I will post other pictures soon--just the really good ones that I think might interest people. We actually took very few of ourselves, because we know what we look like, so most of the pictures are of beautiful vistas, fabulous chateaux, and other random things. And I discovered, upon seeing the picture of the bike garage in Amsterdam, that it's only a 2-story building, so I guess it swelled in my mind because it's so long and is crammed with bikes; it assumed epic proportions.

On Sunday we're going to take Boy 4 hours west to camp and he will be at camp for 4 weeks. I know he'll have a good time, but I will miss him So Much. And every day I'll wonder if this is the day he breaks a wrist or something [he tells us his plan is to, one by one, break every bone in his body so that he comes back in a full-body cast. funny boy.]. I hope he doesn't get homesick. I know he will, a little, because doesn't everyone get a little homesick at camp, even if they're having the best time ever? But I hope he doesn't get too homesick; I want this to be a great 4 weeks for him.

I'm going to finish up Amsterdam today, if you don't mind. While we were there we visited the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Venus Sex Museum (hey--when in Rome!). We also left Amsterdam for nearby Haarlem to visit Floriade, which was really cool. It was a flower and garden show, but it was so much more. It was also sort of an environmental exposition, and it included a large performance art piece (basically, men welding. all day long welding, every day. that's commitment). There was sort of a big hill you could walk up and see the whole grounds, or you could pay to ride up in a cart. We walked, so it wasn't until we got to the top that we realized no one was driving the carts. They were self-driven somehow. That was pretty cool.

And listen, I have to say this even though it is not a nice thing to say, but the US garden plot, or whatever, was actually very embarrassing. It was as if no one was taking care of it at all. Many things were dead, or on their way to dead, and the plants featured were not generally interesting varieties or anything. Seriously--other countries clearly were putting a lot of effort into their gardens (go Japan!), so it kind of seemed like the US didn't care. This is not a good message for us to be sending, and as soon as I figure out who to write to, someone is getting a letter.

Other random things about Amsterdam:

We saw city employees sweeping the streets a couple times, and they were using twig brooms with long, swoopy twigs. [actually the city employees in Paris also used twig brooms, but their twigs were plastic. twig brooms with plastic twigs.]

There was a store there called Hema that I fell in love with. It's like a Target only smaller. And with really cool things. How I long for a Hema near me!

Everywhere we went people were carrying orange plastic shopping bags (from the same store) and at one point we asked a waiter what store it was, and it was a grocery store. He directed us to it and it was underground. We went in and it was very nice--kind of upscale. We bought stroopwaffels (sp?), something I particularly wish Soupstain to know, as he left me a guestbook message in French this week and the only word I understood was stroopwaffels. We also bought a couple Kinder Eggs for Boy and some sugar in the long, skinny packets. I like those skinny sugar packets.

Lots of people live on houseboats in the canals. Many of the boats are decrepit-looking, but some have lots of flowerpots all over them and made me want to live in them.

Boating in the canals seems to be a popular pasttime. Every day we saw people in little motorboats cruising around with their Heinekins. I would too, if I lived there.

I know there are lots more things I could mention but my notes are at home and my lunch hour is over. Ergo, the Amsterdam battle is Ovah! (a la Iron Chef) I may write this weekend, but probably not. I'll be busy getting Boy packed and ready, and then on Sunday actually taking him to camp. Have a great weekend, kittycats!

Love,