An afternoon in A'dam.

Spent the afternoon rambling around Amsterdam. We rode the tram through the city and hopped off on Koningsplein near Dam Square. It was HECTIC in the city! So hectic that we decided we had to fortify ourselves with some Vlaamse Frites! Belgian fries, for those uninformed. Delicious golden gems of potatoey goodness topped with mayo and sate sauce. DELISH!



Turns out the crowd would get worse because the fair was in town! It was set up in front of the Palace on Dam Square. Some things are the same the world over! Loud music, wild rides and lots of fried food. I managed to get Ton to ride their version of the ferris wheel. It was huge! And had great views of the city. After that, we wandered to the Begijnhof, which is a little oasis on calm in an overcrowded and hectic city. Originally, the Begijnhof housed catholic women who sought to do good works and practice their religion without actually becoming a Nun. Today, it remains housing for women, but also offers anyone who seeks it a place of solitude and contemplation in a quiet garden and a small chapel. (http://www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl/index_engels.html)

We moved on up the Damrak towards Beurs van Berlage. The Beurs van Berlage was built by Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856-1934) for the Municipality of Amsterdam. Construction started in 1898 and was completed in 1903. It was Berlage’s first really large commission – and it would make him world famous. (http://en.beursvanberlage.nl/beursvanberlage/index.html). A beautiful building designed by Berlage (think Amsterdam School!! and you've got it!), who is a simply amazing architect. I hadn't had an opportunity to see the building up close and after seeing it, I'm not sure I took it all in. There is so much detail, so many things to absorb...gah. Pictures don't do it justice. Not mine or anyone else's.

But one can take only so much scholarly observation and religious contemplation before they are driven straight to The Walletjes, aka The Red Light District. This is always an odd experience. The women for the most part are beautiful, well-toned, and completely disinterested. What is most interesting is watching the men. Men who wander down these extremely narrow alleyways to see the women behind glass rarely stop to LOOK but rather march on, hardly daring to look at these women out of the corner of their eye. Ton looked down at his feet and soldiered on claiming the women behind the glass are intimidating and most men find them so. I just find it ODD. C'mon. It's just sex. *shrugs* You're window shopping for it just like you would in a bar. Except you're not buying them a drink first, you're just paying for it outright. Cutting out the middle man so to speak.

Past the red light district, we ambled back towards Centraal Station, past the Waag, and through China town. When we saw the famous Nam Kee sign, Ton had to stop for dinner. There was a wonderful little wizened Chinese man making dumplings at the front table. His economy of movement, his fast and practiced hands were fascinating. I wanted to take his picture, to film him, but I didn't dare ask. Somehow, his preparation felt a bit like ritual and interrupting it didn't seem right. Instead, I settled on Chinese Chicken Sate with green onions and Ton choose sweet and sour chicken. I could have had cuttle fish, or pork intestine, or crispy bowel (of what, the menu didn't say) but I played it safe. Bourdain would be so disappointed in me. Oh, or I could have picked my eel from the tank and let them cook it for me. Ugh. The food that arrived was worth the hype. It felt like home-cooking, not the standard Chinese-American fare we have come to know as Chinese. I want to add Chinese tea here is nothing like our heavy smokey tea in the states. It is jasmine tea and light as summer honeysuckle. I could drink it by the gallon.



The day was winding down and turning cold but we wandered down to the harbor, behind Centraal Station and took the Buiksloterweg ferry to Noord Holland to have a drink and take a few shots from across the harbor. I had a decent glass of bitter lemon at Cafe De Pont (http://www.cafedepont.nl/foto-s/) followed by a stroll through the marina. At the marina, we passed a series of bathrooms, all illuminated in a very weird blue light. Ton tells me they use that color because junkies who seek out private spaces like bathrooms, can't find their veins in that type of light. Interesting, no???




