Bill & Hagen Visit...

On May 26, I picked up Bill at Schiphol after he flew in from Lucerne for a long weekend. While we have seen him in Switzerland, it’s been a long time since he’d been in Holland. A few hours later, we went to the train station to pick up his nephew Hagen who came from Germany. Bill takes Hagen on a vacation every year and this year he decided to bring him somewhere he could practice his English, although Hagen really didn’t need our help as his English was already great. Unfortunately for Hagen, Ashlynn was very busy studying for her GCSE exams, so he was stuck with me as tour guide. Ironically, Jimmy was in Switzerland for a conference for much of their visit.

That Friday we went to Rotterdam. We went up the giant staircase by Rotterdam Centraal, visited the Markthal, saw the cube houses, had lunch at the historic harbor and took a cruise around the port.

Here’s Bill posing with that strange Santa Claus that I just can’t resist photographing.

The following day we cycled to Wassenaar Beach for lunch. It was nearly impossible for Bill to keep himself out of the water.

Instead he went for a swim at Vlietland. The beach was pretty deserted and Bill was definitely the only swimmer in the lake. I’m not sure why the inflatable playground was already set up, but Bill took the opportunity for one quick ride down the slide. That evening Ashlynn and Jimmy joined us for dinner at our favorite pannekoeken (pancake) restaurant in Leiden, and then the guys left on Sunday morning.

A FILTH Pub Crawl in Rotterdam...

Opee pulled off another awesome trail, our first in Rotterdam. He found lots of great places to stop for beers including the Markthal, Vessel II and Fenix Food Factory, where we found a festival outside which was just perfect for dinner. Here is Liver Dance posing in front of a tourist shop.

 We managed to get a few group photos between stops.

 This statue was especially appropriate for our group.

It was dark when we finally got back to the station, but unfortunately there was no sign of that full moon.

Stairway to Heaven...

When we were in Rotterdam for Ashlynn’s birthday dinner, we saw a giant temporary staircase being built next to Rotterdam Centraal as part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the rebuilding of the city after World War II. It was opening the following day for just one month with free admission up the 180 stairs to the observation deck. The timing was perfect to bring the hash when Opee hared the FILTH Hash on May 21.

The views were fantastic, even when the roof of the train station got in the way.

It was a great place to have the first beer on a pub crawl hash.

Ashlynn’s Golden Birthday...

May 16 wasn’t just a holiday; it was also Ashlynn’s Golden Birthday: her 16th birthday on the 16th. Her big GCSE exams started the next day, so we didn’t do a big dinner out that night. Instead we had lunch at Vlietland. Kati is clearly very comfortable in the canoe as she jumped in before Jimmy or Ashlynn told her to.

Ashlynn, however, wasn’t as graceful as Kati getting into the boat.

Luckily, she wasn’t injured and came up smiling.

Normally we go out for a big sushi dinner for Ashlynn’s birthday, but since she’s now vegan she decided that a vegan meal would make more sense. So, on Friday the 13th, we went to The Tea Lab, a café in Rotterdam that serves a vegan high tea.

Paddling to Vlietland...

Monday, May 16 was a holiday, so Carlin and I could go on a training walk. As we headed towards Vlietland, we stopped at a farm to buy some fresh eggs.

We walked around the lake and grabbed a table at the restaurant where we waited for Jimmy, Ashlynn and Kati to arrive by canoe.

Ashlynn wasn’t the only girl with a big smile; it’s just that it isn’t so easy to see Kati’s smile.

Walking to Amsterdam...

Jimmy and I were excited when we were invited to watch Eurovision for the first time with a group of hashers in Amsterdam. Instead of just catching a train, we decided it was a good chance to explore some new territory for one of our C2C training walks. Of course, walking all 28 miles (45K) to Amsterdam would have been foolish, so we took the train to Schiphol for our starting point instead. Along our 9-mile (14.6K) walk we passed this interesting sculpture.

We were amazed how long it actually took to get off the airport’s massive property. Jimmy was especially thrilled when we came along the flight path to the outer runway.

Eventually we made our way to the Amsterdamse Bos, a huge forest where I easily would have gotten lost without Jimmy. Despite beautiful weather, the park was so empty that we wondered if Amsterdam had experienced some kind of disaster and all the people had disappeared. The Eurovision party was great fun and we enjoyed sampling the different foods and drinks from the countries that the guests chose to represent.

Hair as Fashion and Art...

After the tours, I headed over to Centraal Museum for the special exhibit Hair! Human Hair in Fashion and Art, undoubtedly one of the strangest exhibits I have ever seen...

...as you can now see for yourself.

While all the outfits featured human hair in some way, clearly not all of the outfits were made 100% of hair...

...but these vests were.

These pallets of “fleece blankets” were also made of 100% human hair, in this case hair cut from the heads of American soldiers that donated their hair to the project.

Walking Tour of Utrecht...

The walking tour began with a walk through the gardens of Dom Church, which I’d also never visited.

Again, we were told a lot of interesting stories about the construction, including why there appears to be ropes here. Afraid I’ve since forgotten their importance, but do remember that they were actually made of stone and integral to the design.

Thought this was a cool view of the church and its waterspouts.

Nearby was the Pope House. It was built in 1517 for Pope Adrian VI, the only Dutch pope, who never actually lived in the house. This statue of the pope is quite unusual as it rests on an uneven wooden platform.

While this building looks abandoned, it is actually part of City Hall as remodeled in 1997 in the deconstructivism style.

Thought this street art in front of City Hall was pretty cool.

All-in-all, a great tour of a great city.

Tour of Dom Tower...

In mid-May, I went to Utrecht for a tour of Dom Tower (which can only be accessed on a guided tour) and a walking tour of the city with other moms from the BSN.

I arrived a bit early, so popped into the cathedral across the way. Construction started in 1254 and continued until 1517 when the funds ran out. Built as a Catholic cathedral, it switched to being a Protestant church after the reformation of 1580, during which this artwork was defaced. Originally the 367-foot (112-meter) Dom Tower, completed in 1382, was attached to the church as you’d expect. However, it became detached in 1674 after a massive storm destroyed the poorly constructed nave (apparently those flying buttresses should not have been considered optional).

The tour of the tower included walking up 465 steps. Luckily there were several stops along the way. On this floor, we learned about how materials were brought up using ropes and pulleys through holes in the floors.

I’ve walked through the underpass of this tower many times and never bothered to look up. After the tour, I looked up to see the passages through which materials would have been pulled up into the tower. The two outer holes are bricked up with only the middle one still accessible.

The bells were humongous. I don’t remember all the facts about them, but I do remember that they escaped being melted down by the Nazis because they were marked as historic artifacts.

Ariel Views of Utrecht...

The views from the two top floors of Dom Tower were incredible! Definitely worth the long walk up.

Off to Lilac Mountain...

The following day, Jimmy was finally able to join us for one of our Coast-2-Coast training walks. We decided to stay a bit closer to home by walking to De Horsten, a park between Voorschoten and Wassenaar. Unfortunately, soon after we entered the park, we had to stop because Jimmy felt very ill. It quickly became evident that he had a fever and couldn’t continue. Carlin and Kent left immediately to walk home and come back with a car.

Along the way to the parking lot to be picked up, we passed by Lilac Mountain that is in bloom for just two weeks every spring. Luckily, Jimmy’s fever lasted just one day.