For so long, Ben and I were sitting around the house, doing nothing but watching dvds and drinking wine. I wondered to myself, "What do I blog about? Do have anything interesting to say? What can I do that would be blogworthy?"

The answer to my questions came in the form of two world travelers who finally made it to the Netherlands and were the first guests to stay in the guest room. Yes, on May 19, my parents arrived in Amsterdam.



Ben and I had never been to Amsterdam, so we gave them a day to sleep off the jet lag a bit and then took the train up to meet them and see the city before escorting them back to Eygelshoven. Amsterdam was pretty much as we expected it to be - pretty, rainy, and full of very mellow and happy people who had no doubt spent some time in one of the many "coffee shops" (where they can legally buy pot, and perhaps coffee too, but we wouldn't know). If anything, I think Amsterdam was a little tamer than we had expected. We totally missed the red light district, and the coffee shops were no more abundant than they are in our area. There sure were a heck of a lot of bikes though.



After Amsterdam, we came home and did all the local activities. There was much biking, and walking of dogs, a trip to Cologne to see the chocolate museum. It was a flurry of activity until early early Saturday morning when Ben dropped them off at the Maastricht train station so they could continue their European adventure in France, with plans for us to join them the following weekend.

In the next blog installment: Normandy beaches, crepes, and Pareeee. A demain!