Utrecht, The Hague, & Roermond

Dag!

The last couple of days have been action packed! Wim has been busy haying this week, so I've had the opportunity to go traveling. Monday I saw Amsterdam, Tuesday was Utrecht and yesterday was the Hague. Every night I came home and we had a fancy 5 course meal with a lot of wine. If you know Oma, then you know how she ignores you when you say "no thank you" and gives you the food anyways. Well Wim is no different... especially when it comes to wine. I was pretty close to being drunk every night because they kept refiling my wine glass.

Aarnold took me to Utrecht Tuesday via the back roads so I could see all of the lovely summer homes that were built in the 1700s. They were so beautful! He then showed me what he does: shops all day! He is the interrior decorator/designer for 5 clothing chains in Europe, so he is constantly shopping for furniture and new ideas for the layout. It was fun to shop with him for a little while, and then I spent the rest of the day doing a walking tour of Utrecht. I loved the trees next to the canals in Utrecht! It was so beautiful to just sit there and eat my lunch.

The Hague was very interesting! My guidebook failed to mention THE most interesting aspect of the city: The M. C. Escher Museum! I spent a good 4 hours there looking at all of his works, and how he made them. Did you know that it was a Canadian who was the first to realize that he was using mathematical concepts to create pieces of art? My favourite part was the interactive level of the museum. Using a computer program, you could create your own "Filling the Plane" piece of art, or travel into his works via the virtual reality headsets, or try to recreate his pieces using 3-D blocks and camera tricks! The Peace Palace was also very cool. (Internation Court of Justice) They had an intersting sculputre there that is the only one in the world that every country contributed something towards. Every country contributed a rock or precious stone, and then they were placed in a circle around an eternal flame lit with 7 torches from 6 continents. Granted it's not the most beautiful work of art, but the meaning behind it was very powerful.

Today I met up with my Great Aunt Ans' daughter Carin and her daughter Ninke. The train was delayed an hour in Utrecht, and 3 phones ate my money... Luckily the 4th one worked so I could tell them that I was delayed. They have a SWEET house! It's really modern, and has been featured in on TV and several magazines! The front door is a wall that rotates in the middle, the whole front of the house opens up... I think this is one time I definitely will have a hard time describing, so you'll have to stay tuned when I post the pictures of it next week.

Tomorrow we are going sailing in the lakes north of Amsterdam on their 40 foot (45?) sail boat. Depening on the tides, we might go to Texel (an island in the north near the dyke) or along the shore. Either way, I'm looking forward to it! Well I'd better go now, as we are going to go see Ans for supper.