On Prinsjesdag, the third Tuesday of September, the Queen opens parliament. She arrives by Golden Coach, which is quite a sight to see. This year Darlene and I went with to an American Women’s Club Luncheon to have rijstafel at a traditional Indonesian restaurant overlooking the parade route. May not have been the close up view as the last time I went, but it sure was a lot more comfortable and tasty.
Every year on the 2nd weekend of September, government buildings and monuments throughout the Netherlands open their doors to the public. We visited the parliament building in The Hague on Saturday and were impressed with the art on the ceiling. We ventured back out on Sunday in the rain to see a German bunker on a main street in Scheveningen, which was really fascinating. The area used to be covered in bunkers as part of the Atlantic Wall (the photos of what the beach looked like were shocking), but the Allies filled most of them in. This particular bunker was uncovered last year and converted into a museum. Artifacts have been put back in to recreate what it would have looked like in the 1940s when it was used as a German command center.
The weather was great for the girls’ first day of school. Hard to believe that Ashlynn’s in 4th grade and Veronica’s in 7th. This year, Ashlynn will start learning Spanish in addition to Dutch; Veronica will continue to study five languages: Dutch, French, Spanish, German and Mandarin. The storks put on a good show for us when we were cycling to school.
We were intrigued with the idea of doing a hash on the canals of Amsterdam. Luckily the rain stopped just in time for the run start. Of course, we wouldn’t be running, but rather pedaling a boat through the canals along with 20 other hashers. To make the journey more interesting, there was a beer boat (as you can see, the girls smiled as they handed out beers) and a game involving cameras and signs along the way. Previously, I hadn’t thought that pedal boats were especially fun, but we all had a great time on the water and then out for Indian food afterwards.
We were able to squeeze in some fun during the week between our return to Holland and the start of school. We loved seeing a great touring British troupe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of Shakespeare in the Park. We also spent a Saturday in Amsterdam, starting at the Children’s Museum within the Jewish Historical Museum. The museum had lots of hands-on activities, including making Challah, Jewish egg bread. The mascot, a dancing matzo, cracked me up.
After Jimmy left to head back to Holland, us girls hung out for another week at my dad’s. Luckily we were able to work out an afternoon to spend with Stacie and her family, who we met in November 2005 when we’d all just arrived in Holland. We had a delicious Chinese lunch, went to the pool with her kids, then had dinner at their house. We saw some interesting sights in the short time we were together. Sadly, above you'll see an ever changing hillside across from the Moraga train station that shows the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq.
This was a happier sight, solar panels on a hill in Stacie and Lon’s backyard. While it was a big investment, they’re thrilled that their electrical bills are now only $30/month. Now they just need to figure out how to start selling electricity back to the grid.
While we were in San Francisco, the girls were busy practicing a play that they’d written together. They were very tricky pretending that they were performing Little Red Riding Hood, but they really were doing a story about a girl from 1859 and another from 2009 going through a time warp to 3009 in Travel to the Future. Grandma was thrilled that she didn’t have to play multiple roles this year. And Grandpa had a very simple role as Ashlynn’s mother, which was quite hilarious. What fun it is watching them all acting in such a creative story.
After our happy hour at Boudin’s, we started making our way back to the hotel to change for a romantic dinner. We made a detour to see Lombard Street and were surprised to find not just the crookedest street, but also the craziest running group. Of course, we were disappointed to discover that we’d missed the San Francisco Hash’s Red Dress Run (never dawned on us that they’d run on Mondays). Being the good hashers that we are, we gave up on the idea of a gourmet dinner after being invited to tag along for the end of the run, and had M&M’s, Red Vines and chips instead at the On-On at a park.
We once again crammed a lot in the next day with a walk up to Coit Tower, a self-guided tour of Boudin’s giant bakery, more clam chowder in a sourdough bowl and a crab cocktail from Fisherman’s Wharf. Finally had to catch a cab to swing by the hotel for our stuff or we would have missed our train.
Jimmy and I were exciting about sneaking away for an overnight in San Francisco. We only had a little more than 24 hours, but we sure did cram in a lot. We started with a walk to Chinatown, where we had a snack at a roto-sushi restaurant and Jimmy got a $5 haircut. Then we walked down to the Ferry Building for lunch along the SF Bay. After a wander through Pier 39, we decided to rent bikes so we could cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful day, but rather windy on the bridge and I was a bit freaked out.
Silly me thought we’d cycle back as well, but after doing some major downhills into Sausalito, taking the ferry back was looking better and better. As you can see, we weren’t the only ones with that idea. Unfortunately, we didn’t time things very well, so there wasn’t time to enjoy a drink in this cute town before having to line up to catch the last ferry back before the rental place closed. Martinis and clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls at Boudin’s (the best sourdough bread in the world!) helped make up for our poor planning.
My birthday just happened to fall on a Saturday this year, which was the perfect excuse for a pool party at my dad’s. Lucky for us, we had several old friends from school to join us. The girls were happy to see Hannah and Tenaya, classmates from Holland that had moved to Tokyo in 2007. James and I enjoyed catching up with their parents Susan, who’s from California, and Masaya.
I was very thrilled that Holly, my friend since 3rd grade, made the trip down from Sacramento to spend the afternoon with me. It was fun going through our final high school year book and the 25th reunion recaps that she’d brought along. Later in the trip, I further reminisced with my old college buddy John.
We spent the final leg of our trip in California at my dad’s house, where he and Ann gave us 5-star treatment for over 2 weeks. We went to see my dad play in two concerts, had some great sushi and spent lots of time in the pool. I failed to get any photos of my sisters, but we spent a night with Leigh and Mike, and saw a great Shakespeare comedy in the park with Eden. The girls completed their first scrapbook telling the tale of their dolphin adventure at Discovery Cove. And I helped complete my first issue of Going Dutch for the American Women’s Club from afar.
I booked our flights to California to leave in the afternoon so we’d have a full morning with Sharon and Brett, Jr. The kids begged us to take them to the corny science museum housed in the cool upside down WonderWorks building. We all survived laying on the Bed of Nails, playing virtual reality games and trying to psych out our opponents on a mind game. After lunch, Sharon was sweet to play taxi driver to the airport and we were finally really on our way to see Grandma and Grandpa.
