Arrival
(Erin)
It actually wasn’t too bad traveling to get here! We left Portland at ~1:30 pm after saying a bittersweet goodbye to Nana and Grandpa, although the prolonged joy of Elena watching them through the spinning door made up for it some what. I was honestly feeling a little sick to my stomach and thinking…ok, wait, let’s just get in the car and drive back to Wilton. But once we were on the plane, it started to subside and turn to excitement.
And while 4 hrs seemed like a very long layover in Newark (especially after we didn’t have to switch terminals and go through security again, but we aren’t complaining!), it was actually enough time to let Elena run around, have dinner, me to grab a last frozen coffee treat at Starbucks, and get on the plane…and sit for an hour before take off! The plane was filled with babys and there was a group howling after about an hour of sitting. But finally we took off. Elena slept for about 2 hrs, enough for us to have dinner, watch the first in flight movie, and then just about be asleep. She was really a champ, though and didn’t cry very much at all considering the circumstances.
We circled over the airport (and therefore most of Holland) before landing and I got my first look at my new home. The airport was, well an airport, and didn’t really feel Dutch, just felt international. We completed Jake’s tradition of breaking his 50 E bills by buying Vla (dutch chocolate pudding in a carton) and sat on the floor outside the (very nice!) airport grocery story feeling quite like tired gypies eating Vla and apples while rationing graham crackers to Elena.
My passport was stamped with Amsterdam (I took a moment to look at it carefully, though it actually isn’t all that impressive), and we left into the general airport. Met our pre-arranged taxi service (thank goodness it was a station wagon). I felt pretty ‘American’ loading our gross ton of baggage into a private cab and wanted to hang a sign that said, ‘we are moving here!’
Driving to Utrecht was much quicker than I thought, it felt like going to Watsonville! We passed two windmills along the way. The first was a modern wind turbine, sleek, white, and spinning (and we thought of Chris). The second was a worn, unpainted, not spinning one attached to a house like an old, unused barn.
After getting dropped at the hotel around 11am and stowing the bags (no small effort in a hotel with stairs in and no baggage card and no bell hop), we took off to explore. Still full to the gills with our most important papers (Jake’s red backpack full of papers, our back up hard drive, checks, etc – we even had to store the laptops) and my backpack full of Elena in her winter parka with all her toys (which we forgot to stick in the luggage locker), the walk over to the town hall was fascinating. There was a open air market right outside the hotel. Every street is cobblestone brick. Not one bit of asphault to be seen. It is very cold out today – well below freezing (there was even a bit of ice on the canals, but you wouldn’t think of skating on it, Sue!). Even with a fleece, my rain parka, wool hat, and gloves AND Elena on my back, I never really got warm. My legs were very chilled. Elena insisted on toughing it out and going ‘no mittens’ for most of the ride. The ice on the sidewalk was frozen hard and the bits of corn snow in the cracks didn’t melt in the sun.
But in a great gift, it was a beautiful, bright blue, not a cloud in the sky day! We squinted into the sunlight and gave thanks we were not out trudging in the rain. The trip to the town hall was necessary, but uneventful. Then we decided to walk by our apartment before lunch. It was all very surreal. The curtains were drawn and I resisted the urge to peer into the windows. And it didn’t really feel like home, no surprise. But the canal is adorable, the park across the way looks lovely. Then we walked to the cathedral and down a street filled with shops.
Jake had warned me that the Dutch are tall. But it didn’t really prepare me to arrive in a land filled with Tim Willis’es! They are very tall! The women are tall, the men are even taller and I have a hard time seeing through the crowds. I’m sure that if they even noticed me (it was probably because we SCREAMED just off the plane) but they thought I was quite short, but several time I caught myself staring and thinking, ‘that guy is taller than Timmy John!’
We had lunch in a Chinese resturant - nearly always a good bet for us, given Elena’s love of rice and sauce and their cultural acceptance of children. We were right again on both accounts and we enjoyed a tasty spicy pork, Elena enjoyed the koi pond, they have high chairs and menu’s in English. Given that they are only a few blocks from out new flat, we decided they are ‘our’ new Chinese resturant!
After walking in a circle when we thought we were walking back the hotel, we finally made it back to check in. We schelped all the bags up to our room (and thought about how we would schlep them back out again…) Elena is passed out on a the bed after snoring through the transfer of luggage in the backpack, sleeping through being removed from the backpack. Jake is calling all over Holland trying to find out if his registration went through so we can open a bank account tomorrow. I’m trying to avoid the temptation of a nap and think I will try to find a place to have dinner. (and subdue my annoyance that we will be charged 17 E for 24 hrs of internesqt! So this won’t be posted tomorrow.)
