The Queen is In!

This Saturday was "Queen's Day". Ostensibly the birthday of the Dutch Queen. But Elena took it upon herself to be in loco royal heighness. *After* she finished her first ever (!!) ice cream cone (roomijs for our little Nederlander). Good thing Mom and Dad thought to have her in her raincoat!




The whole deal went straight into the washer when we returned home.

After their drunken fleamarketing (no kidding, what says "happy birthday" to your Queen like a boozy street party/white elephant sale?) most of the Dutch were pretty quiet Sunday morning -- just a few hardy souls out for a quiet row.






We took advantage and headed to Leiden to catch the botanical gardens in spring. After a near miss with some rather frightening flowers in the tropical greenhouse (these are the size of your head!),






we moved on to slightly more pastoral spring looks.





From thence to lunch, and after that when Elena took her nap, Mom and Dad did a lighting tour of some of Rembrandts etchings in the local art museum. Then back through the beautiful city of Leiden and onto "our train" home.