It is a fair bet that Sam would not have picked up the word "boat" so quickly without our recent trip to Amsterdam. There are precious few of them around landlocked Derbyshire - Holland on the other hand delighted both the boys with it's range of transportation possibilities.
"Bike" was also a word I heard frequently from my almost-two-year-old's mouth, and there did seem to be more of those than people. In fact, Jason and I wondered whether anyone would notice if we took two of the more abandoned looking ones home. We have been rather unsuccessful with our attempt to buy bikes on eBay, so miserly is our bidding.
Our last day there was perfect and just as I imagined it would be - strolling along cobbled lanes in the dappled early summer sunshine, enjoying the markets, parks and playgrounds, drinking great coffee and even the quick dash into the quirky Amsterdam boutiques I adore.
Unfortunate, then, that the rest of our stay was cold, windy and wet. Not ideal sightseeing weather with kids, but they probably would have been happy to ride around on trams and canal boats all day long. Which is pretty much what we did, apart from one diversion to the whacky NEMO (science museum), which was filled with over-excited Dutch kids...
Despite my friends' suggestion that "a couple of stoned kids would make for a relaxing holiday" we could not, even if we had wanted to, go with that option. To escape yet another downpour, I rushed into what looked like a groovy little cafe in the Jordaan neighbourhood with Dylan, only to be greeted with the stern face of the owner "no, no under-18s allowed". As if the whiff I had caught opening the door hadn't already given that away. So we had to make do with the rather more downmarket cafe further up the road, breathing in toxic tobacco smoke and wrestling a small dog away from Sam's battered bunny.
We did have a great time, and the boys were both so excited by all the things to see around them - being in a vibrant city again was refreshing after the isolation of Yew Tree Cottage. Just being able to eat out at an Italian restaurant around the block was a novelty.
One lesson learned though, was our accommodation. We booked an apartment online, which I had understood from the text and photos to be a one-bedroom, but turned out to be a studio with the worlds smallest toilet and two single beds - so Jason and I (separately) enjoyed three nights of Sam's disturbed travel-cot snoring, as well as a dawn-wakening thanks to the lack of blinds on a south facing window. The heating didn't work - which ordinarily would not be a problem in late May in Amsterdam, but it was unseasonably cold and one of the windows didn't shut properly. We finally, on our last night, got one of the rental agency people to drop over an electric heater. They cheerfully informed us by text as we boarded our flight that all problems had been fixed. Well, that was a relief for us then!
We clearly have a few more travelling-with-kids lessons to learn before our next adventure in Tuscany. I'll just got check on that villa description again...
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