Savannah Bakker

April 16, 2004

My Europe Trip

Europe

I had a blast on my Europe trip. I probably saw just about every monument in France. No, the people in France are nicer then people say. I guess you have to try a little to speak French.

In Holland the people do speak more English. In Holland I have most of my relatives. I met lots of my second cousins. One of them was actually born when we were there! Our time difference is 9 hours. I saw beautiful things in Holland.

April 1, 2004

When we arrived at the airport it was about 9:00 Am. We did all the stuff you would do at an airport. When I went through the metal detector I didn’t beep. Phew. Our flight took off at 12:05. We were in a DC-10. We crossed over Canada and Greenland. (I call Greenland ‘waste land’) because when you look down you see no houses, no civilization at all! It looked like a big ice-cube. When it had been 4 hours it felt like 9. It took us 9 hours and 5 min to get to Amsterdam. The food on the airplane was like freezer burn taste Yuck.

April 2, 2004

Today we arrived in Schiphol, Amsterdam. Inez, my aunt picked us up from the airport. She is very pregnant. Her friend came with her just incase her water broke that someone could drive her to the hospital. Inez, Raymond, Shaznay, Zoia, and Jamary live in a cute little town outside of Rotterdam. They have a nice house with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. I took amazingly long naps. When I woke up it was time for dinner. Raymond made an awesome dinner, pork chops, rice & veggies. According to my dad, his cappuccinos are great.

April 3, 2004

Today I woke up at 5:00 am with my dad. We left to go on a subway. That was my very first time. After the Subway we took, again my very first train ride to Delft. (The dinner train doesn’t count). Delft is a tiny, winy, little town with a beautiful church! The Queens mother was just buried about 6 days before we arrived in Holland. Europe has cool shoe stores. In America our style of clothing is behind by 3-4 years. We went to a sock store and I got a pair of pink dangly earrings and rainbow socks and a green belt! We finally went to a delft store and boy, was it expensive wow. Like 100 euros for a little dog. They were very pretty though. We went to a little Souvenir shop and they had a big wooden shoe and I sat in it and got a picture. Cheese.

Latter that night my Uncle Raymond took us on a tour through Rotterdam. I saw amazing architecture! I saw a house that was almost upside down! We also saw a beautiful bridge! It was neat how they lit up the cords. We stopped at an Ice-Cream shop. They had spoons that looked like shovels! I was very thirsty and we bought the most expensive bottle of water ever! 6euose (so they try to rip off an 11 yr. old?) and we had another great dinner, Sate with peanut sauce with veggies! yum yum yum.

April 4, 2004

We were up & gone to Rotterdam to shop till we drop (I guess) we did a lot of walking! I think we hit just about every shoe store. I got a new pair of boots! They are like boxing shoes. They are white with silver markings. It’s the “IN” Style. I got a cute pink wrist band. At another store I got 2 skirts, tope and green. When we got home it was quite an early day. I went to a little park with Shaznay, she doesn’t speak English so I tried very hard to communicate with both Dutch and English & some hand movements. When we were at the park a boy tried to take her bike! I jumped up and chased after him. He ran. Then I stopped. He didn’t get the bike and that’s all that counts. Latter I met there sister, Robin. She didn’t speak English either and so her friend tried to help to talk with me. She asked were I was from and I said America and she started asking more questions about America. That night I helped with giving my little cousins a bathe it was fun but they got me all soaking wet he he. Raymond started to read a bed time story to the girls. Today was busy and fun.

April 5, 2004

Last night dinner was great. Heidi and I both agree that my dad should memorize the recipes. We got up at 7:30 and we went down stairs and Inez was all packed, her water broke. The sad thing is we were leaving that morning and we had to call a taxi to come pick us up because Inez’s mother was coming over to watch the kids. I love my little cute cousins so much. I didn’t realize how well my dad speaks Dutch. When we got to the train station we took a bullet train to Paris. The train went 220 km per hour J that’s about 180 mph. And it wasn’t even going its top speed! It took us only 3 ½ hours to get to Paris. Belgium has a lot of graffiti. After we got to the subway we walked to the Eiffel tower! It was neat. The “vultures” (side seller who wont leave you alone) were really annoying. But I saw this cool blob thing that you could shape, but we didn’t get it. L when we got to the middle part of the tower it was neat to see the whole city. It was just about freezing! We waited in line witch felt like forever. to get to the elevator to the very top. Our west side (US) was about 10,000 miles away from the tower west! I bet it would have been more fun if it wasn’t cold! L we went to the gift shop and I got a cute Tower! When we were going down on the elevator we were inside of the strobe show. It looked cool. When we got off we got a pic of it. (Heidi takes lots and lots of picks) when we were done with dinner I stepped in dog poop on the way to our hotel Eww I stepped in it twice. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 11:45 today was very tiring.

