Sunday, March 30, 2008

amsterDIJK and amsterDAM

This past weekend I decided to take a weekend trip (I figure that I am traveling a lot for work so might as well really push the lifestyle with weekend trips to Europe) to the Netherlands. It was really neat walking on the dykes and looking at how the cities on one side of the dyke are lower than the ocean on the other side. Alana met up with me for three days and we had quite the adventure running all over the country living in boats, bungalows and hotels.

After church on Easter Sunday we set out to find the temple in the Netherlands. A phone call to James and an hour later we found it. It was really beautiful with the flowers out front and a canal running right behind the temple.

Katinka took us to a cheese farm just outside of her city. I brought a wheel back to share with all of my coworkers and so we had a cheese tasting event this past week at work.

On our way down from Amsterdam to Oostkapelle we stopped at Kinderdijk. There are 19 windmills working in this location that pumped the land dry. It was really interesting going inside of the windmills and learning how they function. It got a little windy and nasty as we were running through hail to get back to the car.

This is the Merlijn, the barge where Alana and I stayed on while in Amsterdam. Katinka met us here (it is her aunt's barge) and we explored Amsterdam for the day with her stopping at the Rijksmuseum, riding bikes around the city (below: Alana in Vondelpark), drinking dutch hot chocolate, seeing the red light district and seeing the other sites of Amsterdam.

This picture is of Alana and Katinka on the beach at Oostkapelle. The wind was blowing really hard and the girls were almost able to lean at a 45 degree angle.

We had a nice dinner with the Wondergems and Larry and Susan in Oostkapelle. It was typical Dutch food and really, really good.

Alana and I found Brielle and drove through the city. Definitely seemed Rooter-like.

3 comments:

Margaret Finlay said...

FYI to Rooter - I met a little girl the other day (our Asst. Superintendent of the schools grand daughter) whose name is Brielle - it looks like you are setting a trend. Now you just have to go and visit the city, Rooter. I'll be glad to take you.

Brielle said...

Hey, that's my name on the sign! I would love to go with you Grandma, as long as my Mom and Dad say it is okay. I think they might want to go with us too though.

hillary nicole said...

I love the picture of you two by the Merlijn. Looks like you are having fun!