Amsterdam is Fun!

Hi Guys!

This will be my last message.....I'm coming home and hope to see you on Tuesday!

I just wanted to tell you a couple of things that are unique about Amsterdam. The first thing I noticed when I got here was all of the bicycles. Almost EVERYONE rides one here and every road has a big bike lane...on both sides of the road. They park bikes all over the place.

The other thing I noticed is all of the canals. Amsterdam is a city built on very low ground and they need the canals to keep the water out of the buildings. The canals are used as streets and many people use boats to get around and to have fun. I saw people having picnic lunches on their boats or just going out for a ride. Some of them even bring their dogs.

Amsterdam is the capital city of Holland and there are a lot of windmills in Holland. Windmills have been built here for over 1000 years and were originally used to help drain water from the fields. Another thing that I noticed is that the blades of the windmill are made from canvas, a type of cloth. I thought they were made from wood.

The last thing is the wooden shoes. Many people think that the people in Holland wear wooden shoes, but that's not true anymore. The shoes were worn by the farmers working in the muddy fields because they seemed to last better than leather ones. Now wooden shoes are used more for decoration and display.

It's really a fun city and I hope you both will get to visit it sometime.

Love.....Grandma

Hello and Gelukkige Pasen from Amsterdam

Hi Noah and Ava,

Did you know that in Amsterdam the people speak a language called Dutch? I didn't know hardly any words in Dutch, but now I know "hello" (hello - it's the same as in English)), "yaarwel" (good-bye) and "toiletten" (bathroom). All important words when traveling. Oh, and Gelukkige Pasen is Happy Easter! I hope you're having a nice Easter and have had a chance to do an egg hunt!

The Dutch celebrate Easter too and they give out a lot of chocolate eggs. I got one when I was standing in line to see the museum and they also give them out on the trams and trains. The country next door...Belgium...is known for making very fine chocolate. I just might have to bring some home!

The flower I associate with Easter the most is the tulip, so I'm sending some tulips to go with my wish of a GELUKKIGE PASEN!Love you.....Grandma

Last Day in London!

Hi Kids!

My last day here was busy seeing what I had not seen yet (Trafalgar Square) and, something I was REALLY looking forward to...a ride on the London Eye!
Trafalgar Square is in the middle of the city and is a HUGE open area with a very tall structure in the middle called Nelson's Column. It's name that because there's a statue of Lord Nelson on top. He was an important man in England over 200 years ago so they honored him by building the column with him on top. The column is guarded on the bottom by four very large lion sculptures. The Square is very popular and many people visit when they come here and climb on the lions backs like Flat Noah and Flat Ava did.
I finally got to ride the London Eye. It's the biggest ferris wheel in all of Europe. It doesn't look so big when you're far away, but, when you get close, it's HUGE!!! Each car carries 25 people and, when you ride, you get to go around once...very slowly. At the top you can see the car next to you along with the whole city far below. The people on the ground below the Eye look like little dots. It was really exciting!

Flat Noah and Flat Ava enjoyed the ride very much too even though they were a little scared at first! There were a lot of other kids on the ride so they soon forgot to be scared.

It was a fun day! Tomorrow we go to Amsterdam, a city in Holland which is known for growing Spring flowers, mostly tulips. I can't wait to photograph them!

WOW.....am I busy!

Hi Guys!

Boy...there is sooo much to see in and around London. Over the week-end my friend Richard and I went on a boat ride on the Thames to a town called Greenwich. This is an important place because people here created the line called the Prime Meridian. You can find it on your globe going North and South all around the world just outside of London. Just like the equator separates North from South, the Prime Meridian separates East from West (sort of...you'll learn more about that when your Mom teaches you about directions and time). In the photo, Noah is on the East side of the Meridian and Ava is on the West.

It was a long ride out to Greenwich so I took Flat Noah and Flat Ava to their first ever visit to a pub. In England, local pubs are places where families go for a nice meal and to meet friends. This one in Greenwich is typical of other pubs. Lots of nice wood and windows and pictures on the walls.

London Sights

Dear Noah & Ava,

I've been very busy walking all around London. It's an interesting city because it's over 1000 years old, but parts of it are sort of new and other parts are very new.

There was a very big fire here in 1666, over 350 years ago. It destroyed most of the city, so new buildings were built. Then, again, about 65 years ago, there was another fire AND London was in a very big fight called a war. They were fighting with another country who wanted to take their land. Many bombs were dropped on London and ruined a lot of the buildings. So they rebuilt again! As a result there are shiny new buildings next to 350 year old buildings next to old stone walls that are 1000 years old. It's much fun to see!

Flat Noah & Flat Ava came along and especially enjoyed one of the newest additions to the city.....the London Eye (the huge ferris wheel that was built only 10 years ago). We're going to go for a ride on it sometime next week.

We found out that the very tall square building with the clock in it is call St. Stephens Tower. Most people think it's called Big Ben, but Big Ben is really the name of the bell inside the tower. It rings every hour to let people know what time it is.

I also visited one of the older buildings that wasn't destroyed by fire or bombs...it's called Guildhall and it's been the town hall of London for 800 years.
Tell your Mom that Grandma and Pata Peter went to a fancy dinner there once when they were first married. It was great fun to see it again. It's website is http://www.guildhall.cityoflondon.gov.uk/ if you'd like to see what it looks like when a dinner party is going on.

I love you guys and miss you!

Love.....Grandma

Chocolate!!!

Hi Guys!

Boy...they sure do love their chocolate around here. I went to a store called Harrod's yesterday. It's a very big store with seven different floors and they have part of one floor that's just chocolate! They had chocolate from France, Belgium and their own chocolate from England.

They made the chocolate into all different shapes and some of them were really BIG! Like the egg in the picture. Flat Noah and Flat Ava really liked that. I tried to get a picture of them on top of the egg but it didn't work. They kept sliding off!


Outside of Harrods, all around town, there are many other chocolate shops. This is one tasty city!

Love.....Grandma