Botanical Gardens

On Saturday, we decided to spend the day in Delft exploring something new. We decided to go to the Botanical Gardens. It is a short walk from our apartment. Greyson had fun running along all the paths and looking at all the sculptures. Unfortunately, there weren't many plants flowering this time of year at the gardens. In a couple of the greenhouses, they had quail roaming free. Greyson was determined to catch one....luckily for the birds he did not succeed. (We're not sure what he was going to with a quail, if he had actually caught it!) Greyson's least favorite part of the garden were the bee houses. He is terrified of bees and he has never even been stung by one. (I think his fear comes from watching a Curious George video about bees!)

Canal Boat Tour in Delft

We've actually had a couple of days of really nice weather here. So Greyson and I decided to take a canal boat tour here in Delft. It is similar to the ones in Amsterdam; but on a smaller scale. We had a good time. Greyson got a kick out of all the ducks we went past in the canals. It is a really nice way to take in all of the different architectural styles here and to learn little tidbits of Delft history.

Father's Day

Today, was Father's Day here in The Netherlands. We decided to spend the day in Amsterdam to celebrate. We took the train and arrived in Amsterdam mid-morning. Although, we've been here for 7 weeks now, Greyson had still never experienced Dutch pancakes (they are fluffier and larger than a crepe; but not as fluffy as American pancakes.) We found a cafe in Amsterdam and had a late breakfast of Dutch pancakes. Greyson ordered his with vanilla ice cream and loved it.

After filling up on Dutch pancakes, we decided to take one of the boat tours around the city. The canal tour allowed us to hop on and off at various stops throughout the city. Jon and I had done this years ago and thought Greyson would enjoy seeing the sites from a boat.

We made a quick stop by the Anne Frank House. We didn't go inside this time (the line was too long and Greyson is too young to appreciate the significance of it.) Jon and I went several years ago and it is really moving. We took Greyson's picture outside of the Anne Frank House-so one day he can say, "I was there."

Then we decided to go to the Heineken Experience to celebrate Father's Day. Greyson seemed to actually enjoy himself. He wasn't crazy about the "ride" where you became a bottle of beer. Greyson was a little freaked out by it. We bought a special Heineken beer with Greyson's name on the bottle for a souvenir.

After going to the Heineken brewery, we walked around Amsterdam--went through the Flower Market and then headed back to the train station to head back to Delft.

Swan Family

Yesterday afternoon, we looked out our window and saw a swan family swimming in the canal across the street from our apartment. I don't think I've ever seen baby swans before. It was so cute to see them swimming in the canal.

Greyson Gets Wet Again (This Time In Belgium)

We decided to head to Belgium for the day to go the zoo and sight see. We took the 1-hour train the Antwerp this morning. The weather was drizzling when we arrived; but at least it wasn't cold! The Central Station in Antwerp is spectacular to see.

One of the best things about being in Europe, is their mass transit systems. When you walk out of Central Station, the Antwerp Zoo is right there. The zoo is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to 1843. The zoo was really nice and had a park-like feel to it. (It was much nicer than the zoo we went to in Rotterdam.) The only not so great part was the light rain; but it did stop after awhile.

After going to the zoo, we walked towards the old city center. The architecture in Antwerp is pretty amazing. It is a neat combination of Dutch and French styles. You would walk down one street and you would think you were in Amsterdam and the next street was like being in Paris. It was a great mixture of both styles.

We stopped at the Grote Market. This market is full of cafes and restaurants. Many of the buildings here date back to the 16th century. The city hall is located in the square as well. There is a large fountain (The Fountain of Brabo and the Giant's Hand) there, full of kids playing in the water. Well, Greyson decided to join in the fun. He stood on this rock and slipped and fell right into the fountain. Luckily, I had brought an extra pair of clothes for him, so we quickly changed him and continued on our sight-seeing.

We then decided to find an authentic belgian waffle. Most of the best places were closed since it was Sunday. We eventually found a place and we all had belgian waffles. They were delicious. After our waffles, we headed back to train station to catch our train back to The Netherlands.

