We hebben het heel druk

Whew! We have had a crazy couple of weeks. In quick succession we were visited by Gena and Tim, our friend Janel, and Kurt's parents. Plus this week is '3 October', a huge festival commemorating the 1574 siege of Leiden by the Spanish. To prevent the loss of your attention before you reach the end of one long post I am going to split this update into two posts.
On Friday September 20th 9:30 am, my big sis and her hubby glided into Schiphol Airport and the boys and I went to meet them at the train station. I had estimated that they would get to Leiden at about 10:15 but I totally forgot to account for the fact that they would have to go through customs once they got in. So the boys and I enjoyed an hour of people watching and croissant nibbling at the train station. Which only made it all the sweeter when our eyes finally landed on two familiar faces; Gena and Tim made it safely with all their luggage (as opposed to the Spanish honeymoon where their luggage caught up with them about a week later).
 After lunch and nap we took them into the city to see the Burcht (the old citadel) as we have done with everyone who has visited us. Kurt, who had been on an outting with his lab colleagues, joined us for a dinner of homemade Indonesian food and together we mapped out our adventure for Saturday. Kurt highly recommended a trip to the sand dunes (the same trip he had done that day) but I wanted to take them to see Teylingen castle which we had learned about from Open Monument Weekend. So we compromised: We did both.

Gena and Tim on the dune trail

Teylingen

In the morning Gena and Tim rented bikes, we packed some food and water, and set out on an hour long ride to the sand dunes beyond Wassenaar. The dunes were made from centuries of sand blown in by the North Sea winds. They are vegetated with scrub brush and short trees and are, in a word, amazing. The government has marked these dunes for preservation and has crisscrossed them with horse and bike trails. We stopped for a seaside picnic lunch at De Gouden Bal which kindly had a swing set for Leif and Klaus to climb around before we tossed them back in the trailer for another hour ride to the castle. The boys took a nap as we pedaled through towns and fields until finally off in the distance we spotted the red brick tower of Teylingen. This 13th century castle ruin, while roofless, still has a complete circular castle wall and a water filled moat. At the time we visited, there just happened to be a group of archers practicing in the grassy inner courtyard. The twang and swish of the bow and arrows added to the medieval ambiance of the place. We walked around the tower ruins and then sat in the grass and watched the archers while snacking on leftover picnic food. The castle staff seemed very pleased that we had made the effort to visit. And so were we. It was a very idyllic afternoon.    In all we pedaled 30 miles that day. For most of it Gena had a hard time keeping up with the rest of us. She figured it was just because she did not bike as often as Tim, Kurt and I.  But, when we got home, we discovered that the back tire on her bike was flat, so actually she had been working twice as hard as the rest of us. Poor Gene's bad luck follows her ever to Europe. Sorry, Suess!

Stadsmolen

  Sunday just happened to be Molen Dag (Windmill Day) in Leiden. Leiden has 9 existing windmills but not all of them are open to the public on a regular basis. Since Gena and Tim still had their bike rentals we hopped on our bikes, estimating that we could hit three windmills before nap time. The first one we hit was the 1856 Stadsmolen, an adorable brick based windmill near our house in a sadly rather commercial area. This is what is know as a poldermolen which means that it is used to pump water to the right place. These windmills were essential to the Dutch fight to claim their land from the sea. They were used to pump water into canals so that the land could be dried out and used for farming. Amazingly we were allowed to go up into the molen while it was working and see all the wooden gears turning with the wind. There is a cute living space on the ground floor with a small fireplace. It was very quaint and very dutch.
 