April 6, 2oo4

Today will be another busy day. We walked to the metro and got off by the Arc. They had a service at 6:30 for the tome of the unknown. I herd the queen was in town and I guess we missed her. I was wondering why the streets had England flags up and down the street. Off we go to the fashion show! It was cool. Most of the girls looked like they were starving to death. The man made wearing a suit look nice. We didn’t know what time it was so we had to buy a watch. We went shopping after the show. It was really expensive. I got a cute tank top for 30 E. we went to another church and I lit a few candles and we donated $$$. We then went to a café and I got a milkshake. And my dad and Heidi got a cappuccino. When we were done with the day I think everyone’s back or legs hurt we went to the Moulin Rouge. Back to the hotel and another late night.

We got up at 5:00 am to go tot the metro to get on a train to go to Normandy. I was really tired and the heat in the train didn’t work and we had 1st class!! And a guy we met in Caen was in 2nd class and had heat! We were really hungry and we thought we might get food on the train but we didn’t so when we got off the train into the blistering cold we got inside and got pastry’s. we started to wonder if it was going to be that cold all day. I had to go to the bathroom and we couldn’t find one or our guide. But we finally and with us Stuart, my dad met him because he was looking around also like a foreigner. Three other people came with us a boy and his mom and dad. Stuarts wife went to the Louis Vatton instead he said he hopes he doesn’t have to take out a 3rd mortgage. The tour started at the museum in Caen. It was Gigantic. I learned a lot about world war 2 and the walls went from white that means peace all the way to black that means war and not happiness. Then the tour went onto lunch and free time. Then a second guide got us and we set off to see the Atlantic wall on Utah and Omaha beach. It was spectacular. The whole war thing makes way more scene. We saw bomb implants. It was cool. I got sand from Omaha beach. We went to the American Cemetery that is apart of the USA! It was amazing to see how many people were killed and there were lots of unknown soldiers. All the stones were faced west towed home(USA) then we “drove” by the German one they paid almost no respect to them there were way more Germans killed and they had way less graves. They just piled them in. Then we went were the Germans were bombed and they had huge craters from the bomb and the shells. 70% of the hole were filled and there were still so many. Today was a very educational day!

April 8, 2004

Today we got up and we were picked up by our tour guide at 8:30. we drove around to pick up other people. I met a girl who’s name is Amelia and we exchanged e-mail. They live in Australia. We took a tour of most of Paris and we went to a museum were King Luis the 14th house was and so many paintings were in there! They were kind of boring though. Then we went on a boat cruse/ lunch and saw lots of cool bridges. Amelia’s dad bought a 90 E wine! We for dinner went to a Spanish restraint and we went in through the kitchen and freaked out the owner. He didn’t speak any English and so we had to use a mix of French, Spanish, and hand movements. I had a great time.

April 9, 2004

Since yesterday was a great tour Heidi and my dad got another tour (great). Our guide picked us up at 8:30 again and we picked up other people also. There were no other kids. It was only 3 hours in a van, I was in the middle of the guide and Heidi. I fell asleep and almost landed on the guides lap woops we went to Versailles ( A Castle) I saw the Queens bed, she must have been a midget. The bed was so little. The dome at the top had 9 lbs. Of gold leaf! Then we went to the place were Napoleon was buried. My dad was kidding but he said he wants to by buried like that. Next we went to a place with sculptures. It was kind off cool. Not really my kind of art. I saw the thinker. Then we went to lunch and went back to the hotel and napped for 3 hours and went back to the Spanish restraint to see flamenco dancers it was cool and we had a great dinner. Then we went home to sleep.

April 10, 2004

Today we woke up at 7:30 and we rushed to get ready to go on the train to go back to Holland. We got first class tickets. (because my dad doesnt like the smokey smell of 2nd class) The little boy behind me was a brat. He would put down his tray then back up, up down up down up! And when i was trying to take a nap we would move his soda can back and forth and that made alot of noise, he wouldn't sit still. Then when we got off the train we saw my OMA! We were just supposed to see her latter! She was buying flowers for my Oma-Oma. We bought some flowers for her and my Opa-Opa who is dead. Then when we were getting on the bus to Harmalen boys in the back of the bus would not be quiet! When we got to our cute little hotel we put our bags up and rested for a few and then had dinner. When we were done with dinner we went up to the room and my dad called Willie, Oma-Oma's foster child to pick us up tomorrow so we con go see my Oma-Oma.

