Quirky Amsterdam

One of the fun things about travel is finding what's unique about the new places you go. Here's what we noticed about Amsterdam.

Mike and I were confused about this sign. Mike thought it might mean to wear sunscreen? But I looked it up, and the "DNA-Spray" is actually DNA spray. If a crime is committed they will spray this DNA-like spray which will identify the person as being at a particular spot at a particular time. Then days, weeks, or months later they will be able to detect this spray on a suspect and supposedly make the case stronger. I'm pretty sure we didn't come home with any DNA spray on us.

I'm showing this very unflattering photo of my backside to try to show how super steep the staircases are in the traditional Amsterdam row houses. See Mike's feet hanging off the edge of the stair? I now have more sympathy for those people on House Hunters International who don't want to buy a third-floor walk up.

Aren't their trucks adorable? This isn't the only one like this we saw. They're all over the place. And what's also interesting is that the Dutch are TALL. I wanted a picture of some 6 foot 5 inch Dutch fellow bending into one of these.

I guess I'm entertained by small things. I just thought it was cute that the Coke "Share a Coke with..." campaign went from names like George, Abigail and Simon in England, to names like Wouter in Amsterdam.

I made Mike take that top picture because I couldn't believe how skinny that house is. Then we saw the skinniest house in Amsterdam. Camille's arms are literally spanning the width of the house. Those edges are the beginnings of new houses. I would so love to go on a skinny house tour and see how those places are set up inside.

I looked it up, and Amsterdam has very low bicycle accident rates. I guess that's what having separated bike paths everywhere and such a high rate of bike riders that cars know to look out for them will do for you. But coming from America their bike riding habits seem crazy! It's very common to see two adults on a single bike, usually on a side seat on the bike like in the top photo. Also common to see people texting while biking like in the next photo. Or texting, riding a bike and holding an umbrella. And then it's more cute than crazy to see all the young families getting around town by bike. They'll have one or two children in the bucket thing in the front of the bike, plus another child on a back seat, or they'll have bikes with a child seat in front and another on the back, or two babies on one bike with an older child on a side seat on another bike. It was entertaining imagining the young families we know trading in their cars for a set of family bicycles.

We saw many of these tiny cars. This one is driving along a walking/biking path, but we also saw them on the road. Not only do the Dutch seem to be fearless bikers, they appeared to be fearless drivers. We saw one of these cars that looked so small you weren't sure who'd come out better in a car-bike collision playing a fearless game of chicken with a tram and truck out on the road. The car backed down the tram and truck and motored along its way.

One day we went to the beach, which we found a little different. In general, the crowd was young families, but from the looks of the place we felt like we'd landed at a hippie commune in the 60's.

All the buildings in Amsterdam have a hook at the top of the building, like in the top picture. We thought it was fun to see people moving furniture out of a building window using the hook and pulley system. If all the staircases are as steep and narrow as the one we used, there would be no other way of getting furniture into and out of a building. The staircase route is not an option.

So this has me thinking, what do you think outsiders would find entertaining about your hometown?

Amsterdam: a Great Place to Take Your Kids

Reasons why Amsterdam is an excellent place to take your kids:

1. Pancakes

Sadly, my kids do not go to new places to explore new cuisines. They are quite suspicious of any food that does not look and smell like what they're already familiar with. So one great thing about taking kids to Amsterdam is that they specialize in pancakes, something even my kids will eat, and you can find many restaurants that serve them all day. Here you can see we've wolfed down half our food before my head cleared enough to remember to take a picture. We tried the restaurant Pancakes!, a small place in a cute neighborhood, which was our favorite. 

We also tried The Pancake Bakery, which is on the Prinsengracht canal, right down the street from the Anne Frank Museum. It's fun sitting outside by the canal watching the boats and bikes go by, and they had excellent poffertjes, a Dutch specialty. Extra bonus, the kid's pancake comes with a stuffed animal surprise on top!

2. Van Gogh Museum

To say Anya was unenthusiastic about going to the Van Gogh Museum would be a bit of an understatement. So I couldn't have been happier to find that the museum gives out a treasure hunt for free to kids (in English or Dutch) with a promise of a prize for completion. Anya was thrilled with it. She independently made her way around the museum, completely engaged, giving my husband and me all the time we wanted to leisurely explore. Camille had a picture book when she was younger about Van Gogh and his time in Arles painting, so she was interested in seeing the paintings in real life and enjoyed the museum even without the enticement of a little prize. 

