Amsterdam 02-04.10.13: our final place!

Amsterdam – our final city!    

This is our last place before going home to Bangkok. We are in Amsterdam which is in Holland and is also one of Dad’s favourite cities in the world! So far we have gone to these places: Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House, the van Gogh Museum and also a real Dutch restaurant for dinner.

Dad loves Amsterdam!!

First we drove to Amsterdam and we needed to buy petrol but mum and dad couldn’t find anywhere to buy it. We drove around for ages but finally they found somewhere which was lucky! When we got into Amsterdam, there were trams and bikes everywhere and dad had to drive really slowly. We got near where we were staying but dad couldn’t get in so we had to call the owner of the boat. The man came and met us and hopped into the car and he was our GPS for the five minutes we were away from the boat.

Paddy was so excited when he found out we would be staying on a boat! Inside it was just like a normal house with bedrooms, a lounge, a small kitchen and a bathroom. One difference was that it moved when another boat went past which was quite a lot! We could look out the windows of the boat and the water was almost at our eyes! People waved to us and it was great fun!!

Ours was the one with the red stripe

 

We made the most of the sun to sit on the boat's terrace!

 

After the little ones had a rest we went straight to the Rijksmuseum. Mum and dad said this was a famous museum and that there were heaps of paintings by very famous artists and lots by painters that I like for example: van Gogh, Monet and now Rembrandt and Vermeer!! It was so cool that you could take photos of the actual paintings. My favourite paintings were the self-portrait by van Gogh and the milkmaid by Vermeer. We have studied van Gogh at school so I was interested to see his paintings for real and the milkmaid just looked like a photo it was so real. Dad showed us the most famous painting in the museum called the “Nacht Wacht” (Night Watch) by Rembrandt and there were heaps of people looking at it so it was hard to see it properly. Mum found an information card in English and then we looked at the painting more carefully and found heaps of the things the card talked about which I really liked.

Rijksmuseum from the Museumplein

 

Nacht Wacht

The cards were really interesting

The Milkmaid

A wedding painting by Rembrandt - it was weird for them to painted together then

Stained glass in the Rijksmuseum

The new hall-it used to be all white

Paddy loved this plan for the First World War

The next day we got up early and went to Anne Frank House on the tram. The house was so small but very interesting. Mum had read some of her book to me because we gave it to her for her birthday or something so I knew a little bit about the story but it was really good to be there too. We saw where the family hid for over two years until they got taken by the Germans. To get to their rooms at the top of the house we had to go through a secret bookcase and the old one was still there! Do you know how it is a secret? On one side there were books and then you hit a switch and the books opened a door that only a few people knew about. I also saw some pictures and a movie of what the Germans did to the Jews in the war and that made me feel not very good as it wasn’t very nice. Mum and Dad said it was good for me to find out about what happened by visiting places like this but I didn’t agree with them then!

Outside Anne Frank House

Amsterdam streets

We found a café and had a coffee and some poffertjes (have you had them? They are mini-pancakes with heaps of sugar powder and were really yummy!!!). Then we went back to the boat for the little ones to have a rest. After their rest we caught another tram to the Museumplein and the van Gogh Museum. The van Gogh Museum was my favourtie thing to do in Amsterdam. We saw all kinds of paintings by van Gogh. You were allowed to take photos without flash so I took a few. Dad had organised for the children to have an MP3 audio machine and the stories they told on that about some of the paintings were really interesting. I was able to share the stories with mum and dad which I liked to do. I learnt that van Gogh did lots of paintings that were really beautiful but that when he made them he was actually really sad and the things he painted showed his feelings. How he painted it also did that too. We found a room that had microscopes set up so you could look at pieces of paint taken from some of the paintings. I found that incredible because my art teacher at school had told me about how he painted and that he used thick brush strokes and now I saw it for myself. That was cool!!

