All the trees of the field will clap their hands

Yesterday and today have been very busy, but now Jess and Ome Maarten en Tante Coby and I are all sitting in the living room, relaxing and watching Andre Rieu on the television. There is a creepy lady singing opera and dressed up as a doll. Angelee, this could be your future. Just kidding. You'd better be reading this, Ang, because that is the second special comment I've made just for you.

Well, yesterday Jess and I ventured off alone to Amsterdam (No Plan in Amsterdam '09). And we sat on some really sketchy seats in the train because we weren't sure what we were doing. But we got there, we bought a map, and we set off, without consulting the map. Well ok, I exaggerate, we did look at the map, but we didn't settle on a destination. Our strategy for the day was to wander the streets until we came to a church or large ornate building, then consult the map to see where we were, and set off again. We did find our way to the Anne Frank house, because we both wanted to see that. It was amazing. It's been at least ten years since I've read her diary, but the museum had excerpts painted on the walls, which was really cool.

Ok Ang, we just decided that you are more like the lady who is about to sing on t.v. now. She had voluptuous dark hair. On second thought, maybe not. For those of you who were wondering, she is singing "The Earth Song" and there are little children in white standing behind her for backup.

But the Anne Frank museum was really great. I wanted to cry a little when we got out. After that, we decided to go to the botanical gardens. To get there we walked through many streets, walked past many "coffee shops," and saw many people. The gardens were amazing. Jess and I were really excited about all the trees and ran around the greenhouses like children. But it was awesome because there were little paths and bridges and a catwalk up in the trees.

Today Jess and I were supposed to go on a bike tour with Gert en Joke, but the wind was too strong, so instead, we went to the dunes to hike. It was beautiful. Sand and trees and grasses. The leaves were starting to fall, so it was crunchy underfoot. And it smelled good. Leaves are probably the only things that smell good when they decay. And while we walked, we could hear the distant rush of the ocean, until the trees got thinner and shorter and dissapeared. We hiked over a giant sandy dune, and then we could see the beach. Jess and I took our shoes off and jumped over the waves and stole shells from the sea. It was so beautiful. I love the ocean. Then in the afternoon we went to Warmond with Gert and Joke and took a boat tour around some lakes and stopped at Kaag island where a little village was.