Then it was back on the ferry and onto another one! This one to Ijplein. By this time it was soooooooo cold and the wind was blowing we did nothing more than take a few snaps of a heron that asked to pose me. Being the kind American that I am, I didn't want to offend this native and obliged. Until the ferry returned to pick us up (8 whole minutes! Whew!) and then it was back to Centraal Station and the Number 5 tram to Amstelveen.



By the time we returned to Amstelveen THEIR fair was in full swing! If such a small fair can swing. I think they had three rides and a few mechanical arm toy-grabbing machines (what ARE they called??) I snapped a few photos and walked back home. To a warm pot of tea and a stroopwaffle. What more could a girl ask for?



I might not want to know the answer to that. Tomorrow if "family day". In the Amsterdamse Bos. Pannenkoeken anyone?

Tonight's bonus!! You get to see all my photos of the day!! You can find them on my flickr account..

"On the Ground" means landing. Thank god.

United/Lufthansa keeps telling you that you'll be "on the ground" in X amount of time. I think this is a poor choice of words. Of course, it could be their form of disclaimer. If you crash, you're on the ground. But maybe you'll get lucky.

We landed safe and sound around 7am Nederlandish time and waited for around 30 minutes to get through the WORST Customs line I've ever waited through. Our baggage arrived with us, too. This always surprises me. At any rate, the flight was horrendously rough, lots of turbulence and rain. They ended up climbing to 39,000 feet to get above the weather and still had to keep flight attendents in their seats a good part of the flight.

After a shower and a nap, we wandered to the market with Ton's parents and now we're awaiting the arrival of his siblings. In the meantime, Ton will prepare a "dump cake" to amaze and amuse. I'll be amazed if it turns out. They have a convection oven and weird looking cake mix. I think I'm out of element.

The weather is incredibly windy with short bursts of rain. It's weird how fast the weather changes. No plans for tomorrow other than I want to go into the city and soak up that A'dam atmosphere. No pictures, yet. The market was fun but it was too rainy for the camera.

Time is short....

but the packing list is long. I leave tomorrow! So much not done! A last panicked gasp before heading out to catch the flight out of Charlotte Douglas. My list of things to do:

1. Pack. No, it's not done. Yes, I am usually organized. I decided to freak out and pack at the last minute like the rest of the world.

2. Deliver Allie to her sitters. Yes, I'm crying over my dog. Deal with it.

3. Pay phone bill and insurance before leaving. EEP.

4. But lottery ticket. I will win the powerball lottery on the fifteenth. I have it on high authority that it is my "lucky" day. On second thought, this is not first on the list.

For those that are interested, here's my itinerary:

October 15th:
USAirways express flight #2236
Leaving Charlotte at 2:05pm
Arriving Washington/Dulles 3:17pm

Lufthansa Flight 9057 (May also be referred to as UA946- United Air 946. It is a code share flight)
Leaving Washington/Dulles 5:20pm
Arriving on October 16th at Schipol 7:05am (1:05am EST)


November 5th:
Lufthansa Flight #9056 (May also be referred to as UA947- United Air 947. It is a code share flight)
Leaving Amsterdam at 12:20pm (6:20am EST)
Arriving Washinton/Dulles at 2:57 pm

USAirways Express Flight #7071
Leaving Washington/Dulles 5:20pm
Arriving Charlotte 6:53pm

Amsterdam. City of Dreams. 2009 Trip.

I've got my tickets! We leave fly out of Charlotte on October 15th and will be back on November 5th. Three weeks in Amsterdam! I wasn't terribly excited until I bought the tickets. Now I can't wait! Going to Amsterdam always feels a bit like going home. But then when I'm there and deal with public transportation for three weeks, I'm ready to DRIVE MY CAR. A car without stick shift and traffic lanes that don't go anywhere. All the art and all the beauty make it worth it. Oh, and it's nice to see Ton's family. I guess I should throw that in, too. :-P

In all my excitement, I realized I had forgotten all about my pictures from last year's trip! I have started sorting them, finally. But it will take AGES to get them sorted and converted. But in the meantime, I leave you with the first batch.


