Old Friends
It's nice to have your old friends visit you. You don't have to worry about anything but having a good time. And that was pretty much our weekend with Martha.
Friday was a bright and sunny day. So we decided that dinner along the canal was in order. We return to Chez Willy and had a nice dinner. Martha even shared her appelgablak with elena. Who was busy moving from dessert plate to dessert plate mooching the bitter chocolate garnishes. 'Look at dat! Elena probably eat it in her mouth!' Of course, we let her.
Saturday we took Martha on a shopping spree (Aunt Michele, if you are reading, skip this paragraph, it will be too painful). First Martha bought over 2 kilos of cheese from the cheese lady! Who was so impressed that she gave her a free mustard gift. Wow. We finally cut Martha off, reminding her that a kilo was not a pound and she had only a backpack to carry it all home. Then, during nap, Martha and I went shoe shopping. Martha scored a lovely pair of two toned euro boots that are so snappy! I'll just say, that buying shoes in Holland is even harder than the US and I'm decidely relegated to the childrens section. This sucks. Martha's boots rock.
(ok, michele, you can start reading again)
Sunday we headed to Leiden, our favorite town to visit. It was a blast. We had intended a quick return visit to the botanical gardens. But there was a dalia show that kept us for a couple of hours. After lunching in the park, we headed to the Egyptian museum. Elena, this time following the museum with toddler program, did fall asleep after her running around and large lunch. We were amazed, once again, at the small size and amazing contents. There were ACTUAL mummies in there. Including a crocodile one. Very, very creep. The museum was so well done. We look forward to exploring the other floors on future visits. Then we were sleep and a bit hungry, so we had cappaccinos and pofferties, little tiny pancakes swimming in powdered sugar and butter. Surprising Elena passed them up for the coffee cookies. We grab the next train home and everyone was pooped.
Elena and Jake took Martha out for a bike ride the next day (I was busy with the flume, finally running!). They wore her out and impressed her with horses, cows, prostitutes, polders, you know, the usual suspects.
Martha left the next morning. Everyone misses her. Elena has been asking about when we are going to take 'train, plane, train, bus see Aunt Marfa?' And has also tried to replace her by announcing out of the blue that 'Mosa come to visit next.' We wish, kiddo. Jake commented that he already had gotten so used to having Martha that he was scared when she wasn't there in Tuesday night, wondering where she had gone in the night. It is not easy to describe the comfort of having not only a long-time and dear friend stay, but one who understands what it is like to move so far away. Soon we will visit her in Zurich. In the mean time, we are holding in reserve the 'secret' that Nana is coming to visit in less than a month. We can't tell Elena now, because she would just get too excited.
Now a few pictures from Leiden.
Friday was a bright and sunny day. So we decided that dinner along the canal was in order. We return to Chez Willy and had a nice dinner. Martha even shared her appelgablak with elena. Who was busy moving from dessert plate to dessert plate mooching the bitter chocolate garnishes. 'Look at dat! Elena probably eat it in her mouth!' Of course, we let her.
Saturday we took Martha on a shopping spree (Aunt Michele, if you are reading, skip this paragraph, it will be too painful). First Martha bought over 2 kilos of cheese from the cheese lady! Who was so impressed that she gave her a free mustard gift. Wow. We finally cut Martha off, reminding her that a kilo was not a pound and she had only a backpack to carry it all home. Then, during nap, Martha and I went shoe shopping. Martha scored a lovely pair of two toned euro boots that are so snappy! I'll just say, that buying shoes in Holland is even harder than the US and I'm decidely relegated to the childrens section. This sucks. Martha's boots rock.
(ok, michele, you can start reading again)
Sunday we headed to Leiden, our favorite town to visit. It was a blast. We had intended a quick return visit to the botanical gardens. But there was a dalia show that kept us for a couple of hours. After lunching in the park, we headed to the Egyptian museum. Elena, this time following the museum with toddler program, did fall asleep after her running around and large lunch. We were amazed, once again, at the small size and amazing contents. There were ACTUAL mummies in there. Including a crocodile one. Very, very creep. The museum was so well done. We look forward to exploring the other floors on future visits. Then we were sleep and a bit hungry, so we had cappaccinos and pofferties, little tiny pancakes swimming in powdered sugar and butter. Surprising Elena passed them up for the coffee cookies. We grab the next train home and everyone was pooped.
Elena and Jake took Martha out for a bike ride the next day (I was busy with the flume, finally running!). They wore her out and impressed her with horses, cows, prostitutes, polders, you know, the usual suspects.
Martha left the next morning. Everyone misses her. Elena has been asking about when we are going to take 'train, plane, train, bus see Aunt Marfa?' And has also tried to replace her by announcing out of the blue that 'Mosa come to visit next.' We wish, kiddo. Jake commented that he already had gotten so used to having Martha that he was scared when she wasn't there in Tuesday night, wondering where she had gone in the night. It is not easy to describe the comfort of having not only a long-time and dear friend stay, but one who understands what it is like to move so far away. Soon we will visit her in Zurich. In the mean time, we are holding in reserve the 'secret' that Nana is coming to visit in less than a month. We can't tell Elena now, because she would just get too excited.
Now a few pictures from Leiden.
posted by Erin K. | 12:37 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home