Dutch BBQ

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a Dutch BBQ at house of one of Jon's co-workers. Rob lives out in the country outside of Rotterdam. Every year the Dutch band, Golden Earring (who's claim to fame in the US is the song, "Radar Love" performs a show near the village where Rob lives.) The show was last weekend; but the weather was "typical" Dutch, so Rob postponed his BBQ one week. So Greyson and I finally met all the people Jon has been talking about for the past 2 years, since he has been working for Applikon. Most everyone was very nice and friendly.

Greyson made a new best friend (Sabine) at the BBQ. Sabine is Rob's girlfriend. She spoiled Greyson rotten the entire time--with chocolate milk, candy, and ice cream. Greyson didn't want to leave when it was time to go!

The only thing on the menu for a Dutch BBQ is pork! I don't thing I've ever seen so many different types of pork before served at one place. Of course, none of us are big pork eaters, so we "pretended" to enjoy the food.

Greyson's New Do

I finally broke down and took Greyson to get his hair cut this morning. His hair had been looking pretty bad for the last 2 weeks (which is why I tried to always make him wear his Gator hat.) I had been putting if off, because I really didn't want to pay 20 euro for someone to cut his hair. So we went to this one salon, we pass by all the time. The ladies in there were so incredibly nice and sweet to him. The lady that cut his hair asked Greyson if he wanted his hair spiked and he said yes. So now he is very excited to have spiked hair and wants it always look like this. I guess I'd better go buy some gel.

Delft TU Go-karts

This morning, Greyson and I were walking through the square on our way to the grocery store, when we noticed the center of the square had been barricaded off and there were 4 go-karts. We found a flyer posted on the barricade about Delft TU (Delft Technical University) unveiling a new go-kart later that day. I guess there is some sort of international competition between university college students to build and race these go-karts. (Jon said UF's Engineering School competes in the same competition.)

So after lunch, we headed back to the square to see what was going on. There were a lot of people in the square when we arrived. We stood around for about 10 minutes listening to a bunch of Dutch before the new and improved go-kart was finally unveiled. After the unveiling, the "pit crew" (who were all wearing 3-piece suits) changed the tires. The driver then got into the car and drove around the oval track for a few minutes. Greyson thought it was very neat when the guy started doing doughnuts!

After the unveiling of the new kart, we were able to look at previous versions of the go-karts. They didn't look much different to me; but I'm sure Jon would've been able to point out all of the differences:) Greyson had fun pretending to be "Speed Racer", as he tried out each of the "race cars" several times. Jon was very happy to see Greyson's interest in these go-karts! (He's been planning for Greyson to be race car driver since he before he was born!)

Legermuseum

On Sunday, we headed back to the army museum here. Jon had never been before and Greyson wanted to show him all the "super neat" things. It was another cold, rainy, windy day here--so an indoor activity was perfect. After we went to the museum we went to a couple of shops. You can only shop in stores the first Sunday of each month here. You will only find grocery stores open on the other three Sunday's of the month. After shopping, we stopped at a little cafe in the market square so Greyson could have a cup of hot chocolate (to help warm him up.)

Hoek Van Holland

We had dinner with Jan (one of Jon's friends who is also the founder of the company Jon works for now) one night last week and he invited us to come see a youth beach rugby tournament that his rugby club was hosting. So this morning we took the train to the Hoek Van Holland (Hook of Holland) to see him. The Hoek Van Holland is situated on the North Sea.

There are still lots of German bunkers there left over from the War World II. According to Jan, the Germans thought the Allied Invasion was going to take place along the Dutch border, since the beach is very flat, rather than in Normandy, France. The Dutch have found it to be too expensive to destroy them, so many of them are still standing today. There were a few other remnants from the war, there was an old observation tower and a huge radar system, that is still in use today. It is rather ironic that we were on German bunkers on the 65th anniversary of D-day!

