The Netherlands - Mother's Day Weekend 2011

Mother’s Day Weekend – 2011

The Netherlands...more pictures on the Netherlands Pix page to the right...

This particular weekend we decided to head up to Holland. 

Don had bought tickets to see the fields of tulips in Keukenhof, Lisse, The Netherlands.  The festival tickets ranged from Late March through middle of April.  We had anticipated that they would not sell tickets for a tulip festival outside of the field cutting times – we were wrong! 

We were so very disappointed.  We had hoped to drive into Holland and see field after field of flowers of varying color.  It did not happen.  We drove almost 7 hours to see a flower garden… it was a pretty one…but a garden non-the-less. 

The entire drive was pretty though, and fairly pleasant.  It was very long though… you could definitely tell the difference between Germany and the Netherlands.  A funny thing – just before we passed into Holland we had to gas up.  Once we got off the Autobahn we had to take several back roads to get to our Esso Station.  On one of the small roads leading to our station we came across a house that had a Confederate Flag flying high!  What a sight – wish we would have had the camera ready to take its picture.  It would have been great! 

Once we passed into Holland the homes looked a little different, very pretty – but different.  There were more wind mills – though not the beautiful old fashioned ones – but the “modern” white metal ones.  The farms were also laid out differently.  There was a main canal that ran along the highway.  Off this main canal several “sprouts” of canals ran up the farms for irrigation.  It is truly a beautiful sight.  This was common all throughout our drive through the Netherlands. 

We drove straight to the Keukenhof – like I said – it was a LONG drive.  The kids did really great!  Probably better than the adults J…We were all ready to stretch our legs.

Within the gardens there were thousands of beautiful flowers!  And they had them arranged perfectly… The kids loved them too!  Many of the tulips were as tall as Sarah!  What a sight!  I had no idea, until I moved to Germany, there were so many varieties of tulips.  They had more than tulips in the Keukenhof Gardens…but truly amazing.  Just think what it will be like next year, when we go EARLIER, how much more fabulous it will be!  One really neat sights was an old windmill…working at that!  We all got to go up in it – which was super neat!  Driving around we also saw a few other smaller windmills.   

As we walked through the gardens the children enjoyed fountains, path’s, even playgrounds (always a plus for the kids!).  We stopped for a small stand that sold some small sweet waffles, as a dessert!  Really?!  Waffles for dessert?!  Yup… very common over here!  They can coat it w/ many toppings, but we just chose powdered sugar… Don was practically speechless!  We all enjoyed them… but he loved them!  Another little “treat” Don got were these Poffertjes (pof – er- jeese).  Poffertjes are tiny little pancakes w/ butter and powdered sugar all over them!  Very sweet and yummy…

We spent several hours walking around the gardens and decided to go check into our hotel room and get a bite to eat.  We asked the clerk a good local place to eat –but all they could recommend was some McDonalds down the road (seriously) or their buffet.  So…against our better judgment, we ate at the all-you-can-eat.  I truly do not like all-you-can-eat buffets (I know I will when Evan is in his eating prime – but for now…I don’t).  We did get some very traditional typical Netherland foods – not bad for us adults, but not up kid’s alley in the least!  Please, don’t ask what it all involved, I didn’t write any of it down this time – but it involved lots of cheeses, fish, and a variety of salads, some lamb, ribs, variety of potatoes, and beef – there were other things too – and thankfully the kid friendly chicken nuggets and fries!   

There was a really nice local couple at the table next to us that struck up a conversation at the end of our meal – complimenting us on how well behaved our kids were throughout their dinner.  That was really nice – b/c we did not think so! J…they were not bad – just noisier than I liked.  Plus, do you know how many times I got up to get their foods?  Seriously, it was ridiculous!  Anyhow, this really nice couple said this was the warmest spring they had had in their recent memory… which is why they cut the flowers…just that past week!  We missed them by a week!!!! UHG!  Oh well…we will see them next year $$$…lots of trips scheduled!

So this hotel had an indoor pool – a neat one with a huge fountain spout!  On the way down we walked past a group of young men and women…the men did not have shirts on, just coming back form the pool.  Gracie, in her sweet 2 year old voice said very loudly, “dare naked!!”… and of course they had to understand English!  But thankfully saw the humor in it as well!  You see… anyone, I mean anyone, w/out a “normal” article of clothing on is naked to her (remember this later).  The kids had a blast swimming!  Sarah was our one to triumph though…she does not like water on her face/head… it’s an ear thing (2 sets of tubes in her 3 young years).  But this night, she slowly let go of my hand and walked off in the water, chest deep for her, by her self!  Of course she and Gracie had floaties on – but she was “swimmin’!”  So proud of herself and we were of her as well!  After we had the kids well worn (us too) we headed off to bed… 

Since we didn’t get to see fields and fields of flowers – I told Don that if I were able to see the English Channel and put my feet in some warm sand then our trip would not be wasted J… we were only 20 minutes away!!!  So…we did!

