the trip home

Good morning, Amsterdam, one last time!





Even under the best of circumstances, the trip home, with a one year old in tow, cannot be easy. For me, there are additional layers of complication. At the end of last week, Ed had a death in his family and he is, as of this morning, on a flight to New York for the funeral. His phone stopped working and so I have no way of communicating with him. And communicate I must, because he is to receive the schedule for his eye surgery, to take place tomorrow. It'll take place in Janesville (slightly under an hour south of Madison) and I'm to take him there and back. Somehow this is to fit in to the otherwise more predictable schedule -- Snowdrop's first day of school, my pick up of the little girl, etc. Ed's to go back to the hospital for a follow up the next day. The idea was floated that he and I simply overnight in Janesville, depending on the scheduling of it all. Which we don't know and wont know because I am over the Atlantic and he is in New York, without a phone.

But all this has to be put aside for now, because we have the big job of getting ourselves home today.

Travel over the Atlantic requires either nervous rushing (will we make it?) or big blocks of waiting. Both kids are, for their ages, great at coping. And as I look at the handful of photos, I see that they were asked to wait quite a bit.

Breakfast. Snowdrop peels her egg, Sparrow simply stuffs Dutch cheese in his little mouth.











(My own breakfasts have varied here. Today's picks...)






On this last day of the trip, I should include a Goggie photo (I've been renamed) with the kids. Because of course, on this trip, they are so much my focus!






And now we're rushing and waiting.











Get the bags down, leave the hotel, check in with the airline, argue but without hope about the disappearance of our bulkhead seats, file tax rebate forms, go through security check (such friendly agents!), passport control, find out about flight delay, ride the moving sidewalk, and wait some more.





The flight today is unusually long: about 9 hours in the air. We take a very northern route, right over the belly of Greenland.  Has the hurricane pushed all air traffic upwards?

And here's perhaps the biggest surprise of the trip: both kids were angelic during the entire long day of travel. Snowdrop lost herself in videos, asking nothing more of us then help finding the restroom. Sparrow? He was all smiles all the time. He napped for maybe 40 minutes. During the entire flight he was on a lap, mostly mommy's (though twice I took him for a run down the aisles) and he chortled and cooed and endlessly pressed the TV screen in front of him. Of all my travels with the little guy, this was (shockingly) his best performance ever.

And finally we are in Chicago, and my son-in-law picks up the car and drives us all home.


Reflections? Not tonight. It's late and Ed should be flying in soon and of course, we must be up and tending to medical stuff at day break.

I'll say this much: travel, especially to distant places is intensely memorable. True, you can insulate yourself from most hassles by spending a fortune on smoothing wrinkles, by having others step in and solve your problems, but even if I had the financial resources, I wouldn't spend them in this way. Facing the headaches, figuring out ways to cope -- that's all part of the glory of being in strange places. Using your inner strength to help your little one overcome a rising meltdown in a Parisian restaurant is gratifying, for both of you! You learn and with little ones, you teach.



At home, the kittens come running. Cheepers too. They haven't seen food for a whole 12 hours! The littlest cats climb all over me, the adolescent six are also much easier to get close to. I can tell Ed's been spending a lot of time with these cats in my absence.


It's late. I'm terribly tired. And happy.

Amsterdam one last time

One last post from Amsterdam. Tomorrow, we travel home.

I've been good about fitting in Ocean updates, if sometimes in a hodgepodge fashion -- a paragraph in the morning, a sentence and a few photos in the afternoon, a final sack of stuff in the evening. But today, time is precious and, too, there aren't too many windows of opportunity, so I'll be frugal with text and concentrate on putting up the memories in images and even those will be perhaps less artfully presented. Still, you'll get an idea of our last day of adventuring in this water-logged city.

It is a day of perfect weather. Sunny, just a tiny bit cool, refreshing!

(morning view from bedroom window)






Breakfast -- downstairs. Snowdrop discovers she loves hard boiled eggs, Sparrow finds a new love of aged Amsterdam cheese. Thinly sliced.






And now we begin our very long walk, aided here and there by tram rides. Highlights? Well, a return to the Rembrandtplein...
















Crossing one of the older draw bridges...






To the zoo! And what an expansive zoo it is. So many animals! Visitors are remarkably close to many of them. Is that a good thing? It certainly encourages personal responsibility.






What?? Penguins again?!






A rest...






A slide...






Outside again: lunch. At a pizza place.






The walk resumes...






And here, we hop on a tram to give us a few kilometers' break... (Sparrow's not quite done with his slice of pizza!)






To Amstel Park, where Sparrow finally gets a little time to romp while Snowdrop climbs the various structures.






(Happy guy...)






And again we walk... Until the next tram ride.






And no, it does not end there. Back at the hotel, Sparrow naps, my daughter and I pause for a drink in the "library" room.






And we're all off again! Walking toward the harbor where we'll eat dinner. (Blue skies with us, all day long!)






