European Adventure: Here's Amsterdam

Amsterdam. There's more than meets the eye. It's more that what you think. What ARE you thinking... The Red Light district, Coffee(Pot)Shops, and bikes. True, those things are present and many of them in abundance but in the week that we wandered and wandered and walked and walked and walked the city... We were impressed by the amazing architecture, the over 1000 bridges, the overwhelming amount of museums, the variety of cultures, languages, and food, the quality of the chocolate, the bikers toting children, groceries, giant instruments and so much more all without a helmet, while smoking and texting on their phones... Seriously. 

There seemed to be a general feeling of satisfaction, call it contentment but it was noticeable.

Rock Steady doing work for Physio Control is what brought us to Amsterdam. (Um but if Customs asks, we were just on Holiday). We have done several events for them and the kids and I have gotten to come along and explore new places while Mr. B is generally stuck in a hotel. They love it and always ask where we're going to the next Physio Control... (Last year we went to Seattle and the year before we spent time in Tuscon). We only ventured down to the ballroom to visit Dad at work once, much to the disappointment of the small ones, they love running through the ballroom as the team loads in but we were in a foreign venue with foreign equipment belonging to a foreign AV company. I just wasn't sure if they'd find my two playing in the ballroom as endearing as our own guys.

Thank you YELP! for gastronomic satisfaction. Thank you English speakers for posting your English reviews of Amsterdam based businesses. Thank you iPhone... I love you. These yummy eats above are from a place called Little Collins. A couple from Melbourne, AUS had a great spot I read about. Following rave suggestions from Yelpers, I ordered (top left) the Corn Fritters with salsa and cilantro. Um WOW. I wish I'd gone back to try the coconut french toast with lemon curd. Sounds amazing right? And the bikes... Well I learned/heard from more than one source that there are more bikes in Amsterdam than people. It is the surest way to get around and folks ride them in all sorts of weather. While it's most efficient for getting around, we chose to explore Amsterdam on foot. To truly take in everything around us. Plus, me on a bike with two independent kids was a recipe for more that I really wanted to deal with. LOL.

Like all of our Amsterdam Adventures, we headed to Little Collins on foot (Praise you Google Maps!... and Very Nice Random Man outside our hotel that saw us looking at the iPhone map and offered to point us in the right direction). This was about 3/4 mile from our hotel and took us through a great little park. We were lucky to get to spend the morning with Andrew and John as well, much to the delight of the whole Booth Fam (but especially the little B's). Families and children dotted the playground since it was only 10:30 which is apparently incredibly early for the Dutch. Things don't open til 10 or 11 and then they close at 6!
Brunch is also another "thing" that has yet to catch on in Amsterdam. Not too popular a meal. I don't know why. Brunch is my favoritist meal ever.
ever.

I think I'll invest in some hotel blackout curtains. We were all wonky from the time difference but on this particular morning, those kiddos slept until 11am! They slept through a breakfast delivery from room service, through my typing away on my computer... I was so glad that they were getting rest though. I still haven't fully recovered from the jet lag that came with the trip home.

The weather was in the 30's and 40's Fahrenheit. There was  a drizzle as we adventured around. One morning we woke up to full on rain. One look out the window and I knew we'd be staying in for the day. Lucky for us we ordered room service (Belgian Waffles, Pancakes with banana compote and a cheese tray), snacked on that all day and read all of Stuart Little.

The rain didn't defeat us, we were out and about the very next day. We toured the Rijksmuseum which is home to many amazing original paintings including Rembrandts The Night Watch. JT was very good about completing the Kid's Trail through the museum as I required him to to educational work since he was missing a week of school.

These Iamsterdam letters are giant! What fun climbing all over them. This area is called Museumplein and got very cold as there is quite the large open space without any tall buildings to block the wind!

Fun playgrounds (that you'd never see here in the states... you want my kids to climb on some logs?! hang from a rope?! madness... right lol) were the perfect outlet for pent up energy.

