Overwhelming...

Wow! Just packing up to leave Amsterdam and getting ready to head back to the airport where we're going to pick up the car we leased. The fellow who leases the cars told us we really didn't want to try to drive in Amsterdam and now that we've been here for 4 days I can see why! All I can say is "what were we thinking?" I'm a bit nervous about picking up the car and starting to drive in Europe, but here goes. Everyone else seems to manage, so hopefully we'll be ok too. Ralph's uncle is going to meet us in Leiden and we'll follow him into The Hague to their house. So, wish us luck. We're looking forward to seeing open countryside, windmills and the beaches. Amsterdam is amazing, but for our little hick brains it's all overwhelming. The city doesn't sleep. There is never a time in the night or day when it's quiet...ever! We were right in the centre of the city, which was very cool because we were able to just sit and people watch. Aidan and I would open our apt window wide, lean out and just watch the street action below. There was never a dull moment.

Probably the highlight of Amsterdam for me was seeing Anne Frank's house. I was so moved when reading her diary when I was younger that to see where she actually lived and wrote and to try to imagine what it must've been like was very emotional. I'm looking foward to seeing even more history as we move along. We've all enjoyed learning more about the artists Van Gogh and Rembrandt. We went to Rembrandt's house and saw his studio where he painted his masterpieces and learned about his etchings. Fascinating. We saw how they made paint back in the day and took the "recipe" with us. Might be a project for Ralph and his students next year. Ralph is feeling very inspired here and we've only just begun!

One more sleep...

Today started out very promising. Restless night (due to the excitement). Aidan had his last exam at 1pm (Science) and he just couldn't sit still to study he was so excited. Singing, dancing, running around the property, bouncing on the trampoline...anything but studying. He just wanted to get going. After a very long list of things to do before we left and things to remember, we were almost on our way when I decided that I would try to "fix" our internet problem with our desktop computer before we left so the boys (our house sitting guys) would have internet on that computer. Well, after a call to Shaw who assured me the cable was working, I was put onto the "router" guy from Linksys, who happened to be all the way in India. He assured me I just had to do an upgrade (15 minutes) and all would be good to go. I was watching the clock..."ok, I have time to do this before I have to leave for the ferry." Well, an hour later and after getting my feet tangled in the cords of the computer and falling on my elbow and knee...no hands out to brace because I was holding the phone and running for my cell phone, I was finally told, "no, there is a problem with your tower." Cursing was involved in this drama...a few times (the fall and the unsuccessful attempt at fixing the problem.) Oh well, at least the guys will have wireless for their laptops. I should've just left well enough alone tho! The rush was then on to get to the ferry. Once aboard we settled in, ate at the buffet, saw whales, read the paper and slowly started to feel like we were on our way. Finally, a year in the planning (and lots of saving) and we are actually going to Europe. Seeing Kira tomorrow when we arrive in Amsterdam is an added bonus. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to do pictures as we get rolling. For now, we are 'chillin at the Holiday Inn' (until tomorrow! :)

The countdown is on...

Well, we are now just two days to go before we head to Vancouver to catch our flight. The haircuts, shopping, clothes, cameras, batteries, chargers, suitcases have all been organized and are ready for packing. The house has been scoured clean and emptied ready for our house sitters and the horse was moved today to our friends house where I know he'll be well cared for. The only real thing left to do now is pack our bags and go. Only problem is Aidan and Ralph still have two more days of school. Aidan has exams (on Monday and Tuesday) and Ralph will be overseeing students who are writing exams. Me, I'll be finishing up a few files at work and then transferring them over to my very capable colleagues. Looking forward to seeing Kira on Thursday morning when we arrive in Amsterdam. It's been almost 5 months since we've seen her...although with Skype and Facebook we haven't felt like we've lost touch, which is great. Getting the blog set up and figuring out our TomTom GPS system for Europe are next on our list of things to do before we leave :)