Life in Holland

When we decided to live near the city center, we had no way of knowing that this would be the year they would rip up all the streets in our neighborhood for months on end for once-every-20-to-30-years maintenance on the pipes. Sometimes we get notices (in Dutch) pushed through our mail slot warning us of impending inconvenience, but not always. This morning was a case in point. We opened our door for our morning outing and discovered this:


At least they provided a board (albeit not wide enough for our stroller).


Once again, the weather was overcast, so we headed to the indoor shopping arena of the Megastores. I have never really shopped there, but we were in search of a particular item that Papa had spotted there once upon a time, so off we went. The nice part about the Megastores is an open area with restaurant seating shared by McDonalds and La Place where kids can meander around. Ellie felt the need to introduce her friends, Lolo and Sunny the Giraffe, to the clown.


She also felt the need to photograph this moment herself.


Further examples of Ellie's foray into the photographic medium are currently available for your perusal on our flickr account. Ellie found great inspiration in the streets of Berlin and worked to capture the details so easily overlooked (such as sand on my shoe, the grey tone of a shadow on the hotel wall, the brightness of the flash rebounding off of the hotel wall...). For you true art connoisseurs, this exhibition should not be missed.