We had a fun experience taking a canal cruise. There was audio commentary in 17 different languages and it gave me my bearings in the city. Once I figured out the main canals, I felt pretty comfortable navigating where we were headed. Plus accompanied by Mr. B who is a compass all his own, lost was never even a thought that entered my mind.

In a courtyard that we passed there was a Chess Game going on with pieces that were 2' and 3' tall. We saw a replica of The Amsterdam, a cargo ship of the East India Trading Company (hmmm why does that name sound familiar? Pirates of the Caribbean... That's what JT said) that was shipwrecked on it's maiden voyage. We visited Begijnhof, an inner courtyard of Amsterdam once inhabited by nuns, now is home to only women who are single and over 30 years of age. And on the bottom right, it may be hard to see but this is the only spot to see the 6 arched bridges in a row. If you were to look the other way there would be 6 more non arched bridges, to the right there are two more and the man is standing on "The Bridge of 15 Bridges"

The kids and I took Sandeman's New Amsterdam tour which was a free 3 hour walking tour. The guides work for gratuity only so they generally do as much as they can to earn it. We were entertained with history stories and anecdotes. As we walked up to the tour (10 minutes late since we were navigating to Dam Square on foot) I could almost feel the collective sigh of the lady who's bringing her young children on a walking tour of the city. Fortunately, the Little B's brought their charming personalities that day and had won over the crowd and our guide by the end of the tour. Of course, the first stop on the tour was through the Red Light District. I whispered fiercely into their ears that on our walk we may see mannequins in the window wearing not much clothes and that those mannequins may in fact be real people but that's what they chose to do for their job so they should be as respectful as possible and to NOT SAY ANYTHING and I would gladly answer any questions they might have when we were going back to the hotel and if they felt uncomfortable they could just put their heads on my jacket and I'd guide them through the area if they didn't want to look up. Fortunately, we only say 3 ladies. JT happened to be looking the opposite direction as we passed each one and HeaBug only made one comment later about the ladies not wearing much clothes and that was that. phew!

The Hotel Okura. Fancy Schmance. Perfect for those traveling for business. It wasn't so much Kid Friendly... more Kid Tolerant. But my two were very well behaved for the most part, minded their manners, said please and thank you. On our last night, we walked into the lobby returning from dinner and there were several children running, loudly, and yelling through the main entrance and into the high end Japanese restaurant (where an army of chefs intricately hand carve vegetables into amazing shapes and designs). One of the Front Desk ladies went marching off after them and I couldn't help but nod a little "Bet you all don't mind my two small people right about now" look in their direction.

As JT was missing school, I assigned him spelling words and homework in addition to his journal entry requirement. He did a WONDERFUL job completing the work and I was super proud of him.

One of the days we headed back to the Museumplein to go ice skating at the rink. It was terrific fun and they had special training skates that went on over HeaBug's boots. They had two blades instead of one so she was able to keep her balance and skate on her own!

After skating we warmed up with cocoa and Poffertjes, small dutch pancakes. They are so super tasty. The hot chocolate was delicious and felt great in the cold. Our Poffertjes on the right are served with Nutella and powdered sugar and the ones on the left were butter and powdered sugar. Oh my.

Museum Van Loon is a 17th century home/mansion along the Keizerrgracht Canal. The home has been well preserved, the large garden still maintained and the coach house at the other end of the garden houses a barouche and was once where the horses and coaches were kept. The property stretches from one side of the block to the other and a viewable, intact, house, garden, and coach house is nowhere else to be found.

The current owners of the house have mixed their eclectic art pieces (see random Juliet Lewis picture as an example). The house has remained largely intact and still has a very Golden Age feel.

Here, JT and HeaBug are tagging along all over the city. We are in front of the Rijksmuseum and on the street in the bottom right of the above collage, they are standing in a street filled with Antique Shops and Art Galleries.

There was a day the Mr. B got to come out with us. Our phones weren't operating properly so we weren't able to find directions to things but we were able to view a map. So with no 3G service we managed to still find our way back to the Begijnhof, Dam Square, The Anne Frank house and other sites we'd discovered in the days before. Felt pretty proud of our sense of direction!

