While all the canals around Leiden are no wake zones, it doesn't mean that you can't have some thrills on a boat. Rather than speed, the thrill is maneuvering through low tunnels with tight corners. As we prepared to pass under the above Buttermilk Bridge, Mike had Alex lay down at the front of the boat to help keep us from hitting the walls of the tunnel.
The girls were just thrilled that we were going boating. They quickly claimed the front of the boat as their special place and enjoyed playing cards until we got into Leiden Centrum. Ashlynn started out with a life vest on, but quickly grew comfortable scrambling around the boat without one. She’s clearly more agile than I am, so thank goodness we didn't have to test out if her survival swimming lessons really work.
After our basement flooded in mid-July for the 2nd time this summer, we were thrilled that there were clear skies the following day so we could go boating with our next door neighbors, Mike and Alex. They worked hard last summer to restore their 1940’s boat, but have gotten little use out of it this summer due to crappy weather. Mike grew up in Leiden, so was able to give us a wonderful tour of this city that he knows so well. We’re really lucky to have such great neighbors and are enjoying getting to know them better. Now that Mike’s come over in his underwear to borrow the lawn mower, we know that we’re not merely neighbors, but friends. 
Our non-hash friends are always curious what strange things our kids are learning at the hash. Well, here's proof that they're learning very valuable skills. When Jimmy suggested the girls help him in the beer wagon (which, by the way, was the classiest way we'd ever seen at a hash to keep the beer flowing), they started with washing mugs and pouring sodas. It wasn't until he left to join me dancing that they graduated to pouring beers. I was worried that they'd be in the way, but they were hard workers and had a lot of fun. Wonder what child labor laws we were breaking?
After a fantastic Saturday hash (the girls took the 7k walking trail, I did the 11k turkey trail which included a lot of trying not to fall down the hills of a canyon, and Jimmy did the 14k eagle trail which was for the serious runners), it was time for the big party. The theme for the evening was a reverse pajamas party, but as you can see we opted to go conservative. It was a bit chilly, but dancing for hours to the classic rock band helped keep us warm.
The final step in making the coat of arms was to grind off any rough edges as shown here. Luckily the girls didn't grind off any fingers.
It was definitely the 2nd step in the making of the coat of arms that reminded us that we were having another "Not in the US" moment as the girls poured hot molten tin and lead into the molds without signing release of liability forms. The metal dried incredibly quickly which is one of the reasons it took Ashlynn several tries to get the mold filled just right. She enjoyed getting to put any mistakes back into the pot and watch them melt just as fast.
Before the hash started on Saturday, we completed our explorations of the fort by visiting the two museums. The archeology museum was small, but had samples of some of the pottery we found which was cool. The general museum was huge and had several interesting exhibits. The girls' favorite was the metallurgical exhibition. We were shocked when the lady working there asked if the girls would like to make their own coat of arms. The first step, was to put the mold together as shown here.
The Festung Ehrenbreitstein was built in 1832 after Napoleon's troops burnt the previous fort to the ground; military fortresses have been on the site dating back to 1000BC. It's the 2nd largest fortress in Europe and could be defended by 1,500 soldiers, although it was never attacked before it was decommissioned in 1890. During World War II it was used to store archives and cultural objects; now it has 2 museums, a restaurant and the youth hostel. We enjoyed the tour that the hash organized, but had more fun on our own search of the grounds. As usual, we came home with shards of pottery to add to our collection.
We skipped a day of school and work to take the train down early so we'd have an extra day to explore Koblenz before the insanity of the hash started. It was a relaxing day of hiking down the hill from the fort, catching a water taxi to the town, having a nice lunch in the main square and wandering around. We saw such sights as the spitting boy fountain, the Deutsches Eck statue of Emperor William I at the point where the Moselle and Rhine Rivers converge, and the history of the city fountain shown below. We also visited Beethoven's mother's home. While we walked back up the hill to the hostel this time, on Sunday when the hash went back into town for a walking tour, we took the ski lift back up.
Back in 2004, we spent 2 days in Germany exploring along the Rhine River. We boarded a river ferry in Koblenz across the river from an impressive fort on the hill, which I made sure to get in the photo I took of the ship. Little did we know then that the fort housed a youth hostel and that we'd be staying there 3 years later for the German Nash (national) Hash. After having such a blast at the Hague Hash's 25th, I looked into what other hash weekends we could do as a family. When I saw a picture of where we'd be staying, I signed us up. Gotta give credit to the organizers from the Frankfurt Hash House Harriers for finding us the best view in the area. Below is the view we saw each morning while we ate breakfast.
We almost canceled our final Dutch Treat Family Hash of the summer because of heavy rain around noon, but by 2pm the skies were clear and it was a great day for hashing. Jimmy laid a live trail through the center of Leiden during the Rembrandt Festival. What fun it was to run through the quaint historic streets, along canals, and through a medieval crafts market complete with 17th century beggars and jesters. We had a great turnout with several new kids, including the two below who had the thrill of throwing flour on Jimmy because they caught up with him on trail. We ended the afternoon with down-downs at a small cafe next to a park with great climbing trees.