Then we headed over to the largest windmill in Leiden, Molen De Valk. This was and still is a flour mill on the edge of the city's outter canal. There used to be windmills lining the entire canal but now only this one and one that was rebuild in the 80s are all that remain. A three story living space where the mill owner's family lived creates the bottom part of the windmill. Above that is five levels of mill workings, giving the whole windmill a towering height. Leif and Klaus were getting a bit sleepy and petulant as we reached the top floors so we took a few quick pictures of the city view and then headed home for lunch.
  When we got the boys down for nap, Tim, Gena, and I went back out to the last windmill, Molen de Put. This mill is the 1980s replica of a mill that was built in 1619. It is located just across the canal from the spot where Rembrant was born. He was sure to have seen the construction of the original in his lifetime. To get inside one has to climb a ladder-like staircase. Since it was later in the day the crowds had grown, adding to the challenge of seeing the mill. We saw the inside but did not linger too long.
 

When the boys woke up we rented a boat and did a canal tour. Unfortunately the weather had turned a bit rainy. We had to return the boat before sunset. The thick clouds pushed sunset up to about 7 so we didn't get a chance to take the boat out to the lakes. We puttered about the canals in town and munched on bread and cheese, olives and beer.
  On Monday, we (minus Kurt who had to go back to work) hopped a train to Delft. We headed straight to the crooked tower of Oude Kerk where Leif and Klaus engaged in their favorite old-church activity: prancing over the uneven stone floors. To set the tone, the church was playing some organ music over a few scattered speakers. During one particularly melancholy song, Leif turned to me and said "I'm happy. I'm happy." before bursting into tears. This occasionally happens with Leif and sad music and he is a bit inconsolable until the song ends. I'm not sure that Gena and Tim really got their fill of the church but they graciously went with us to get some lunch in the square where there was no sad music. After lunch we toured Niewe Kerk and then the boys and I headed home for nap. Gena and Tim came home later that afternoon and we all had dinner together.
 When we got the boys to bed, my sweet sister and her husband sent Kurt and I out for drinks and dessert to celebrate our anniversary. I almost fooled the waitress into thinking I spoke Dutch until she asked if we wanted an extra spoon for the creme brule. Rats! Fail!
 

On Tuesday morning we took Gena and Tim to the Museum Boerhaave, the science and medicine museum. Gene enjoyed seeing the old medical equipment and the boys again enjoyed the Christian Huygens exhibit. After lunch we sadly bid farwell to our guests and sent them off to Amsterdam and beyond.
  To come down off the high of our visit with Tim and Gena, we fortunately had a short visit with our friend Janel from Colgate. When the conference she had been attending in Amsterdam ended, she took the train to Leiden and hung out with us for an evening. We made her dinner and took her to the Burcht. It had been quite a while since we had seen Janel last so we had a lot to chat about. The boys loved her instantly and there were some misty eyes when we walked her to the train station in the morning.

  Whew! Stay tuned for the second half of our busy fantastic 2 weeks of visitors!...  

Open Monument Weekend

This past weekend was Open Monument Weekend in the Netherlands. In this country-wide event historical buildings that are not normally open to the public, throw open their doors and invite any and all in to walk around free of charge. We tried our best to participate but were mostly thwarted in our efforts. Most of the monuments were only open from 12-5. Since Leif and Klaus's nap time is 1-4 we were hard pressed to make it to even the ones in town. We really wanted to see Heman Boerhaave's and Christiaan Huygens homes since we had just learned so much about them from the Boerhaave Museum but they were both too far away to make it work with naptime.
  After nap on Saturday we did make it to one of the homes on the Rapenburg, a beautiful street which follows one of the canals and boasts some of the grand old homes from the golden age. The house is a now an office building and very little of the original ornament remains. The facade was still impressive but the interior was a bit disappointing.
 On Sunday a few buildings opened at 10 which is how we got to see the Regentenkamer of the Merman Burg. This "courtyard" as it is called was a home for widows and single women beginning in the 1600s. Now it is all apartments but the governor's room still remains in tact and displays a fine collection of portraits of the former governors of the courtyard. The room is for rent for small parties and dinners. Any one want to go in on it with us? You might not be able to tell from the pictures but that is velvet damask on the walls. Velvet damask!!

 Also Klaus has almost join the ranks of the bipedal:
 

  On the whole he still prefers crawling but he is getting there. Should I buy him wellies for our England trip? or knee pads?

