More of Holland :)

First of all, I need to make a correction from a former blog. The Netherlands is the country, Holland is the Province and Amsterdam is the city. I didn't realize they had provinces, since Holland is the most well known, it seems as if they're the same.

Mint Tea: Mom you'll love this! Hot water, pour over fresh mint leaves, stems and all, add a bit of honey. Voila! Mint tea....yummy.

Countryside: took a bus tour to the country, only takes about 20 minutes to get out to the country. It was awesome! First went to a windmill town and saw beautiful windmills. The were huge with large, wooden blades. The tour guide spoke several languages and spoke to us in Spanish and English.

Wooden Shoes: got to see a clog maker, the shoes are still worn by farmers and fishermen to keep their feet warm and dry. They are made just like when you a key copied. You have the original key, put in an uncut one and the saw copies it by feel. Same w the shoes. Huge machine. I was impressed. It is POPLAR wood and is cut green, then dries for about 2-3 weeks. I bought some of course, white, w beautiful dutch painting. Why? Well, that's what I thought after too, especially since I had to pedal home w them, but my mom said she bought wooden shoes when she came to Holland, so I thought I would follow in her footsteps (w wooden shoes)!!

San Jose: met a great couple on my tour from San Jose, Alex and Steve...they were a ball, we laughed the whole time! Also, I have already heard back from my new friends from Tampa that I met in Ireland, Fiona and Travis. They emailed me when they got home.

Cheese Farm: part of the tour included a cheese farm, most cheese is made in factories, this is still producing the old fashioned way. Churning etc. Two biggest cheese exports are Edam (made from skim milk) and Gouda (made from whole milk)...The cattle industry is quite large since they rely on the dairy cows for milk to make cheese...

Marken: this was a little tiny town on the lake where we were able to ride the boat back to the mainland. I can't remember that town's name, but it is considered to be a sleeping community and very cute. I am so glad I did that tour!! It rocked...

Bakfiet: this is the type of bike you can ride when carrying children. It has like a wheelbarrow type of bucket between the handlebars and front tire. The bucket is lower to the ground. Most of the little kids also ride in a baby seat in front of the rider, not behind. Also, saw lots of men pushing strollers too. Seems like they are very active parents.

Fashion/make-up: the women mostly wear dresses, skirts or capri pants. They don't show any upper thigh or a lot of leg. No shorts. The fabric hits right above the knee, very pretty colorful material. The tops are fitted or tanks as well. The make-up is very light and natural. No eyeshadow, mostly mascara, and lip gloss. Very natural looking, also their bodies are very natural as well. No implants at all! A good change from Vegas! ha! The women are not too skinny or overweight, they do have meat on their bones and the advertising seems to focus on faces, not bodies. Very refreshing coming from Vegas where they push size 4 down your throat!
This is what real people look like and I liked it. Also, the Europeans don't seem to have much of the other plastic surgeries that the Americans do.

Sold my house!: yep, my awesome Realtor Ron, faxed me an offer at the hotel, I signed, faxed it back, my awesome partner Jen did the loan for the buyers and Darren did the appraisal. This is for my primary residence....yippee! We should close in a couple of weeks, one down, one more to go...

Directions: I have sooo many people asking me for directions. It's hilarious...It's happened in London, Dublin and now Amsterdam. I must not be threating and look like I know what I'm doing...ha! However, I was able to give directions in Dublin only bc I had just been to where they were asking.

Rollie Polie: Lindy's daughter couldn't remember my name, so it became Rollie Polie, like the bug. I liked it, thought it was cute! (Not sure how to spell it)

I loved riding the bike!!!! That was the best part! Like being free and having the wind in my hair and on my face...like being a kid, except I don't have the big orange flag on the back of my bike so cars could see me, (my dad made me have the flag for safety. Hated that flag, it wasn't cool). The bike was so much fun, as a tourist, if you rent a bike, they are bright yellow. Since I had Lindy's, (silver), I fit right in...

Coffee Shop: this is where the pot is sold. I didn't realize that until the day before I left. I was looking for Hash House or Get Ur Pot Here! or something, not Coffee Shop. I kept getting small wiffs of people smoking it but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Since I don't drink coffee, it never occurred to me to go into a Coffee Shop. I would have liked to see what they are like, but oh well. That's not the reason I went to Amsterdam.

Two ladybugs landed on me.

Gaelic: Forgot to mention this about Ireland, Gaelic is their National Sport. It is a cross between rugby and soccer.

Van Gogh Musuem: I escorted Lindy to her eye doctor bc she was getting Lasix done, so while she was at her appt, I went to the Van Gogh Museum. It was very cool. However, I found that I liked to read the how and why behind each piece and who Van Gogh was rather than be able to appreciate the art itself. This probably stems from the fact that I have no knowledge of art. At the museum in Denver, I learned more about the pieces bc I would listen to patrons discussing it. That would give me a different perspective on the piece. However, in Amsterdam, most of the patrons spoke other languages, so I couldn't understand their conversations. So I popped in my IPOD and did my own tour. It was interesting and they had a really cool gift shop.

Smoking: I forgot to address this in Ireland. Ireland was the first country in Europe to ban smoking in bars/restaurants. England will implement that law come July 1, 2007. I didn't see many people in Amsterdam smoking, but I think it is still legal to smoke inside.

Last Night: My last night in Amsterdam I chose to hang out at a cafe/bar across from my hotel. I asked the girl next to me if she could read part of the menu to me. She and her boyfriend are neighbors of Todd and Lindy's and actually attended one of their block parties...small world. Mirjam and Marnix. They are both from Holland and gave me a great perspective of what the native Dutch are like. They invited me to join their dinner and we had a ball!!

Mirjam is a social worker that works w autistic children and Marnix buys and sells used books. They were very interesting! We drank beers and had dinner, it was fabulous, plus there was a HUGE rain storm, torrents of rain. We were originally out on the sidewalk, but had to come it. I loved it!! Thunder, lightning, the works...They are my age and we totally clicked. Marnix was telling me that Jerry Springer is one of the shows that is aired sometimes. I said, please don't think Americans are like that! That is such a BAD representation of the Americans...he put his palm towards me like a black woman and turned his head, "Talk to the hand!" I laughed my ass off!

I left the next day. But before I said goodbye to Todd and Lindy, I got to babysit for an hour. Took both kiddos in the stroller to the market. I was great. :)
Kissed the family goodbye and hopped in the cab to the airport.

Airport: I had to go through 3 passport checks, UNpack part of my luggage bc it was too heavy and carry some of it on w me. I had a new huge suitcase. Ditched the old ones. And 2 security xray machines... each gate has it's own security x-ray machine. EACH gate, D31, D32, D33 etc. Can you imagine how expensive that would be? Not to mention the employees to run it? Secure, yes.