I went to The Netherlands on April 3 for almost two weeks. Here are some pics I took along the way. Here are a few pictures of Easter. Aiden and Jasmine are wearing the lollipop lips I gave them.
We played a dart game for fun.
We went to an amusement park called Efteling. Imagine King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table for an idea how it was. There were many rides, theme restaurants, and fun.
We walked through an Elf land. We got to see where the elves live and work.
We went in a ride that lifted up very high above the park. It also turned very slowly so you could see the whole park and land around it.
Here's a picture of Adam and Aiden driving a car.
Here are a few pictures of Aiden playing around. Aiden has endless energy and he can play all the time. He doesn't get tired at all. Since I was there in November Aiden is a lot better at sharing his toys and playing with another person. He likes playing with cars and trucks. He also liked playing with bubbles and going into his little tiny house.
There were many beautiful paintings at the museum.
The one ceiling was painted very abstractly.
Here is,
"The Girl with the Pearl Earring"
Here is the outside of the Maritshuis Museum.
I also went to the Galerij Prins Willem V. It was one large room with many nice painting. Also, I went to the Museum de Gevangenpoort. This museum was a prison museum. For many years in The Netherlands people only went to prison to await their trial or punishment. People were sentence with shaming things, physical abuse, or death. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures inside the museum.
Adam, Lirio, Aiden and I went to Brussels for a night. Here are some pictures in Brussels.
Adam, Aiden, and I.
Here is the statue of the peeing boy from the 16th century.
Mannekin Pis is it's offical name. You will see peeing boy souvenirs everywhere. Also, there are statues all over Brussels in front of stores and restaurants.
Some interesting street art in Brussels.
Also, later in the night Adam and I found the statue of the peeing woman. The statue is behind metal gates to protect it at night from the drunk people and vandals. It was put in in 1985 and is a newer statue to see in the city.
The next day we went to see the Atomium. This big structure is over 100 meters tall and you can go inside it. It was built for the World Fair in Brussels in 1958. At the top there is a restaurant and an observation deck. The Atomium as 9 spheres and you can go into 5 of them. At night the spheres are lit up with LED lights.
Here is a view from the top all the way down.
Here's one of the escalators in an arm connecting the spheres.
There was an exhibit inside some of the spheres that had all orange things from he 60's and 70's.
These are sphere beds that you can sleep in over night. Teachers can bring their classes to the Atomium for an overnight trip. It definitely would be a trip to remember for years to come.
Here is the escalator going down in the Atomium. It kept changing color on the way down while playing dramatic music.
We also went to Antwerp and there was a carnival outside the train station. Here are a few pictures. We ate lunch there. It started to rain pretty heavy, so we left.
One day we went to The Keukenhof. It is only open two months a year and has many tulips and other flowers. I will only share some of the pictures to give you a feel for it.
We were inside one of the exhibition halls. Here is a picture of Lirio's mother and father. The theme was love this year.
This is a flower bed, with actual pillows, haha.
Here is an old-style windmill.
There was lots of food available to eat. There were ham and mustard sandwiches, fish sandwiches, dutch waffles and Belgium waffles.
They also had a selfie-garden where you could take your own photo in the mirrors.
The Keukenhof had many fun things for the kids to do. There were playgrounds for the kids to play at. Also, there were animals that kids could feed and pet. Also, there were many restaurants to eat at.
