This is the old hospital we visited in Gouda.
It now serves as a museum of very interesting art and an old apothocary shop.
During the week of Monday May 11 we were very busy.
We visited the Keukenhof Garden in Lisse. This is a garden of colour with over 7 million bulbs in bloom at one time. It is one of the world's largest flower gardens and awesome to see in real life. They had a special tribute to New York this year - commemorating 400 years of Dutch history with the city.
We visited the Keukenhof Garden in Lisse. This is a garden of colour with over 7 million bulbs in bloom at one time. It is one of the world's largest flower gardens and awesome to see in real life. They had a special tribute to New York this year - commemorating 400 years of Dutch history with the city.
Off to Zanfoort on the northsea, very close to Haarlem. (I really wanted to get to Corey Ten Boom's birthplace. She wrote a beautiful book called the Hiding Place in which she tells of how she rescued more than 800 jewish lives during WWII. She was caught and sent to a concentration camp but survived to write this story.) The sea was wild with wind and waves but the sand was very soft. Patrick went for dip only to regret it when I told him he couldn't get into the car soaking wet.
We drove through the City of Leiden, one of the oldest and most prestigious university cities. Also known as Rembrandt's birthplace, it is Holland's third largest city. As we were running late and all of us were hungry for some of Tante Heidi's dinner, we didn't linger. It was however, another beautiful city on our route.
Madurodam is a small scale, bird's eye view of all of Holland. In the city of Den Haag, Madurodam houses replicas of trains, ships, buildings and people, all precisely 25 times smaller than in reality. It is an amusement park and exhibition of 185 of Holland's landmarks and historical buildings but also a war memorial as it was opened in 1952 to commemorate war hero and resistance fighter George Maduro who died in a concentration came . His parents financed the town and donate profits from the miniature town to charities related to young people.
Scheveningen was a beautiful beach too. White sand and the feel of Daytona - shops and restaurants on the shore. It must really be hopping in July with a few more degrees of warmth. A short drive and we were in the harbour where fish is delivered daily. We ate dinner at the Brauw Cafe, a restaurant renowned for its home brewed beer. Uncle Ben knew it well and he was right about how good it was. 
Off on Wednesday to visit with cousin Chris and Yvonne and Luca in Diemen just outside of Amsterdam. Luca had wednesday afternoon off so he and Patrick and another friend played outside. Wonderful to see how children can get along without very much language in common. In the evening we boarded the train and enjoyed an evening in Amsterdam. Chris and Yvonne enjoyed showing us the sites we might have missed on our own.
On Thursday we were sure to go back to the city and visit Dam Square (the very centre of the city), Anne Frank house, the Westerkerk and of course a canal tour by boat. Meagan enjoyed shopping on Kalverstraat very much! It was great to enjoy the big city for a day.
We were lucky to enjoy a dutch cheese market too. In Alkmaar they carry on a 700 year old tradition of trading, buying, and shipping cheese made in Holland. Patrick was in heaven!
We ended our busy week with dinner with my Tante Corey in Diemen. She just celebrated her 80th birthday and it was wonderful to see that she hasn't changed much at all. It was very special to spend some time with family I don't get to see very often.
One of our bike rides around Cuijk! Nice and green!
I would be in heaven also
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