As a side note, the lines to get into the museum can be really long. We bought our ticket as part of the IAMSTERDAM pass. That, along with buying e-tickets, gets you into a shorter line into the museum. Also, we went ten minutes before opening time Monday morning and so were able to get right in. We went right to the room with our favorites, so we were able to enjoy the paintings by ourselves - no crowds at all. It worked out beautifully.

3. Vondel Park

I'm tempted to say that Vondel Park is one of the world's best big-city parks. O.k., so I realize there's arguments to be made for so many other parks, and we didn't even make it to Amsterdam's other, even bigger park, Amsterdamse Bos, to compare, but this is all just to say that I love Vondel Park. It's a beautiful park for anyone, full of mature trees, decorative ponds and streams, grassy areas and jogging, biking and walking paths. There's also a couple of outdoor cafes and an area where they have free concerts. But there's a few features that make it really fun for kids. 

They have a really fun, HIGH, climbing structure designed for older kids. It can be hard finding park equipment that's engaging for older children.

In another part of the park, in addition to a wading pool and play equipment for younger children, there is all this wood provided for children to build their own forts. It reminds me of some of the unstructured play I would do as a kid that isn't as common anymore.

In yet another part of the park is an enclosed play area, including this zip line that Anya absolutely loved, with a cafe where you can buy drinks and snacks and then sit and eat them at shaded tables along the lake while your children play. Genius!

4. Anne Frank Museum

This tour of the annex where Anne Frank, her family and others hid for two years during the war is really well done. It had just the right amount of display, video of people who knew Anne and her family, information and quotes from Anne's diary. By the time you've quietly worked your way through the cramped, dark rooms and reach the attic window where Anne and Peter would go to look at the sky, you have a small appreciation for what their experiences were like. After the tour of the annex, there's some videos of different scenarios where people's rights are at odds. Then you can vote for what you think should be done. Anya found that engaging. It's another museum with long lines. By coming ten minutes before opening time we were able to minimize our wait.

5. NEMO Science Museum

We went on a super-busy weekend day in August. It was a mad house. Still, it's another museum that was so engaging that it overcame my grumpy daughter's bad attitude. Everything is hand's on, and all the displays are presented in both Dutch and English. There's also a beautiful roof-top deck with great views of the city.

Sadly, we didn't get a great shot from the museum. We were too busy running around enjoying it.

6. Transportation

Amsterdam is a great city to negotiate with kids. If you like biking, there's designated biking paths EVERYWHERE, often completely separated from the road. I've never seen anything like it.

The tram makes it easy to get anywhere. And if you have a child who hates walking as much as mine, there's really a lot less walking involved with taking the tram than taking a subway. Anya counted riding the tram and train as one of her highlights of the trip.

And when you do have to walk, Amsterdam is a beautiful place to walk, with very few cars. You just have to manage not getting hit by the bikes.

7. Language

If your children, or you, are intimidated by going to a country where they speak a foreign language, The Netherlands would be a great place to start. It's possible not every person in The Netherlands speaks English beautifully, but we didn't find any evidence to the contrary. We even had a person who was soliciting us for money switch to English when he realized we didn't speak Dutch. (There are very, very few people soliciting for money by the way. I just had to include that as an example of how everyone seems to be fluent in English). A lot of signs and menus are in Dutch, but it can be easy to figure out just knowing English and very, very few words in German or French. If you're still stuck, there's always someone fluent in both languages close by. 

American Loot

Mike returned home from a business trip Sunday, which is a happy thing. Partly, we're fond of his company and like having him home. Also, he brings us back American supplies.

Here's a picture of some of the things we've picked up in America:

Shoes (and clothes) - They have many nice stores here, but the prices are at least a third more expensive than in the states. So far when we've needed something I've had Mike pick it up.

Unsweetened chocolate - It maybe seems a little crazy to go to Europe and need to pick up chocolate in America. The thing is, they don't sell unsweetened chocolate here. I need (well, want) it for brownies, as well as other recipes. They must have their own version of recipes without it, but I haven't yet gone to the bother of finding new recipes.