Munttoren from Rembrandtplein



Afternoon at the Blauwbrug (Blue Bridge)


Flower market in Amstelveen


Fiddler in the Floor. Stadhuis Amsterdam.




The complete sets can be found here:
First Day. Amstelveen and the COBRA Museum

Second Day. Saturday Morning at Ton's old Football Clubhouse and later at Amsterdamsche Football Club to watch his old teammates. LOTS of football pictures here.

Muntplein, Rembrandtplein and Waterlooplein

Washington, D.C. -- A trip wrap-up

I realized today that I haven’t updated about my vacation in Washington, DC! Ton and I spent eight days touring our my (he’s only a permanent resident not a citizen!) nation’s capital. It was fun but it was tiring. Driving was an absolute nightmare! I was thrilled to take the metro and not have to fool with it. The metro stop was at the end of the block by our hotel—so convenient!

Overall, DC seemed to lack heart and spirit to me. It felt like a place people work and people visit but not a place where people lived. (I should add the caveat that I came down with the flu my first night in DC and fought it the entire trip. That probably colored my perceptions.) Of course there were exceptions to this feeling, Chinatown, Woodley Park and Adams Morgan all felt very homey. But it was so easy to get overwhelmed by the history and the hype of the place that you would forget all of those places. I have to admit, I grew bored with the history and patriotic flag-waving of DC. The Korean War Memorial moved me to tears while the Vietnam Memorial didn’t have the impact that I thought it would. Arlington Cemetery felt sacred— Bobby Kennedy’s grave in particular moved me. It was so alone, so separate and also larger ignored by so many people who were touring that day. There were also three funerals while we were there. One was apparently of a fairly high-ranking person as he had a large honor detail and funeral cortege. Capitol Hill felt rather…slimy. So many staffers running about, trying to look confident and important. I didn’t even want to venture inside. We saved the Library of Congress tour for the last day—and wow. I was so overcome with the building that I never wanted to leave. What person who loves books, loves libraries, loves the very notion of an archives would ever WANT to leave? The building was so incredibly gorgeous that I felt my head would spin off from trying to look in all directions at once. I wanted to sit and absorb the feeling of that space—fill myself up with it.

But the best thing about DC, the most AMAZING thing was the art. Oh, my. To live in that place and have Vermeer at your fingertips, to have Picasso at your beck and call…Gah. I was wandering through the National Gallery and was so overwhelmed by it all that I could hardly breathe. I turned a corner and there before on the wall was Portrait of a Lady by Rogier van der Weyden. Much to Ton’s embarrassment I once again began to cry in an art gallery. I adore this painting. I wrote a paper on it for one of my art classes. I researched it in detail. And I had forgotten that this dear lady lives in DC now. What a joy to see it in person. She is exquisite. Simply masterful. And to see not one but three Vermeer! WOW. Unfortunately, the fourth one, “Woman holding a balance” was on loan to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Still very, very impressive and I couldn’t be sad at not having seen it. We discovered a surprising gem, the Renwick Gallery. One afternoon we visited the White House and decided to walk further down the street. We happened upon a beautiful art deco building and noticed it was a gallery. We decided to stop in and thank goodness we did! What a treat. They were hosting an exhibition of work of Greene and Greene. I adore their work—anything in the craftsman style is right up my alley. The exhibition was breath-taking—more so because it was completely unexpected. (Let me add a sidenote here: We had pictures of the White House, the Renwick Gallery, the Korean War and Vietnam Memorials but they have disappeared from Ton’s harddrive! Evidently in moving files to another disk, he erased them. He has been soundly lashed for the oversight.)

