Zaanse Schans: the first Zed

Not to confuse you but, YES, we are back safe-n-sound here in Atlanta. Well, that is to say that I am. Donica is heading back to Europe, as we speak, for meetings in Copenhagen this week. But she'll be back on Friday.

In the meantime, during our last stint in Amsterdam, I made two photo-hunt trips to towns beginning with the letter zed (in Dutch, that would be zet). I'll start with the last one first because we took Lesley and Chris with us while they were visiting us and when Donica had her Easter holiday a week ago today.

Zaanse Schans is one of those tourist traps you do NOT want to miss!

And Lesley and Chris were totally game!

But why I love it to death (having been there twice 9 years ago) is a no-brainer! DUH!

More windmills than you can shake a stick at!

Wonderful pieces of Holland trivia that remind me of rural "anywhere."

And friendly sheep all over the place....

Even in a touristy place like Zaanse Schans, there is plenty of peace to keep you going back. Trust me. And it's just a short train ride away from the big city!

So, has spring hit you yet? I have a feeling we'll be seeing more and more of it every day now, even though it's been only in the 40's and low 50's here in Atlanta. Give it a day or two and we'll be in shirt sleeves again!

Family and Friends

By now, y'all know that I just LOVE meeting up with my blogger friends, especially ones I have known for as long as I've been blogging, since January of 2005!

SO, meet Orange-X and CanadianSwiss, husband and wife team living in Basel, Switzerland!

I have wanted to meet them since forever! We knew it would happen one day and, YES, finally it did. It helps that O-X is originally from Amsterdam (thus the Orange of his blogging name, Holland's color!), where his parents still live. So on this Easter weekend, I was lucky to finally connect.

Three years of blogging later, CS and I finally got to sit side by side and share a hug. I am such a glutton!

And believe it or not, I brought the bloggers over to our Amsterdam apartment and before they left, Chris and Lesley came in from their daily out-n-about, and met each other. Bloggers and family mixing and matching. How fun.

I just HAD to show TWO photos of Chris because in the second one, you can see the twinkle in his eye. Lesley, my niece, has always been bubbly for as long as I've known her. But the jury was still out on Chris because he was so quiet when we first met him, both in NYC last year and here in Amsterdam. BUT, give him a few hours, and then a few days, and he just gets better and better. What a fantastic sense of dry humor. And character. He says he's had his beard for 17 years, half of his life!

By now, Chris and Lesley have seen so much of Amsterdam, walking all over tarnation through wind, rain, sun and snow, that I think they may have seen more than I have in my year here! Actually, they HAVE visited the Nemo Science Museum, where there are great views of the city. So that's their gift to me...something to see that I haven't yet seen. Maybe this week I'll get there, after they're gone.

Donica will take the day off on Monday, because it's an Easter holiday here in Holland. We plan to take a nice side trip to nearby Zaanse Schans, the last day before the kids leave on Tuesday.

Apart from all the religious significance of this weekend, I was thinking about how holidays like this often mean connecting with family and friends. Even on the other side of the world, we are lucky! Hopefully you are as well, enjoying the presence of those you love.

Resurrection joy and life to us all!