It’s possible that ‘Boun Natale’ is “Merry Christmas” in Italian, and there’s an even chance that ‘Vrolijke Kerstmis’ means the same thing, but in Dutch.
Of course, we visited Italy and The Netherlands in July, so we really didn’t get a chance to confirm that first hand. 
Whatever the language, we wish everyone Peace and Happiness this Holiday Season and beyond!
And, please have a outstanding 2009!
For those of you eagerly awaiting the start of the school year … well … you’ll have to have some Ice Cream first.
Saturday marks the return of Jocelyn & Felicia’s annual “Ice Cream Specials” tradition, tentatively set for 2:00 – 4:00 pm at our House. As usual, the girls will be selling scoops of ice cream for anyone who stops by, asking for a donation in exchange. This year’s recipient: The new Willow Glen Library, which reopens this weekend, after 18 months of construction.
But this year, we’ve got a twist! We’ll be selling Gelato, in honor of our summer trip to Italy, which featured culinary discovery amidst daily gelato trips. We owe special thanks to Powell’s Candy Shop on Lincoln Avenue, who helped the girls pick their gelato flavors, and is providing the frozen concoction to us at their wholesale cost. Thanks, Jamie!
Flavor choices for Saturday will be finalized on Wednesday. Our trip to Powells for tasting and ordering was Twittered yesterday, including a list of potential flavor choices. See you Saturday!
Well, our fabulous European holiday to Italy and The Netherlands has come to an end. This post should be hitting the website as we travel across the Atlantic Ocean or perhaps across the polar ice cap), and serves as a friendly safety announcement from the digital traffic safety boards that cover most of Amsterdam.
Word Geen Slaaprijder: We’re told it means something like “Don’t Fall Asleep,” which is apropos to the jet lag issues which surely await us on our return.
Originally, we tought it might be the ubiquitous “Please Drive Safely” announcement or some such rhyming “Click it or Ticket” nonsense. Here in NL, it’s totally illegal to use a cell phone while driving a car — it’s fine while riding a bike, of course — and they advertise the catchy phrase “Use It and Lose It” … but that’s an other story.
At any rate … once we’re back in San Jose, you can look for back-dated blog posts and updated Flickr pictures (including some video) from our incredible vacation.
While Ann & Tony had many exciting adventures planned for our time in Amsterdam, the best times were probably the simplest. Like Kate and Jocelyn combining to play music on this simple playground instrument not far from their apartment.
Or the natural playtimes that seemed to emerge spontaneously without much effort. Backyard camping. Swing sets in Amsterdam. Playground gymnastics. Teeter-totters in Giethoorn. Adult conversation well into the night (or early morning).
Just as she had begged for Gelato in Venice, or demanded to return to the Villa in Tuscany, Felicia asked quite a few times if she could go back to the “Fuell’s Amsterdam Hotel.”
It was comfortable and fun to be with good friends throughout our trip, making this visit to Europe a true “once-in-a-lifetime” experience!
Sorry … it’s not what you think.
First of all … When Jocelyn asked Ann about the three X’s on a lot of buildings and flags across Amsterdam, we could have been in some trouble. But it turns out that red XXX symbol is the official Coat of Arms for Amsterdam, not at all related to the famous Red Light District, which we managed to avoid visiting. The X’s are officially St. Andrew’s Crosses, and the three of them are said to represent charity, resolution and heroism … and/or “Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig” (“Valiant, Steadfast, Compassionate”).
OK. So what about the Barenaked Ladies part? For my birthday — observed concurrently with the Martin Family stay in Tuscany — Jenni, Kiana & Ange gave me the new Barenaked Ladies CD Snacktime, which has been played way more than 40 times on our various cross-country driving trips since. The band is from Canada, and the CD is really very good, featuring some great wordplay and a clever alphabet song. Definitgely not XXX.
As a special treat on Saturday, Kate, Ted, Jocelyn, Ann, and I took a tour of Amsterdam Arena, home of the world famous Ajax Futbol Club. We got to go inside the stadium, walk on the pitch (dirt, actually, as they are renovating the grass during the offseason), sit inside the high-security visitors section, and climb all the way to the top.
Jocelyn also got to sit in the Queen’s Chair in the Queen’s lounge at mid-field, before viewing a luxory box and the stadium’s control center and pressbox. The tour included a stop in the Ajax Museum, where the kids posed in a variety of pictures with Ajax stars past and present.
Of course, we did some walking on our European adventure. And some of it was quite memorable — but perhaps for wrong reasons.
As mentioned before, our jetlag experience in Rome resulted in an early early morning power stroll through Rome. All told, we walked more than 5.7 Km in search of touristy sites and breakfast. That’s 3.6 miles. With children. Demanding rest and/or food. Our course took us through Piazza Navona, to the Pantheon, to the Trevi Fountain, through a number of potentially-famous piazzas, to the Spanish Steps, back to the Trevi Fountain — all the while weaving unpredictably up and down allies in search of an open breakfast place..
Then we walked to the Colosseum, via some other famous stuff. Mercifully, we took the bus back to our apartment. Later, we we took another bus for our visit to the Vatican.
We had similar trouble in Siena, searching for the movie house that was showing the documentary about the famous Palio. We made a circle tour through town — Felicia was certain we’d visited all 14 contratas — swung past the famous Duomo, but then skipped El Centro to go see the movie, where we assumed there would be comfy seats. The seats were fine, and so was the movie. But we weren’t back in our car too long before even driving got a bit dodgy.
And then there was Venice, where our luggage-busting hikes were worthy of their own post.
Unfortunately, we found similar trouble in The Netherlands, venturing to a local Montessori School playground, playing small-sided football (soccer), strolling through the Vondelpark, and then back home before fixing dinner. Then there was the delightful walk through bucolic Giethoorn (Noord), which was painful even though it was cut short before we reached Zuid Giethoorn.
Armed with the knowledge and experience of these previous catastrophic “death marches,” we finally managed to avoided one last debacle by cutting short our walk through Edam and skipping the probably-closed Cheese Market (apparently only open on Wednesdays).
Early in the planning stages, we declined to make a special trip to Pisa just to see the famous leaning tower. The decision was justified as we discovered at least two other leaning towers on our trip, including one near the Academie in Venice and another in the small town of Edam in the Netherlands.
We visited the small picturesque town of Edam in the Noord-Holland province with the Fuell Family. It’s famous for its Cheese Market, although it’s only open on Wednesdays. Sinking buildings are a problem in the Netherlands and Venice, making the architecture and the canals kind of fun to compare.
By the way, this picture from Venice is blatantly stolen from the Nashville Martins’ Italy recap, totally without permission. We took a picture of the same building independently, but inexplicably failed to include any of our children in it. Hope Tim doesn’t mind.
Despite pictures of Felicia manning the helm and evidence that Jocelyn and Kate were asleep when they should have been working, we were not responsible for the sinking of the Batavia off the coast of Australia in 1629.
But we will confess to having visited the recreated Batavia in Lelystad while touring the countryside with the Fuell Family. We made a stop to see the rebuilt replica, alongside another museum of Dutch history, before driving to Giethoorn to spend the night.
