy weather. This first week here as been colder than a "cold" winter day in Gainesville.

We spent Friday and Saturday cleaning our apartment, unpacking, exploring Delft, and trying to stay awake. Greyson has had a difficult time adjusting to the 6 hour time difference. Thankfully, he seems to be getting back into a more normal schedule and isn't as much as a bear!

Last Sunday, we took the train to north Holland to visit our friends Piet and Bea. It was Greyson's first ride on a train. He was very excited. It was the first time Piet and Bea had met Greyson. He really liked the both of them. For some reason, Greyson could not remember Piet's name (pronounced Pete) and kept calling him "Peep." They took us to a Hyacinth Flower Festival in their village. People made artwork from hyacinth flowers. It was pretty amazing to see. We also saw the famous tulip fields. We missed the peak of the season by about a week. But it was still pretty spectacular!

Jon started work on Tuesday, which left Greyson and I on our own to explore. He loves to walk along the canals and look for baby ducks. So we've spent a lot of time feeding the mallard ducks in the nearby canals. He also enjoys watching the boats and the draw bridges along the Schie River. We found a great park nearby that has playgrounds, walking trails, botantical gardens, and a petting zoo. We will probably be spending a lot of time at this park during our three months here.