If you asked Peter and Kenny, the most important thing that's happened recently is that they've FOUND FRIENDS! It turns out (now that it's warm, kids are out and about) that there's a family in the apartment block just next door, which along with our building and 2 others, surround a little courtyard. This family has twin 8 year old boys, and a 4 year old boy too, the same ages as our kids. How perfect is that? They've been having an awesome time playing soccer in the courtyard, until some busybodies told them not to. Apparently there's a policy of no loud games in the courtyard. I just sent them out to the courtyard again today, but sans soccer ball, just with a little tennis set, and they played happily for a long time. It's nice - if I leave the door to the balcony open, I can hear them out there.
Since Eric has started working again, we've hired a Moroccan lady, Malika, to pick them up from school, and also watch them on Wednesday, the day they don't have school. She's a lady who's been doing some babysitting for the mother of classmate of Peter. She's very sweet, and Peter especially loves her (he wrote her a note, "Malika is so nice")
Kenny has been picking up French quite well, from what I can tell. When the kids watch television in French, and I ask how much he understands, he says, "Most of it". When I ask Peter the same question, he'll usually say something like, "Nothing". But I know he understands and speaks some French - I've heard him speak with his friend from the next building. He's not as fluent as Kenny, but he's getting there.
Both Kenny and Peter have been going on a lot of field trips recently with their school - to the local pool, to the natural history museum, and next week to a local park and mini-zoo. I need to arrange a meeting with Kenny's teachers and see how he's been doing - we had one a few months back, but other than that, I haven't been getting much feedback from the teachers on how things are going. And he won't be getting any grades this year - apparently that's the policy for the first 2 years when a child is just learning French - no grades at all.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
Another Sunday Evening in the Emergency Room
We try to get Kenny to bed around 9 PM. His usual routine is that he brushes his teeth, flosses (hopefully) and reads in bed for a little bit. Last Sunday he was in the middle of his routine, when I heard, "Mom, I think there's something stuck in my nose!".
Okay, big emergency. I got out the flashlight, sat him down, looked up his nose. "What did you stick up your nose?", I asked.
"I don't know."
After I saw something in his nose that reflected the light, I asked, "Was it something shiny?" Yes, he said, it was shiny.
To make a long story slightly shorter - he had found strong super magnets. He said he tried to put them in his nose, just on the bottom part, keeping hold of them with his fingers, but the magnetic attraction was so strong that they slid up right onto his septum. And once that's happened, there's no way you're going to be able to pry them off again with your fingers.
After I had experimented with trying to get some pliers in there and get them out, I figured that I'd need to take him to the emergency room. We took a taxi to the pediatric emergency room (there's a taxi stand right next to our apartment block) and didn't have to wait long before we were seen by a doctor, who took a look at the magnets, and tried a little bit to remove them with various surgical implements. Then she gave up, and told us that we needed to go to the adult emergency room, where supposedly there was an ear nose and throat doctor on call.
So, we took yet another taxi to the adult emergency room. That was a whole different scene from the pediatric emergency room. No friendly little mobiles hanging from the ceiling, no cute animals painted on the walls, and nobody was sweet and friendly like in the pediatric emergency room. Nope, there was blood smeared on the floor, and we saw a handcuffed man being walked out the emergency room door with three policeman surrounding him (Kenny asked - "Was that a real bad guy?").
We did get seen pretty quickly, not by an ear nose and throat doctor, though. Kenny was checked out by a very young resident - barely in his mid 20's, I'd say. He tried with various implements to get the magnets out of Kenny's nose. Kenny was having a very hard time keeping still, even though I was encouraging him, telling him he needed to be brave and tough and be very still so that the doctor would be able to take the magnets out. Eventually the doctor got 3 nurses, and me to try to hold Kenny down while he prodded in his nose to try to remove the magnets. It was not a happy scene. The doctor caused some injury to his nostrils while trying to separate the magnets, and blood started dripping from his nose while Kenny was squirming and crying, which freaked him out even more.
So, he gave up and said he'd need to call an anesthesiologist. This meant general anesthesia for Kenny - not something I wanted to happen! We were relegated to a stretcher nearby, and told to hang tight until the anesthesiologist got there. Kenny really wanted his teddy, and was hoping that we could go home and get it. That was not going to happen, so I asked the nurse if they had any stuffed animals there. They had nothing. She tried, though - later on she came by with a coloring book and a few pencils for him.
