Nice weather, for once!

My parents finally brought a little sunshine to Holland! :) On our first day together, we took a nice picnic to Vondelpark, and then took a canal cruise through the city. We capped the night off with some Dutch pancakes, and then hit the hay - it had been a long day for my parents. I was actually impressed - they stayed up until past 9, which was a great way to begin the process of getting used to the time change (6 hours from Ohio). Here are some pictures of our first day:

Dad and I enjoying our "Cool American" potato chips in Vondelpark

Mom and Dad with the statue of Vondel

The huge bicycle parking garage - thousands of bikes are parked here... good luck finding yours!

Dutch pancakes for dinner - we had a savory ham and cheese one first, then an apple and powdered sugar one.

On Sunday, we had a relaxing morning. One of my favorite things to do here is to have a nice big breakfast on Sunday, so Dad and I made breakfast while mom snoozed on... :) We then went Zaanse Schans, which is a pretty popular tourist attraction where you can see real functioning windmills, how wooden shoes are made, and taste some yummy Dutch cheese. It was so-so, I'd say. There was stagnant water in the canals, so they smelled SO BAD!! I did enjoy the wooden shoe demonstration - they make each one in about 5 minutes! Amazing!

Dad and I - the gourmet chefs

Well, we SORT of fit in the famous wooden shoe on Dam Square in Amsterdam

Wedding clogs or "klompen" at Zaanse Schans

Real windmills!! And it was windy, so they were working! :)