April 25-May 1, 2015
Tuesday April 28, 2015
While Joe went back to work, we drove just over an hour away to Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a unique polder area of dykes, windmills and pumping stations that reclaim and protect the land. Kinderdijk is the only place in the world with so many windmills so close together in an authentic polder landscape. The 17 windmill area is below sealevel and surrounded by rivers and canals.
The path along Kinderdijk
Jason and Emily at Kinderdijk
Windmills
Windmill at Kinderdijk
Windmill and boat
Kinderdijk wooden shoes
We went into the Museummolen Nederwaard, a windmill museum that cost 7 euros to learn how the mill works and how a large family lived inside its tight quarters.
The apparatus (Capstan wheel, tail pole, and long and short braces) used to turn the windmill
The kitchen at the base of the windmill
Working wooden shoes in the
windmill
A bed in the windmill
Tight stair/ladder inside the
windmill
Windmill from inside a windmill
Jason and Harper inside the windmill
How the windmill works
The turning wheel at the base of
the windmill
The turning wheel at the top of
the windmill
Windmill blade
Selfie of Emily, Jackie, Brooklyn,
Harper and Jason at Kinderdijk
Yellow wildflowers and windmills
Jason and Emily at Kinderdijk
Row of windmills at Kinderdijk
Windmills along a canal
Windmill
Boat floating down the canal by
the windmills
Museum Blokweer windmill
Quintessential Dutch: Jason and
Emily in wooden shoes outside a windmill
Row of wooden shoes
Bed in the windmill
Snuggling with our Dutch baby
Recreation of a photo we took of
Jackie when she was about 5 months pregnant with Brooklyn
Next we drove to Delft with some
baby meltdowns in the car. There we ate lunch in the main square. Mmm proffertjes which are like little mini
pancakes.
While Jackie nursed Brooklyn,
Jason and Emily did a little shopping on the main square. Sorry no photos. Baby
girl was not a cooperative girl during this period of the day.
The Old Church in Delft is leaning.
Nice old building in Delft
Somehow in the walk back to the car
Jackie lost the parking garage ticket from her jeans pocket. She had to call
the booth and pay the full day max of 14 euros. Ugh stupid mistakes like that
are the worst.
We
drove home and got in around 7pm. The kiddos were promptly put to bed before we
ate dinner.
Wednesday April 29, 2015
We took the train up to Amsterdam for the day. We first from Amsterdam Centraal train station walked through the Red Light District and by the Oude Kerk (Old Church) which is surrounded by red light prostitute storefronts.
Amsterdam Red Light District - Notice the red light by Jason's head.
Next we walked through Dam Square which was crazy with a ferris wheel, swings, fair rides and food stalls.
We had lunch at Broodje Bert. After lunch we got both of the girls to sleep in their strollers.
Selfie of Jason, Emily and Jackie
Emily took a peek inside the Begijnhof, a medieval courtyard once home to Catholic nuns.
Emily went shopping for a souvenir at the Royal Delft Experience.
Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market)
Next we walked along Golden Bend (Gouden
Bocht) along Herengracht between Leidsestraat and Vijzelstraat, which was once the
prestigious place to live in Amsterdam.
At at Herengracht &
Reguliersgracht you can apparently view 15 bridges.
Amsterdam canal houses
Canal boat
Bike locked to bridge on canal
Large canal tour boat
Canal boat after canal boat
Jason and Emily along Amsterdam
canal
Emily, Harper and Jason along
Amstel canal
Magere Brug
Harper, Emily and Jason crossing
the Magere Brug
Love lock on the Magere Brug
Tulips on Amsterdam canal
Heineken Brouwerij (brewery)
Rijksmuseum
Beautiful floating tulip planters
in Museumplein
I am sterdam sign in Museumplein
Amsterdam bicycle and canal
The Waag in Nieuwmarkt, a 15th
century building that was originally a city gate and part of the Amsterdam
walls.
Amsterdam canal houses
We took the train back to
Eindhoven around 4pm. We met Joe at Bali, an Indonesian restaurant. We got a
rice table for four people. Harper quickly made friends with the waiter and got
additional crackers through the night.
While the kids were in bed, Jason
and Joe went out for the night looking for trouble. They had some interesting
chats with the locals and a few beers at our favorite neighborhood bar, ‘t
Vonderke.
Thursday April 30, 2015
Today we took a trip to Brussels,
Belgium. The main reason: Cantillon. They are known for their sour beers,
Emily’s favorite. A bottle goes for at least $25 in the States (that’s 4x the
amount at the brewery).
We finally found parking in
between the brewery and the center of Brussels. We were all very hungry so we
head straight to the Grand Place Grote Markt.
Grand Place Grote Markt
Happy Brooklyn in Grand Place
Grote Markt
We ordered some beers and lots of
mussels for lunch.
Jason got a beer flight of tasters
Can’t get a much better venue on a
sunny day
Mussels
Harper enjoyed the mussels
Both girls were not in the best
state when we reached Delirium Café.
Jason and Emily outside Delirium
Café
We decided not to go in and head
straight to Cantillon.
Emily is one happy girl at
Cantillon!
We toured Cantillon
Now that’s a lot of beer bottles!
Barreled beers
As Emily says, “Starting her education
early!”
Harper, Jason and Emily at
Cantillon in Brussels
Baby in yet another brewery
It was a long drive home. The GPS
detoured us through Antwerp. What should have been a 2 hour trip turned into
3+. Brooklyn woke up 30 minutes from home and screamed bloody murder pretty
much the entire way. The girl really hates riding in her carseat. When she
wants out, she definitely lets you know.
Friday May 1, 2015
Today’s mission was to find tulip
fields in Holland. We first went to Haarlem for lunch at Jopen Brewery that we
had visited a few weeks ago.
Jason decided to take Emily’s
place in the backseat squeezed between the 2 carseats. No clue how he fit.
Jason’s beer tasting at Jopen
Brewery in Haarlem
Cute girls in Jopen Brewery
We took a short walk to see a bit
of Haarlem. Jackie took a break to nurse Brooklyn on a park bench before
heading back to the car. Can’t beat this canal view while nursing
Haarlem
Emily and Jason in Haarlem
Tulip fields
Red tulips
Field of daffodils
Jackie and Emily selfie at tulip
fields near Keukenhof
We saw a guy with a drone while we
were there. This video could have been some of the footage he was taking:
We had an early night to pack and
get ready for our early flight out of Amsterdam to Zurich. Unfortunately we
checked the train schedule far too late. The earliest we could arrive at
Schiphol was 8:30 for a 9:40 flight.