On to the important stuff-- we had wonderful food in DC! Never had a bad meal OR bad service and that’s saying something! Four meals in particular stand out. First was at a restaurant in the Woodley Park neighborhood—Mediterra. Serving Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food, it was simply wonderful! The baba ghanoush was TO DIE FOR! Another fantastic meal was had at La Tasca. I adore everything about tapas—the slow build of the meal, sharing good food, good wine and good times. And this place had incredible food! We also searched out Good Stuff, a burger joint that was opened by Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn. And it was worth the journey! I had the Prez Obama burger—a burger topped with applewood bacon, Roquefort cheese and red onion marmalade and I also had a side order of Spike’s Village Fries—handcut fries topped with sea salt, cracked pepper, rosemary and thyme. Delish! Our final night, we ventured into Chinatown, the one spot in DC that I felt had true heart and character. We had a wonderful Chinese meal there one evening but on our last night we wanted something different. We found a tiny Indian restaurant and gave it a try. Wow. So glad we did! The service was incredible and the food was fantastic. Mehak was a perfect way to end our stay in DC.

I’m posting a few of my favorite pictures—they are in no way representative of everything we saw! These are simply the ones that stand out in my mind. I’ll post a link to the entire set at the end.

Lincoln Memorial at sunset


Mr. Lincoln


Metro Station—or the Senate Chamber from Star Wars. Or the pods from the Matrix???


World War II Memorial


Ton at the WWII Memorial—Look! North Carolina!


Gazing at the Library of Congress


Interior shot at the Library of Congress


Interior shot at the Library of Congress


Ton contemplating Giacomo Balla's Boccioini's Fist: Lines of Force II.


Sculpture contemplating Family of Saltimbanques, 1905 by Pablo Picasso. National Gallery of Art.


A view of Mondrian. National Gallery of Art.


An old married couple. National Zoo.


Mother and child. National Zoo.


Intruding. (I really felt like I was interrupting her private time with her baby.) National Zoo.


Jellyfish. National Zoo.


My beloved Komodo dragon. National Zoo.


Finally, the glasses that beg for a matching purse and hat.



If you want to see more, and let’s face it who wouldn’t, you can check out all of the rest on my Flickr page. Be warned, as usual, there are A LOT of pictures.

Wilmington, Your diamond sand was snowflakes...

The MLK holiday weekend was hanging long and empty before us. Dutch and I decided (that can be read as I decided) that the opportunity of a long weekend away was not to be missed. I planned a lovely trip to Atlanta to see an exhibit at the High Museum that was on loan from the Louvre. They were also hosting an exhibit of the terra-cotta soliders from China. But Dutch would have none of that. The hotels too expensive!! The drive too long!! The food costs astronomical! And the museum entrance fees for TWO days had him positively screaming.

There was nothing left to do. I compromised. I know. I am shocked, too. But I did. Wilmington, it was. Neither of us had ever been and two friends recommended the area highly. Here was our tentative agenda:

Sunday morning-- Leave home by 6AM for a 4 1/2 hour drive to the coast. (Atlanta is only a little bit further. But who was counting? )

Sunday afternoon-- a stop at Wrightsville Beach and then a tour of the USS North Carolina. Dinner somewhere-- preferably overlooking the Intercoastal waterway.

Monday morning-- Airlie Gardens
Monday afternoon-- Spent at the beach or maybe Fort Fisher and a short ferry ride.
Monday evening-- Riverwalk and a nice dinner on the Cape Fear River

Tuesday morning-- Historic Downtown Wilmington Tour followed by coffee at Port City Java.

