Day trip to Gouda

We were true tourists for a day and took a looooong boat ride to the small town of Gouda.
In the center of town is the old City Hall built in 1450-this could be a postcard.
We also caught the end of the cheese market, piles of cheese were still laying around....
...they are heavy!!!This building is called De Waag and is where the scales are housed for the cheese.
We walked and walked and walked and always came back to the same point on the canals--this is what happens when you don't have a map.
While walking around aimlessly we were surprised by this windmill (there were lots of trees blocking our view).
After a long hot day the kids were a bit disappointed that the boat wouldn't stop for the ice cream boats.

Museum and day at the beach

The kids and I enjoyed a visit to Cruquius, a museum showing an old steam run water pump station used to pump out the Harlem Lake in 1849--it took 3 years to pump it dry, which is now fully developed. Amazing to see how they managed the water.
We also visited the Panoram Mesdag but were unable to photograph. It is a painting by Mesdag that gives you a 360 degree view of Scheveningen done in 1881. After this we spent the rest of the afternoon with Thera on the beach in Scheveningen which is next to Den Hague.
Still to cold to really swim so a big pit was dug, Nicholas developed blisters and sore stomache muscles after 2.5 hours of digging. Morgan was the only one to get into the water.
Wednesday in Warmond is the day that the "Herring Man" is around so we always have herring for lunch on Wednesday--this is how many of the dutch eat herring although we put in on a nice slice of bread.

Back in Holland

With the weather back to rain we decided to take a trip to the Corpus Museum which is a journey through the human body. We entered at the knee and came out at the brain and learned a lot along the way.

In hopes of warmer weather the kids wanted to go to the beach, still to cold...

although, swinging is always fun!!
After a long rainy day inside the sun came out and we decided to have our "borrel"on the boat, never tiring of the scenery.

Things Learned In London

This website/blog has been sort of a travel journal to share with friends and family. We really haven't used this to share our impressions and things we've learned along the way. This summer's been awesome, and we've really learned a lot--about people, places, and life. We've also had the simple pleasure of experiencing new things together as a family.

This is the last post for Chris, since he's heading back to the US... and is themed "Things We Learned In London."

1) The change of the guard at Buckingham Palace is a bit over-rated. It's amazing that they do this every day and still draw such huge crowds. This picture sort of says it all--lots of holding up cameras and twisting heads to see something... and Barbara wouldn't hold me on her shoulders, so the view was limited.



2) Westminster Abbey/Big Ben/Parliament complex provides some nice history and impressive architecture.


3) Nicholas and Morgan like museums--a lot, it seems. The British have ruled or explored many things, so the British Museum is, as one might expect, full of a lot of great stuff. And the Tate Modern was another great one--particularly meeting @Neil_Hartley for a London Pride. We also learned that we like art for a lot of reasons, but art that makes you uncomfortable, well, stinks, and doesn't really make you see the world in a new way.


4) Riding in an open-top double-decker bus is super fun.


5) If Morgan were to pursue a career as guard of the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, she has to project toughness, not cuteness.


6) The Tower Bridge is cool--to look at and to walk across.


7) Other random things... fish and chips keeps you full for many hours; it rains a lot, but we really don't care and can deal with wet feet for many hours; we like big cities--they feel very alive; there are more dogs in public in Amsterdam than in London; Sleep schmeep, who needs it when you're having this much fun?!?!

France's Brittany Coast

We moved on to France's Brittany Coast to stay with a family we've kept contact with from our time in Tokyo--Josee, Alaine and Ming Hui. They live in a small community--not really a town, but a group of houses--called La Saudraie.

Josee is a Sophrologist, Alaine had enough with corporate life and bought a boat company, and Ming Hui is a kid enjoying life in the country.

In this part of France there are a few tourist destinations we felt were worth visiting. Saint-Malo is a walled city at the mouth of the Rance River.


Le Mont-Saint-Michel (English: Saint Michael's Mount) is a rocky tidal island and a commune.


And then otherwise we enjoyed time exploring the local sights with Josee and Alaine.

Normandy ... continued

From Etretat we headed south through Honfleur, where the town's center is very picturesque.


Then our next stay was in Arromanches, where the Allies centered their landing for D-Day in WWII.

We stayed in a Bread and Breakfast right in the middle of town.


Walking through the batteries along the coast south of town began to give us a sense for what happened in this area.


From the beach you can see the Mulberry harbour used in WWII, built by the British Royal Navy. Remnants can be seen in this clip...


And the American cemetary really gives you sense of the awesome sacrifices, bravery and, well, many things...


And then it was time for Omaha Beach, the center of the US attack... and the center of much play on this day.

France Part I: Etretat

After basically spending June in Holland, we're off to France. Étretat was our first stop, which is on the northern portion of the Normandy coast. Étretat has spectacular cliffs and we spent all our time exploring them.

On our first night we went north from town.


And then, the next day went south, where it's possible to hike and explore for hours and hours. We mostly took in the beauty, but also found some World War II ruins.