This post is more an overview of our week in Eindhoven. It was a much less action-packed time than the previous weekend, but still quite enjoyable!
During the week your Baba was gone during the day as he had a very busy work schedule – which was the entire reason we were able to visit the Netherlands! He picked up breakfast at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Eindhoven, then drove to work in Best – about 15 minutes away.
On Monday, I strapped you into the baby carrier and went for breakfast. You grabbed the attention of all the wait staff – you’re just too cute to ignore! After breakfast, I sat in the lobby and started writing the previous post on your site while waiting for the luggage to arrive. I was ecstatic to see it being brought in and immediately went to sign for it from the delivery man. After unpacking, we went outside for lunch and a walk around the local shopping plaza. We saw the statue for Frits Philips, the son of the founder of Philips. Philips is a huge name and brand in Netherlands. After walking around some more, I settled on something familiar – KFC. I had the B.O.S.S. (Big Original Sanders Sandwich) meal. Afterwards, it was back to the hotel to nap and then I had to work as well. In the evening, we went to Ilio’s – a Greek restaurant with Baba and two of his colleagues. I was worried the food would be tiny portions but it was plenty of food and quite delicious. They even gave us shots of Uzo – way too strong for my taste!
On Tuesday, we once again had breakfast together. I worked in the morning this time which meant I was working at around 3am Eastern! At about 2pm, we went out for a walk near the shops again. I was surprised to see that a large number of street vendors had setup shop. People were selling lots of food and fruits and vegetables in one section, bolts of fabric in another, and pretty much anything else interspersed. Among the food, cheese seems to be a particular interest among the people here.
I ended up making my way to the grocery store chain Albert Heijn. I wanted some Sprite and also wanted to see what else was interesting. I found some delicious looking pastries and some sugar bread which I bought along with 1.5L of Sprite. It seemed like a good price of just over €6.5. Next I went back to the street vendors. There was one who was selling some food I wanted to try. However, it was 3pm by this time and all the vendors were tearing down for the day.
After going back to the room, I fed you again and got some more work accomplished. We then went for dinner at Sopranos – a Mediterranean restaurant. Tonight we went with the colleagues from Monday, along with another colleague and her husband. I really enjoyed our conversations along with the abundance of food!
On Wednesday, the weather turned quite gloomy. It rained quite heavily almost the entire day. You were a bit fussy during breakfast, so I took the rest up to our room and ate there after I’d fed you. After I ate we slept until about 2pm! My lunch today was leftovers from Sopranos the night before. I then went into a conference call for work and simultaneously was keeping you happy! You decided to be wide awake at that time. 🙂
In the evening, Baba cane back and we all went to Best for a dinner with a colleague we had met the first night in Eindhoven. She was wonderful to chat with and the food was quite good. I had delectable ribs. The challenging part of the meal was ordering – the entire menu was solely in Dutch! I ended up using Google Translate’s live translate mode. My phone’s camera was instantly translating whatever I was looking at. After dinner, we dropped the colleague at the train station then headed home. After we both did some more work, it was off to sleep!
On Thursday the weather broke! You were better during breakfast although you were definitely looking around more. Again, the wait staff enjoyed looking back at you! After eating it was back to the room. I was getting quite tired quickly so put you in the Boppy pillow next to me on the huge bed and held you while I drifted in and out of sleep. You decided I didn’t need too much sleep, however so you woke me up at about noon. I fed you some while the room service changed ou the bed clothes.
We then left the room to visit the Philips Museum! The museum itself is located in the original building owned by the Philips brothers where they experience experimented making light bulbs. The museum was actually pretty small but had some interesting exhibits showing Philips products through the years. They also had some interactive exhibits to demonstrate potential of the future.
Afterwards it was back to the hotel for work. Later we went to dinner at a Japanese Sushi bar then called it a day.
Friday brought even more adventures!
Love,
Daddy
On Sunday, we left Amsterdam and made our way to Eindhoven – our home for the next week!
