Just went looking for Easter pictures to post and realized that I only had three, and they weren't really of Easter! I'll have to get some from my in-laws. Come to think of it, Patrice must have saved them to his laptop while we were there because I don't have pictures from Amsterdam either. I'll talk to him when he gets home and post later.
Amsterdam was fun. It's always nice to travel with Patrice when he's on business because he doesn't stress about the cost of things as much (because half of it is paid for already!) and when he's happy, we're all happy!!
We took a canal cruise, visited the Anne Frank house (Alienor, Perceval and I), had a Teppan Yaki dinner (the kids loved the chopsticks!), had lunch at Van Poort Cleves restaurant (home of Heineken beer and numbered steaks - Patrice's was 5,700,000 something), visited a working wind mill (did you know they served the purpose of emptying the city of water, from one canal to the next? - most of the country lies below sea level), stopped at the Corrie Ten Boom home in Haarlem (but couldn't wait around until the next tour), and visited a flower farm (saw fields of flowers but we were about a week too early to see the tulips as it's been a long winter). We had a nice time and it wasn't too far away, about 4-5 hours.
Oh, I almost forgot the best (and worst!) part of Amsterdam - the bicycles!!! They are everywhere!! And the style is pre-WWII (or looks like it to me) so they all look the same. Almost all are black. I don't know how anyone can tell it was their bike except the locks (and there are lots that aren't even locked up). You have to watch when crossing streets because you have to cross the bike lane first, then the main street, and sometimes another bike lane. They have their own signals too. You just really have to pay attention and keep the kids out of their way. They seem to have the right of way in most situations too and don't like to have to slow down for pedestrians in their way. Alienor couldn't get over (I can't either) seeing ladies in their 40s and 50s in dresses and high heels on bikes. She kept pointing out to me, 'look at her shoes'. The bikes look like they don't have gears but my father in law said it's the old system where you push backwards on the pedals quickly (as if braking) and it changes gears. I don't know but that's what he said. Not only do people ride bikes, but I saw child seats, rear-facing in front of the handle bars and forward facing behind the seat (and sometimes both on a bike at once!). There is also a bike that has a little wagon in front of the handle bars (we saw one with 3 little kids in it). I saw one lady with with two kids in seats and a stroller attached behind everything. The general population must have some rock solid calves!
That's my little travel log. Will post pictures soon.
Jocelyn