The next morning we got up and tried to go get some breakfast.  Well, we kind of forgot a couple things…1, things are often not open on Sunday mornings (or all day Sunday in some places)…and 2,  this was Mother’s Day – even in the Netherlands…nothing but a Bakery was open…and McDonalds!  So we took the kids to get a yogurt at the McDonalds (their menu is WAY WAY limited compared to the US)  and also got something yummy bread at the bakery.  While we were in downtown Leiden we came upon a quaint area w/ a canal running through it… it truly was a picturesque town….too bad the pankoekenhaus was closed!  Seriously, a breakfast place was closed… oh well.   

We hopped in the car and headed up to Den Haag…this was a short trip close to the water.  When we got to Den Haag we headed west to Scheveningen, which was a town on the coast of the English Channel.  We found a parking spot and started walking along their “boardwalk”… there were a lot of different restaurants, all of different styles and prices….they even had a couple Mexican restaurants!  We stopped at a small place called Lekker! Lekker means delicious or lovely…and it was both really!   

Because it was Mother’s Day – I got to pull the trump card often J…love it!  Don is not a huge fan of eating outside – I enjoy it periodically, especially on the beach.  So, we got a table right next to the sand, with the warm sun and sound of the water pushing up on the sand, and the warm breeze…it was great!  I loved it.  So we ordered our food – and as we are waiting a man sits down next to us, w/out a shirt on (of course – we are ON the beach – this is normal)…but not normal to our 2 year old!  “He’s NAKED BODY!  I don’t like dat!”… and not just once, but several times she had to share this w/ us, all the while us trying to let her know this is OK.

Well, as we continue our wait for our food the kids are looking around, getting up playing in the sand, and Emma comes and whispers in my ear, “mama, that lady over there w/ the pink hair doesn’t have a shirt on!”… seriously – a topless beach!…  So I calmly say to her, in my best “its no big deal” (sp) tone, “that’s OK Emma, we are in Europe and they can do that here… some do and some don’t, but we shouldn’t stare – it’s not polite.”  And that was the end of it…UNTIL…Evan saw her… so proud of him – he too was very quiet about it and told us the same thing…we again repeated what we told Emma.  THEN – off to my “2 o’clock” was a lady in her 70’s easily – also sun bathing topless…THEN Sarah brings it up!  What a hoot!  It certainly made for interesting lunchtime conversation!   

Well, when our food came we realized that Don had ordered 2 full meals!  LOL!  He had not realized that one of the meals was a full sandwich and not just an appetizer.  Oh well, he ate most of it and it was sehr gut!  I had a fabulous sandwich of ham and tomato w/ melted cheese on top.  Kids had pizza and poffertjez.   

Once we ate we walked down to the water, we were a bit worried Gracie might notice the actual naked people…but she was too busy collecting seashells to notice, and there really were not many more.  The sand was warm – and felt SOOOO nice in my feet!  I love that!  Once we reached the water we noticed no one was in the water… but, one cannot come to the ‘ocean’ and NOT put their feet in.  This water was the coldest water I have ever touched w/ my feet on a beach!  Oh my goodness!  It was freezing – easily 45 degrees!  Evan was the only one interested in keeping his feet in the water!  On the way back up, Sarah made sure to make a “snow Angel” in the sand… messy…messy…messy!  But very cute too!  We topped the day off w/ an ice cream in the square b/4 hopping in the car for our long ride home.

So I thought it was pretty cool day – for Mother’s Day in 2011, my family took me to the Beach, ate a great lunch w/ me outdoors, walked w/ them, all barefooted in the sand so we could dip our feet in the freezing English Channel – a pretty awesome end to an overall good weekend! 

Our one family gift from this country…but a pair of wooden Dutch shoes of course! 

Lesson’s Learned:

As with all little and big trips we have lesson’s we have learned… some more comical than others – some seem silly we needed to learn it in the first place!  Oh well.

1. Eat breakfast before we leave the house on the day we leave – or at least pack something.  NOTHING in Heidelberg is open – except the bakerei at the Hauptbahnhof. 
2. Pack a cooler of water and cokes… very expensive and things get warm in the car
3. Get a tour guide book for the area from the library or bookstore before we leave
1. Make a list prior to our departure of all the things we want to see, their addresses (plugged into the GPS), hours of operation, and cost of admittance if able… it is OK to plan for more than we can see.
4. Print out  a list of common language phrases (this may be in the tour guide book)
5. Don’t eat at the hotel!  SO NOT WORTH IT!
6. Get food from Aldi – fresh, yummy, all will eat – take it to a park and eat there!
7. Do not expect ANYTHING to be open on Sundays, at least before 11AM!
8. Check for bakeries
9. Leave room for “off the cuff” sights in towns along the way.  We found there to be MANY little things we could have stopped and seen had we allowed more time, or just had more time.
10. Have a back up plan, backing up 3a.