Buyers remorse and the coolest museum in Leiden

 In my post about Klaus's birthday I described my intentions to get his first year pictures taken at a corny Sears-type portrait studio. I have had success!...well kind of. I ended up taking Leif and Klaus to one of those pop-up photography studios in the lobby of a local grocery store. The deal is that the photo shoot costs only 2.50 Euro and that entitles you to one free 5x7 photo. Your free photo and an optional photo package can be picked up 2 weeks later at the same grocery store. You do not get to choose the photos or sizes for the optional package but you can pick and choose among what they come up with. I was willing to take a chance on this. The photographer was incredibly nice and, while the Klaus wasn't on his best photo shoot behavior, I was pretty sure she had gotten some good shots. Last Wednesday I excitedly went to the grocery to get our pictures. And all afternoon I beat myself up over how stupid I had been.The photos came out ok but the photo studio picked out mostly ones of Leif for the optional package. I guess I should have told the photographer that I was mostly interested in getting photos of Klaus. So you say "Ok just don't buy them." But for whatever reason (I should never make decisions right before lunch) I bought all 7 sheets. So you say "Ok seven sheets. That can't be too much especially since the package is advertised as 50% off the real price." The package was 99 Euro ($130). The instant I bought them I knew I had made a mistake. I asked the woman if I could order more pictures of Klaus (there are not enough in the original package to give as Christmas gifts to the grandparents and great grandparents). She gave me a code where I could go online and see the rest of the photos and order more. Here is where I started to feel a bit scammed- there were better pictures of Klaus in the online photo bank that they had not printed and included in the photo package. So you say "Ok just order some of those" Well you do not get the 50% price when you order them online. My motherly guilt was so stifling that I was ready to plunk down another $87 to get the photos I thought Klaus deserved. But sanity kicked in- I've been scammed so I feel justified in copying the photos I bought on my photo printer when we get home. Take that Kids Profi Portrait! So you say "Juls, aren't you an artist? Shouldn't you be sympathetic to this modern method of portraiture? You liked the photographer. Don't you want her to be able to make a living this way? This is the cost of it." Arrgh! Ok ok. I will buy some more. Just don't tell Kurt.

Dr and Dr Andrsen's discount home surgery

Mermaid Klaus

  Enough of that. I want to tell you about the coolest museum in Leiden. The Museum Boerhaave, is the Dutch National Museum of Science and Medicine. It is located in central Leiden in the 15th century Caecilia Nunnery/Hospital. We had not visited it until now because we figured an early science and medicine museum would probably not be all that interesting to children. Some time ago the museum must have figured this out as well and they have made some of the most awesome kid centered exhibits ever. As we expected, there is a very adult section of the museum containing old inventions and medical supplies displayed in glass cabinets with labels. But there is also Treasure Island, an interactive exhibit for kids age 8-12 that looks like it was designed by Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) and Edward Gorey. Everything was in Dutch at a higher level than Kurt or I can read yet but it was still very entertaining. The exhibit is all about exploration and early science and was inspired by the Dutch Golden Age. There were lots of bizarre devices that made taxidermied animals move, the stem of a ship complete with figure head (well minus the head- see photo), a sea filled with sea monsters, and cabinets displaying old medical devices. There was a section on celestial navigation and several computer stations where you had to answer questions in order to earn stamps on your map (luckily you did not have to answer the questions right on the first try).
  Outside, in the building's fabulous courtyard, are several interactive displays that teach physics principles but are also just plain fun. Luckily Kurt was there to explain them. Otherwise I would have just assumed they were sculptures that I didn't understand.
  Up stairs is the Vindingrijk (Resourceful), an interactive exhibit that demonstrates the inventions and observations of Christiaan Huygens, a Golden Age mathematician and philosopher who studied at Leiden University. Among other things, Huygens developed the pendulum clock, an early projector, a microscope, and the leaf spring carriage. In the exhibit kids can play with/in a pendulum clock, a gear wall, a marble run wall, a rocket ship, and a Huygens style telescope, projector and microscope. There is also a gigantic Rube Goldberg type tower were kids can crank up a bucket of balls to the top and then watch them dribble down to the bottom in a series of complicated tubes and drops. Surrounding the exhibit are banners of drawings from Huygens sketchbooks that very much resemble DaVinci's journals. Huygens appears to have been of a similar mind to the great artist and inventor. Unfortunately the exhibit only runs until the end of Octomber but I can't wait to see what they have next!

