A minor disaster struck when we returned from The Hague and our so, so successful ancestor search last Tuesday! When we arrived, the building was being covered in scaffolding. It seemed like a surprise to everyone, including the retail businesses on the ground floor. Scaffolding is bad enough but they also cover it in mesh, so you are in a cocoon when you pass the threshold. Oh, it was an alarming development.

In the end there's nothing to be done. We can rail at the stars, threaten to sue, leave in a huff (to nowhere) or accept our fate. We chose the last. We had two glorious weeks of unfettered view that is not to be had elsewhere in Holland. The silver lining is that we are on the top floor (4th//5th floor) and the mesh only comes to the middle of the beautiful windows looking out over the Western Market and church. The workmen are very polite, the apartment lends itself to being partitioned off, as do so many apartments we've encountered in Europe. Also they are working on the lower floors just now. They will be painting. The apartment owner seems as genuinely surprised as everyone else that the job started this week. She offered to refund the unused portion, we didn't accept because we only have a week to go and so far it hasn't been too bad.  Of course, after the workers put up the scaffolding, "at the weekend" kicked in. So it's been quiet. We'll see how it goes this week. To our great sorrow, the Amsterdam is coming to an end in ONE WEEK.

It's been fun being in yet another culture. For example, both Alan and I have remarked on the difference in the walking style of the Dutch compared to the Irish. The Dutch don't stop in the middle of the sidewalk to chat or adjust the pram or light up. The middle of the sidewalk (path) is for keeping moving, preferably fast. This we like. But for another, unlike the Irish, they fill up any available space, so if you hesitate for one second in claiming your little spot on the corner or in the square, too bad for you! And they don't smile or say: "Ah, go on love." This we don't like.

We've had to use all our reasoning power when we first got to Ireland to convince ourselves that the locals weren't intentionally trying to annoy us when they would stop, for no apparent reason, right in front of us, usually at a pinch point. There are so many of these small cultural nuances that seem to make the difference between day to day living and observing a culture as a visitor from elsewhere. These things are so small they don't glare out at you. But, if you spend even the smallest amount of time, you discover on your own. Some you like, some you get used to and some you tolerate. Seeing these things is what I like most about this adventure.

The first few days in Amsterdam we were pretty terrified of getting run down by any type of conveyance. Trollies, trucks, cars, tightly clustered pedestrians on tours, horses and bikes, bikes, bikes seem to come at you from every angle. It's all amazingly orderly once you get the hang of it, but you must conform. This is so against my nature that I've taken to acting quite passive in the streets and letting Alan lead me around. I find if I can relax as much as possible, he can pull me along quite easily. I'm like his zombie. Problems arise when he lets go, or a shiny thing catches my eye.

We haven't gotten back to the Rijks Museum. On our way there last Wednesday, we were distracted by the Amsterdam City Museum on the way and went there instead. We've been to that museum several times in past visits, and they have a new interactive Amsterdam City history exhibition that was quite good. We both enjoyed it.

On Friday, we rented bikes and rode to Haarlem. It was a nice ride, the bikes you can rent are good, but it wasn't very picturesque, kinda boring really. The real disappointment was that Haarlem isn't that nice a place either. Not bad but like biking from The Mall in DC to Hyattsville. Once you get there you wonder why you came.

On Saturday we took the ferry across The Eye to Norrd. This is a newer neighborhood of Amsterdam across the bay. The more I'm here, the more I'm impressed with the first bike guide's reminder that the 'forrest' we were riding through was, like everything in Amsterdam, "built environment". Nothing naturally occured where you are standing that wasn't first built by the Dutch. It's really astounding.

On Sunday we went to Delft. The train ride was fun as was walking around the old city early Sunday morning (before 11 a.m., things start late, much later than I thought). Otherwise I thought the city was pretty touristy, like Williamsburg, only the set is real too. Bruges in Belgium was a much, much better example of the period. Still, it was nice. I was disappointed that the Delft Factory, and many of the antique shops, were closed on Sunday.

Today we caught up on housekeeping, both corporeal and organizational. I see I have a preference for Mondays for that...Hmmmm.

During the time it has taken me to write this, I've advanced from acceptance to grim acceptance of the building maintenance. When I began to write this post, the workers had been on site for at least two hours. Alan, ever the early riser, was up at 7, so we can count on the punctual 8 a.m. start time as he's seen it twice now. It was quiet and except if I passed the room where I could see the scaffold veil, I didn't care. Alan spent the morning preparing for our trip to his home place tomorrow. When we broke for lunch, I got my first whiff of paint, and it reminded me of what's to come. Now they are using a grinder on the facade, not the trim. This causes the entire building to vibrate. But, they WILL stop at 4.

I'm now motivated to ensure that we use our last week here to good use. Tomorrow we go to Groningen and Kloosterburen, Alan's ancestor's last home in Holland. We are about to go to the town that nurtured the guy that brought the Balkema name to America. This is akin to my going to Moate, the town in Ireland from which my father emigrated to bring our branch of the Dignam family to America. What a moment! Hopefully it will be fun and we don't find it's Holland's Amityville.