Sunday we drove from Paris France north through Belgium and into the Netherlands. It was about a 5 hour drive. France has expensive toll roads!
We stayed in Vianen this week in a hotel since we were unable to find an apartment for a reasonable price for the week. I guess there was some big conference going on and everything was booked. It all worked out, we had a big family type room with a separate room for the kids. We had a little fridge in the room so we were able to have breakfast and lunch in the room, but had to go out for dinner every night, which can be somewhat difficult with kids. We managed to find all the American fast food chains here since they are the least expensive and most kid friendly. They have McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King. The other problem was no washing machine so we had to do a bit of laundry in the bathtub =) (we had a big Jacuzzi tub so it made great bubbles!)
Brett had a training class Monday through Friday just up the street from our hotel. He passed his EMC certification test on Friday YEAH!
We enjoyed our little town in Vianen it’s right by a little river and very green, with a neat downtown area with shops. Across from our hotel was a pasture with little pony’s so we had to go visit them everyday. There was also a little playground at the hotel so the kids loved that. We also found some baby goats and deer that we went to visit nearby.
Monday evening we drove north about 10km to Utrecht it’s a good sized city. Everyone rides bikes around here! I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place, but they have a good system here for bikes with their own paved pathways and they can get through traffic easier and can park it anywhere for free, it’s also flat here so its easy to ride a bike anywhere. It would be a bit difficult to try to take the 3 kids on a bike on my own 2 would work they have kid seats for the front and the back. We walked around a pedestrian area with lots of shops and ate dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken (but they had no mashed potatoes and gravy! My favorite part!)
Tuesday the kids and I got on a bus near our hotel and went into Utrecht we found a fun playground for the kids and a mall. It’s great that everyone speaks English here, they teach the kids in school. People usually speak in Dutch to you unless you ask for English, they say they speak a little English but usually its very good. Everything is written in Dutch so I have to ask for translations.
Wednesday the kids and I went into Nieuwegein where Brett had his training class and we found a little mall and bought a new stroller for Allden yeah! His little stroller/backpack was falling apart since we’ve used it so much and I had to backpack him everywhere, so this will save our shoulders and back. In the evening we drove into downtown Amsterdam to check out an apartment. The traffic was pretty crazy and navigating through the big city was a little crazy but we found our way. The city has a lot of character and is different than any other city we have been to. There are tall narrow houses all along the canals and bridges everywhere! We found the Intel site where Brett would be working the next couple weeks it’s near the airport. A friend of one of the guys Brett works with was allowing us to rent her apartment for a good price starting next week.
Thursday we explored our little town and shops, it has a really cool downtown area with nice walking paths. I saw some wooden shoes for sale but they looked pretty uncomfortable and would be too big and bulky for the luggage. (I haven’t seen anybody wearing wooden shoes here)
Friday the kids and I went to a nice park near Brett’s training class it had a little childrens petting zoo with sheep, cows, pigs, goats, bunny’s, pony’s, and chickens and it had a playground and best of all it was free! I think I like the small towns better than the big towns. The people are all more laid back and friendly. Friday evening we drove south to Rotterdam. It’s a big city and a huge port town. We were walking along the road and all the sudden the bar comes down and the road lifts straight up and a boat goes through. This is normal for a country with so much water. Most of the Netherlands is actually below sea level and they have used windmills to get the water up and create more land.
Saturday Brett was finally free so we drove down to Belgium near Brussels and went to Mini Europe. It was a park where they made models of famous places around Europe from all the countries in the European Union. The models were made on a scale of 1/25 and were very accurate compared to the real monument. One model took 24,000 hours of work to complete (the equivalent of one person working for 13 years!) It was fun to walk around and learn about famous places around Europe, we’ve seen a few of the places and look forward to seeing more.
Sunday we moved out of our hotel and traveled north to Amsterdam, about 45 minutes. We are staying in a little apartment here for the next 10 days. This place will be fairly close to the Intel site. We are very close to the center of Amsterdam but in a pretty good location close to a huge park and playground. The downside to being in town is paying for parking everywhere even at our apartment. The apartment is tiny with only one bedroom but it has a bitty kitchen and a washing machine (what the hotel lacked) so we’ll make do. It’s about 485 sq ft. It makes you realize you really can get by on much less. This trip has made me appreciate what we do have. An oven, dishwasher, and clothes dryer are all luxury’s we don’t always have here. I’ve also tried shelf milk-when it’s cold it’s not too bad. Also Cheddar cheese is very expensive here so we have tried some different cheeses. It’s much different living daily life in a place than just coming for a vacation, you definitely see and live as the people here would not just a “tourist”.