 
 

Volkenkunde, Nordwijk, bouncy castles, oh my!

Hello everyone! Sorry yes I know- There was no blog post last week from your favorite ex-pat family. I apologize. I was excitedly busy planning our mid-October trip to England (yay for totally off-season non tropical vacations!) and decided to comb the web for great deals on B&Bs rather than report to you on a relatively quiet week.
 You didn't miss much. Kurt worked and the kids and I followed our typical regimen of morning outting followed by lunch, nap, afternoon park time, dinner, and bed. On Satuday we went to the market on the markt and on Sunday we took advantage of the city of Leiden's generosity toward its children- a totally free bouncy castle fun park. It was all part of the week of back-to-school prep that happens here just as in the US (even though their summer break is considerably shorter). Several of the inflatable contraptions had a water element and despite the low 70s temps a lot of kids were jumping in but not my little Norsemen. They were content to bounce in the comfort of dry pants.
 On Sunday night we briefly visited the ZomerJam festival that was set up in the park across the canal from our apartment. There was a graffiti art contest, basketball, skateboarding, and breakdancing competititions. Leif especially enjoyed the breakdancing and he and Kurt have been studying you-tube videos and testing out some moves ever since. The festival was supposed to end at 11 p.m. but I was pretty skeptical that this would happen given the number of water bongs I saw and the Grolsch truck parked in the middle. But to my surprise the bells tolled 11 and the music shut off. Done and done.

This past weekend we were in the mood to do something touristy so we visited the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, the ethnology museum here in Leiden. We didn't get the stay very long (naptime was looming) but we quickly perused their collection of Native American, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese collections of artifacts and artwork. They also have collections from Oceania, Africa and Asia which we plan to go back and see later. It is a quiet museum with soft music, low light and a generally calming atmosphere. I would like to spend more time there especially as it made me realize how inadequate my knowledge of non-western art is. I couldn't really explain much to Leif and consequently he was probably even more disinterested than he would be normally.

On Sunday we realized that it was September already and that we had never made it to the other nearby beach town of Nordwijk. As we pedaled the 40 minutes to get there we were hoping against hope that it would feel warm and summery there. Our hope was derailed utterly by a cold grey windy beach. But the kids, as kids do, tried to make the best of it. Leif and Klaus still dug in the sand, ran away from the waves, and picked up seashells. Leif had a particularly liked chasing the sea foam blobs when the wind caught them. We marveled at all of the kitesurfers skittering around the waves and wondered if their wetsuits could really keep out the chill.
  After about an hour of having our ears battered by the cold north sea wind we walked around Nordwijk a bit. It is much the same as Katwijk; a little built up but still quiet and not overly commercial. We found the main drag- a pedestrian only street with all the same stores that seem to be in every Dutch town (Hema, Zeeman, etc). It all felt very familiar and it dawned on me that this coming Saturday will mark the halfway point of our time here. It now gets dark at around 8:30-a stark contrast from the 10:30 sunset a few months ago. There is a chill in the air and fall is creeping in. I am sad and relieved at the same time.  
 