There was an outdoor street market called Albert Cuypmarkt. There was everything from fresh produce, fish, cheese, clothing, handbags and more. The market is in a neighborhood of Amsterdam called De Pijp, which is where our hotel was. My friend Mrs. Worden had given me an "Amsterdam with kids 101" crash course just before we left, she having spent 3 weeks there in January/February 2012. She had me sample a Stroopwafel. Uhhhhmazing. I knew I'd have to find some to bring home. While walking through the market, we came across a man making them fresh. HeaBug and I had to try. They were a delight!!

We experienced a lot of different foods, returning to only one restaurant twice. We found that Europeans enjoy their fried potatoes/chip (aka french fries) with mayo. Even McDonalds gives you mayo. We saw a McD and I let the kids try. Crack Fries=same. They did have fried shrimp on the menu though. Produce and fish are available in abundance. The best tasting food we had was Mediterranean. The "white hair" topping the baklava above is actually spun sugar. Like cotton candy. I had to ask because it looks like a wig.

The Dutch know their wine and beer (neither of which we sampled), their chocolate (which we sampled abundantly) and their cheese (I brought home 7+ pounds!). Sounds like a combo that would make any nation worthy of the 10 ten happiest places to live.

A little story: As we walked to De Carousel Pannenkoeken (The Carousel Pancake House) we witnessed a moped and bike get into an accident. As we walked by, we heard NOTHING. Because nothing was said. The riders looked at each other, no one was hurt, not too much damage, and they WENT ON THEIR WAY. No yelling, no exchange of information, no blame.

With narrow roads that aren't very car friendly, biking and walking have given busy people in a busier world time to stop and stare. There is so much that Amsterdam has to offer and it was wonderful to be a part of it for the week.

We definitely feel a little more globally minded as we prepared for our journey home.

European Adventures: The Train

Our journey continued as we boarded the Eurostar from London St. Pancreas station. It’s always a little stressful traveling somewhere new, and using a new form of transportation. Pack on top of that, two children, lots of luggage… needless to say we were far from our comfort zone but we managed just fine. The information desk was able to switch our seats so that we’d be sitting next to one another as when we completed the booking, the available seats were all spread out. 
We’d exchanged our dollars for pounds and euros at LAX before we took off so while we waited for the train, we snagged snacks from the shop.
I’ll tell you this, Europe loves some sandwiches. All kinds, it was great (well for me who likes a sandwich) not so great for JT who isn’t a big fan. Nevertheless, he decided on and ate a BLT.
These kids must have had more hot chocolate on this trip than ever before. It was either cocoa, apple juice or orange juice as apparently it’s crazy to gulp down ice water! 

