Assen, Netherlands

On Friday I finally arrived in Amsterdam to see my adorable neice and handsome nephew Lauren & Justin...and of course my wonderful sister. They met me at the airport afterwhich we drove to their home in Assen. First Lauren wanted to show me her school and then we drove out to one of the parks they like to bike ride in when the weather is warmer. The countryside is very pretty and green.



Saturday after having breakfast, we got ready & drove to Groningen which is about 20 minutes away from their home. First stop was a lunch fit for royalty...Burger King! (Where else do you go when you have young ones with you) I didn't even know they had Burger King's here. We then strolled through the market where you can buy anything from fresh produce, flowers, breads, cheeses & meats to textile items such as clothing, purses, shoes, etc. Just across the street from there was Martini Tower. Lauren, Dawn & I climbed all 370 steps to the top just behind the clock faces. We happen to get there just a few minutes to 3 pm and at promptly 3 the bells rang and scared the bejeezes out of us! You could see for miles from there and boy was it windy. Lauren counted the bells and we believe there are 13 with there being several different sizes.



On our way home we stopped by the market (grocery store) and picked up a few items for our trip tomorrow. The stores here are different than in the US. You pick up a scanner and scan items as you pick them up to place in your basket. When your done, you replace your scanner and pay. No having to wait in long checkout lines. Pretty neat. I had absolutely NO clue what I was looking at on the shelves half the time.



Tonight Dawn & Jason got to go out to dinner and a movie just the two of them (a rare event since they've been living here). The kids and I had pizza followed with popcorn and a movie...Sound Of Music (Lauren's favorite!) Til tomorrow...

PS - I can't get the slide show to post on here, but will keep trying. You may look at some in the meantime on my facebook site. (under April Ellisor Schmidt)