It actually wasn’t too bad traveling to get here! We left Portland at ~1:30 pm after saying a bittersweet goodbye to Nana and Grandpa, although the prolonged joy of Elena watching them through the spinning door made up for it some what. I was honestly feeling a little sick to my stomach and thinking…ok, wait, let’s just get in the car and drive back to Wilton. But once we were on the plane, it started to subside and turn to excitement.
And while 4 hrs seemed like a very long layover in Newark (especially after we didn’t have to switch terminals and go through security again, but we aren’t complaining!), it was actually enough time to let Elena run around, have dinner, me to grab a last frozen coffee treat at Starbucks, and get on the plane…and sit for an hour before take off! The plane was filled with babys and there was a group howling after about an hour of sitting. But finally we took off. Elena slept for about 2 hrs, enough for us to have dinner, watch the first in flight movie, and then just about be asleep. She was really a champ, though and didn’t cry very much at all considering the circumstances.
We circled over the airport (and therefore most of Holland) before landing and I got my first look at my new home. The airport was, well an airport, and didn’t really feel Dutch, just felt international. We completed Jake’s tradition of breaking his 50 E bills by buying Vla (dutch chocolate pudding in a carton) and sat on the floor outside the (very nice!) airport grocery story feeling quite like tired gypies eating Vla and apples while rationing graham crackers to Elena.
My passport was stamped with Amsterdam (I took a moment to look at it carefully, though it actually isn’t all that impressive), and we left into the general airport. Met our pre-arranged taxi service (thank goodness it was a station wagon). I felt pretty ‘American’ loading our gross ton of baggage into a private cab and wanted to hang a sign that said, ‘we are moving here!’
Driving to Utrecht was much quicker than I thought, it felt like going to Watsonville! We passed two windmills along the way. The first was a modern wind turbine, sleek, white, and spinning (and we thought of Chris). The second was a worn, unpainted, not spinning one attached to a house like an old, unused barn.
After getting dropped at the hotel around 11am and stowing the bags (no small effort in a hotel with stairs in and no baggage card and no bell hop), we took off to explore. Still full to the gills with our most important papers (Jake’s red backpack full of papers, our back up hard drive, checks, etc – we even had to store the laptops) and my backpack full of Elena in her winter parka with all her toys (which we forgot to stick in the luggage locker), the walk over to the town hall was fascinating. There was a open air market right outside the hotel. Every street is cobblestone brick. Not one bit of asphault to be seen. It is very cold out today – well below freezing (there was even a bit of ice on the canals, but you wouldn’t think of skating on it, Sue!). Even with a fleece, my rain parka, wool hat, and gloves AND Elena on my back, I never really got warm. My legs were very chilled. Elena insisted on toughing it out and going ‘no mittens’ for most of the ride. The ice on the sidewalk was frozen hard and the bits of corn snow in the cracks didn’t melt in the sun.
But in a great gift, it was a beautiful, bright blue, not a cloud in the sky day! We squinted into the sunlight and gave thanks we were not out trudging in the rain. The trip to the town hall was necessary, but uneventful. Then we decided to walk by our apartment before lunch. It was all very surreal. The curtains were drawn and I resisted the urge to peer into the windows. And it didn’t really feel like home, no surprise. But the canal is adorable, the park across the way looks lovely. Then we walked to the cathedral and down a street filled with shops. Jake had warned me that the Dutch are tall. But it didn’t really prepare me to arrive in a land filled with Tim Willis’es! They are very tall! The women are tall, the men are even taller and I have a hard time seeing through the crowds. I’m sure that if they even noticed me (it was probably because we SCREAMED just off the plane) but they thought I was quite short, but several time I caught myself staring and thinking, ‘that guy is taller than Timmy John!’
We had lunch in a Chinese resturant - nearly always a good bet for us, given Elena’s love of rice and sauce and their cultural acceptance of children. We were right again on both accounts and we enjoyed a tasty spicy pork, Elena enjoyed the koi pond, they have high chairs and menu’s in English. Given that they are only a few blocks from out new flat, we decided they are ‘our’ new Chinese resturant!
After walking in a circle when we thought we were walking back the hotel, we finally made it back to check in. We schelped all the bags up to our room (and thought about how we would schlep them back out again…) Elena is passed out on a the bed after snoring through the transfer of luggage in the backpack, sleeping through being removed from the backpack. Jake is calling all over Holland trying to find out if his registration went through so we can open a bank account tomorrow. I’m trying to avoid the temptation of a nap and think I will try to find a place to have dinner. (and subdue my annoyance that we will be charged 17 E for 24 hrs of internesqt! So this won’t be posted tomorrow.)
posted by Erin K. | 11:13 AM
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