Impressions of the Netherlands

Now that we are in Berlin, attempting to type on these cryptic devices resembling keyboards, we reflect on land we have left behind.

1) smart escalators: These things are awesome! The escalators stop when nobody is using them... but if you walk towards it, it will start moving in the direction you are going. Cool, eh?
2) bicycles: Everyone uses them. They seem to be the primary source of transportation... the family van is two bicycles. Very eco-friendly.
3) nice: The people are nice! They are always willing to help out in a very friendly manner. We were never looked down upon because we were tourists.
4) language: Everyone here speaks English! We hardly had a chance to practice using Dutch, because their English is so fluent. I find this amazing, since it is not an official language there. Do you think that 85% of anglophones in Canada speak fluent French? (And yes, I am in the guilty party)
5) chocolate: From what I have been able to determine, it is a requirement to eat chocolate for breakfast. There is a chocolate spread (essentially Nutella) available in the hostels to put on your toast, and I think it's a great idea. It's important to get your daily requirements of chocolate. They also have chocolate sprinkles to put on toast, and a myriad of other sweets. On another topic, I seem to have gained about 50 pounds...

Impressions of England

I haven't posted in a while, so let's rewind a bit. Here are some random observations we've made of England.

1) roundabouts: They're fantastic! I wish we had more of them back home. It's great to be able to drive 15 minutes through a city without stopping.
2) yellow lights: I'm referring to the yellow traffic light that transitions from green to red. Well, they also show the yellow light when going from red to green. I thought this was very cool, because it eliminates those people who watch the lights of cross traffic and almost always jump the gun.
3) the eyes: It seems that every major city seems to have it's own "eye". We used to think that it was always a ferris-wheel, but as evidenced by Bournemouth, it can be a balloon as well. It's a great way to see the city.
4) the language: Everyone here speaks English! Or some form of it at least, so we were able to communicate quite easily.
5) highway courtesy: The people understand how highways (dual-carriageways) are supposed to work. Fast cars go in the right lane, and slowest in the left (remember, they drive on the wrong side of the road ,)). And if a fast car is coming up behind you, you move over to a slower lane. The traffic is much smoother.

Overloaded on art yet?

I don't know if we are overloaded on art yet or not. Since our last post, we have spent three days in Amsterdam visiting Museums and seeing all sorts of sights. Unfortunately, this post is going to be with out pictures. I cannot find a USB connection on this computer in the internet cafe. Boo!

In Amsterdam we saw the major museums: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and the natural history museum to name a few. We also went into the New Church and saw their Fashion DNA exhibit. I liked it because it explained how some fashions changed due to other factors then taste. For example corsets became shorter when bicycles became cheaper. A shorter corset allowed for more mobility. We took a canal tour and enjoyed dinner by the canal. Most of this was done in the rain. There were some sunny points in the day when we took the pictures, so when we get back we will forget that it rained a lot.

We are currently staying in Rotterdam...In the rain. Right now it rains most of the morning and then clears up before noon. Yesterday we took the Water taxi to Kinderdijk to see the Windmills. We rented bikes for two hours and enjoyed the views. Today we visited Delft and Den Hague. In Den Hague we went to Madurodam which has miniature replicas (1:25 is the ratio) of places in the Netherlands. George would now like to buy a train set.

Tomorrow we would like to see the MC Escher Museum and Mauritshuis where the "Girl in the Turban"or "the "Girl with the pearl earring" resides. We aren't done yet, we have barely scratched the surface.

A random thought: When washing machines were first invented, were they front loading or top loading?