A tour of my neighborhood

You're probably wondering what I've been up to in the last few days.  The short answer: nothing.  The long answer: absolutely nothing.  Working as an au pair for the Baas family is the simplest job (and the greatest).  My typical day consists of pouring cereal into a bowl for breakfast, walking 3 mins down the street to take the kids to school, picking them up for lunch, and a whole lot of time wasting.  I've managed to read 2 books since arriving, I've napped away my jet lag, I've played a lot of piano (though the piano is horribly out of tune...), and I've explored the gorgeous neighborhood.  Oh, and I saw a motorcyclist get hit by a car.

So here's a little tour of my new home:

This street runs behind my house.  Notice the red brick path?  That's the bike lane, and they're all over Holland, making it a very bike-friendly country. 

This is the school.  Note all the bikes, so very, very Dutch.  

This is The Amazing Bakery (that's what I'm going to call it from now on).

The drawbridge right down the street from my house.  It's really cool, but also kinda annoying because bells ring everytime a boat goes through, which happens way too often.

My house from the other side of the river (and one of their boats in front).  My window is the one at the very top, on the left.  The one with the white peak.

Another view of the house from across the river.  I like that there's a bike, a boat and a vehicle in the photo.  It captures the Dutchness.  =)

This is a short walk from my house.  Behind the trees, there's an amazingly old house from the 1700s.  On September 10th, it's open to the public, so I hope to go take a peek.  

That's a tea house.  Apparently, way back when, the rich people would build ginormous houses, but to be a bit more flashy with their money, they'd build tea houses along the river.

So there you go, a little look-see into my new Dutch life.  =) Stay tuned for pictures of the inside of the house, and of the kids!