Nieuwegracht!
We recieved the keys to the apartment Thursday afternoon at 4pm. Muriel was very nice, drove us over, even had a car seat for elena as she has a small child. She also answered some questions for us about places to shop and look for things. After she left, it was just us, in our apartment. It was hard to leave and go back to the hotel for the night. But moving all of our bags would have been too hard in the evening light.
Friday morning we woke right up, showered, and then spent about an hour hauling our bags in increments down the three different hallways and two elevators to get out. Jake rode over in a taxi with all the luggage and Elena and I walked. The first thing we did was to go shopping for food. There is a small market just around the corner (well, it is probably a fairly decent sized Dutch market!). We did pretty well shopping in Dutch, except we came home with margarine instead of butter.
After a Dutch lunch of bread, cheese, and sliced meat, Elena refused to nap. So we took off in search of used bikes. Muriel had told us that the man who rents bikes under the train station also sells them. With that bit of knowledge, we took off in the cold. And it was cold. Poor Elena, her feet got very cold. We trecked all over the train station and the wings of the nearby mall, asked two police officers and an informationtion book and had no luck. We gave up and were headed home a different way when I happened to glance down to see a bike rental shop! They were very nice and friendly. 350 E later we had two used bikes and two new chain locks! Both Jake and I opted for the 'Dutch' style back break, because it makes us feel like kids again and reminds us of the Santa Cruz beach cruisers.
Elena rode home in the backpack on Jake while he biked. We stopped at the bike shop around the corner and bought a back seat for Elena on my bike. I rode home balancing the seat in my arms! Very Dutch as well. People on bikes here balance things in amazing ways on bikes. In their arms, reaching behind and balancing it on the back rack, on the handle bars, it is like watching tribal women carry water on their heads!
Once we got home and warmed Elena up (it was dark and snowing on the bike home), we started dinner.
Jake realized that we did indeed needs tools (despite the bike shop keepers assurances as he took our 60 E and shoo'ed us out the door (we were hoping to have the seat install right there to just bike elena home in it). Hence we will find a new bike shop, not hard around these parts! Dinner was pasta with sauce and bread with margarine and nothing has tasted better in the whole world! Elena was eating start parmesean cheese (the kind out of the can, because it was the only kind we could find), we don't know that that is about. Dessert was chocolate Vla, a yummy pudding worth a whole entry itself in the future.
After Elena went to bed, we stayed up unpacking and trying to sort things out. Making this big, little, odd apartment home.
Friday morning we woke right up, showered, and then spent about an hour hauling our bags in increments down the three different hallways and two elevators to get out. Jake rode over in a taxi with all the luggage and Elena and I walked. The first thing we did was to go shopping for food. There is a small market just around the corner (well, it is probably a fairly decent sized Dutch market!). We did pretty well shopping in Dutch, except we came home with margarine instead of butter.
After a Dutch lunch of bread, cheese, and sliced meat, Elena refused to nap. So we took off in search of used bikes. Muriel had told us that the man who rents bikes under the train station also sells them. With that bit of knowledge, we took off in the cold. And it was cold. Poor Elena, her feet got very cold. We trecked all over the train station and the wings of the nearby mall, asked two police officers and an informationtion book and had no luck. We gave up and were headed home a different way when I happened to glance down to see a bike rental shop! They were very nice and friendly. 350 E later we had two used bikes and two new chain locks! Both Jake and I opted for the 'Dutch' style back break, because it makes us feel like kids again and reminds us of the Santa Cruz beach cruisers.
Elena rode home in the backpack on Jake while he biked. We stopped at the bike shop around the corner and bought a back seat for Elena on my bike. I rode home balancing the seat in my arms! Very Dutch as well. People on bikes here balance things in amazing ways on bikes. In their arms, reaching behind and balancing it on the back rack, on the handle bars, it is like watching tribal women carry water on their heads!
Once we got home and warmed Elena up (it was dark and snowing on the bike home), we started dinner.
Jake realized that we did indeed needs tools (despite the bike shop keepers assurances as he took our 60 E and shoo'ed us out the door (we were hoping to have the seat install right there to just bike elena home in it). Hence we will find a new bike shop, not hard around these parts! Dinner was pasta with sauce and bread with margarine and nothing has tasted better in the whole world! Elena was eating start parmesean cheese (the kind out of the can, because it was the only kind we could find), we don't know that that is about. Dessert was chocolate Vla, a yummy pudding worth a whole entry itself in the future. After Elena went to bed, we stayed up unpacking and trying to sort things out. Making this big, little, odd apartment home.
posted by Erin K. | 4:54 PM
<< Home