I Would Have Loved Paris in the Springtime...but...

Having just finished my big Holland trip, I've been thinking more and more about Europe.  And remembering my last visit to Paris.

When one thinks of Paris, various words might pop into your head.  There are quotes, songs, movies - "I Love Paris in the Springtime", "Midnight in Paris", "Paris Holiday".

How about these words: 

Vomit

Vertigo

Ambulance

Hospital
Appendix

No? 

What's a European Vacation if You Don't Visit a Castle? - Our Day at Muiderslot

I've always felt that if you're going to go to Europe, not only do you have to immerse yourself in the culture, eat all the wonderful food - but you also have to absorb the history.  And the best way to do that is to visit historical places.  With this in mind during our trip to Holland, Hubs, Bae and I went to visit Muiderslot - a castle located at the mouth of the river Vecht, about 10 miles outside of Amsterdam.

Muiderslot - August 2014

Getting Up to Mischief in the Red Light District in Amsterdam

This week, my sister in law volunteered to babysit so Hubs and I could do some adult type activities in Amsterdam.  We rode our bikes into the train station again, but missed the first train by two minutes (luckily they come every half hour). We hadn't purchased our tickets in advance, but there was a machine.  Then we discovered that the machine only took coins or Maestro (the European version of Mastercard). The restaurant next door told us that the train's "Chief" should have change. He didn't. But he let us take the train anyway - because we'd tried our best. We had money, we just couldn't use it.  

This is the outside if the train station (as an aside, on the way home in the train the last trip, I fiddled with my new camera and tried out some of the non-auto modes on this trip.  It has a panoramic mode that was perfect for Amsterdam). 

Amsterdam Train Station, August 2014

Bergen aan Zee - A Day at the Beach

On Monday, we ventured out to the sea. Now, prior to leaving, I had planned on packing my swimsuit - but hubs advised we weren't likely to go swimming. And suddenly we find ourselves on a beach at the ocean. And the water was warm enough to swim.  Sigh.

Observations?  Dutch people are F-I-T.  Wow.  There were some nice bodies at the beach.  And they had no issues with their bodies at all.  Not that I was looking.

As well, they don't have all the hang ups Americans have about their children swimming naked.  A number of the younger children I saw weren't wearing clothes.  A girl without a top.  A boy without a bottom.  A couple of naked 7 year old twins, blonde as can be playing in the sand and the tidal pools.  And more.  And they were having fun and not worrying about it.  (And I really hope I didn't stare...I was just so happy to see them having so much fun and not worrying about it, and it is such a rare sight for an American like me).  

Vacation Planning with the Goblin King

I had a completely different blog planned for today - but I had to share the latest from the Goblin King in today's exchange e-mail.

For those of you out of the loop, as the Goblin King cannot communicate effectively verbally, all of our communication about our young children is done by e-mail.