Netherlands vacation

The second half of last week we took a trip to the Netherlands. Actually, we took two trips, or at least one and a half. Naomi had a conference in Rotterdam on Thursday and Friday, and she left early Thursday morning. Later Thursday morning, the rest of us—me and the girls, plus my brother Larry, who was visiting for the week—took off for The Hague. Friday evening Naomi hooked up with us in the Hague, and Saturday we took a day trip to Amsterdam, and then an evening train back to Brussels.

Our (all of us except Naomi) trip got off to an inauspicious beginning when the train we planned to take from Brussels to The Hague got supprimé (canceled), and the next train was not for another hour. But we took the lemons and made lemonade by taking a train to Antwerp, thereby affording Larry the opportunity to see the magnificent train station and nice nearby square, which the rest of us had seen on our trip to the Antwerp Zoo. (There also happened to be a gigantic inflated dinosaur taking up most of the square.) Back at the station, we purchased lunches to go, and then got on the next train to The Hague. About an hour and a half later we arrived at The Hague HS Station. Deboarding was not as straightforward as we had hoped, with the result that Larry didn't get off the train before the doors closed on him—and the doors didn't open again, despite our button pushing and efforts to get the conductor's attention. But Larry managed to turn around and meet us at our final train station destination for the day, The Hague Central Station, with a net loss of less than an hour (not including the other hour due to the original canceled train).

In The Hague we stayed at the vacant apartment of the Keanes, family friends from way back. Keane son Maurice and family live in The Hague, and he met us at the apartment (which was conveniently close to the Central Station) to give us the key and orient us. Maurice left, and then we did some hanging out and grocery shopping and ate a take-out dinner. Also, the display on my laptop died that night; every time I powered it up it looked like it was melting—very cool looking, but the laptop was effectively useless, and unfortunately I had had real plans for it.

The next day, Friday the 17th, we took a walk around the center of town, looking for a playground. We found some kind of obstacle course, which the girls liked, but honestly it wasn't that great for them. But as Rummy might say, you play on the playground you have, not the one you want, and that's what we did.

Later in the day, we met up with Maurice's family on the beach, near where they live. Maurice was not actually there, but his wife Alexandra and kids Berber, Daudi, and Lois were. Then we hung out at their house, where Naomi and Maurice eventually and separately joined us, and the kids had dinner. It's also where JoJo played a bunch of Wii sports games—tennis, bowling, golf.

Saturday we briefly met Maurice and his kids at the apartment, to transfer ownership back to the Keane clan, and then we headed up to Amsterdam to meet the other Keane son, Marcus, and his wife Fareeda and newborn Alexander. We had a nice lunch at their place, and then we went for a walk around Vondelpark, to the center of town. There we (minus Marcus and family) took a canal ride, which was a pleasant and interesting way to see the city and harbor. The canal system is quite extensive, and the "no parking" signs on the inside walls of the canals cracked me up.

We nearly had to abort our visit with Marcus' family due to bizarre circumstances, but fortunately it all worked out in the end. Lois came down with chicken pox. Our girls haven't had it, but they have been vaccinated. Nevertheless, there were questions about how Alexander could be affected. Fareeda called a doctor friend, who said that Alexander is well protected by Fareeda's antibodies, through one of the miracles of breastfeeding.

It was great fun for me seeing Maurice and Marcus and their families. I hadn't seen them in literally 30 years, and I had not previously met their wives and kids. I tried to reconcile their looks and personalities with how I remember them from so many years ago. (Larry had seen them all in modern history, except for Alexander. He had also previously stayed at the apartment in The Hague, and loved people-watching out the living room window.)

We did not partake of Amsterdam's infamous offerings, but I would have, if the girls weren't with me, and if I were single, and if I were basically not the guy that I am. We observed that there were many cyclists around The Hague and Amsterdam, with large bicycle parking lots outside the train stations (the one outside Amsterdan Central Station was comically large), and only a single cyclist wearing bike helmet.