Wandering Browns

I love turrets- this was in Rotterdam Delfshaven was one of the last must-see things on my list for Rotterdam. This part of the city was spared from the bombings during WWII, and so it has the look of other old European cities instead of the new, modern downtown Rotterdam. Landon fell asleep, so I wandered through the streets enjoying the beautiful canals and old buildings.  Pilgrim Church Delfshaven old buildings along the canals I stumbled upon the one thing I did want to locate within Delfshaven- the Oude Pelgrimvaders Church. Englishmen who left the Anglican church left England for the Netherlands before deciding to seek their fortunes and religious freedom in America.  In this church, some of the original Pilgrims met for the last time and knelt in prayer before boarding the Speedwell bound for Liverpool. From there, they joined the English pilgrims aboard the Mayflower and other ships headed for the New World. It was not a big or elaborate church, in fa...

The back of the museum and sculpture garden In order to avoid being "arted out" during my time in Europe, I decided to pick one art museum per city to visit. Due to the wide variety in the collection and all the familiar names, I picked the Boijmans Van Beuningan museum in Rotterdam. It is named after two art collectors that left their collections to the city of Rotterdam. Boijmans left his collection to the city in 1849 and soon it was on display for all to enjoy.  Performance artists in the background We stopped in for a quick bite to eat at the cafe in front of the museum and had delicious hot chocolate and apple tart. Then I put Landon down for a nap. Due to the placement of the elevator, we started in the modern/ temporary exhibition wing. Coming out of the elevator, we immediately were taken in by the performance artists doing very interesting, jerky and flowing choreography in the middle of the museum. It seemed to be structured around a dance rehearsal,...

Enthralled with the lizards On a bad weather day when I did not want to travel to a further away city, we took the metro in to Rotterdam to check out Museum Park. The Natural History museum seemed like a great place to start. It was small enough that Landon appreciated each exhibit, but large enough that he still got some wiggles out indoors.  Main room Upstairs view With entrance to the museum, a free audio guide was provided in the language of your choice. I thought it would be more about specific specimens or animals in the museum, but it was a talk about biodiversity in general.  Landon and woolly mammoth bones Upstairs was a special kid's education room. Although it is set up for classes to come in and be led through it by a docent, we were able to figure most of the exhibits out. The coolest case had bones of wooly mammoths, saber tooth cats, and other prehistoric animals. I had a great time teaching Landon in 2-year-old terms about fossils. We loo...

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 ...