I'm nothing, if not organized. I like to plan. I don't know why I bother. You can roll that agenda up and smoke it! We left an hour late, which is no big deal. Dutch is usually later than that! We arrived in good time and drove straight to Wrightsville Beach. And as soon as my foot hit the sand at the base of Johnny Mercer pier, it began to rain. But it's the beach! It's a passing shower, nothing more! We laughed and watched the rain drops drizzle down as we walked along. Finally, we gave up. It was cold! IT was wet! So we headed out to The Bluewater Grille, a restaurant that received rave reviews AND it was on the Intercoastal Waterway. It was very busy and that is usually a great sign. The interior was gorgeous with heavily carved mouldings, a pressed tin ceiling and a polished wood bar. And the food? Meh. I had a shrimp po'boy with pasta salad. Dutch had the greek salad. I was NOT impressed. The shrimp were large but completely flavorless. The bread was NOT house made. IT was a limp roll. Very disappointing start. And the rain? It was falling harder by the minute. No USS North Carolina for us. We opted instead to do a bit of shopping at the Cotton Exchange-- a mall that is housed in the old cotton exchange building. It was quaint-- and mostly closed. That's right, evidently Wilmington shuts down for the season. Lovely. We finally gave up and went to check into the hotel. Where we promptly took a nap.

Upon waking, with nothing better to do, we decided to eat again. This time trying a local diner that had been voted as the best burger and fries in Wilmington for seven years in a row-- PT's Grill. Wow. SOOOOOO glad we went! I had the PT original burger with fries and a side order of blue cheese dressing, , lemonade to drink . Dutch had a turkey sandwich with fries. Outstanding on both counts! It's a quirky place, where you fill out your own order ticket and hand it to the guy behind the counter. Then you watch them grill it up from your table-- high tables surrounded by wooden bar stools. The place was very busy and the only table left had a stool that was labeled, "RON". It was the only labeled stool in the place. Clearly for one of their regulars. It was also the stool that I was sitting on. Dutch was very nervous and kept commenting that he hoped Ron wasn't a big dude! He didn't want to fight for the stool. It was still raining when we left, so we called it a night. Nothing seemed appealing in that weather.

Monday dawned bright and beautiful. Dutch woke up gray and SICKly. Lovely. But he was a trooper and pushed on. Soo....Airlie Gardens was a go! We arrived early and were the first ones in the gate. The entire time we spent there, we only saw three other people. It was like having the place to ourselves. It was worth every penny of the $5 admission price. We chose to have a real lunch but instead snack on protein bars and rice crackers. Yes, we are party animals! We also decided to drive to Fort Fisher and also go the NC Aquarium there. Fort Fisher was closed. Well, the museum was. The beach is always open. It was quite lovely. There was a little thicket of trees that were so tightly woven that there was only a small hole to go in. Dutch had to check it out-- and of course I followed. It was like going into Fangorn Forest-- it felt dark and mysterious and the branches get pulling my hair. Luckily the trail out of the thicket was clearly marked and opened up rather quickly.

Then it was on to the aquarium! Which proved to be a BAD idea. It was FREE DAY!! Whee!!! A million people with their hordes of children. It was nice to escape to the relative quiet of the beach after that! And escape we did to the Kure Beach pier. Now, many of you know that I don't like the ocean. It terrifies me. And piers are the WORST. You're walking out over all that pounding water that wants nothing more than to undermine the pilings and pull the whole thing out to sea. I escaped the panic by taking pictures of birds. Lots and lots of pictures of birds. And then I became oddly fascinated by the way the sand billowed in the crashing waves. I understand by war photographers get into trouble-- things seem so calm and so removed when viewed through an lens.

Now, if you've been looking back at the agenda you know that Monday night was our fancy dinner on the Cape Fear River night. I have three restaurants in mind. George's on the Riverwalk, Elijah's on the Riverwalk and Circa 1922. The first restaurant on the walk is Elijah's. It was closed for remodelling. Lovely. Next? George's. Closed on Monday evenings. Circa 1922? Well, I THINK we found it on Front Street and if it WAS the place it was PACKED. Absolutely PACKED with people in much better dress than ours standing in front of it with drinks in hand. Oh, well. We finally gave in and went to Bonefish Grill, which is a chain but one that I love. I had the salmon with bacon, spinach and gorgonzola and Dutch had Chicken Marsala. I followed it with a macadamia nut brownie and ice cream. Life was good again.

