Today we made a late start. This was largely owing to the fact that Steven was not feeling well. Feeling the same as the day before, Mum and Dad let him sleep as long as possible this morning. This resulted in not eating breakfast till about 9:15. While eating we made plans for the day that was ahead of us. Today we decided would be a day for museums. The choices at the start of the day was to visit the Van Gogh Museum, the Rembrandt house museum and the Anne frank house in Amsterdam. We drove to a Park and Ride where we parked the car for only 1 Euro for the day as it is Saturday. We went to get tram tickets for the ride to Amsterdam. Dad, the supposed expert amongst us was confident that we had the tickets, (none of us were aware that the tram tickets came out the side of the machine). Confidence and reality are two different things though. Dad attempted to scan the ticket that we had for parking, assuming it was the tram ticket. When he asked why it wasn't working, the man on the tram told us that we had to use the parking ticket to get the tram tickets. Dad quickly jumped off the tram to retrieve the tickets that had been printed and left in the ticket machine but while we awaited his return, the tram left without us. Not to worry. the tram went every 4 minutes. Due to the late start to the day, we arrived at the museum at about 12:15. We also hadn't counted on Emily being deeply absorbed into what was on the walls of the Van Gogh Museum. Dad hired out an audio device for her that gave her information about Van Gogh's life. Only after the purchase did we realize that it might not have been the most wise idea as it would take Emily even longer to go through everything. Walking around as happy as a pig in Palestine, she soon disappeared from our sight, only reappearing when we decided it was time to move to the second floor. The building contained 3 floors above ground with a separate section below. For some of us it was not as entertaining but we looked around all the same. It was evident that Emily enjoyed herself the most possibly because she enjoys art! (Who knew it?!) However, due to the size of the Van Gogh Museum we didn't leave the premises till about 2:30. We learned about vanGogh's life; his father was a minister in the Reformed Church, but Vincent was a difficult boy who argued a lot with his father and he was not a believer. He started painting at age 27 and his first works were not appreciated at all. He travelled to Paris and learned a lot there, then went and lived in the country in France. He saw the simplicity of country life as being most desirable and the best way of life. For 10 years he painted and in the museum we saw how his work developed and improved over time. We saw the painting of the Sower, which opa and oma have on the wall in the lounge. The museum also had some paintings of some of van Gogh's contemporaries. It was interesting to learn how artists develop techniques and how they differ from one another, how they copy from one another and yet have totally different results. Mum and Emily still went downstairs to see an extra exhibition which showed the paintings of Monet and Daubigny and how they compared with van Gogh. Meanwhile Dad and Hanna-Lee and Steven decided that Emily should choose an early birthday present from the shop there. Emily chose a beautiful book and a vanGogh bag! Then it was time to leave. We realized that we wouldn't have enough time to visit the Rembrandt House Museum as still needed to go to the shops, visit Oma and travel home. We decided we would take a quick breather at De Bijenkorf ( a huge multistoried shop with a restaurant on the 5th floor) where we could have a drink to revitalize ourselves. When we left the building it was already later on in the afternoon. So, we walked to the nearest tram station ready to return to the Park and Ride where we had parked our car. In the car at 4:30 we decided on visiting Oma first. However, when it appeared apparent that we would intrude on their dinner time (they eat at 5:00), we decided to go to the shops and buy the things we needed for our dinner tonight and tomorrow night. After finding the things we needed we traveled to D'Amandelboom to see if we could catch a visit with Oma. Our "luck" was in as she appeared to be the first to finish her dinner and was able to sit down in a more comfortable chair away from the other older people. She was in a surprisingly good mood, very attentive to everything that went on and she showed great interest when Emily started talking about the Van Gogh Museum and showed her the paintings in her new book. All of us were happy that she was happy. This visit was probably the visit that Oma has been most happy this week. However, time was against us. Having been sitting for around 45 minutes talking to Oma, we had to head home as it was already 6:50. The drive home took a long time and we were home by 7:30, stomachs rumbling, ready for dinner. Pitching in together, (Mum and Dad mainly making the dinner) we had the food on the table withing record time. Everyone ate healthy portions, happily recounting the days adventures with each other. And now we sit, relaxing our weary bodies and heads from the business from the days activities, everyone looking forward to the night ahead of us. -Steven