Work and Play

While I buckled down on Monday and Tuesday like the good sabbatical researcher that I am, the rest of the crew has been galavanting about the country. 

To start the work week, I took the intercity train to Amersfoort in the center of the country for an interview at the Dutch water management research Center, STOWA. As always, the first order of business was offering me cappuccino.

 

Next, the program director Ludolph Wentholt described the organization as functioning much like Sea Grant does, but in this case the organization provides the link between knowledge development and the country's regional water boards http://www.dutchwaterauthorities.com/

And since Amersfoort was a new city for me, I took a walking tour that naturally included (you guessed it) ancient churches.

And Amsterdam was the destination for Kyle, Jane and the boys. From the tales I've been told, the crew covered Dam Square like a blanket 

Amsterdam Museum https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en

The Paleis Amsterdam

http://www.paleisamsterdam.nl/en

And a trip in a time machine 

Tuesday I was back at work with interviews at the Ministry of Finance where the director of Real Estate, Petra Meijboom, talked about the need for stakeholder engagement in any area development project the office conducts. 

But Katja has Tuesdays off, so she hosted the rest of the crew to a tour of Kinderdijk http://m.kinderdijk.com/info The area is reached by ferry and is a working museum of 19 windmills that pump water from the earth to create polders - the dried land that makes up much of the western part of the country.

The ferry continues on to Dordrecht where my host parents, Dick and Anke live, so the 4 made a stop to visit with them. luckily the boys were able to help them rid the cabinets of all the chips that were taking up so much space.

And now it is Wednesday, 6:45 in NL- 12:45 am in the US and Kyle and I are scrambling about packing. Today we begin our celebration of our 50th (!!!) birthdays with a week of kayaking in Denmark! And Jane will hold down the fort with the boys in The Hague (thanks again to Jane!)

Our place in Denmark has no wifi so I'm not sure how regular the blog posts will be in the next week, but will do my best. Such great times over here....