Kenny was doing some coloring, so I decided to do some web searching on my smartphone. I had done a little bit of Googling before taking Kenny to the emergency room - I believe I searched for "magnet stuck in nose" or something like that, and didn't find anything useful. So while we were waiting for the anesthesiologist, I did some more searching - I searched for for "magnet nose septum" The word septum was the key - that's the cartilage between the nostrils. The very first article I found was this one: An attractive approach to magnets adherent across the nasal septum. It's an article in a medical journal called The Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine about this very same problem - also in an 8 year old boy! The author used a handle of a medical instrument, attached it to the magnet just using the magnetic properties of the metal, and then was able to pop off first the one magnet, and then the other, "painlessly and without trauma to the nasal septum".
"Painlessly and without trauma to the nasal septum!" That sounded really good. I searched for the doctor to show him the article on my phone. He looked at it, and then said, "Let's try again". So we sat Kenny in the chair again. It took some convincing that this time it wasn't going to hurt, because he was traumatized from the previous attempts. The doctor didn't quite get the gist of the article, so I had to explain it to him. We searched for some tools that might work. He ended up using some tools that look like they were designed to open up the nostril to look inside. He put one in each nostril, and voila! Just like that, the magnets popped off and were gone, adhering to the metal surgical tools instead of Kenny's septum! I was so relieved that I practically yelled, "Thank the Lord!". The doctor shook my hand. I think he was pretty impressed that I had found the article. I was frankly very happy with myself as well, that I had found this information and managed to avoid general anesthesia for my son.
After a little checkup inside his nose, we were free to go. The nurses that had held him down while the doctor first tried getting the magnets out wondered where we were going, and when I told them that the magnets were gone, were shocked and asked how the heck we did it. I didn't explain that well - it was late (past midnight) already and my French, quite shaky, was not really up to it, but I think I managed to convey what happened.
Then - another taxi to our house, and the whole dreadful experience was over! No permanent damage, just a story to tell.
And now I know the word magnet in French - aimant.
Okay, big emergency. I got out the flashlight, sat him down, looked up his nose. "What did you stick up your nose?", I asked.
"I don't know."
After I saw something in his nose that reflected the light, I asked, "Was it something shiny?" Yes, he said, it was shiny.
To make a long story slightly shorter - he had found strong super magnets. He said he tried to put them in his nose, just on the bottom part, keeping hold of them with his fingers, but the magnetic attraction was so strong that they slid up right onto his septum. And once that's happened, there's no way you're going to be able to pry them off again with your fingers.
After I had experimented with trying to get some pliers in there and get them out, I figured that I'd need to take him to the emergency room. We took a taxi to the pediatric emergency room (there's a taxi stand right next to our apartment block) and didn't have to wait long before we were seen by a doctor, who took a look at the magnets, and tried a little bit to remove them with various surgical implements. Then she gave up, and told us that we needed to go to the adult emergency room, where supposedly there was an ear nose and throat doctor on call.
So, we took yet another taxi to the adult emergency room. That was a whole different scene from the pediatric emergency room. No friendly little mobiles hanging from the ceiling, no cute animals painted on the walls, and nobody was sweet and friendly like in the pediatric emergency room. Nope, there was blood smeared on the floor, and we saw a handcuffed man being walked out the emergency room door with three policeman surrounding him (Kenny asked - "Was that a real bad guy?").
We did get seen pretty quickly, not by an ear nose and throat doctor, though. Kenny was checked out by a very young resident - barely in his mid 20's, I'd say. He tried with various implements to get the magnets out of Kenny's nose. Kenny was having a very hard time keeping still, even though I was encouraging him, telling him he needed to be brave and tough and be very still so that the doctor would be able to take the magnets out. Eventually the doctor got 3 nurses, and me to try to hold Kenny down while he prodded in his nose to try to remove the magnets. It was not a happy scene. The doctor caused some injury to his nostrils while trying to separate the magnets, and blood started dripping from his nose while Kenny was squirming and crying, which freaked him out even more.
So, he gave up and said he'd need to call an anesthesiologist. This meant general anesthesia for Kenny - not something I wanted to happen! We were relegated to a stretcher nearby, and told to hang tight until the anesthesiologist got there. Kenny really wanted his teddy, and was hoping that we could go home and get it. That was not going to happen, so I asked the nurse if they had any stuffed animals there. They had nothing. She tried, though - later on she came by with a coloring book and a few pencils for him.
