Jamie – 6 November 2011

And so we reach the end of our time in Europe. We are in Amsterdam where we have spent a lovely three days with of one our closest friends, Andrew “Max” Walker. Max is godfather to all three of our children, who know him simply and with great affection as Uncle Max. Max gave us an amazing send-off by securing, through his work, the top three floors of a beautiful old apartment building which overlooks one of the main canals (Sengal). It is so special to be able to spend our last few days in Europe with him.

We are a ten minute walk from the central railway station, which is to say we are near to some fascinating houses illuminated at night by a red bulb and whose scantily-clad occupants sit by their window waiting for their washing machine to finish. At least that is what we told the children. Mylo didn’t quite accept this response and so we then explained that they were inviting people to have a sleepover, and no, he couldn’t go.

Our apartment, at 119 Sengal (top 3 floors)

Amsterdam is beautiful. Tall narrow houses, many with a lean, facing onto cobbled roads and fully working canals. Most of the locals ride bikes and you really have to be vigilant every time you walk outside your front door as the distinction between footpath and bike lane is often unclear. Young children have a difficult enough time remembering that roads and cars are dangerous, so we have had to watch them particularly carefully.

We hired a couple of “canal bikes”, which are actually ride-on peddle boats that seat four (the back two being passengers). This was a real highlight and much better than going on the tourist canal boats that we saw. It was surprisingly easy to sit back and take in the views as your legs made circles and you cruised along. The canals were not especially crowded and we covered a lot of territory in our two hours. We passed some truly beautiful houseboats, along with the odd neglected half-submerged smaller craft. I’m surprised we didn’t get lost as every canal and bridge looked identical to the last.

Peddlng around Amsterdam on our canal bikes.

We handed our canal bikes back in next to Anne Frank’s house, which I had visited on a previous trip. Bec and Foster joined the queue and were very happy that they did as the story of how the Frank family and three other friends hid from the Nazis in a “secret annex” of Otto Frank’s office building for over two years (before they were betrayed) is fascinating. Sadly the Frank’s suffered the same fate of so many Jews in the Second World War and all but Otto (the father) died in concentration camps. Anne was a young teenager at the time and documented her life while in hiding in a personal diary which was later published and has now been read by millions. It is an incredible book which I think everyone should read.

We also visited NEMO, which is not a lost clown fish but in fact a large science museum located next to the Central Station. It was designed by Renzo Piano and shaped like the front of a large ship. It boasts a motto of “You must touch everything” and was another example of a museum which clearly had children front of mind in its design and content. Science and technology is showcased in the form of a series of interactive exhibits. Foster and Sari created a bubble around themselves by standing in a tray of detergent and raising a metal ring out of the tray and over their heads. Sadly I had forgotten to take the camera, but it would have made our Paris bubble-blowing busker proud (see an earlier Blog).

They also loved watching a performance by a mad professor who set up the longest “chain reaction” I have ever seen. You know the type – a domino is tipped which tips about 100 other dominos in turn, the last of which pops a balloon which swings a weight which lights a candle which burns some string which releases a ball which knocks some cans which fall into a net which starts a fan which blows a toy boat along a tube which pops another balloon which makes a lead weight fall from the roof onto a basketball which has a tube attached which shoot air into a foam rocket which launches over the crowd to much applause.

That is the short version. The actual event went for nearly 10 minutes and had over 50 different “triggers”. Great stuff. As a young boy I used to love constructing simpler (2 or 3 step) versions of this concept using string and cardboard boxes to try and catch birds in our garden. I never came close. Sari nearly ruined today’s entertainment by leaning over the rope fence that contained the audience and blowing out the candle – something she has taken to doing in every restaurant we visit. Thankfully the professor was alerted to the “break” in his chain in time for the candle to be re-lit without causing the experiment to fail.

One sad thing that did happen – after 5,200 kms of safe carriage we said goodbye to our faithful car. I can happily report that she was returned free of dents and scratches (although the interior needs a very serious vacuum!). There is no way we could have ever driven around Europe without GPS-Jane – we marvel at how people did what we have done in the days before this clever technology existed.

It has been a great way to spend our final days in Europe. We are a little sad to be closing such an exciting and fun filled chapter of our travels but with seven weeks still to come in the United States we have much to look forward to. We are up at 4.30am tomorrow morning – something we are NOT looking forward to – to catch a 7.30am flight to Heathrow before connecting through to Boston a few hours later.