Holland: Day Three

Day 3 started at about 1am when the entire family sleeping upstairs woke up simultaneously. The kids woke up thinking it was morning, made their beds, and started playing with their toys. David and I sat and chatted while Sonny made a full-on meat and cheese sandwich. Deb wandered back and forth from the bathroom to the kids’ room. We were all awake for hours. When it was time to get up this morning, the Grumpsters had moved in.
We all piled into the car and drove to an apartment recently purchased by a young guy. This apartment was the very place where Opa Ike and his wife hid during the war. There was a small panel in the back of the closet that came off the wall and behind it was barely enough room for Corey and Caroline to fit inside, let alone two grown people. But fit in it they would, every time GeinDonna would push a button under the handle of the front door, turning off their bedroom light to alert them that the Germans had arrived. It was an eerie and exhilarating experience to see the apartment, complete with huge chunks out of the cement stairs where the Germans had shot.
Next stop was Metti and Frits’ house where we had “lunch” with their sons Artur and Yuri. “Lunch” consisted of a shit-ton of bread, an absurd amount of cheese, herring, herring, and herring. Mmmmm. Yuri took us on a tour of Leiden and boy was it beautiful. We saw buildings that were 3 and 4 hundred years old. Everyone was so lovely and their English was fabulous.
Finally we when to Kinderdijk, a place famous for windmills. We took a small tour of a windmill, which was impressive to the kids. Deb was so hungry by the time we finished that little tour that we decided to eat there in Kinderdijk at the hotel. The appetizers were great, but the main courses were not so great. Strangely tough chicken, soupy stroganoff, and entirely too many potatoes. I have had more potatoes in the past 3 days than I have in 6 months. It’s the country’s only vegetable (I made that up, but it might as well be).
Now home, David has a sore throat, Sonny has a sore back, and I am just sore.