Wandering Browns

Canal, bike, and bridge- That's Holland The house with red shutters! Only about a five minute train journey from Schiedam, where we are staying, is the city of Delft. Rotterdam was destroyed in WWII, Delft was not. Walking down the street in this small city I could immediately tell the difference- the homes and roads were older, the atmosphere more like the Europe that I had previously experienced, but different because it is Dutch. There were canals running through the town, and I felt like such a tourist wanting to photograph every building on the street!   Leaning tower of Oude Kerk Oude Kerk main organ Delft is where The Netherlands as a country was born. William of Orange headquartered here as he led a rebellion against Spanish rule. He was assassinated here, and buried in the Niewe Kerk, which we visited later on. There is a lot of history here! The Oude Kerk was built in 1346 on the canal. The canal was actually diverted to build the tower, so the tower a...

We arrived in the Netherlands Monday morning around 8:30 am. To us, it felt like 2 am. Ouch. Typically in this state, we have a driver from the hotel to pick us up at the airport. Not so today, for we get to have a car here! So we found the rental car place, got a car, and were on our way driving through the Dutch country side from Amsterdam airport to Rotterdam. I re-learned how to drive a stick in 15 seconds and realized after awhile that I had totally bypassed first and second gears and had successfully started the car moving in third gear! We finally got to our hotel. We did not see any tulips on our drive, but daffodils were starting to bloom and we did admire mostly modern windmills with the occasional old-style windmill you would expect from the Netherlands.  Our hotel, photo credit  here Our hotel room boasts that it is kid-friendly. What that really means is that the sofa turns into a bed, so more people can reside in a tiny European hotel room. There is a ...

So I broke my (somewhat short) streak of writing a guest post at each location we go to.  I guess I'll try to make up for it by writing about what happened at dinner during our first full day in the Netherlands. Elise saw a pizzeria in Rotterdam and wanted to eat dinner there.  Of course, since we're close to Italy, I assumed they would have at least close-to-authentic Neapolitan pizza, so I obliged, even though I had just come from my first day of work here, and the thought of going to a restaurant with Landon was less than appealing. Upon entering, there was a gelato freezer, perfectly positioned at eye level for any 2-5 year old.  Landon, being a child, immediately said: "Mommy, I want ice cream right NOW! RIGHT NOW!" and proceeded to throw a mini-tantrum, since the answer was, of course, 'No'. The boy focused on his gelato At this point, foreseeing a struggle for the next hour, I offered Landon a deal: if he could make it through dinner without...

Laurenskerk After Landon fell asleep in the stroller, I wanted to make the most of my adult, quiet, alone time. I wandered through downtown Rotterdam, and spied the signs for Laurenskerk. I knew this was on my list of things to see, but I could not remember why. I followed the handy street signs until I came upon this church. With the landscape being mostly flat, the church towers really stand out here and that definitely helped me navigate! I reveled in the beauty of the giant church tower, and then read a little about the edifice.  Rotterdam is one of the most modern looking cities in the Netherlands because it was  destroyed by a 20 minute German bombing raid during WWII. Although the church was built originally in the 1400s, it was heavily damaged in the raid. After a period of discussion about what should be done with the rubble pile, it was rebuilt in the 50's and 60's and today houses the largest organ in Europe. I am a sucker for awesome organs, having taken ...

Maritime Museum Day 2 in the Netherlands began with taking Austin to work, and finding a place to do laundry. Thanks to the GPS in our vehicle, I found a laundromat in north centrum of Rotterdam no problem. I figured out how to pay for street parking (blue kiosks that take American chip credit cards! Hooray!) and deciphered the Dutch instructions. The laundromat was so high tech! First, put your clothes in the machine. Second, put money in a console on the wall. Select which washers you want to activate, then you could even buy soap (I did because I forgot to get detergent at the store!) Then go to the machine, select water temperature and press start. It was the same for the dryers, I activated it right from the machine on the wall separate from the actual washer and dryer units. Maybe this is common in Europe, but it was cool for me. You could even get change back if you didn't use all the Euros that were put in.  Theater room During laundry, Landon and I went on...