Except it wasn't. Because the forecast was for snow on Tuesday. And we woke up to a cold rain and everything in Wilmington canceled due to the threat of bad weather. I thought we should forgo our historic downtown walk and head home before the snow struck. Over breakfast we decided to check the weather along I-40 before making a decision. This confirmed my worst fears-- we would be driving home in a frozen HELL. Raleigh already had at least an inch of snow on the ground and it was barreling towards the coast. That was it. We decided to head home immediately. BAD IDEA. REALLY BAD IDEA. I-40 was frozen solid from just outside of Duplin, NC all the way through to Chapel Hill, NC. I only skidded once but was so tense, I was almost in tears the entire time. (I only cried once and that was because Dutch yelled at me!!!! All his fault!!!!) We really should have stayed another day on the coast. Luckily the weather cleared outside of Chapel Hill and by the time we made Burlington, the roads were clear and dry. Dutch took over the driving at that point. A really cool side note: it was inauguration day. I heard Obama's speech on the radio and it felt rather like we were in a different time and place. Instead of seeing on television, or internet, I was hearing it, like my mother or my grandmother would have heard it in their time. It was like coming full circle, somehow. It felt oddly appropriate, very fitting for the message he delivered.

Anyway, that was our Wilmington trip. It didn't go quite as planned. We didn't do everything we wanted to do and many, many things were closed for the season. I wouldn't mind going back when Wilmington is at her best-- hosting ghost tours, trolley cars and open shops. I would like to see more of Historic Downtown Wilmington, which was so beautiful and filled with old Southern dignity and charm. But if I don't go, I won't be heartbroken. Wilmington seemed to lack the heart that draws me to Nags Head. It's a middle ground between the horrible hype that is Myrtle Beach and the charm that is the Outer Banks. If I had it to do over? I would have gone to Atlanta. :-P

You can see the photos on Flickr: Wilmington, NC January 19th, 2009

Oh, and the thing I regret most?? I never did get that coffee.

Oost, West, Thuis Best

I'm home. We managed to get into Charlotte yesterday, a little after 4pm. It was a loooooooong flight home-- around 10 hours or so. Lots of turbulence made it even longer. I like turbulence but standing in the plane rather resembled surfing. Thank god that I developed some sense of balance due to standing on trams and trains or going to the bathroom on the plane would have been impossible!!!!

ANYWAY....sorry that I skipped out on the last few days of the trip. We stayed in Leiden and Dutch's sister didn't have wireless internet. The post I made from Leiden was done on a stolen connection-- hey, I didn't know it wasn't THEIR network!!!!! I did make it to the Hague to see Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring". Incredible. She commands so much attention. But I have to admit it was "The Goldfinch" by Carel Fabritius that captivated me completely. Dutch's sister also felt I should see the Hague's Municipal Museum. And she was right. It was gorgeous. The building was built by Berlage (Dutch's favorite architect and famed for his creation of the "Amsterdam School" of architecture design) and is a work of art in its own right. But inside the collection is modern but not in the pretentious, artsy way. Best of all were the works of Piet Mondrian. I definitely gained a new appreciation for his work. Like the Van Gogh museum, the works are laid out chronologically so that you can see the progression of the artist. The earlier works are darker and appeal to me a bit more but they're all great. Most surprising to me was the deterioration of the canvases, especially those painted later, in New York. They are frayed at the edges, with the paint "yellowing" a bit. Amazing that the works of Frans Hals and others from much earlier periods should survive in such grand condition. Oh, there was also a fantastic exhibit of the works of the father and son painters, Jozef and Isaac Israëls. It was in this exhibit that Dutch's sister and I kept walking into the rooms and moving towards the same painting. Evidently, she has the same exquisite taste that I have!! One piece in particular caught our eye-- "Amsterdam Girl". I've got a picture of it-- if I can finally get around to posting it.

