A Weekend Getaway to the Netherlands

          Geode Dag.  We just returned from a great weekend in the Netherlands full of tulips, wooden shoes, and wind mills.  Arriving on Friday morning, we took a bus ride through blooming flower fields to the Keukenhof Spring Garden.  Although we were probably two weeks too early to see the garden at its spring peak, it was still beautiful.  Our pictures do not do Keukenhof justice so we included the link for those interested - www.keukenhof.nl/nm/english.html

          On Saturday we visited the community of Zaanse Schans - a picturesque Dutch village complete with several original and working windmills.  Although the weather threatened to ruin our day, we were fortunate that it held off long enough for us to explore the village and its windmills.  Because it is a "tourist attraction," Zaanse Schans also offered shops full of wooden shoes, diamonds, and porcelain.  

          We spent our final day in Amsterdam itself.  We started the day walking through the floating flower market where one can arguably find any variety of flower in the world.  Following the flower market we stumbled upon a Sunday art market in a region of the city known as Spiel.   In the afternoon we toured the city by canal and saw many of its main attractions - beautiful rows of canal houses, the Anne Frank House, and the Rijks Museum.  We were lucky enough to spend a couple of hours at the Van Gogh Museum which holds the largest single collection of Van Gogh's in the world to include The Potato Eaters, Sunflowers and Iris.  One of the best things about the museum was that it had a children's "treasure hunt."  The game involved a small questionnaire that asked Abi to examine a painting from each period of Van Gogh's career allowing her to describe its subject and the artist's technique along with capturing Abi's perspective of the painting.  It was amazing to see the works through Abi's eyes.  It was also an ingenious way to keep Abi engaged, allowing the rest of us - minus James because he couldn't snack in the gallery - to enjoy the collection. 

          And, what trip to Amsterdam would be complete without a peek at the "red-light" district.  Despite our best intentions to avoid "window shopping" with the kids, a short cut gone wrong allowed for a quick glance at Amsterdam's oldest tourist attraction on the way to the central train station.