Getting to Europe! First stop: Amsterdam!

We took a flight from Salt Lake to Amsterdam. It was a 10 hour flight that started out great but because of a stomach bug quickly turned very stressful. Fiona was sleeping peacefully when we boarded but then she ended up throwing up 4 times and had 1 blow out. She would not sleep and wanted to be bounced. She kept wanted to eat but then not... It was not fun at all! Naomi just sat and watched 3 movies and munched on the food and drink the flight attendants handed her. She thought it was the greatest thing ever! Then she fell asleep and woke up in time for breakfast and landing. Fiona finally fell asleep as we were deplaning and slept until we arrived at our Airbnb. She usually doesn't sleep that deep but she needed it of course. We were all pretty ragged getting off the plane. We were supposed to have a driver there to take us to our lodgings but he wasn't there. So we got a taxi to take us to the Windmill Airbnb. It was a 15 minute ride through beautiful countryside! We couldn't wait to explore...after a nap, shower and some deep breathing of course.

The driver pulled up to the Windmill and Ari came out to greet us with his dog. He was all smiles and cheerfully helped us take our luggage down some incredibly steep and narrow stairs. Chris crashed on the bed and slept for a good hour while I bathed the girls. Then Fiona took a nap and Naomi fell asleep coloring a picture from her backpack of toys. I sat on the chair to decide if I should take a nap or a shower, which is most needed. I was so stinky from throw up and my clothes were crunchy. I changed clothes and zonked out for another hour. It was heavenly!

                   

Our little "home"was so bright and happy to greet us! From the windows we could see a river, a pasture full of black and white cows, a patio with lots of blooming plants. It was beautiful!

After our rest we headed to the town of Amstel for food. It was a 2 kilometer walk along the river Amstel, which took about 20 minutes. We noticed a lot of people eating a picnic by the river, reading by the river, sitting on their boats, taking a slow bike ride, napping on a bench... It seemed like everyone was just relaxing. We thought it must be a holiday or something but this happened almost every late afternoon. The dutch sure know how to relax!



At the butcher shop the cashier gave Naomi a slice of sausage. She said it is custom in Holland that when children come to the butcher shop they get a slice of sausage. We shopped in the grocery store and ate a picnic dinner on a bench by the river. Then headed home and arranged with Karina to drop us off at the train station to tour Amsterdam.

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We ate breakfast and hopped in the car with Karina. No carseats but Karina didn't seem to be bothered about it. The train stop by close-by. Karina told us about the village and that she'd lived here for about 45 years. She said there used to be more farms but some farmers sold their land to others so now there are just a few really big farms owned by a few families. She pointed out a group of small houses back from the road and said after the war and the Hunger Winter the dutch built small homes in the country and had gardens and have food. She told us of the history of the boats along the river, some are permanent homes and some are not.

We got to Amsterdam and got a city card to see the sights. Fiona had a blow out so we paid .80 euro to get into a family bathroom and assess the damage. Her outfit was not salvageable but I had only brought an extra shirt. As I was changing the outfit she peed all over her jacket and socks. So all she had to wear the rest of the day was a short-sleeved t-shirt. We put a couple blankets around her and took a canal boat tour. It was wonderful! The history of the city is amazing! Naomi liked the boat tour. After the tour we made a detour to H&M to get some pants for Fiona. We got 2 and put one on her, her jacket had dried a bit by this time so we were set! We set off to see the Van Gogh museum, especially see the "Starry, Starry Night"painting. We toured all floors and the paintings were beautiful! Naomi got to sit in a stroller (or carriage as they call it) and took a little nap. At the end of the tour we never saw the SSN painting. It must have been loaned out to another museum. We wanted to see the Rijksmuseum but had to choose between that and a castle. Since we'd just been to a museum we thought we'd see the castle. We located it on the map but when we got there, no castle. We asked two locals and they said differnet things. The third person said it wasn't in the city at all. It was 5:30 at this time and all exhibits would be closed or closing so we just headed home and saw other sights along the way of the city streets and shops. We ate a delicious dinner of Wienershcnitzel and Frites Kapsalon. We had to walk about 30 min home and enjoyed the countryside of lambs, sheep, goats, and pigs! It was getting chilly so we hurried to our cozy home!

                       

                     

                      

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We took the bikes out today to see the town of Amstel again and maybe to go a park we saw yesterday. There was a big problem though, no child bike seats. I held Fiona in the Bjorn and Chris had Naomi wrapped in the Moby wrap and we set off. It was quite comical and hard to bike because we were laughing so hard. Poor Naomi was strapped on like a monkey! We had a lovely lunch and I bought a straightener at a shop. The lady said to hand on to my receipt because it was a guarantee for 2 years! Wow! We noticed all the locals popping into the cafe we were eating at to grab an ice cream cone. Two women ate a cone and chatted, a man grabbed a cone on his way home from work, another man grabbed one and said and fed the birds some of his fries, a mother and daughter grabbed one after shopping at a different store... so laid back here! The bikes are so great here! Everyone uses them like cars. The load them with groceries, they have their instruments hooked to the back, they purses and backpacks on the back, they soccer gear, they pick up their kids from school. It's great! We tried to go to the park but the wind and cold picked up and the girls were not happy at all so we turned around and rode home. They both fell asleep and we had a peaceful ride.