Jonathan and Marissa zijn in Nederland

Leif and Marissa

By now you know that Leiden is a great place to live. Canals, bicycles, windmills...everything you could want in a Dutch city. But it still can't keep us from feeling a little homesick. Luckily Kurt's cousin, Jonathan and his girlfriend, Marissa were in Europe for a wedding and decided to make a side trip to see us!
 They arrived last Saturday around 1 o'clock, somewhat tired but ready for a tourist adventure. We roused the kids from their naps, rented a boat, and took them for a canal tour. You may remember from a previous post that we did the same with Lars and Sam when they were here at the end of July. Unfortunately the weather was a little less agreeable this time and we ended up a little soggy. In spite of the rain I think everyone enjoyed it. We promise to take any of our visitors on this tour but, hurry, from what we have heard the fall gets quite rainy.
  On Sunday we woke up bright and early thanks to our one year old alarm clock child and caught a train into Amsterdam. It was a bit rainy still so we dutifully donned our rain gear. Unbeknownst to us we would end up just carrying it around the rest of the absolutely gorgeous day.

Marissa, Elephant, and Jon

From the train station we walked to the Amsterdam Zoo (aka Natura Artis Magistra). Admission was a bit pricey but it was a well manicured zoo with a wide variety of animals and some grand old buildings. I tried not to make my guilty feelings evident (Kurt has warned me about passing guilt onto the kids) but some of the habitats seemed a little on the small side; The zoo is 175 years old and ideas have changed since then about the rights of animals and humans. That being said we did get to see a lot of animals really close up (Sorry, animals!). The butterfly house was particularly awesome- as we walked through a sweet smelling greenhouse filled with plants, all manner of butterflies flited around us like erratic fairies. Leif tried desperately to convince the butterflies to land on him but to no avail. For lunch we ate at a cafe opposite the giraffe habitat. While they wrapped their purple tongues around some hay we enjoyed some surprisingly reasonably priced fare. Unfortunately, Kurt spilled almost his entire cappuccino defending Leif's saucijzenbroodje from a cheeky pigeon.
   We were unsure at this point how much more we could push the kids. Klaus had taken a 20 minute nap in the stroller when we first arrived at the zoo but both he and Leif were looking a bit glassy-eyed as we wrapped up our time with the animals. The plan was always that Jon and Marissa would stay in Amsterdam all day but that we would return home early according to the kid's needs. J and M were planning to go to the Anne Frank house but other than that their plans were pretty loose. We decided to walk them to the Vondelpark, a large metro park in the southern part of the city. On the way both boys took naps so we felt comfortable stopping for a snack at the Blue Teahouse, a 1930's teahouse located in the Vondelpark. It felt wonderfully European even though we ate chips and salsa. From there we took temporarily parted ways with Jon and Marissa and took the train home. 
  Everyone was a bit worn out on Monday so we decided to stay in Leiden. We really wanted Jon and Marissa to experience biking in the Netherlands so we convinced them to rent a bicycle. I gave my bike to Marissa and, in true Dutch style, I sat on the luggage rack of Kurt's bike. With the kids in the bike trailer we all set off for Leiden's Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (see video). This gem of a museum houses the Netherlands's antiquities collection. I knew about this museum but I was not prepared for how awesome it is. The collection is amazing with several Egyptian mummies, countless pieces of black/red figure Greek pottery, an impressive statue of Emperor Trajan, and an entire late Egyptian temple. As always, we did not get to spend as much time there as we would have liked but luckily it is right here is Leiden and we have museum passes. 
After nap we biked around the city some more and then took Jon and Marissa to the Burcht. We picked up some Indian food at India Way Tandoori Restaurant for dinner. It was the first Indian place that we have tried in Leiden and I think we can stop looking for our regular Indian place. We have found it! The food was fabulous and the waiter was very friendly and really accommodating (I'm a pesky pescatarian and Marissa is gluten intolerant).
  This morning we sadly said good-bye to Jon and Marissa. Fortunately since we return to the U.S. right around Christmas we will get to see them almost as soon as we return. Hooray!