Kenny was doing some coloring, so I decided to do some web searching on my smartphone. I had done a little bit of Googling before taking Kenny to the emergency room - I believe I searched for "magnet stuck in nose" or something like that, and didn't find anything useful. So while we were waiting for the anesthesiologist, I did some more searching - I searched for for "magnet nose septum" The word septum was the key - that's the cartilage between the nostrils. The very first article I found was this one: An attractive approach to magnets adherent across the nasal septum. It's an article in a medical journal called The Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine about this very same problem - also in an 8 year old boy! The author used a handle of a medical instrument, attached it to the magnet just using the magnetic properties of the metal, and then was able to pop off first the one magnet, and then the other, "painlessly and without trauma to the nasal septum".
"Painlessly and without trauma to the nasal septum!" That sounded really good. I searched for the doctor to show him the article on my phone. He looked at it, and then said, "Let's try again". So we sat Kenny in the chair again. It took some convincing that this time it wasn't going to hurt, because he was traumatized from the previous attempts. The doctor didn't quite get the gist of the article, so I had to explain it to him. We searched for some tools that might work. He ended up using some tools that look like they were designed to open up the nostril to look inside. He put one in each nostril, and voila! Just like that, the magnets popped off and were gone, adhering to the metal surgical tools instead of Kenny's septum! I was so relieved that I practically yelled, "Thank the Lord!". The doctor shook my hand. I think he was pretty impressed that I had found the article. I was frankly very happy with myself as well, that I had found this information and managed to avoid general anesthesia for my son.
After a little checkup inside his nose, we were free to go. The nurses that had held him down while the doctor first tried getting the magnets out wondered where we were going, and when I told them that the magnets were gone, were shocked and asked how the heck we did it. I didn't explain that well - it was late (past midnight) already and my French, quite shaky, was not really up to it, but I think I managed to convey what happened.
Then - another taxi to our house, and the whole dreadful experience was over! No permanent damage, just a story to tell.
And now I know the word magnet in French - aimant.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
A tour of the mansion next door - the Domain de la Grange
We live right next to a beautiful park called Parc de la Grange. It's a large grassy park with a beautiful view out onto the lake, and I absolutely love it, especially now that the weather is getting summery. It has playgrounds, a wading pool, a rose garden, and even some old Roman ruins (not much to look at, just the foundation from a house, but still interesting).
There's also an old mansion, that belonged to a series of very wealthy families. The last of the first family to own it, Jean Lullin, was bankrupted when all the money he'd loaned King Louis XVI of France was obviously never going to be paid back when the King lost his head in the French revolution. Francois Favre bought it from him, and his son established an extensive library there, acquiring about 15,000 books (which, back in the 1700's and 1800's, was a big deal and very expensive). His grandson William Favre donated the house and grounds to the city of Geneva in 1918, under a few conditions (one of them was that his room in the house be preserved exactly the way it was when he died).
The mansion is almost always closed to the public, except on 2 very limited tours (20 people each) in spring. I saw them mentioned in the city of Geneva newsletter, but missed the signup time. Eric was the one who ended up successfully signing up, but when the time came he decided not to go, so I went in his place. It's a good thing, too, because the tour was completely in French, and involved about 2 hours of standing around listening to a historian discourse on the history of the house, and the details of the furnishings. It was interesting, kind of, but by the end my back was absolutely killing me. Lots of the rooms had chairs, but they were antique, and we were told only to sit in there if absolutely necessary, so one woman on crutches did and the rest of us stood. Towards the end the guide gave us free range in the upstairs, which was more interesting than standing in one place. We also saw the room of William Favre, who donated the home and the grounds.
There's also an old mansion, that belonged to a series of very wealthy families. The last of the first family to own it, Jean Lullin, was bankrupted when all the money he'd loaned King Louis XVI of France was obviously never going to be paid back when the King lost his head in the French revolution. Francois Favre bought it from him, and his son established an extensive library there, acquiring about 15,000 books (which, back in the 1700's and 1800's, was a big deal and very expensive). His grandson William Favre donated the house and grounds to the city of Geneva in 1918, under a few conditions (one of them was that his room in the house be preserved exactly the way it was when he died).
