The Netherlands is "The Best"

We're in the midst of the final seminar which takes us through The Netherlands and Belgium. In addition to lectures at the International Criminal Court and the EU, we have had time for a decent amount of frivolity.

Saturday was a free day for the fellows, which meant I didn't need to spend the day taking pictures of myself in various tourist destinations (although I've grown quite fond of the tradition). We started the day by taking a stroll through the Voorburg (Netherlands) Saturday market. While admiring the beautiful children and making attempts at mimicking the Dutch accent, we noticed that every kid we passed was hysterically repeating the word "kicker". What was this thing, we wondered, that stirred up such excitement in Dutch children? We turned a corner on a charming cobbled-stoned street and came face to face with a man in a life-size frog costume. Turns out "Kikker" is a beloved children's book character. This was photo worthy, of course, but when his handler saw me framing the scene from afar, she urged me to step closer and get in the picture. This was followed by about 3 additional sentences of Dutch, to which we responded with energetic nodding and laughter. Even more so than in German, this tended to work quite effectively (and would serve us well later in the day).

I didn't even feel tall in The Netherlands - lots of 6" + women! (Kikker helped, too)

We managed a thank you (in Dutch, it sounds approximately like "Dank-you well!") and wound our way through the market - full of flowers, cheese, and bread.

Tons of free samples - Bob Marcellino would be proud!

From there we took the streetcar to the little town of Delft - a charming Dutch village that was reminiscent of Amsterdam (minus the drugs and prostitutes). In terms of tourist attractions, beyond the blue and white Delft pottery there is very little on the "must-see" list. This allowed us to experience the city in a way I didn't allow myself in Amsterdam. We simply wandered - through cozy sidestreets, past countless bicycles, stopping to sip coffee and eat pancakes in cafe windows.

The one attraction we did visit, however, was an old church that is literally "sinking". After marveling at just how tilted it was, Dominic leaned over and asked in a hushed and quite serious tone, "Liz - have you ever heard of those pictures where you hold up your hands to pretend like you're pushing something up?" Um - yeah, Dom. "I, too, attended 8th grade," I replied, and the photo shoot commenced.

He needed a bit of coaching, but who doesn't to achieve this result! Bravo!

It was at that moment that a pair of joyful Dutch women stumbled upon us. Before they turned the corner onto our street, all they saw was Dominic making indiscernible hand motions in the air. When they discovered what we were actually attempting to do, their laughter reached decibel levels I haven't heard in quite some time. They cackled with approval, shouting Dutch phrases that we concluded were something like "hilarious idea!" and "tilting church makes funny photo!". At this point in the day we'd nearly mastered the art of the laugh and smile, but they went on for so long I motioned to Dominic to start walking. At some point they would surely expect a response. Dominic left them with a great attempt at "Good day!" and we scurried along, off to take just a few more pictures before hopping in our wooden shoe to head home.