Day 19

Today's Highlight: Using the trams and not getting lost.
Hey everyone, sorry this is a day late, I was just so tired last night I couldn't blog.
We went on a long car ride with Judith today, all the way to the south end of the country, to a town called Masstricht where she had a shoot. Adrian come along for the drive so that he could see the country side and chit chat with us.
We got up early, since we still had Laura's bike from the day before and she needed it for 9:30... trouble was that when we were on our way to her place the front brakes snapped. I gave her my bike for the day and we decided to take a tram. I didn't realize it was so easy to navigate around the city on them. They come at LEAST every 10 min, but usually more frequently.
Adrian has found his dream guitar at a steal in a shop at Muntplein (a square that kind of mars the end of the shopping district) so we went there to try and exchange his old one before going on the drive. I guess Mondays here are kind of a second Sunday, and the place didn't open until noon. Dejected we went for coffee, then met Judith. The shoot was of a man who collects free give aways from the bank he works for. I guess the bank puts out a magazine for employees, and they thought this guy would be an interesting addition. As usual Judith worked very quickly and efficiently and we were done the shoot in under 45 min and back on the road. The drive was interesting, there is a change of architecture as you move further south. There are more ornate churches, because I guess that traditionally the south end of the country was more Catholic than the north. There were also large stretches of forest, which surprised me in such a densely populated country. In the forested areas there were tunnels under the road so that the wildlife could avoid the highway. Another worth while European innovation, like the transport trucks here (there are far fewer than at home) that all have a maximum speed sticker on their backs. Their motors are geared to reach maximum speeds to save fuel and to avoid accidents. Genius.
When we got home we went for a walk to stretch our legs, got groceries and come home to snack. Long car rides can be exhausting somehow.
We went out to our new favorite restaurant here, a relatively cheap Indonesian place that Alex showed us, and had a great meal. then walked around the city for a few hours. We haven't been out after dark much, so we figured we should walk through the red light district just for kicks. I couldn't believe how busy it was at midnight on a Monday! Adrian said he felt like a piece of meat, getting gestured to every time we walked by a window... kind of an exchange of roles that we found kind of unsettling. But really, it was something we had to do as tourists.
The city is beautiful at night, all of the canals are lit with lanterns that reflect in the water. It was so still last night that it would have been a perfect time to shoot with a tripod, but I hadn't thought to bring my camera with me to dinner.
It was a long day, but a really satisfying one. We are going to go back to the guitar shops, and maybe go to the zoo today, depending on how long it takes us to get all guitared up. We have decided we need to jam touristy things in to the next 2 weeks, because we aren't sure how exciting Munster is :) We're going to Germany around the 5 of June, after we get back from the Dutch relatives. They live in Oudewater, by the way. I finally figured that out. It looks like (from what I can tell) the place where the family farm is is only a bike ride away. But I'm not sure . Oudewater is a small town, very beautiful and well preserved.
Anyway, more tonight
love to all
Emma and Adrian