August Showers in Amsterdam

In planning our trip home last spring, we decided to take advantage of someone else paying for our plane tickets, and planned a stopover in Amsterdam on our way back to Dubai. We did a little better in planning for the weather for this trip, and had umbrellas, rainproof coats, and a bit warmer clothes, and it was a good thing as it rained every day! We had a few respites at opportune times and we just kept telling ourselves how hot Dubai was going to be, and we should enjoy a few rain drops. In reverse order, here's some photographic evidence of our trip. Nate has a couple of students from the Amsterdam area, and in talking to their mom's about what we should see, he wrangled us an invitation to one family's house in a small town not far out of Amsterdam (starts with an R, and is close to the town of Gouda, but I won't try to spell it!) Nate and I both loved our whole trip - we felt like we got a really good variety of experiences and sights of the country. I knew there were canals and bikes and windmills, but knowing and seeing are two very different things!

This is in the town of Gouda (pronounced with an "ow" sound in the middle and if you are really cool, that back of the throat gurgle with the G:). We did a little wandering here, bought some Gouda cheese, and a waffle cookie thing with two layers of waffle (think flat waffle cones like for ice cream) and caramel in the middle - yum!

The boys took us on a boat ride through the canals in their neighborhood, this is Joris on the left, and his older brother Tius, our navigators (one of the bridges we went under was so low that we would have had to literally lay on the floor of the boat, so we climbed out and walked over the bridge, then got back in.

Despite the look on his face, Will did really like the boat ride - there were sheep and swans and ducks and fish and lily pads and all kinds of fun stuff to see. One thing we learned is that rather than sidewalks or fences between houses, there are canals, and everyone has a little boat they can use to get around.

Our hosts fed us lunch - traditional Dutch split pea soup that was delicious and Dutch pancakes with Gouda cheese melted in the middle - yum! Besides the boats, of course there are bikes too, and that was one thing we didn't get to try - the rain and absolute crazy traffic of the bikers held us back. There are bike lanes next to the roads that you have to cross as pedestrians to cross the street, and we had a couple of close calls - the natives fly on their bikes, and they do not want to slow down for annoying tourists to get out of their way!

Tulips are my favorite flowers - and the flower market was full of bulbs of all colors and varieties. Unfortunately they don't grow so well in Dubai, and we don't really have a place to plant them anyway. But it was fun to see all the varieties and dream.

Rembrandt - we didn't make it to his museum so this had to suffice for our Rembrant experience, but we did get to see a few of his works in the Rijksmuseum.

We prayed for a break in the rain so we could take Will to the zoo, and even though it poured that morning, and while we were buying our tickets, it stopped just as we got ready to enter. It was a pretty great zoo - they had a baby boom this spring, and had a cute baby lion, elephant and giraffe, and some cool big cats - I hope you can see enough of the Daddy lion to see his impressive mane. We also saw some crocodiles, giant tortoises, scary vultures, two hump camels and monkeys and zebras - the list goes on and on... While we were waiting for dinner that night, Will started to get a little antsy, so I made up a song about the zoo, and it has become a favorite. He requests it at least once a day, and uses it to sing himself to sleep at night.

You can just see the back of the baby lion - he is nawing on a giant bloody bone right under the big log. His mama kept following him around, and the daddy would get up occasionally and check on the family.

One big draw for me in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank house, since I taught about her for many years - it was a humbling experience to be there in that tiny space, which as she said, was so much more spacious than many others had to survive in. Just like in Jerusalem, I was wishing for some alone time there, but the crowds kept pushing on so we did too.

We took a boat ride through the canals - Will was asleep before we had been moving for 5 minutes, so he got a nice nap, and we explored the main canals - luckily the boat was enclosed so we didn't get drenched in the showers. I love the clouds in this picture - like I said, we made the most of the cool rainy weather - mostly!

I will never get tired of looking at the canal houses - they have so much character!

Amsterdam is packed with art museums, so we had to decide which ones to visit. We started with the Riksmuseum, housed in this cool looking building. It had a variety of artists and time periods and was Nate's favorite. On our second morning, we were going to get breakfast at the pancake house in the park across the street, but when we got there, it was being dismantled! So we ventured on to the van Gogh museum, hoping to find something on our way. We found the museum cafe just in time to avoid a downpour worthy of Hurricane Irene that was happening at the same time, so we drank hot chocolate and watched the rain come down. It slowed as we got ready to head out, and it was a short walk to the van Gogh, but before we got there it picked up again. When we got inside, Will literally had puddles of rain in his lap. I wish I had a picture of his face - he gave a funny little smile and said, "Rain!" The cup holders of his stroller were also full of water!

I really liked the van Gogh museum - it was really interesting to learn more about him than just being the artist who cut his ear off - which according to museum info was not because of a girl, but rather due to an argument with a fellow artist. His work changed so much in the course of his 10 year career, and it was really cool to see the different styles of his paintings.

All in all, we loved Amsterdam and may decide to stop over there again one summer!