          

Museum de Lakenhal and Gouda

We had no visitors this week nor did we visit anyone else but the boys and I (well, probably mostly just I) were still keen to do some touristy stuff. On Tuesday we check out Leiden's own Museum de Lakenhal. I had always known about this museum which houses Leiden's art collection but I guess I was saving it for a rainy day. But... it hasn't rained much this summer so I said the heck with it and just went.
 The building itself used to be the the place where cloth makers brought their products to be inspected and weighed. While most of it has been updated for use as a museum they have left several rooms untouched. While touring one such room Leif exclaimed that we should 'do this to our house' referring to the oak paneled walls, gilded wallpapers, delftware tiled fireplace, and leaded windows. The boy has good taste.
  In its art collection are the works of several well-known Leiden artists including Lucas van Leyden, Jan Steen, and Rembrant van Rijn. The Rembrant is a very early work by the artist and lacked his signature chiaroscuro style. I would not have been able to pick it out as one of his. The placard said that it was the earliest solo signed work of his existing oeuvre. The Lucas van Leyden Last Judgement triptych, which originally hung in Leiden's Pieter's Kerk, is enormous and impressive. Trying to explain the iconography to a three-year-old was a bit challenging; one side of the painting displays a Boschian style hell filled with grotesque demons and fire. Luckily Leif was more interested in the reason that there were so many naked people in the work. I began telling him my whole spiel about how the human body is beautiful and how often in this time period souls were depicted as naked people and how people come into the world naked and so forth. He seemed to consider this information and then said "It was probably hot outside."
  The Lakenhal is pretty small and manageable but, even so, we did not see the everything (kids!). Luckily with the museum pass we purchased when we first arrive, entry is free so I look forward to spending some rainy mornings there in the Fall.  

On Thursday we went to Gouda (pronounced more like 'Howda') to see it's famous cheese market. It is a pretty touristy affair complete with giant wheels of cheese, horse drawn wagons, and actors in wooden shoes.  As in ages past, the market only happens on Thursdays from June to August. I was hoping to take some of our visitors there but no one was here on a Thursday and time is running out. Since we had no other plans and the weather was nice I decided that this was the week to go. I got the kids up, dressed and fed them, and then husseled to the train station to catch the 9:08 to Gouda. The ride was about 35 minutes so we arrived right on time for the 10:00 market.
  As promised giant orange wheels of cheese were laid out on blankets in front of the waag. In the good ole days farmers brought their cheeses here to be graded by officials and then sold in this customary set of haggeling hand slaps (see video). It was unclear to me if any of the people putting on the show were real farmers or officials but it was entertaining none the less. We watched for a bit, got a free piece of cheese and then walked around the rest of the market.

  Right off the market is the longest church in the Netherlands, Sint Janskerk. As seen from above, it is in the typical cross shape of the churches of the period but the nave is unusually long. It is also famous for its stained glass windows and boasts that they comprise 50% of all the 16th century stained glass in the Netherlands. They were enormous and impressive. The compositions were so busy that they really deserved to be studied. Unfortunately I had to make sure that my two fellow tourists didn't harm themselves as they careened around the large stone pillars and an unforgiving flag stone floor. Needless to say my attention was a bit frayed.
 
Our church tour ended abruptly when Leif decided that picking his nose was more interesting than the impossibly large colorful windows all around us. I really don't care if Leif picks his nose but sometimes he goes too far and gives himself a nose bleed. Wanting to avoid that possibility seeing as we were a train ride away from home I told him to stop picking it. He immediately melted into a full-on tantrum. Since his third birthday, Leif has been doing this more and more frequently. To try to curb this behavior I usually double down on whatever I am try to get him to do. Like I said I really don't care if he picks his nose but, since he threw a fit, I had stand firm in my directive. After a minute or so, not wanted to disturb the other tourists who had also paid 4.50 Euro to see the place, I dragged him out of the church while his screams of "I want to pick my nose!" echoed around the vaulted ceilings.

  Leif sobered up pretty quickly outside. We grabbed some sandwiches to eat on the train and headed back to the station. Our timing was perfect and we were able to jump on a train headed to Leiden immediately. Since I had the stroller, I had to enter the train doors that are handicap accessible. We found some seats just inside the doors and sat down to eat our lunch as the train lurched out of the station. I noticed a few odd stares from my fellow riders but I just chalked it up to the fact that I was spooning out baby food on a train. It was only when we pulled into the station that I noticed the signage on the walls indicating that this was a silent train car. In retrospect we had not been very loud as we mostly sat eating our food but I'm sure we were not completely silent. Oh well.

