Field Trip!

Monday March 19th


When I woke up this morning the sky was a beautiful blue! This would be a good day to take a train ride, I thought to myself. After giving the kids broodjes with hazelnut/white chocolate spread and oranges, and downing two coffees myself we set out for the station. A quick 5 minute walk and we arrived, and we were happy to see that the sign said a train was due in 2 minutes. I love when you have that info, much easier to wait than to wonder a peer down the tracks. The train is clean and comfortable and rockets us into Rotterdam in no time. Out in Pijnacker the train is above ground, but as we enter the city it goes below. Danny, the master navigator, has our route planned out. We disembark at Leeuwahawen and we climb the stairs to street level right across the street from the hotel we stayed at last month! Danny and I are excited to show the girls around. We walk into the lobby and head straight for the elevators, acting like we are guests. No one questions us. We ride to floor 8 and get a housekeeper to let us into the pool and fitness room (if I knew it would be that easy I would have brought swim suits!) The girls think that it is really cool, especially when we continue up to the 15th floor and look out over the harbour and the Erasmus bridge.
We exit the hotel and head for the bridge. Danny and I are laughing about the change of weather since we were last here! We decide to walk over the bridge, and it is perfect, warm sun, sparkling water, lots of boats, perfect! We stop at the midpoint and watch barges, freighters and water taxis go under us. We wave at a Captain and he waves back! We walk to the other end, then we cross back and walk toward the shopping area. We stop at Van Haren and get Molly some new shoes, then the tourist info booth for updated spring information, then we plunge into the shops. Loads of people are out sunning, strolling and shopping and we join the throngs. We go to C&A and wander a bit, and we end up finding a cute outfit that Molly buys with her Nana birthday money, and a fedora for Danny that is reasonably priced. He has been pricing out a new one and is so thrilled with his choice that he wears it out of the store! We end up at McDonalds(I KNOW!!) but Danny wants to try the apple/pear milkshake, and they have a Monday McChicken special, and the kids are starved….that’s my excuse! Re=energized we head out for more strolling and shopping, and then end at Hopper, our favourite coffee shop, which Charlotte has been dying to visit. She gets her latte, Danny a cappuccino, Mol a cocoa, and a coffee for me, plus WIFI!! Joy! I email away while we sip and people watch. The only bad part comes after the I realize that the photo Danny took of me and I emailed to people shows that I have a gray tooth! True? Or trick of light? Who the heck knows--what I know is I look like a Hillbilly for Pete’s sake! Crest white strips here I come!!!