I am not going to name the blogs by the day number anymore since it makes the end of the vacation seem to be too soon! So, today we went to Linnaeushof which is a kids amusement park. Similar to England, the park was very much a self-propelled event. By this I mean, the kids have to cycle to get the rides to go, or push or pull or climb. Nothing is motorized and the kids had a blast! This is the first overcast day we've had and it looked like it would rain all day but we got lucky and it held off. It was probably a good day to go to the park as a hot sunny day would have drawn much bigger crowds I'm sure. Lori (our GPS navigator that is) led us ... read more

What a great day! We headed off to Edam - guess what it is famous for? So, we sampled all sorts of different cheeses (pesto, smoked goat, aged edam, mild edam, regular edam) and then bought some. We then sat on the edge of the canal and ate fresh cheese, baguette and apples for lunch. Delicious! They did demonstrations of how cheese markets functioned up until 1922, with people in costumes and all. There was bartering, boats bringing in the cheese to sell, families bringing in their cheese by carriage to sell it, and bands playing music. Very entertaining. Then we came home and decided to go back to Henschot meer which is the lake near our house (about 15-20 minute bike ride). I (Lori) went for a run along the bike trails (and didn't get ... read more

Today we ventured into Utrecht which involved taking public transit! What a great system. We parked just on the edge of the city and got parking plus 4 two-way bus passes for 4 euro dollars (about $5 CDN)! We would have had to pay 28 euros to park in the city! I've attached one picture of bikes by the central station. There were thousands. I've never seen so many bikes. They were literally stacked two high in racks! And up and down every street! Well, we were on foot this time and headed to the Dutch Railway Museum. After awhile I had to stop Nigel from taking pictures of every canal we passed over; but they were quaint. It was fun for the kids (movie and a train adventure ride) and interesting for the adults. We ... read more

Well, we made it! Flights were uneventful which was good although the flight was quicker/shorter by 1/2 hour which you might think was good but personally I would have preferred another 1/2 hour of sleep...Anyways, the logistics all worked out perfectly, with the car and directions, etc. There was TONS of orange around the airport and lots of crazy hats and wigs. We did take a short nap in the middle of the day. And the rest of the day was spent almost entirely on our bikes! You always hear about it and read about it, but until you get here and see it, you just don't get it. Bike riding here is a way of life and a true mode of transportation. At home, we ride bikes for fun and to exercise. Here, you ride ... read more

Well, if you were thinking we'd had enough chocolate this trip, you were probably right. However, we took Uncle Paul's advice and went to Cadbury World in Bournville just south of Birmingham. This is the original Cadbury manufacturing plant and is still operating. We had an amazing time and a sort of Willy Wonka tour including more samples! Nobody fell into the chocolate lake but we did get to write our names in chocolate! After the tour, there was another building near the kids play area that had another couple of brief movies to watch followed by a warm cup of melted chocolate with whatever candy you wanted! Soooooooooooo yummy! When we got home, Nigel and Lori both strangely felt the need to squeeze a run in.....Which was then cancelled out very quickly by a final ... read more