(Strong little legs!)






Dinner at the Grand Cafe 1884...






And from there, it's just a medium walk and a medium ride and then walk again to an ice cream shop. A neighborhood place. A couple stops by, a young mom and her four year old and their dog, and us...






I'll end with the heroic travelers, chocolated up by ice cream, still with that sparkle in the eye and a ready enthusiasm for whatever comes next!






Tomorrow -- Madison!

Amsterdam once more

The first day of the new month. In my youth, I always thought of September 1st as the first day of school and, too, the day Poland was attacked by the Nazis in 1939. It's the 80th anniversary today of the start of that horribly cruel war.

I think about this because we do walk near Anne Frank's house. Too, some of the city's bulletin boards occasionally flash a reminder of what happened 80 years ago, when slogans of hate turned into a tragedy so huge that it still defies comprehension.

Outside, the air has definitely cooled down. We're reaching a high of 68F (20C) and the skies have any number of gray clouds moving briskly along, though never quite threatening rain. (We are nearing the end of our summer travels. It truly amazes me that in all our ramblings through Ireland, the UK, Brittany and now Amsterdam, we've never once needed an umbrella, to say nothing of the panchos I so carefully selected for the trip!)

Inside -- we begin our day with play. Snowdrop, my roommate in Amsterdam, has boarded a train. We are about to take off. ("Just dont say chug-a-choo, Gogs, because this train doesn't make that noise." The girl's too used to high speed trains!)






Breakfast, downstairs, en famille.











And now for a Sunday walk, with the new stroller (gratis airline's breaking of the old one) -- so much more sensible for travel!






We visit the Royal Palace Amsterdam, the official reception palace of the Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander. Snowdrop has a mild fascination with royalty, so perhaps it's appropriate that she see some of the trappings -- none too comfortable, if you ask me.

The tour is a self-guided one and there is a child-friendly text for young visitors (though perhaps not quite for 4-year olds).






Sparrow gets a little restless. Royal furniture and elaborate chandeliers make no impression on him. He wants something more... his speed. So I give him my listening device.






There is a child's "scavenger hunt" that Snowdrop does with the help of her parents. All this does keep her interest going, though honestly, I've always thought that once you see two or three rooms of this sort, you're satiated (unless you have a particular interest in antiques, or have special pride in the royals in your land).






Outside again, we are on the Dam Square. There is a man blowing bubbles (obviously wanting to entice you into buying your own bubble blowing equipment). The kids go wild chasing the big fat soapy bubbles. Snowdrop tries to join in, but the kids are big...






... and the bubbles float high...






It's a while before she lands one and by then, the thrill is gone.





The afternoon was to be set aside for a Snowdrop and mommy date. Of all the combinations of family members, this is the one that is most difficult to give time to. And so this afternoon was to be theirs. And it was, to an extent.

Initially, we all joined in on the tram ride. Heading in the same direction.






Then, they chose a traditional Dutch pancake house for lunch. Daddy and Sparrow and I were about to go off, but then Snowdrop was sorry to see her brother go. So brother and daddy stayed. I was invited to join in, but it seemed to me that this wonderfully inclusive family should have at least one meal by themselves.






Me, I meandered along canals, stopping at a Swedish shop with adorable kids' clothing and very good sandwiches in their cafe. With an apple spritz, overlooking the canal. Sort of.






A walk along the stately Herengracht Canal (home to our hotel)...






(Bridges...)





And I'm home, catching up on computer work, while to my knowledge, daddy and son are hitting a modern art museum and mommy and daughter are visiting a tinkerbell toy store and blowing their own bubbles on Rembrandt Square.


In the evening, we take a long walk through the Jordaan neighborhood of Amsterdam, and past houseboats, and even the old windmill...






... to our dinner place, the Cafe Restaurant Amsterdam. It's a big walk: 40 minutes from city center. The restaurant itself is housed in an industrial building -- a nineteenth century water pumping station. The tables are set in the old engine room.






Perhaps one of the most remarkable things about this restaurant is that it bills itself as having high quality food, at the same time that it is extremely child friendly. Not surprisingly, maybe half the tables have kids of varying ages.

(Snowdrop, learning the art of eating an artichoke...)






(Sparrow, liking his first escargot...)






As for the rest of the food -- well, my son-in-law and I could not resist the seafood platter. I missed having it in Brittany but we surely made up for it here: snails, clams, crabs, langoustines, shrimp, oysters and a half a lobster. It was exquisite!






We are too full to do the long hike back to our hotel, so we hop on the tram and get off just in front of an ice cream store. Intentionally. For dessert.











Walking the last few blocks to our hotel, I have to think how beautiful an evening can be, when you're well fed, cared for, loved. When the world appears to you as a warm and exciting place, where people are not hostile, but friendly, eager to have you succeed.

Oh, but if that were so for all the little ones on this planet -- wouldn't that be just grand...