No One Under 12 Admitted...

One of the advantages of not speaking Dutch is that we can pretend we don't understand a sign even though it's plain as day that young kids aren't allowed. When we heard that the Pieterskerk, Leiden's church dating to 1121, was having a scaffolding tour, we grabbed the girls, our American neighbor's kids and went. We ignored the sign and went to talk to the volunteer staff. After saying no kids allowed, they agreed that the three oldest were tall enough. Ashlynn wasn't, so Jimmy was going to take her elsewhere, but they said if he promised to hold onto her they'd let her go. Another example of: It never hurts to ask. Here we are at the high point of the scaffolding next to the new roof.

Two Computer Nerds in Leiden...

Jimmy was very excited that his ex-business partner Peter (some of you might remember him as Barney Rubble from the crazy Halloween hash complete with a seance that we hared in Chapel Hill years ago) was able to swing through town for a night en route to a conference in England. Time was limited, but we managed to go to our favorite pannekoeken restaurant, on a short bike ride and on a walking tour through Leiden centrum. Jimmy's old college buddy Phil was also just in town and we spent a night of deep intellectual conversing before sending him back to Houston the next morning. I know some of you occasionally get business trips to Europe--don’t forget to extend your trip an extra couple of days since we’re just a short plane ride away.

Valuable Lessons Learned While Road Tripping with Friends...

• Remember that walkie-talkies have limited range.
• Don’t carry both cell phones in one car.
• Don’t go through separate toll booths unless you want to get separated.
• Don't rely too heavily on the NavSat in your friend's car. Not only can the Dum-Dum lead you astray, but you'll be especially messed up when separated.
  
• Bring a detailed map of Belgium when you decide to ignore your instructions and cut across the country unless you like speeding along at 30MPH in all the tiny cities that don’t appear on your overview map.
• Make sure the other driver has a key to your house for when they beat you back.
• Most importantly, don’t wait until the last minute to rent your car unless you like paying through the nose.

Monet’s Garden…

Rather than drive straight back home, we decided to join Tony & Vivynne for a night in Giverny, the quaint French town an hour from Paris that Claude Monet spent 43 years until his death in 1926. We lucked into finding an inn with just 3 rooms, 2 of which were vacant and could each sleep 4. It was originally a blacksmith’s shop 300 years ago. We had dinner at the Hotel Baudy; while no longer a hotel, it once was popular with aspiring American painters learning Monet’s impressionistic style. We toured Monet’s house, which we enjoyed although it only had poor quality reproductions of his famous works. Then we visited his gardens, which were quite beautiful despite visiting too early in the season for the infamous lily pads to turn green. It was hard to believe that we were really standing on the infamous bridge in so many of his masterpieces. Across the street was an American Art Museum featuring works by those who followed Monet to Giverny to learn his impressionistic style, many of which are featured in a fabulous children’s book on our shelf: “Charlotte in Paris” by Joan MacPhail Knight.

Dragging the Kids Away...

Although it was difficult to drag them away, we were able to get the kids off the Chateau grounds a few times. We wandered around Vendome and up to the ruins of the old chateau. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, a crafts festival and some wine tasting in the quaint medieval town of Amboise. And we went to an ostrich farm. The girls were disappointed because only the juvenile ostriches were in the field and they were very skittish; the poor adult ostriches were all squished into the main barn. Here you see the kids trying to demonstrate that ostriches have tiny brains. You be the judge if they've succeeded.

Should I Trust Him with That?

While the kids were playing with styrofoam swords, the dads were taking turns learning how to fight with real swords (albeit not sharp swords); at least we had a doctor with us just in case. Us moms stayed out of the way and played photographers. We didn’t do much other sightseeing in the Loire, but Vivynne, Tony, Jimmy and I managed to dump our kids and had a day of exploring Saumur, famous for its sparkling wines and mushrooms. While the tour of the wine caves did make me thirsty, the tour of the mushroom caves just helped remind me why I don’t eat them.

Knights of the Odd Table…

Instead of visiting public chateaux this year, we opted to go to Mini Chateaux, which is a miniatures park that has 44 of the Loire Valley’s chateaux in 1:25 scale. What made this park especially cool wasn’t the models, it was the sword fighting section. The kids were so excited when they got to put on squire’s tunics and were given styrofoam swords to fight with. Here they are posed with real weapons; there was little risk of them fighting with them since they could hardly lift them. Afterwards, they were each knighted and presented with a certificate.