Of course, as is everything in Europe on our vacation, the train station was having a massive amount of construction, but we finally found our way down to the center of town. I had basically one place I wanted to stop - Corrie Ten Boom's house - but the English-speaking tour wasn't for a good hour. So, we wandered to the main square. It would have been quite picturesque ... if there hadn't been a huge fair being set up taking over the entire square. We munched on some food and read the guidebook and decided to tour the church.
The church was quite old and interesting, but the best part was the organ which someone played sporadically the entire time we were there. The bathroom was also a highlight - and free. Andrew and Seth were not terribly excited about the church, but I figured we would have time to stop off and get a few chicken nuggets at the McDonald we spied on the way in (bribe for Andrew) and feed Seth so they would both be well behaved for an hour-long tour in a very small house.
Alas, we had a grand 5 minutes to rush to the tour. The little house was packed with a good 25 people at least in the tiny Ten Boom living room. Andrew was a bit antsy, but Seth was practically hysterical, at which point there were 50 eyes on me and no where to go. The tour was very nice. The tour guide told us about Corrie Ten Boom and her family; I especially liked how it was unabashedly Christian and discussed often how God would be there for us no matter how bad the circumstances. Seeing the hiding place itself was very interesting, too. Andrew and Katsu even tried hiding inside. I would highly recommend the book, The Hiding Place, for those who haven't read it.
We rewarded (bribed?) Andrew at McDonalds afterwards, Seth happily ate and fell asleep, and after getting sandwiches at our favorite grocery store, we took the train to Rotterdam.
By this time, I had to get to my conference NOW and there just wasn't time for me to go to our new hotel, 20 minute walk away, and check-in and come back. I couldn't quite remember what the name of the conference center was, but luckily, I found it on the map, I checked in and fed Seth, kept one of the large rolling bags, and sent Katsu off on his way with the rest of the bags and both kids with plans to meet up at 6 when I was done.
I am not sure exactly how Katsu made it there by himself. Probably 30 minute walk for him. There is a huge construction right by the hotel and sand everywhere and huge holes just next to the sidewalk. We stayed at a family-run hotel. They were nice, but impossible to get a hold of and around at random times. They served a nice breakfast every day and gave the kids toys to play with. They even let us do our laundry there, too. But they didn't really get everything sometimes and were not helpful in the least when it came to us being stranded in Europe. But at least they were cheap and we were able to stay there for a whole week until we finally flew out.
Our room was up four flights of small steep stairs. Somehow Katsu managed most of the luggage and the kids up. After a rest, they went walking around Delftshaven - the area around our hotel and the only historical region of Rotterdam as everything else was destroyed during bombing in WWII. They say the original church the Pilgrims sailed from, though I don't think we got any pictures of it.
Overall, the kids really enjoyed being with Katsu. Andrew found every playground around and loved playing at them. They got to watch TV and even see the Dutch version of Sesame Street - Andrew did not think it was the same.
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