Our Adventure Girl...

Veronica has looked forward to the 5th Grade trip to the Ardennes Mountains in Belgium since she 1st toured the school in 2005. Three weeks after school started this year, she boarded a bus for the 4-hour drive to the hostel where her class along with one other would spend 3 nights. She had a great time as each day they set out to do adventure activities such as

rock climbing, the postman's walk (crossing a river while walking on a wire and holding onto another), the long zip wire across a river and, most daring of all, the telegraph pole (climbing the above pole and then jumping off while attempting to reach out to a trapeze--she was brave enough to make the jump, but missed the trapeze).

Just Bullet-Proof Glass Away from Royalty...

Through Jimmy’s office, I got a special pass for Sally and I to witness the arrival of the Golden Carriage (built in 1903) at the Ridderzaal (built in 1280) on Prinsjesdag (Prince’s Day) on September 18th for the Queen to open parliament. I was very excited about this opportunity until I realized it meant standing behind a police barricade for 3 hours waiting for Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem- Alexander and his wife Princess Maxima to pass by. It also meant watching the backs of the armed forces along the parade route for over 2 hours. Luckily, the police officer above got tired of starring in all my photos and was nice enough to move aside just in time for me to get the photo below.

Unusual Sights in Eindhoven...

After a night in Valkenburg, we headed to Eindhoven for a dollhouse show where the girls bought some great furniture for their Dutch dollhouse. We also visited a maritime festival, an art museum and a light bulb museum. However, the most interesting things we saw in this town weren’t in any museums. We’d never seen the signs above, which are missing the tell-tale red slash. They might mean no peeing in public or drinking from a glass, but could also mean no peeing in a glass. Of course, perhaps the city planners had the blokes at the bar on wheels, bike wheels that is, in mind when they put it up.

Top Ten Sights in Europe?

A week after my appendix surgery, we tagged along on one of Jimmy’s business trips to the southern part of Holland. After he finished his business, we headed to Valkenburg, the closest thing Holland has to a mountain town (although the mountain is more like a small hill). There we visited the Valkenburg Grotto Aquarium, which claims to be among the Top Ten Sights of Europe. Don’t necessarily agree with that, but did enjoy this unique underground aquarium lit only by the lights in the tanks.

A House Floating By...

We see a lot of different types of boats and barges passing in front of our windows, but this was a first--a house floating by. While clearly this is a houseboat, it’s obviously not the type that folks rent to take for a spin for summer holidays. We were surprised when we noticed that the tugboat was empty, but then saw that the fellow on the back of the house was using a remote control to steer. The other fellow hoisted up the ladder to confirm that they’d clear the train bridge, but as you can see it wasn’t by much.

Now Taking Orders...

After last year’s fantastic Culinary Festival in Leiden, we were quite disappointed by Den Haag’s attempt this summer to do the same. Although we opted to skip the food for falafels, it wasn't a complete bust. As we were leaving, Veronica noticed a sign for a fashion show and asked if we could stay. The catwalk was in the middle of the street and there

were still seats available, so we stuck around. It was the best laugh we’d had in weeks as you can see from these photos. These fashions were from the “Read Me a Story” Collection; I’m surprised we didn’t have nightmares from the giant arm and other scary things the models carried or their weird fake eyelashes that looked like teardrops. Another collection was made from recycled materials, including having rollers from skates on the tops of shoes and a bizarre sci-fi thing with glass tubes over the models’ heads. What will they think of next? Click here to see more on a new Picasa Web Album that I’ve finally figured out how to use.

Valuable US Transport Lessons

* When you borrow a friend’s car, it’s best to make sure they have a spare key. Sadly, I managed to lose Steve’s BMW key somewhere in his house. Luckily Steve has a good sense of humor, only works 2 miles from home and enjoyed having James chauffeur him in another car we borrowed (although somehow we failed to remember to mention this incident to that friend). $100 later, Steve now has 2 new keys.
* The doors to BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) don’t open just because you shove your arm through as they’re closing. Luckily we weren’t injured, but quite a panic ensued after Veronica jumped onto the subway and the door closed before Ashlynn and I were able to get on. It was a bit ironic that after 20 months of riding the rails, we manage to finally get separated on our first outing in California. I was admonished by the BART employee for banging on the doors especially since it turned out that the doors would have reopened anyways because the train wasn’t leaving for another 3 minutes (although there was no sign to that effect).