My first visitor!

The past week or so has been a week of firsts! The first first was my first visitor!! Lisa came to visit me for the weekend- the school she teaches at had Friday and Monday off so she came Saturday morning and left Monday afternoon. She rode on the back of my bicycle the whole weekend- there's a kind of rack on the back, and we strapped on a towel so her hiney wouldn't be too sore! She also brought me so many wonderful things from our friend back in New York- most of which were baking things that I can't find here! Thank you to everyone who sent me such great treats!

We walked through the market Saturday afternoon and had our first warm stroopwafels (well, the first for Lisa and me, but obviously not for René). If you haven't had the privilege to eat a stroopwafel, please tell me and I will bring you back some at Christmas! They really are delectable- two thin crispy waffles with a layer of yummy syrupy goodness in between! Ah!

We then met up with Rosie and all went to the windmill museum here in Leiden. The inside of the bottom section was a house- I'm not sure if people lived in them when they were working too, but I know that since the old windmills have slowly stopped working, some of them have been turned into houses. The top section was the inner workings of the windmill, which were very interesting, especially to Lisa, who had taught her third graders last year all about windmills and all things Dutch during their New Amsterdam history unit.

After the windmill we tried to go to the Corpus Museum, where you can walk through the human body one part at a time and learn how it all works! However, since it's still new and very busy and only has tours that leave periodically, you need to make an appointment for a tour. We didn't know that ahead of time so we didn't have an appointment and had to leave without getting to go in.

Our next failed mission was to try to rent a boat for 6 euros an hour to row through the canals of Leiden. Sadly, the boat rental place was already closed for the winter! :( But we did get to see a statue of Rembrandt as a child and the place where they think he was born! Right here in Leiden!

We met up with Rosie's boyfriend Mark and our friend Tom at the pannekoekenhuisje (little pancake house) and the pannekoeken made up for the past two failures! Pannekoeken are Dutch pancakes that are kind of in between American pancakes and crepes- they're flatter and bigger and you can put lots of yummy sweet or savory stuff on it or in it. My personal favorite is with ham, cheese, onions, potatoes and peas (yes mom, peas- I know, it's kind of amazing!) Lisa got one with bacon, pineapple and cheese! So yummy!

Afterwards we took Lisa to a grocery store because she was interested in what it is like. There we got some yummy snacks because we were all coming back to our apartment to play Fluxx, which is an amazingly confusing but awesome card game. It was during the game that I successfully shoved a whole third of a piece of tompoes into my mouth. We have pictures and a video to prove it!

Sunday after church we took Lisa to Amsterdam. I had never been either, and I don't think I'll be going back soon. I have even more appreciation for Leiden after going to Amsterdam. It was fine, and there are some very lovely parts, but there are also some not so lovely parts that are near the train station and easy to mistakenly wander into. But we got to see the Van Gogh museum, which strangely had a lot of Rembrandt too- I guess those Dutch painters have to stick together- and we got traditional Dutch food for dinner- stampot (mashed potatoes with cabbage, spinach, carrots, or other similar veggies mixed in) and meatballs.

Monday morning I gave Lisa my keys and phone and she wandered around Leiden all morning taking pictures since I had Dutch class. After I got home I brought her to the airport all by myself- it's not hard, but I seem to have a knack for jumping on the wrong train just as it is about to leave . . . But we made it without any problems and sadly Lisa headed back across the ocean! And that was the end of my first overseas visitor! It was fabulous, and we look forward to having more visitors in the future!!