Reba Lives: The difficulties of taking pictures with humans in them...

My daddy always taught me that a picture isn't worth anything if there's not a person in it...I tried ALL DAY to keep that in mind, but sometimes a place is just so beautiful that the picture has to tell it. I'm not in all of these, but I hope you enjoy them, or at least get a taste of what this place is really like...even if there's no human face in it.

My body woke me up much earlier than I wanted her to. Once at 3a.m., again at 4a.m., 6a.m., 8a.m. and finally at 10a.m. when I told her it was okay to get out of bed. Jet lag's a bitch ya'll!! Once we got out of bed and sufficiently ready for the day we went out to the market square where we were surprised with something better than Christmas!! It was market day on the square, everybody!! We felt like kids in a candy shop!! There was more fresh food, and fashion wares, and pretty sparkly thangs than a girl could handle!! We bought a breakfast of freshly squeezed juice and vegetarian pot pies...mmmm...delectable.

After we finished breakfee we walked down to the De Adriaan, a beautiful piece of Dutch history in the form of a windmill. So. Gorgeous. Ally bought her momma a pair of kitchy, tiny, porcelain dutch clogs and I thought about buying some kitchy dutch undergarments with windmills on them...hmm...too much?

We had espresso out in front of the landmark which brings me to my next topic of discussion...waiters...the wait staff is so different here. Now, to preface this rant, I'm the devoted sister to a career waiter. My brother is specific and perfect when it comes to his job. The waiters here...not so much... First of all, after our first encounter with Dutch service, Ally and I looked up the tipping rate of the Netherlands (that should tell you something). Did you know that in the Netherlands you are only expected to tip 5 - 10 %...as apposed to America where you are expected to tip 15 - 20 %... Now, let me explain why. In America you are waited on, hand and foot, by ONE waiter. He/she is yours, and you are his/hers. In the Netherlands, however, you never really know who's waiting on you, you never really know who's bringing you your check, and you never really know who to tip. It's like a fun game of "Who Done It!?"

After the we successfully navigated the tipping situation we decided a walk down the canal was in order. We ordered gelato (in Dutch...we were very proud) and bought some toothpaste in a local grocery store...mine had exploded on the flight over. Yuck.

Towards the end of our day we sat at a cafe and had some wine and contemplated the differences in the phonetics of our languages. English is hard...but Dutch takes the cake. For instance, did you know that "aa" is pronounced as an "ar" in our language? Or that "oo" is pronounced as "oa"...ugh!! Confusing!! Also, another fun fact of the Netherlands...the sun doesn't set here until 11:00 P.M.!! It rises at a ridiculous 4:15 A.M.!! I'm serious!! Look it up!!

So, the tour starts tomorrow at 4:00 P.M...that should give us PLENTY of time to learn our new companions for the the next 21 days. We hope they're interesting and fun! They'll have a hard time keeping up if they're not! Love you all, good night. Sleep tight.

Peace, Love, and Travel,

Reba