Our first train ride was well and smooth. It takes you under the ocean through a tunnel so our ears kept popping. As we came up on the French side, I couldn’t help staring at the countryside from my window. I literally had to remove the iDevice from my child’s hand and force him to take in scenes from another place! Ah I have a love/hate with iPods for kids. 
The trains do not charge you for nor do they check you luggage. Some people (us) had several large bags but some carried only a small bag. Larger pieces are stored between cars, you load it on and off yourself. Above each seat is an overhead storage bin for carry-on sized luggage, a second and slightly smaller bin for backpacks or coats. Then you have a coat hanger and storage at your feet as well. 
I pulled out a book and settled in for a 2 1/2 hour train ride. Mr. B dozed, I dozed, HeaBug set up a show on the ipad then fell asleep in front of it. The moment we got comfortable, we had arrived at the Brussels-Midi train station. 
Our Belgian experience was whack. Seriously, (brace for a few complaints) it was incredibly cold at the station. The next train we were to catch was the Thalys so we tried as best as we could to follow the signs but it led us to an area that seemed super shady. We gathered all of our things together and I took a seat with our luggage and kids while Mr. B went to see where our next platform was and as we had a two hour wait, if the train was in actually coming. Our biggest fear being that we would miss it. As I sat there with my best, “Do not mess with me” face…. mainly for the guys drinking wine from tiny bottles and listening to old school turkish tunes on his cell phone… Even JT was a little disturbed and didn’t want to let go of the suitcase for fear someone might snatch him.
Here’s my little disclaimer: I want my kids to be perfectly capable and independent. I also want them to have their ghetto sense on (If I have to explain that to you, you don’t have it). We try to teach them to be aware and observant in their surroundings and as adventurous as I’d like them to end up being... a small dose of unreasonable fear is important. Plus I’ve seen TAKEN too many times. 
In his exploration, Mr. B discovered that you must pay to use the toilets. He found another waiting area that had more people (we’d prefer more company than the drunk guys) and a little shopping area. As soon as we crossed the platform into a more populated section I immediately felt a little more comfortable. I saw the Thalys information desk (where Mr. B asked every few minutes when we should board, double checking the platform, where should we board) so we took the opportunity to buy some chocolates, waffles and hot cocoa. HeaBug and JT were watching Princess and the Frog on the ipad while we waited. A little girl (younger than Hea) started watching too. 
Thankfully my sweet kiddos shared happily and the whole of the waiting room watched and giggled as HeaBug and a little French girl talked animatedly about Tiana and Naveen in two different languages, neither one missing a beat.
As Mr. B had been repeatedly assured was right, we went up to our assigned platform 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure only to find it nearly deserted. I asked an attendant where we board and smug face #1 turned to smug face #2 who turned to smug face #3 who says, “It zeems zat yoo are running very late are yoo not?”… Um yeah, dumb punk Thalys information desk guy. 
We had to board right there and drag all of our (big, bulky and heavy) luggage through 2 first class cars, 1 snack car, and 4 comfort class cars before we came upon our seats. 
Ugh.
That was challenging. 
The ride was smooth. We ended up leaving parts of our luggage in between some of the cars we passed through. At each stop, Mr. B would go down and retrieve a piece and bring it closer. When we pulled in to Amsterdam Centraal Station he had to run down a few cars to gather the last of the bags. 
But we’d made it. A short taxi ride later, we pulled up to the Hotel Okura 
which would be our home for the next 7 days.

European Adventure, Here's London

We began our new year with quite the adventure! I'd spent the whole of the previous day packing, packing, packing. The kids are good flyers but we'd never taken a flight so long. 11 hours from LAX to London Heathrow Airport. We took a red eye, 7pm in the hopes that they would sleep. They did but only a little. Thank goodness for free on demand shows and movies in flight. I took a screen shot of the coin currency for the UK, they use Pounds. Elsewhere in Europe they use the Euro. Both of which are depressingly worth more than the dollar. I had to stop thinking of the dollar equivalent... and just enjoy the trip.

Determined to live my life in a culinary adventure I found a little place near the Tower of London called the Kitchen At Tower. It's situated directly next to All Hallows Church and serves homemade British Food. Kids had eggs and toast (Heabug is a runny yolk gal while JT prefers his scrambled). Hubs and I tried the Full English Breakfast. Mushrooms, Beans (which are apparently a staple!), fried egg, roasted tomato, a sausage and bacon/ham. It was great. I have only learned to appreciate mushrooms as an adult but I'm never one to refuse trying something. It was only on the warning of our waitress that I resisted ordering Black Pudding. Next time. The food was terrific, the vibe was great and it gave us a fine start to the day.

We found our Big Bus tour and hopped on. The red line has live commentary by a guide and took us right through the city to see the awesome and traditional sites. Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, The Tower Bridge, Kensington Palace... It was probably the coolest way to see the most things and we got seats on the top, right in the front.

The Big Bus is a hop on/hop off as you please. Busses run throughout the day so we only ever waited 5 or 10 minutes. We hopped off at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. We were in luck as during the winter, it only happens every OTHER day at 11am. As we waited among THOUSANDS literally we walked through St. James Park, and tossed coins in the Victoria Memorial Fountain.