Jalapenos - I miss Tex-Mex food! Oh what I would give for some El Napolito chips and salsa. We did try buying some salsa here. That experience has frightened me off English salsa for some time, so I decided to make my own. However I went all over the city - two farmer's markets, 5 international grocers, 4 grocery stores - and no luck. But happy day, Mike was able to bring me home some jalapenos and now I have a freezer full of salsa for whenever I'm having a craving.

Power converters and plug adapters - It's just about impossible to overestimate the number of converters and adapters you're going to need. I'm always thinking if I had just one or two more we'd be all set.

Instant Breakfast - Anya has had the hardest time adjusting to the food here. She really misses all her American breakfast food. The Instant Breakfast is just the easiest to fit in a suitcase.

I think all our other American purchases have been things like video games (video games and movies are region-locked, meaning we can't buy them here and have them work on our American machines) and toys that the girls have wanted that are also much cheaper in the U.S.

So for now, we're feeling content. We need to be, because Mike won't be back in the States until October.

Day Out Crowland

Last Sunday was our last day of our three day car rental. The first part of the day the girls and I got to be driven to church, like some kind of rock stars. Making our usual trek to church involving a half mile walk and 20 minute bus ride to go 2.5 miles away is the time I miss having a car the most. After church, with just a few hours left of our car rental, Mike and I decided on another close-to-home location: Crowland. The girls were outing-ed out and stayed home. As you can see from the pictures, Crowland has an abbey. The site has been a religious one since the 700s AD. Old! It was conquered by the Danes in 866. Did everyone else know the Danes were once about in Britain conquering things? My history is a little spotty. The buildings now seen were built later.

This is the only remaining Norman arch from the abbey.

I really like this medieval knight looking guy (saint?).

I'm so curious about this headstone. Doesn't it look like it says: Eliz. Wife of James Hobourn who died Nov 15ish Aged 10 Years? First, I must have the "ish" wrong. Wouldn't they be pretty sure what day she died? And they couldn't have been using "ish" back then could they? Then, the bigger issue, what is a 10 year old doing already married? I know they would marry princes and princesses super young way back when for political purposes, but country town folk?

In the middle of town, there's this bridge to nowhere, with no water in sight. Apparently, the rivers that used to flow here were rerouted. The city and abbey of Crowland were an island at one time. Thanks to drainage, it's all just flat plains now. 

We took a nice little country walk, some along this little river, and some past all these golden fields very reminiscent of middle America.

Day Out Framlington Castle and Bury St Edmunds Abbey

Saturday we were looking for something to do to take advantage of our weekend car rental. After our big day Friday at the Harry Potter tour, we were looking for something lower key, lower cost and close to home. We decided to visit Framlington Castle in Suffolk. It's really not on anyone's list of must-sees in England, or even top castles to visit in England, so my expectations weren't terribly high. But it turned out to be a nice afternoon.

After my recent time in desert-y Southern California, I'm still in a mode where just walking around green paths makes me very happy. The grounds around the castle have some pretty paths.

Here's Camille in the middle of a burnt-out tree.

Just in case you're wondering, Anya recently bought a new stuffed animal that she's decided needs to be in every picture with her. Also, she's not fond of posing for pictures.

For a castle I'd never heard of, it had some interesting history. It was owned by the Howards, of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard fame. Mary I was living here when she was crowned queen. Then later the castle was partly taken apart to make facilities for feeding the poor. So only the outer walls and ramparts are left of the original, along with maybe another wall or two. The building you can see in this picture is the newer portion added for the poor. 

The town of Framlington is pretty cute. We stopped here for refreshments. The town seems to be operating on old-time European standards - it was 2:30 on a Saturday and many of the stores and shops were closing down for the weekend.

On our way home we stopped by the Bury St Edmunds Abbey. 

 The original medieval abbey is just a ruins now. It's fun to climb around on.

 I have a love of garden doors, from loving the book The Secret Garden when I was young.

The new cathedral is quite pretty too. 

The abbey also has extensive gardens around it. I would have liked wandering around here a little longer, but a certain daughter of mine wouldn't get out of the car and we didn't want to leave her too long.