Well, the rain has finally stopped after five days of solidily pouring. That’s nice.
We’ve been back a week now and, whilst it felt strange at first, it’s now as if we’d never been away. The familiar old rhythm has returned. Life in the same place every day doesn’t half seem mundane compared with the sensory stimulation of travel, though, with new sights and sounds to be experienced every day.
The cessation of the rain was just in time for Amsterdam Pride, the annual maritime homo carnival along the capital’s canals. I hadn’t ever bothered to go before and we missed last year’s parade by one week (we moved to Amsterdam from the US in the week following), so this time the three of us went along on the bikes.
Permits had only been granted at the last minute this year and many people thought it wouldn’t be able to go ahead, so there were fewer boats and it all seemed toned down a bit. Nevertheless, there were plenty of bare buttocks and dicks flapping in the breeze, plus, of course, lots of outrageous costumes. Eloïse seemed to enjoy herself.
Speaking of the world’s most demanding small person, we received a letter confirming that Eloïse has been assured of a place at the local Montessori school, so we’re very happy about that. There are few things more important to your child’s upbringing than determining the place where they will be educated, where they will socialise, be shaped and moulded. It’s nice to have that box ticked at this early stage.
Eloïse became very aware of animals during our recent travels around Central Europe, so we took her to Artis last Monday. She actually wasn’t all that interested in the exotic animals and seems to prefer the ones to which she’s grown accustomed, such as dogs, cats and horses. Whenever she sees a horse, she points at it and loudly shouts, “Ba! Ba! Ba!”. Only being taken out on the bicycle meets with similar enthusiasm.
Today, I took her to the sandpit in the Vondelpark, while Sarah stayed at home and weeded our geveltuin (a small, pavement-level enclosure at the front of the house, in which one can put plants and flowers. The local council lays these for free on request, to contribute to the overall image of the street). She didn’t seem in the mood for it, however, so we left after hallf an hour and went biking around the park before returning home.