It was also terribly cold so the guards wear their gray winter coats over their traditional bright red uniform. The very subtle differences on the uniform distinguish which of the five regiments of the British Army the guard is a part of (presence of a plume, the color, button spacing etc). There are the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, and Welsh Guards. It was fantastic to witness events carried out with such ceremony.

We were also glad to visit Westminster Abbey. SO much history in this place that has been home to Benedictine Monks, coronations (since 1066!), baptisms, funerals, weddings (aghh Will and Kate!), and the final resting place of royalty, scientists, play writes, poets, writers, saints, martyrs, and more. We did a children's scavenger hunt as well as an audio tour. We wandered through the beautiful chapels and looked for clues, answering questions on paper and from our children. The beauty of this building is unmatched. There is an inscription on the front that reads: "May God grant to the living grace- the departed rest- the Church and the world peace and concord- and to us sinners eternal life"
As we left the Abbey, the kids turned in their worksheet and received a Golden (chocolate) Coin as a reward!

One of our favorite visits was the Tower of London. We could have stayed there ALL DAY! There was so much to see. It was once a palace, a prison, a stronghold, a military base and a royal mint. There's just SO much. We were led on a tour by one of the Yeoman Warder, the traditional care takers of the Tower. He shared stories of treachery and love and blood and torture and more. We were able to view the Crown Jewels, the very jewels that have been used in coronations of the past. There were also the ewer that has been used at the baptisms, scepters and swords... It was seriously amazing

We really enjoyed our time in London. We ate British food, locals seemed polite (we had several offers of help as we tried to navigate the tube with our luggage and kids from the Airport to our stop at Tower Hill). Things close early. But who really needs Starbucks at 10pm? What I've noticed in Europe so far is the lack of extreme convenience. There are a WHOLE lot of stairs. People seem to do a lot of walking. Vegetarian options are completely the norm on restaurant menus. When you walk or ride a bike, you see more. You manage your time more wisely to get to your destinations. Now granted, it's like pulling teeth to get your drink refilled but you also aren't expected to tip an exorbitant amount as many places include a small service charge on your bill. It's a country deeply steeped in its traditions, they've been through quite a bit in the last 1200 years. But still it stands. A place I'd be happy to come back to and enjoy a nice cuppa.
Thanks London,
Love Mrs. B.

10th Anniversary Trip Journal: January 2-5, New York and Boarding the ship.

January 2^nd and 3^rd 
We left out of John Wayne Airport at 9:30pm. We arrived two hours early to the airport just in case we got caught in security. Well, we were seated at the terminal by 7:45. Haha. We flew 1^st class which was crazy awesome. We got free snacks (and unlimited mind you) and our drinks came in glasses. Not plastic or paper cups! We had an oversized bag but it flew free! I watched the movie One Day with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess and it was ok. Rob watched Drive which turned out to be really artsy and not as action packed as he thought. It starred Ryan Gosling who was in Crazy Stupid Love which we just watched the night before and it was hilarious! 
We flew into Atlanta about 4:30 am EST, 1:30 home time. We had a 3 hour layover and got on the plane to JFK at 7:30. Because of a malfunction on a seat, Robert and I were separated and had to sit on opposite sides of the 1^st row. The man sitting next to me wouldn’t switch because he didn’t want to sit by the window. I started crying… mostly because I was tired. They gave me a voucher for $150 to use on a future flight. We got breakfast in first class. I had an egg salad croissant and a salmon and onion croissant with tea, fruit, and yogurt. 

We got picked up by a car service. It was so cold outside the airport. I shivered!! Our hotel is RIGHT in time square. We had to get some rest though so after the hotel let us check in early we napped for a few hours. Afterwards, we ventured out to see a little of Manhattan. 

We made out way uptown to Central Park and took one of those horse drawn carriage rides. It was SO COLD! 18 degrees! We took the long ride that took us all the way around the park, even though it was the most expensive, we really wanted to get the most of the park. It was cold but magical seeing the park.