Friday was the funeral. Cultural anthropologists sometimes say that to understand a culture, you need to understand their death rituals. I think that's probably true. The funeral was very short. We actually rode with the family as honored guests. It's most likely the only time I'll ever be in a stretch Mercedes limo! We left the funeral home and a man in top hat and full mourning garb walked in front of the limo. But he only walked about 100 yards before he got in the car carrying the coffin. He got out again when we arrived at the chapel and walked the last 100 yards or so. Weird. The family was ushered in, greeted the "guests" and then we filed into a room where the coffin was placed. The deceased brother spoke a few words. Carly Simon's "Coming Around Again" was played (it was her favorite). Finally, the family walked past the coffin and said their final farewell before the rest of the gathering did the same. Then everyone went out into the lobby and had coffee, tea, cake and cookies. It was rather like blah, blah, blah, let's eat! Not to say it wasn't somber-- it just felt so VERY different and very, very Dutch. Oh, and the family sends out death notices to all friends and family immediately following the death-- the day of or the day after at the latest. Who the HECK can think well enough to do that so soon after losing a loved one?? It also speaks to the practicality of the Dutch that they only bury their dead for 15 years. You can "renew" the grave for longer if you're willing to pay for it. But most people just allow their loved ones to be dug up and disposed of. It's not a matter of respect but a matter of space.

Enough on such gruesome matters-- time to move on!! Saturday, we went to Delft for a quick trip around a beautiful town. Dutch's mother was raised in Delft and he was excited to visit again after a number of years away. Dutch spoke fondly of time spent with his Opa, aunts, uncles and cousins and showed me where he played when he was young, as well as the place his mother grew up. I also made a pilgrimage there because of the town's connection to Vermeer. We went to OudeKerk and saw the original grave marker of Vermeer (his body was moved long, long ago to his mother-in-laws family crypt). We ventured to Nieuwe Kerk and saw the royal tomb of William of Orange, who was assassinated in Delft, and the marker for the entrance to the royal crypt for the "royals" of House of Orange-Nassau. I wanted to spend more time there, but we had to get back for a trip to Katwijk. That's right, we went to the beach!! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!! How many times have I used that word??? We had dinner at Key West, a restaurant right on the beach. (I had Schnitzel Key West-- chicken pounded very thin and lightly breaded, topped with warm brie and tomato.) We watched the sun go down over the North Sea before heading home for coffee, tea and cake.

Sunday we went with Dutch's sister's family to Panbos, near Katwijk but it's a completely different feel than the beach. It's a heavily wooded area that felt like being home, walking a trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Except that there's a tank wall built by the Germans-- a massive wall used as a line of defense against the allies that might try to land at Katwijk and come inland. It would have been a huge job to knock down this wall but the Dutch also keep these fortifications as a reminder. As I said before, it's these reminders that make the war and everything I've studied, real.

Monday, it was raining but that didn't stop us from returning to Haarlem for one last look around. We walked to St. Bavokerk to see the grave of another favorite painter of mine, Frans Hals. But I hadn't done my research (shocking, I know!!!) and we couldn't get close to it. We were only able to look through the locked gate of the chapel and see it. It's only opened on special occasions. Oh, well. What I hadn't anticipated was seeing one of the most beautiful pipe organs imaginable! It's said that this organ is one of the most beautiful in the world-- well, at least sound-wise. So beautiful in fact that Handel made a pilgrimage just to play on it. As did a young Mozart. I can't attest to the sound, no one was playing it for lowly tourists, but it is a work of art. After that trip, it was home again to pack and say final farewells before leaving on Tuesday.

Someday, I'll tell about our trip to Frankfurt and the odyssey of finding our hotel, but this post is already way too long! That's it. Except for the promised pictures. I'm working on those, too. Maybe tomorrow. Or Saturday. Or Sunday.

Right now, I just want to SLEEP.