First, we went to Jan's house and had coffee, tea, and a bite to eat. Their house is incrediblly nice with a beautiful garden in the back yard. During the war, Jan's house was a Officer's House for the German Military. Shortly after Jan moved into the house back in the early 1980's, they found a box full of German ammunition and a bunch of journals hidden in the attic. Jan still has the empty box in his garden. Jon had given Jan a Gator football several years ago, so Greyson was excited to play football in their back yard.

Then we headed to the beach along the North Sea. It was rather cold and very windy along the beach. (But yet, there were people in the water.) The beach is very wide here. We watched a couple of games of rugby, while Jan explained the rules to us. Greyson played on a slide for a bit and had fun. Jan found a rugby ball and taught Greyson how to throw a rugby ball. We played with the rugby ball for quite some time. As we were getting ready to leave, Jan bought Greyson his own rugby ball to take back to the US. Greyson has all but forgotten who Tim Tebow is at the moment and wants to be a famous rugby player instead.

Market

Thursday is Market Day here in Delft. So every Thursday the center square is filled with all sorts of vendors selling everything from cheese, fish, bread, pastries, fruits, vegetables, plants, flowers, and clothes. The prices on everything is relatively inexpensive, compared to buying things at a store. Greyson's favorite part of the market are the fresh stroopwafels they sell. A stroopwafel is a waffle made from 2 thin waffles with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle. They really are delicious. Greyson and I love the flower and plant portion of the market. He wants to stop and smell every single flower. The rest of it is more of a flea market--so I could do without it.

After a couple of nice days, the weather has turned considerably colder and rainy again. I was really hoping the warmer weather was here to stay. I think the forecast is for the weather to stay cloudy, cool, and windy through the weekend.

Back in Delft

We made it back to Delft early afternoon on Monday. Jon shot some video of the high speed train between Paris and Brussels on the train trip back to Rotterdam.

We've started a Saturday lunch tradition of going to Kobus Kuch for tomato soup (for Jon and I) and apple pie (for Greyson.) Since we were out of town on Saturday, we decided to go there when we arrived back in Delft. The weather was actually warm, so we sat outside in one of the squares and had tomato soup and apple pie.

Monday was another religious holiday of some sort here in The Netherlands (they have more religious holidays here than we do in the US and yet a vast majority the Dutch consider themselves to be Atheist) and most stores were closed. We decided to go visit the Old and New Church. The inside of the New Church was pretty impressive. The Dutch Royal Family is buried in this church. We decided to climb the tower in the New Church. Greyson again did an awesome job climbing stairs (this time there were almost 400 steps.) The view was spectacular from the church tower.

We then walked over to the Old Church. It wasn't nearly as spectacular as the New Church; but was filled with a lot history. Johannes Vermeer (famous painter) and Anton Van Leeuwenhoek (inventor of the microscope.) are both buried here. Greyson's picture with Leeuwenhoek's grave is for his Uncle Sam!!

Sites of Paris (Part 2)

On Sunday morning we had crepes at a cafe in the 4th District. Greyson thought his chocolate and banana crepe was the "super best." After having crepes, we walked along the Seine towards the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was really beautiful.

There was a older man in the square in front of the cathedral feeding birds. He let Greyson and I hold a piece of bread and the birds landed right on our hands and ate the bread. Greyson jumped the first time the bird landed on his hand; but eventually relaxed and thought it was cool.

After seeing the Notre Dame Cathedral we walked around Paris for a bit before heading back to our hotel. We'd promised Greyson we would take him to an aquarium if he was good while we were walking around. The aquarium was out towards Disneyland. It really wasn't all that great (in Jon and I opinions); but Greyson really enjoyed it (and that is what matters.)


We then headed back towards the 4th District to have dinner at one of the sidewalk cafes. We had a really delicious dinner. Greyson had another hot dog and was in heaven. (He keeps asking when can we go back to Paris and have hot dogs.) After dinner, we had dessert (Jon & Kelley = Beer; Greyson = ice cream) and then headed back to the hotel. Once we were back at the hotel, we packed our bags, so we would be ready for an early train back to The Netherlands in the morning. We had a great time while we were in Paris. We crammed a lot of sites into our extended weekend visit. It will definitely be a place we come back to in the future when we have more time.