The mansion is almost always closed to the public, except on 2 very limited tours (20 people each) in spring. I saw them mentioned in the city of Geneva newsletter, but missed the signup time. Eric was the one who ended up successfully signing up, but when the time came he decided not to go, so I went in his place. It's a good thing, too, because the tour was completely in French, and involved about 2 hours of standing around listening to a historian discourse on the history of the house, and the details of the furnishings. It was interesting, kind of, but by the end my back was absolutely killing me. Lots of the rooms had chairs, but they were antique, and we were told only to sit in there if absolutely necessary, so one woman on crutches did and the rest of us stood. Towards the end the guide gave us free range in the upstairs, which was more interesting than standing in one place. We also saw the room of William Favre, who donated the home and the grounds.
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| The front of the mansion. It's normally all closed up like this, but the day of the tour all the windows were opened |
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| The tour group waiting to enter |
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| A bathroom from the 1840's |
Kenny likes his Kindle, too
We brought a lot of children's books with, but most of them were for younger kids, and we had very few chapter books. Since Kenny has developed the habit of reading in bed, he ran through them very quickly (the ones he wanted to read, anyway). Because a Kindle is now only $79, PLUS the Bellevue library system has lots of children's chapter books on the Kindle that can be downloaded over the internet, I decided to get Kenny one for himself.
Eric picked it up when he went back to the US recently. Kenny is completely enthralled with the Boxcar Children series, and has read a few dozen of them on the Kindle so far. There's 121 Kindle books in that series in the Bellevue library system, so he has quite a few more left. And then there's some other series available (Magic Tree House, Hardy Boys), so he should be good for quite a while.
I can't get over what a good value the Kindle is, if you have access to a library system that carries Kindle books. If you had to buy the books, then it's not such a good value - it's not like you can sell the books back or anything. But free books, on a $79 Kindle - can't beat it!
Eric picked it up when he went back to the US recently. Kenny is completely enthralled with the Boxcar Children series, and has read a few dozen of them on the Kindle so far. There's 121 Kindle books in that series in the Bellevue library system, so he has quite a few more left. And then there's some other series available (Magic Tree House, Hardy Boys), so he should be good for quite a while.
I can't get over what a good value the Kindle is, if you have access to a library system that carries Kindle books. If you had to buy the books, then it's not such a good value - it's not like you can sell the books back or anything. But free books, on a $79 Kindle - can't beat it!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Lyon
This weekend we took a last-minute trip to Lyon, about 2 hours away by train. I had been talking to a coworker on Friday who said that she often goes to Lyon just for shopping, because there's a large mall next to the train station. We had no plans over the weekend, so why not? I thought we'd do some clothes shopping (I haven't bought any clothes the entire time I've been here!) but we ended up just sightseeing.
It worked out well in general, the train was pretty convenient, the weather was rainy but not for the whole weekend. The hotel wasn't that nice, but you can't have everything. We ended up taking the bus to the old town area, where a medieval festival was taking place, with sword fighting, archery, cannons, etc. Went to the main church, a museum of miniatures (hung out there quite a bit because it was raining outside), had dinner at a decent restaurant (Lyon is famous for its food). People were quite friendly and helpful when we asked directions.
A couple notes - when we went to the train station on Sunday morning to store our baggage and catch the metro into town, I saw a group of 4 red-jacketed young people. It must have been some kind of make-work program. I didn't think very highly of it, they were doing very little useful work. They were apparently there to help travelers, just like they had in Amsterdam, though I think the program was run much better in Amsterdam. Here they just chatted with one another, and formed into groups that didn't easily allow anyone to break in and ask questions. I did end up getting some help from one of them who was quite friendly and wanted to practice her English. She led me to the ticket desk to pick up a map of town. That's where I saw a total of 8 train personnel, hanging out and shooting the breeze with one another. Why did they need 8 when there were no customers? It's probably a union requirement. I was thinking about all the train strikes they have in France. Not the most efficient system!
We also saw the red-jacketed young people at the Roman amphitheater (great place for the kids to run around). I asked one of them if he could tell me anything about the amphitheater, and he hemmed and hawed. Finally I asked, "When was it built?" And he didn't even know! He said, "I always forget that".
Our dinner on Saturday was at a very nice restaurant. The only problem was that...I ended up ordering a Lyon specialty, which turned out to be innards! I absolutely couldn't eat it - I think you have to grow up eating that kind of thing. I had asked what it was, and the waiter said, "It's from a pig". Little did I think I'd be staring at a plate of pig intestines, all full of little tubes. Yech.