Irises

Van Gogh self-potrait

Sunflowers

The paint under the microscope

He painted this one for his brother when he had a son

For dinner mum and dad had found some random restaurant on the internet that served Dutch food. We had to walk a little way and wait as it was really busy but the food was actually good. I had satay sticks and mum told me that food was from Indonesia (which isn’t Holland by the way) but the Dutch used to be there so it was like Dutch food. Dad was as happy as because he got boiled potatoes, meat with a sweet gravy and a bowl full of brussel sprouts (which were disgusting). Dad ate them all and mum warned us to stay away from him for a few days (even though we would be on the plane)!!

We went to bed after a bath. Tomorrow we are catching our plane home and our awesome trip will be over!!

Love

Clare xxoo

Holland Part 2 - Kaatsheuvel, Antwerp and de Efteling

Holland Part 2: Kaatsheuvel, Antwerp and de Efteling

Today we sadly had to leave Margot's house and drive to our next place in Holland. It was called Kaatsheuvel. So we started to drive towards Kaatsheuvel but along the way mum and dad changed the plan (not very Dutch) and the new plan was to drive to Antwerp in Belgium on our way to Kaatsheuvel even though it was way past it!

The city we went to in Belgium was called Antwerp. In Antwerp we walked around and had a little look at some of the beautiful buildings in the old town square. We also went and found a coffee shop and me, Paddy and Bridget ate ice-cream and mum and dad ate loempia (spring rolls from Indonesia). I wondered why you would eat spring rolls when you can get them in Thailand – crazy!!

After we had our little wander in Antwerp, we got back in the car and drove to Kaatsheuvel. When we got to the hotel, Patrick and Bridget saw a play area inside the hotel so they went for a play with mum. Me and dad went with the front desk lady up to our room which had two big beds and a little one for Bridget all in the same room!! Then we went back down stairs and got back in the car again (!!) because we were driving to mum and dad's friend called Beatrijs for dinner (remember-she is the daughter of Peter and Coby from my other blog?).

Beatrijs has four children (Julien-9, Dante-8, Caitlin-5 and Mattisse-nearly 2). We had a play outside and then for dinner we ate Mexican and it was burritos and tacos-yummy! The kid's school is right behind their house so after dinner we went for a walk and a play at their school which was fun. When we drove back home it was really late so we all went to bed at the same time-even mum and dad!!

Grotemarkt in Antwerp

Coffe on the Grotemarkt

Antwerp

Playing with Beatrijs's children

Dinner for 11!!

On the second day in Kaatsheuvel, mum and dad had been planning a surprise for us and they had kept telling us we were going to a rubbish dump. When we found out we were going to de Efteling and it was a fun park with heaps of rides we were all really excited! My favourite ride at de Efteling was the wooden roller coaster. I went on twice-once by myself!! It was super fun. Me and dad also went on a roller coaster that went upside down and twisted like a cork screw. I don't think dad liked it much because he was really wobbly when we got off it. We went on every ride that was open and they were all awesome. It was very sad when we had to leave because it had been a very fun day. We had been there since about 10.30 in the morning and when we left it was nearly 5pm so we were also quite tired!

Photos from de Efteling

Mum and I are in there somewhere!

So much fun!!

For dinner we went to some Dutch cafe/restaurant in Kaatsheuvel and when we got home we went to bed straight away!

Tomorrow we are driving to Amsterdam which means our holiday is going to finish soon which is sad!

Love Clare

xxoo

Holland Part 1 - 't Harde, Elburg and Mum and Dad's friends

Holland – Part 1

Today was our longest drive from Germany to Holland. Dad said we drove nearly 600kms!! It took seven and a half hours and we came into Holland near Arnhem where Grandpa was born. We kept driving to Margot's house where we were staying in 't Harde. Mum and Dad said we wouldn't be doing much tripping around but more visiting people that were friends of mum and dad's from ages ago.