Train!

We gaan naar to Rijsel (Lille)

  Road trip to France!!!
 After two months of nothing by bikes and trains I expected to feel strange sitting in a car again. I guess 31 years of automoting is not easily forgotten. I almost wished that continental Europe drove on the left side so that it would feel new and exciting. It was too normal and comfortable feeling. The car didn't even feel that small (except for the fact that there really was no trunk). And the boys loved it; comfy chairs, good views, snacks. We had planned to take the train but it was actually cheaper to rent a car for 3 days. Come on, Europe! If you can't make private transportation unappealing what chance have we got?

Grant and Caroline- the most adorable
couple you will ever meet

Anywho...this past week, after several we're coming/we're not coming emails, we met up with our friends Grant and Caroline in her hometown of Lille, France. Lille, or Rijsel as the Dutch call it, is a pretty sizable city about 3 hours south of Leiden, through Belgium. Grant and Caroline, who we met at Gettysburg, live in South Carolina so it is not as if this was our only chance to see them but we were really interested to get a tour of Lille from a real Lillutian(?).
   Caroline's parents, Francoise and Jean-Pierre, graciously let us stay in their beautiful 1920s townhouse. They really spoiled us actually; three multi-course meals a day, champagne, brioche, metro tickets, and they gave us their own bedroom to sleep in. They dug out some toys for Leif and Klaus and even let them crawl over some obviously antique pieces of furniture. And we had only just met them! I've never experienced such excessive hospitality. It was somewhat humbling. I feel like, in comparison, I've been a bad host to anyone who has stayed with us.
 

We arrive on Sunday at about noon. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to remind Grant and Caroline that I am a pescatarian so, to be a good house guest, I had lamb for lunch. Tasted good I guess. After lunch we went for a bit of a walk around town with Francoise's dog, Condi. Leif got to walk to dog which was terribly cute but also a great way to keep him from his normal dawdling. It was a bit warm so we sat for a while under the trees of a metropark where Caroline helped Leif talk his way into a soccer game with two local kids. We walked home through the Jardin de Geants, a beautifully sculpted garden with a great mix of plants, 'giant' themed sculptures, and water features.
  Monday morning, after a somewhat successful night all sleeping in the same room, we walked around downtown a bit. We tried to tour one of the old churches but it was closed so instead we check out a French department store with a fancy tea shop. If you ever visit France look for a Mariage Freres tea. I am actually not real fond of flavored teas but these freres have definitely turned my head. They are super floral and strong.

   In the afternoon we took the metro back downtown with the intention to go to the zoo. Public transportation still seems like a carnival ride to Leif so it was no surprise that after the metro wet his appetite for safe thrills, he was drawn like a magnet to the small amusement park adjacent to the zoo.  Since everyone seemed to feel slightly guilty visiting the zoo we pretty readily gave in to Leif's request. While Caroline ran into friend after friend Leif and Klaus enjoyed a few tokens worth of ride. The best was the one where Leif and Kurt got to ride a carousel horse through beautifully manicured equestrian jumping course. See video. . 

 

Before we jumped back in the car on Tuesday, we made another try for the zoo. It was actually very cute and no one seemed to feel as guilty as we thought we would. We witnessed the boa constrictor's breakfast and a bit of a scuffle between two rhinos. It was a bit intense to watch although I'm sure we were not nearly as worried as the zebras that shared the same habitat. We had lunch at the zoo food bar where there was quite an extensive menu that included crab salad and beer and wine. Oh France! You are awesome! Then we bid a sad farewell to Grant and Caroline and promised to visit them sometime soon in South Carolina.
  It was a great little trip all around. It was great to see Grant and Caroline, to meet her wonderful parents, and to take a break from my bad Dutch and try to use my bad French. J'aime l'Europe!