Also Eric ordered tiramisu. But instead of being the standard tiramisu with coffee, it was more like a vanilla pudding with raspberries in it. Not a hint of coffee at all.
The upshot? Overall quite positive, especially for something so last-minute. We'll probably go back to Lyon at some point, stay at a different hotel, and check out the restaurants online before choosing one.
It worked out well in general, the train was pretty convenient, the weather was rainy but not for the whole weekend. The hotel wasn't that nice, but you can't have everything. We ended up taking the bus to the old town area, where a medieval festival was taking place, with sword fighting, archery, cannons, etc. Went to the main church, a museum of miniatures (hung out there quite a bit because it was raining outside), had dinner at a decent restaurant (Lyon is famous for its food). People were quite friendly and helpful when we asked directions.
A couple notes - when we went to the train station on Sunday morning to store our baggage and catch the metro into town, I saw a group of 4 red-jacketed young people. It must have been some kind of make-work program. I didn't think very highly of it, they were doing very little useful work. They were apparently there to help travelers, just like they had in Amsterdam, though I think the program was run much better in Amsterdam. Here they just chatted with one another, and formed into groups that didn't easily allow anyone to break in and ask questions. I did end up getting some help from one of them who was quite friendly and wanted to practice her English. She led me to the ticket desk to pick up a map of town. That's where I saw a total of 8 train personnel, hanging out and shooting the breeze with one another. Why did they need 8 when there were no customers? It's probably a union requirement. I was thinking about all the train strikes they have in France. Not the most efficient system!
We also saw the red-jacketed young people at the Roman amphitheater (great place for the kids to run around). I asked one of them if he could tell me anything about the amphitheater, and he hemmed and hawed. Finally I asked, "When was it built?" And he didn't even know! He said, "I always forget that".
Our dinner on Saturday was at a very nice restaurant. The only problem was that...I ended up ordering a Lyon specialty, which turned out to be innards! I absolutely couldn't eat it - I think you have to grow up eating that kind of thing. I had asked what it was, and the waiter said, "It's from a pig". Little did I think I'd be staring at a plate of pig intestines, all full of little tubes. Yech.
Also Eric ordered tiramisu. But instead of being the standard tiramisu with coffee, it was more like a vanilla pudding with raspberries in it. Not a hint of coffee at all.
The upshot? Overall quite positive, especially for something so last-minute. We'll probably go back to Lyon at some point, stay at a different hotel, and check out the restaurants online before choosing one.
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| Peter and I among the ruins |
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Amsterdam - I could live here!
We got back from our 5 day trip to Amsterdam yesterday. I would have titled this blog post "I love Amsterdam", but I already used that theme for Fribourg. But I really did love Amsterdam.
To elaborate a bit on the bike thing - biking is extremely popular here, probably more so than anywhere in the world. It seems like all major and minor roads have bike lanes, and not just dinky little bike lanes that are basically just bicycles painted on the side of the street, but real, separated bike paths. You not only need to watch for cars when you cross the road, you need to watch for bikes. It can be a little disconcerting. The bikes are most often these huge heavy looking one speed black clunkers, frequently rusty. I was told it's because of the problem of theft. Also, gears are not as necessary because there's no hills at all.
I don't think I saw even one person wearing a helmet. Parents regularly have one or two kids on their bike, using rear seats, front seats, front carriers, or standing behind them on the hubs of the back wheel. And really, nobody wears a helmet! It really goes to show how culturally conditioned our extreme safety consciousness is. In the US, you would be thought of as a bad parent if you let your kids ride without helmets. Yet in Holland, an advanced, progressive, first world country if there ever was one, nobody does and it's just fine. It's all about perspective.
Non-motorized push scooters are extremely popular in Geneva, even for adults, for commuting. But you didn't see ANY scooters in Amsterdam. Just bikes.
People in Amsterdam were so friendly. Anyone that I asked for directions (in English, no less, I didn't even learn how to say "excuse me" in Dutch) answered cheerfully and extensively, in English, and they all ended with something along the lines of "have a great holiday in Amsterdam". Very impressive. Also we were on the tram one day, and a group of people of different ages that didn't seem like they started out knowing one another started chatting, and passed around a photo and had a good old time before they got off, separately. Okay, maybe I'm idealizing a bit, but people really seemed cheerful.