We stayed in Vianen this week in a hotel since we were unable to find an apartment for a reasonable price for the week. I guess there was some big conference going on and everything was booked. It all worked out, we had a big family type room with a separate room for the kids. We had a little fridge in the room so we were able to have breakfast and lunch in the room, but had to go out for dinner every night, which can be somewhat difficult with kids. We managed to find all the American fast food chains here since they are the least expensive and most kid friendly. They have McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King. The other problem was no washing machine so we had to do a bit of laundry in the bathtub =) (we had a big Jacuzzi tub so it made great bubbles!)
Brett had a training class Monday through Friday just up the street from our hotel. He passed his EMC certification test on Friday YEAH!
We enjoyed our little town in Vianen it’s right by a little river and very green, with a neat downtown area with shops. Across from our hotel was a pasture with little pony’s so we had to go visit them everyday. There was also a little playground at the hotel so the kids loved that. We also found some baby goats and deer that we went to visit nearby.
Monday evening we drove north about 10km to Utrecht it’s a good sized city. Everyone rides bikes around here! I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place, but they have a good system here for bikes with their own paved pathways and they can get through traffic easier and can park it anywhere for free, it’s also flat here so its easy to ride a bike anywhere. It would be a bit difficult to try to take the 3 kids on a bike on my own 2 would work they have kid seats for the front and the back. We walked around a pedestrian area with lots of shops and ate dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken (but they had no mashed potatoes and gravy! My favorite part!)
Tuesday the kids and I got on a bus near our hotel and went into Utrecht we found a fun playground for the kids and a mall. It’s great that everyone speaks English here, they teach the kids in school. People usually speak in Dutch to you unless you ask for English, they say they speak a little English but usually its very good. Everything is written in Dutch so I have to ask for translations.
Wednesday the kids and I went into Nieuwegein where Brett had his training class and we found a little mall and bought a new stroller for Allden yeah! His little stroller/backpack was falling apart since we’ve used it so much and I had to backpack him everywhere, so this will save our shoulders and back. In the evening we drove into downtown Amsterdam to check out an apartment. The traffic was pretty crazy and navigating through the big city was a little crazy but we found our way. The city has a lot of character and is different than any other city we have been to. There are tall narrow houses all along the canals and bridges everywhere! We found the Intel site where Brett would be working the next couple weeks it’s near the airport. A friend of one of the guys Brett works with was allowing us to rent her apartment for a good price starting next week.
Thursday we explored our little town and shops, it has a really cool downtown area with nice walking paths. I saw some wooden shoes for sale but they looked pretty uncomfortable and would be too big and bulky for the luggage. (I haven’t seen anybody wearing wooden shoes here)
Friday the kids and I went to a nice park near Brett’s training class it had a little childrens petting zoo with sheep, cows, pigs, goats, bunny’s, pony’s, and chickens and it had a playground and best of all it was free! I think I like the small towns better than the big towns. The people are all more laid back and friendly. Friday evening we drove south to Rotterdam. It’s a big city and a huge port town. We were walking along the road and all the sudden the bar comes down and the road lifts straight up and a boat goes through. This is normal for a country with so much water. Most of the Netherlands is actually below sea level and they have used windmills to get the water up and create more land.
Saturday Brett was finally free so we drove down to Belgium near Brussels and went to Mini Europe. It was a park where they made models of famous places around Europe from all the countries in the European Union. The models were made on a scale of 1/25 and were very accurate compared to the real monument. One model took 24,000 hours of work to complete (the equivalent of one person working for 13 years!) It was fun to walk around and learn about famous places around Europe, we’ve seen a few of the places and look forward to seeing more.
Sunday we moved out of our hotel and traveled north to Amsterdam, about 45 minutes. We are staying in a little apartment here for the next 10 days. This place will be fairly close to the Intel site. We are very close to the center of Amsterdam but in a pretty good location close to a huge park and playground. The downside to being in town is paying for parking everywhere even at our apartment. The apartment is tiny with only one bedroom but it has a bitty kitchen and a washing machine (what the hotel lacked) so we’ll make do. It’s about 485 sq ft. It makes you realize you really can get by on much less. This trip has made me appreciate what we do have. An oven, dishwasher, and clothes dryer are all luxury’s we don’t always have here. I’ve also tried shelf milk-when it’s cold it’s not too bad. Also Cheddar cheese is very expensive here so we have tried some different cheeses. It’s much different living daily life in a place than just coming for a vacation, you definitely see and live as the people here would not just a “tourist”.
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