As I said, we were staying in Margot's house and this is a description of how it looked: when you first walk through the door there is a staircase that is steep. Then there is a study to the right. If you go up the stairs then there is Margot's bedroom – but that was where Mum, Dad and Bridget slept. Then there was a tiny bathroom with a door into the stairs and also to Margot's bedroom. Also on that level is Marijke's bedroom. Marijke is Margot's youngest daughter and that is where Paddy and I slept. It was really cosy!! Downstairs was the spare room (where Margot stayed) and the living room and lounge room. That's the space where we spent most of our time as it was comfortable and even sunny!! There was also a kitchen and a door going out to the back yard.

Margot's house

Mum and Dad had told me about some of the people who lived there in Holland. I also remember that Dad went to visit one of the ladies (Marijke) when she was sick. I think that is also the person who my second name is for. For that reason, I was really excited to come to Holland and meet all of those people!

The first people we met were Derk Jan and Brigitte. They also had two boys called Joris and Reinoud who were 11 and 9. The first thing I noticed was that Derk Jan was so tall!! Also, Brigitte was like a movie star because she was so beautiful!!! They had a crazy dog and also a big back yard that was incredible because: 1. it had a swing and ring set 2. it had a tree house and 3. it had a trampoline! I did heaps of gymnastic tricks on the trampoline and it was great fun. Mum and Dad went to their house a couple of times at night time to talk to them and to drink beer. I think Dad is really good friends with Derk Jan! We also went to a party at their house on Saturday night because it was their twelve and a half year wedding anniversary. There were heaps of kids at the party and we played some crazy games. I made a friend who was Dutch (she spoke no English!!) and we helped mum and dad cook fish to help Derk Jan and Brigitte. I really liked them because they could speak really good English and they were really kind to me.

Mum and Dad with Brigitte and Derk Jan

We visited some more of mum and dad's friends called Peter and Coby. They were also really nice and they had heaps of toys because they have six grandchildren. We ate lunch there and had goulash soup and yummy bread rolls. Dad said we were going to meet one of their daughters called Beatrijs later on in Holland. Then we went to the farm where dad used to live. The farm was built on the polder and that used to be the sea until they built some dykes and took all the water away. It was sooooo flat!! I learnt how to say farm in Dutch – boerderij! The owners of the farm were Ard and Sascha. They also had a trampoline and we walked around the farm and saw heaps of cows. Paddy got to drive the tractor which he thought was awesome.

Peter and Coby

Paddy driving the tractor with Ard

Ard on the boerderij

We went and visited Bert and Marijke and their dog Fedde. Bert and Marijke are super lovely people and even though Marijke is really sick she was happy to see us! Fedde is their dog and he is seven and humungous but very beautiful and also gentle!! Marijke gave us heaps of stroopwafels and she gave all the children lots of kisses. We visited with them twice but the second time Bert was in the hospital with a sore head but Marijke said he was OK. I really liked meeting Marijke because I had seen photos of here from when I was born and I know my second name is after her so now I know who she is and I feel lucky to know her.

Marijke, Bert and Fedde

We made a trip to Elburg which dad said was a really old city. It had cool city walls and we saw a place where lots of Jewish people were taken away in the war. We stopped for an ice cream (it was really hot) and then we walked out to the harbour to see some interesting boats.

De Vischpoort in Elburg

Standing near the harbour in Elburg

Last of all, we stayed the whole time with Margot. Margot was a really lovely lady who kept giving us food. She also fixed Bridget's teddy and she loved to give us cuddles. We met her sister, Tante Miep, who was also a nice lady. Margot is Derk Jan and Marijke's mum and they all had lots of funny stories about when daddy used to live with them ages ago. I really liked Margot because she was super friendly and always funny.

Margot

Walking with Noushka (Margot's dog) in the woods

It is really good that I got to meet all of these people. I have heard mum and dad talk about them and seen photos of them and now I got to meet them. My first time in Holland is really fun!

Love

Clare

xxoo