About garbage and litter in the street - I would say it's about the same as Geneva. The graffiti wasn't nearly as bad as in here in Geneva, though.
Geneva is nice enough, but after visiting Amsterdam, I was really wishing that our stay in Europe could have taken place there. Luckily I found that the weather in Amsterdam is about like Seattle - lots of rain and gloom. So I didn't feel quite so bad about it. Although the weather here in Geneva right now is nowhere near as nice and sunny as it was in March - that was apparently an anomaly.
So...what did we do? Lots of kid-focused stuff, really. Along with just walking around the canals, here's where we went:
—Artis - the zoo, we went here Easter Sunday and had to wait about 45 minutes to get in because it was so popular. The kids favorite part was a cool playground with a great slide. At the chimpanzee house we had a long talk with a lady who was very knowledgeable about chimps. The chimpanzees were supposed to all be sterilized, but one of them had a baby which unfortunately died a few days after it was born. The mother chimp apparently carried it around for a few days, but when we went there, it was laying on the floor. A little macabre.
—TunFun - a huge indoor playground that's actually a converted overpass, complete with concrete pillars supporting old highways, and old traffic lights. They had one slide which included a sheer drop of about 5 feet. Kenny, after some initial hesitation, ended up loving it and going on it dozens and dozens of times. Lots of trampolines, huge climbing area, ball pits, inflatables, etc.
We weren't planning on spending the day there, as a matter of fact we started to leave after a few hours, but after we'd packed up and walked out to the outdoors, we saw that it was pouring. So our plan to walk around the canals was not that enticing, and we decided to just stay there.
—Pancake Cruise - this was a fun evening activity, incorporating a cruise along the waterways (not the canals) and a Dutch pancake buffet. The boat had a little ball pit downstairs. Also we met a Moroccan woman with two boys who was very friendly, she's a real estate agent living in Amsterdam. Lots of cool-looking modern architecture along the waterfront.
—Canal cruise - the standard tourist canal cruise. Nice and relaxing, the kids played on our phones the entire time. Trying to get them to be interested in seeing the sights is a losing battle.
—The main library - interesting modern building with a good kids section. There was a fascinating exhibit called the Mouse Mansion made by artist and author Karina Shaapman. She wrote a book to go along with it (actually I guess she built the Mouse Mansion to go with the book!) We spent a long time there going through the book that is set in the mouse village, trying to find the room from each page.
To elaborate a bit on the bike thing - biking is extremely popular here, probably more so than anywhere in the world. It seems like all major and minor roads have bike lanes, and not just dinky little bike lanes that are basically just bicycles painted on the side of the street, but real, separated bike paths. You not only need to watch for cars when you cross the road, you need to watch for bikes. It can be a little disconcerting. The bikes are most often these huge heavy looking one speed black clunkers, frequently rusty. I was told it's because of the problem of theft. Also, gears are not as necessary because there's no hills at all.
I don't think I saw even one person wearing a helmet. Parents regularly have one or two kids on their bike, using rear seats, front seats, front carriers, or standing behind them on the hubs of the back wheel. And really, nobody wears a helmet! It really goes to show how culturally conditioned our extreme safety consciousness is. In the US, you would be thought of as a bad parent if you let your kids ride without helmets. Yet in Holland, an advanced, progressive, first world country if there ever was one, nobody does and it's just fine. It's all about perspective.
Non-motorized push scooters are extremely popular in Geneva, even for adults, for commuting. But you didn't see ANY scooters in Amsterdam. Just bikes.
People in Amsterdam were so friendly. Anyone that I asked for directions (in English, no less, I didn't even learn how to say "excuse me" in Dutch) answered cheerfully and extensively, in English, and they all ended with something along the lines of "have a great holiday in Amsterdam". Very impressive. Also we were on the tram one day, and a group of people of different ages that didn't seem like they started out knowing one another started chatting, and passed around a photo and had a good old time before they got off, separately. Okay, maybe I'm idealizing a bit, but people really seemed cheerful.
About garbage and litter in the street - I would say it's about the same as Geneva. The graffiti wasn't nearly as bad as in here in Geneva, though.
Geneva is nice enough, but after visiting Amsterdam, I was really wishing that our stay in Europe could have taken place there. Luckily I found that the weather in Amsterdam is about like Seattle - lots of rain and gloom. So I didn't feel quite so bad about it. Although the weather here in Geneva right now is nowhere near as nice and sunny as it was in March - that was apparently an anomaly.