Walking back we were numb, we went to 30 Rock… Rockafeller center was super cool. We went to the top of the rock, an elevator that went up 67 floor in 43 seconds. The top of the elevator is plexi so you can see as you go up. It was insanely cold up at the top!

You have a 360º view of the city, it was amazing.
Afterwards we had dinner at the Olive Garden right in the middle of Time Square.

January 4^th
Slept in (according to NY time, keeping in line with back home we were up by 6:30!) We printed out our 9/11 memorial passes in the business center and were finally able to print out our cruise express passes too. We warmed up and headed out in search of breakfast. We found Stardust Diner where the servers sing fabulous songs while taking your orders. It was a great experience!

After breakfast we caught the subway down to the canal district. We saw the charging bull statue in the financial district and walked around Battery Park. We got some tea at starbucks because it was SO cold! During our walking around I’d lost our visitor passes to the 9/11 memorial which we were expected to be at by 2:00pm. We were able to pop in to a FedEx office and log into my email and print out new passes. We visited the 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial. The fountains incur a lot of overspray and it’s been so cold that the spray has frozen in to ice. 

Seeing all the names engraved was incredibly sobering. There was one name, a  woman Jennifer and her unborn child… That one really got me. The memorial is beautiful and thought provoking and inspiring. I can’t wait to see it in the spring when the 400 white sycamore trees are full of leaves. It’s definitely something I want to bring the kids to.
After the memorial we tried heading back to Battery Park so that we could catch the ferry taking us over to Ellis Island. Unfortunately we missed the last ticket sales. We bought pretzels from a cart and they weren’t very good at all. We made our way through Chinatown to Little Italy and ate a late lunch/dinner at a place called Cafe Napoli. Chicken Piccata and Manicotti. So delicious.
We stooped at Cafe Palermo and picked up some tiramisu and cannolis. We walked by Dean and Delucca and I had to go in. I bought some cookies and we were so full from dinner we didn’t even eat them! Went back to the hotel and skyped with the kids. Miss them SO much.

January 5^th
This morning we slept in and had room service for breakfast. We used the same car service that picked us up at the airport, this time they picked us up in a town car. It was in the 30’s today, significantly warmer. I mailed post cards from the hotel before we left. We drove through Chelsea and took the Holland Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike. Just terms that I’ve heard before, it was cool seeing them in real life. Cape Liberty is in Bayonne, New Jersey. There is definitely much more space in New Jersey. 

We got through the line super quick and we were on the boat before we knew it. Got a chance to talk to the kids which was really nice. I do miss them very much! They were just finishing up Gymnastics and Hea was a little fussy. I do think that they’ll miss us a lot by the time we come home though. We set out to explore the boat, excuse me, ship (lol, freddy). We found the Celebrity iLounge and seeing as how we are complete mac geeks we had to check it out. The decor throughout the ship is stunningly beautiful. Seriously, it’s amazing. The ship is only 6 months old. There are more than 1200 staff members, more than 4 specialty restaurants, the captain is from Greece, there’s an Acapella  group from Michigan, they were amazing! The gym is huge. We’re going to run tomorrow morning on the jogging. We made appointments for a facial and a massage! We made our dinner reservations for 6:45 so after i unpacked ALL of our stuff, we headed to the main dining room. I had goat cheese tart, endive and arugula salad with candied pecans and red apples. Lamb shank wrapped in phyllo dough over tomato rice with root vegetables and mint jelly. Robert had tropical fruit, angus beef consumme (which is a broth made from angus beef and root vegetables but it was very clear like miso soup) and prime rib with mashed potatoes. Super Yummy! For dessert we had Creme Brulee and some apple pie that wasn’t that great. There are dishes that are served every night regardless and others that chef specialties. We saw the show, tomorrow night is a formal night so we get to dress up even though after 6pm there is a dress code on the ship. No ball caps or slippers. Now we’re watching a movie in the room. Looking forward to a fun full day tomorrow!