We have spent the week playing host to some visitors from Tokyo. Our little household went from Himself, I, and our three fur-kids; to seven humans and three fur-kids! It has been an amazing week in which we learnt lots of things about getting up early and resolving neighbour disputes. It was an interesting week!
Himself and I spent Sunday cleaning up the house and making it respectable and presentable to guests. Then off I went on the bus to Schiphol to meet everyone and bring them home. Say hello! They are pleased to meet you.
The other members of the family may have taken a little more time to get used to the idea of “abundant love” and all that that entailed.
As many of you know, I love showing off this amazing city to new people, and seeing all the things I love anew through fresh eyes. Monday everyone was a little frazzled from the long-haul flight though, so while I organised myself into study for class that night they all went up to the petting zoo. We met up for lunch though, and Himself cooked them a delicious dinner later that night.
Tuesday they found their way to NEMO after we worked out the best way to navigate public transport. I have been reliably informed that NEMO was a great success! I had some emergency shopping to do this day so had left them to fend for themselves. I had their assurances though that this was fine! That night we all went out for dinner and I had my first ever fondue experience! I’m not convinced I’ll do it again in a hurry, but I’ve done it!
Wednesday I was studying again for class, but they took themselves off to the Leidseplein area where they discovered the floating Bloemenmarkt, a canal cruise, and the Chess Museum.
Thursday we all got together and headed to Artis! You all know how much I love that place and am happy to go again and again! We even snuck in something I hadn’t done yet and saw a show at the Planetarium! (It was gratifying to see how much of that I actually understood!!!) I will forever be grateful that they allowed themselves to be photographed with my favourite, and yours … the flamingos.
By then it was Friday and time was running out, and though lots had already been seen and achieved, I was trying to hit as many birds with one stone as I could for that “authentic Dutch experience”. So it was off to Zaanse Schans for play time. And boy did we pack it all in! There was a clog making demonstration …
… of course when finished they look like this.
There was a cheese making demonstration …
… and just for something different, instead of watching a demonstration, we actually made our own chocolate!
Fresh chocolate is not what you find in shops, and I’m not sure we ground it fine enough. But it was lots of fun, and very informative!
We found a dyke, and a finger was stuck in a hole. Interesting fact of the day; the Dutch have little to no knowledge of this myth!
Of course the be-all and end-all for any trip to the Netherlands and Holland … We saw windmills. Even better, they were working windmills!
There is one more day of this adventure left to tell, but I’d like to dedicate an entire post to it. So I’ll see you soon to show you one more really “Dutch” thing we managed to fit into the week!
Same Fish time! Same Fish channel! …
ghoti industries 