So...what did we do? Lots of kid-focused stuff, really. Along with just walking around the canals, here's where we went:
—Artis - the zoo, we went here Easter Sunday and had to wait about 45 minutes to get in because it was so popular. The kids favorite part was a cool playground with a great slide. At the chimpanzee house we had a long talk with a lady who was very knowledgeable about chimps. The chimpanzees were supposed to all be sterilized, but one of them had a baby which unfortunately died a few days after it was born. The mother chimp apparently carried it around for a few days, but when we went there, it was laying on the floor. A little macabre.
—TunFun - a huge indoor playground that's actually a converted overpass, complete with concrete pillars supporting old highways, and old traffic lights. They had one slide which included a sheer drop of about 5 feet. Kenny, after some initial hesitation, ended up loving it and going on it dozens and dozens of times. Lots of trampolines, huge climbing area, ball pits, inflatables, etc.
We weren't planning on spending the day there, as a matter of fact we started to leave after a few hours, but after we'd packed up and walked out to the outdoors, we saw that it was pouring. So our plan to walk around the canals was not that enticing, and we decided to just stay there.
—Pancake Cruise - this was a fun evening activity, incorporating a cruise along the waterways (not the canals) and a Dutch pancake buffet. The boat had a little ball pit downstairs. Also we met a Moroccan woman with two boys who was very friendly, she's a real estate agent living in Amsterdam. Lots of cool-looking modern architecture along the waterfront.
—Nemo - a science and technology museum for kids. The kids liked the bubble building section the best.
—Canal cruise - the standard tourist canal cruise. Nice and relaxing, the kids played on our phones the entire time. Trying to get them to be interested in seeing the sights is a losing battle.
—The main library - interesting modern building with a good kids section. There was a fascinating exhibit called the Mouse Mansion made by artist and author Karina Shaapman. She wrote a book to go along with it (actually I guess she built the Mouse Mansion to go with the book!) We spent a long time there going through the book that is set in the mouse village, trying to find the room from each page.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
First impressions in Amsterdam
We just arrived here today via an Easyjet flight from Geneva. First impressions:
We went to an Indonesian place for dinner, and Eric had the traditional Indonesian rijsttafel. It's basically rice, with all kinds of curry, etc, as toppings. He had about a dozen tiny little dishes of toppings. Not an inexpensive meal, but it was good. The kids and I shared some chicken satay. We were eating in a tiny room, upstairs, along with one couple. The couple kind of sounded like they were on their first date, maybe, but something was a little off...far too much talk about previous relationships. Anyway, it was interesting to listen to. The woman had been a "living statue" in a previous job.
We're in a hotel called the Hotel de Munck, in central Amsterdam, build in the 1700s. It wasn't my first, second, third, or fourth choice (things were really booked up, maybe because it's tulip time), and it's a little run down, but I'll say this for them - they have very fast wireless internet. It's a good thing, because I haven't done that much planning, so I'll need to be doing that here.
The stairs are extremely steep and narrow - apparently it's typical for this type of house.
- Wow! Everybody is really tall here. I'm not the tallest woman around, like I am in most places
- There's a lot of bikes! There's massive bike parking lots all over the place, bike lanes everywhere. It's a bikers heaven. Most streets seem to have separate bike lanes, and not just a line painted on the street, but rather real separate lanes.
We went to an Indonesian place for dinner, and Eric had the traditional Indonesian rijsttafel. It's basically rice, with all kinds of curry, etc, as toppings. He had about a dozen tiny little dishes of toppings. Not an inexpensive meal, but it was good. The kids and I shared some chicken satay. We were eating in a tiny room, upstairs, along with one couple. The couple kind of sounded like they were on their first date, maybe, but something was a little off...far too much talk about previous relationships. Anyway, it was interesting to listen to. The woman had been a "living statue" in a previous job.
We're in a hotel called the Hotel de Munck, in central Amsterdam, build in the 1700s. It wasn't my first, second, third, or fourth choice (things were really booked up, maybe because it's tulip time), and it's a little run down, but I'll say this for them - they have very fast wireless internet. It's a good thing, because I haven't done that much planning, so I'll need to be doing that here.
The stairs are extremely steep and narrow - apparently it's typical for this type of house.
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