April 11, 2004

Today is daylight savings and Willie was supposed to pick us up at 10 (and he did) but we weren’t ready because the clock didn’t change! So we had to rush and I just got out of the shower so I had to go without my hair dry. When we got to Oma-Oma's I did the Dutch thing were you kiss three times back and forth on the cheek. Oma-Oma in Dutch asked MY Oma who is that? And my Oma replied that’s Savannah and she said she’s Big in Dutch. Then Oma-Oma teased Oma about that i am taller than her. They talked about how little I was when she last was me 7 years ago. Oma-Oma is 88 turning 89 in October. She has a bad knee but she is still a good walker. She’s cute. She has 11 foster children! But they aren’t children anymore. Willie still lives with her. I think that’s cool so someone is always there with her. Ben, Inez's father came and so did Tonny. He is very funny/weird. Now we were off to dinner and they made Oma-Oma pay half (that’s because the birthday person has to pay half) even hers is in October *he he he* )Tonny would tease my Oma-Oma and say " How is my white Oma?" and she would say "I'm not white!" then he would tease her because she had wine and say " you old drunk!" and she would just laugh. Tonny last time when my dad was there would shout bad things in English so people would think "stupid Americans" Oma-Oma asked us how old she was and everyone told her 29 and she would laugh and say she wishes. I helped my Oma with hanging laundry because Oma-Oma doesn't have a dryer. We then visited my Opa-Opa's grave and Oma cleaned it. Oma-Oma said she appreciated that people remembered him. We planted the little roses we got him. I looked at the kid area of the graveyard and it was very sad to see all the kids the youngest was a day old and the oldest was 11 the 9 year old died on Halloween of 96. When we got back to the hotel my dad broke out in hives and he was freaking out and he took allergy med. We had Aloe-Vera lotion and I put it on him and almost instantly it went away or down. TOMORROW WE ARE GOING TO INEZ"S HOUSE AGAIN!!! I can’t wait to see the new baby!

April 12, 2004

Today we woke up and Heidi lost her voice. And I still don't feel well. My dad called Raymond to ask if he could pick us up at the train station when we get there. We took a bus to the train station. (The bus is a Mercedes Benz) We took the train to Alexander and then my dad called Raymond to tell him we were here. (the phone only cost 20 cents!) When he showed up he came with Shaznay and Zoia because we told him that Heidi wasn’t coming because she didn't feel well and didn’t want to get Jadie sick but she said she will look and not touch so she doesn't get ill. Inez told us the baby was strong and was fine. So Shaznay had to sit on my dads lap. she is SOOOOO cute! When we got to there house we got greeted by Inez & the Nurse. If you have insurance then you get to have a nurse help by, cleaning, cooking, taking the other kids to school, ect. FOR 8 DAYS! I also met another one of my family members, Marjorie (she is half retarded) but she is apart of an art group and a rock band. My dad gave her a cute little Mariners bear. and she loved it. She told her mom that she won’t forget she saw my dad. I played with the girls and little naughty Zoia dumped mud on Jamary's head. Her uncle in Indonesian calls her naughty. Zoia wanted something Shaznay already had and got mad and flung mud at her and threw a plastic plate at her back. I went bike riding with Shaznay two times. and on the way back she sat on the back and I rode her little bike home. the second time Zoia wanted to come but she couldn't and my dad told her to came in and she just stared at him (if she had a knife in her hand I’d run) She does that with her mom and Inez just stares back. Raymond one again made a wonderful meal! When we were playing with the ball it landed in the canal. My dad had to fish it out. When I was playing with Jamary I thought she ate mud (she eats mud) but it was chocolate. Finally when we had to go we gave everyone a big good-bye. Shaznay seemed very sad. she wouldn't let go of me. Then we took the train home. We didn't get home until 7:30 April 13, 2004 Today we woke up at 9:30. I took a shower and when I got out we got ready to go to Utrecht. When we got to go shopping I got a new out-fit. green floods, green sweat jacket and a green scarf. They’re cool. My dad finally got something! a winter coat and 2 shirts. We went to a sport store and got a lot and a lot of Ajax stuff and we got 2 goalie shirt for Justine my cousin and got some t-shirts for my other cousins in America, and some hats for my Uncles Bob and Rick. We also got knee pads for kickboxing (they are thick) we went to another store and I got a little purse. Then we passed a "Coffee Shop" ware you would by pot. It's not Illegal to do drugs. When we had lunch by the canal a boat passed by that scooped up all the bikes at the bottom of the canal. it was neat to see. Then we went shopping again. I got a skirt and Heidi got a coat. Heidi also got shoes but they are like my white one but they have like almost a cartoon strip. When we got back to the hotel my Aunt Fein came to pick us up. she has 1 chicken the other chickens got kidnapped by dogs. and 2 horses they are the really little one. She made a great dinner. My dad had a few drinks and I met another one of my second cousins, Kevin. I looked at old photo albums and my dad looks just like his Opa. The chicken was very lovable she would let you pick her us and pet her, She also eats horse food (they should call it Horse and Chicken food) In the yard I wore wooden shoes. The neighbors had sheep! I actually got a lamb that I wanted. (but of course it wasn’t real her name is Lauri) we got back to the hotel at 11:00 Pm.

