But, we caught a break this month! We were able to plan a trip (albeit last minute!) to Amsterdam. We booked our hotel on Thursday afternoon and left on Friday morning. Told you it was last minute!! When we got in the car in the morning, our GPS said it would take about 7 hours to get there. Unfortunately, between the hundreds of kilometers of traffic and Maia's frequent mealtimes it took us about 12 hours. But we made it!
Our hotel was less then great (but we'll save the details for another post!) Our room was so small there was no space for a crib…so we shared the bed with Maia. For a little Bee, she takes up the majority of the space!!
We spent Saturday exploring the city. We walked around and Maia rode in her new Kelty backpack. She LOVES it!
We went to the Van Gogh museum, took a boat tour of the canals, saw the Anne Frank house, and had a wonderful time. Here we are on the boat ride. Don't let the picture fool you…Maia only sat still for about 20 seconds.
We shopped at the floating flower markets, too! The amount of bulbs and varieties are astounding!
Look how large these bulbs are!
We even took time out to sit in a park. When Romas and I travel, we rarely take time to just sit and relax. There's always so much to see and never enough time. Traveling with Maia has slowed our pace considerably and although we may not get to see everything we normally would have, we are enjoying ourselves. This park was so beautiful and we would have never stopped before. There were lots of trees for shade and a canal ran right by so we could watch all of the boats.
Maia was particularly interested in the leaves! They have started falling and this is her first experience with autumn. She was captivated!
We went to the Van Gogh museum, took a boat tour of the canals, saw the Anne Frank house, and had a wonderful time. Here we are on the boat ride. Don't let the picture fool you…Maia only sat still for about 20 seconds.
We shopped at the floating flower markets, too! The amount of bulbs and varieties are astounding!
Look how large these bulbs are!
And, of course, everyone's favorite…
Maia was particularly interested in the leaves! They have started falling and this is her first experience with autumn. She was captivated!
Look at how chubby her arms and cheeks are getting!! You would understand why if you saw this kid eat! She absolutely loves food. We shared chicken with her a couple times and then we just started buying her her own chicken breast. There wasn't enough left for us when we 'shared!'
You can imagine how tiring it is to spend the day touring. We got on the trolly heading back to the hotel and Maia was asleep before the first stop. Normally she's a pretty light sleeper, but she was passed out! We carried her upstairs and put her on the bed where we let her sleep a little before dinner.
The next morning we got up and headed back into town. Amsterdam is known for its breakfasts - pancakes especially - and we wanted to try for ourselves! We picked a cafe at the floating flower market. Romas had a big English breakfast and I tried the pancakes. After living so many years abroad, we're very careful not to expect too much, even when we think we know what we're getting. The pancake was actually a crepe with butter melted on top. They put a jar of molasses on the table! Good thing I smelled it before I poured it on top!! Ew!!
Maia had her breakfast at the cafe, as well. She had oatmeal and fruit. She's finally learning to smile for the camera! For months she used to stop whatever she was doing and just stare at it. Now we finally get some cute smiley pictures! Can you see her two new teeth?
We wandered around with no particular destination, taking pictures along the way.
Did you know that literally everyone in Amsterdam rides their bike through town? By the second day, I was completely frustrated with the bikes. There are bike lanes and they have their own stoplights. You have to look for cars, look for bicycles, and look for the trolly. Cars don't always stop for pedestrians and bikes NEVER stop! It makes crossing the street quite a hassle.
Picture a bicycle in your head, the kind you see in black and white movies from the 1940's…THAT'S what they ride!! We even saw bikes like this one, loaded with kids, groceries, even dogs! How the heck do they balance and steer?
A lot of people have seats on the front or back for their kids. We saw just about every combination imaginable. Look at this:
Incredible, isn't it? Do you think you could ride that with a kid on the front and another on the back? I don't! Even more remarkable is that we didn't see a single person wearing a helmet. Not even the kids Maia's age!
We had such a great weekend together. We love living in Europe where everything is within driving distance. Amsterdam was beautiful! I think I'd like to go back in the spring when all of the tulips are blooming...
i loved Amsterdam. When I went it was cold and snowy, but somehow I still enjoyed it (usually when the weather isn't nice no one really enjoys a visit).
ReplyDeletelovely pictures!
Her cheeks and her arms! I can't believe what a huge difference from July! Yay Maia!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Halli
I love the pictures! I have watched a lot of the HGTV episodes where the live on houseboats in Amsterdam and it is neat! :) As for the bikes...I wouldn't make it a block with all my kids and dog on there! haha :)
ReplyDeleteThe bike situation sounds just like the Bay Area!
ReplyDeletesaw your post from the Gypsy Mama. my parents lived right outside of Amsterdam for 23 years and i spent my teenage years there! your pictures made me homesick. :-) so glad you had fun in our beautiful city. and, the bikes are annoying at first, but they grow on you. much easier to get around the city on a bike! :-)
ReplyDelete