April 14, 2004

Today we woke up at 9:15. We ate breakfast downstairs and then we packed up and left to go to our hotel in Amsterdam. and we took the train there( the right one not one that splits like the last one) After we got to Central Station the taxi men were fighting over who got us. We finally go to our hotel. Then after we checked in and set our stuff down we went shopping for souvenirs. We passed a lot of coffee shops. we got lots and lots of glass stuff. I got a little fake delft kitty for my mom. I called my mom and she told me I have a big surprise. I said "a lamb "nope, better then a lamb,"

"A COW"

"No...."

"my rooms clean?"

"Yeah that too but not that"

"what letter does it start with?"

"not telling you"

so now I am guessing. The day before last I had a dream that she found my kitty, Stitch. or she got me a dog. I got my self a pair of slippers that look like wooden shoes. We ran into the RED LIGHT DISTRICT it was a little weird. That was one example to me that, that is one job I never want to have. Then we took the Trolley home. The bed in our hotel I have is a fold out bunk bed. I chose the bottom bunk. We went out to eat Indonesian food *Yum* It was so good we might go back tomorrow. When I tried on my pants they didn't fit anymore! they were huge on me! (except my new ones)

April 15, 2004

Today I woke up at 8:00 so I could take a shower. I was really tired. We visited 3 museums, 2 art, and 1 about Anne Frank. The first one we saw was the Rijkes museum. It was cool. the second one was Van Gough. (Boring) and it was really full and I got Closter phobic. Then we finally went to the Anne Frank House/museum. That was my all time fave. I bought her book. so far its a great book. I would recommend it to anyone to read. Latter when my dad was trying to check his E-mail the stupid internet wouldn’t work at the hotel so my dad couldn’t check it. i am kind of happy but sad were going home. When we go into town they were setting up a HUGE FARIS WHEEL! We are taking a canal ride at night and when we got there we met other Americans who were just in Scotland were there daughter just got married. We sat by ourselves which was nice. Houses by the canal start at 7 million E!!!! We got to snack on wine, cheese, peanuts, and orange juice while they would explain what was on the left and on the right.

April 16, 2004

Today I woke up about 6:15, We are going home today. When we got to the airport we found were we were supposed to be and then we ate breakfast. When we were boarding the security guys asked us about what we brought, and if we had anything repaired, and where we were going. ( Duh, we are going to Seattle) and where we were coming from (Duh Amsterdam) when we got on the plane I was really tired and so I napped for an hour and 4o min. then I started to read and read for and hour and 30 min. I read "The Ya Ya Sisterhood" and "The Diary of Anne Frank" they are both very good stories. We watched 3 movies, Out of Time, Cheaper By The Dozen, & and a stupid Mandy Moor movie ( I didn't watch that one) at take off we flew over beautiful tulips.

I had a great time in Europe. I learned a few words in Dutch. I met lots of family. French class last year helped none. My big surprise was a brand new computer, flat screen monitor, fast computer (not one that doesn’t have a cover), brand new printer(one that actually works) and a beautiful cabinet. I also go a mirror and a new closet curtain. The plane ride was way better than I thought and lots of people commented on my hair and my green outfit.

Savannah