Day 19

Word count: 32,754, which puts me 1081 words ahead of schedule! A personal record!

Am only going to have time to revel briefly in the luxury of being so far ahead of schedule, as I imagine my writing time will be limited tomorrow. We are going to be wined and dined tomorrow evening... am looking very much forward to getting up from this desk and interacting socially.

Marten and the girls and I went into town this morning to see Sinterklaas arrive in the fair city of Alphen aan the Rijn. Unfortunately, so did thousands of other families from Alphen aan de Rijn and nearby villages.

The city has just completed a major renovation of the city centre, including a brand new square on the Rhine river. Sinterklaas' steamboot moored alongside this new square, and all of the thousands of children were hoisted up onto all of the thousands of wearied parents' shoulders, and the show began. Unfortunately, only the kids right up front could see or hear anything. We lured our kids away after 10 minutes with the promise of gingerbread nuts at the local bakery (Bribery works. I am not ashamed.)

We were just tucking into our gingerbread outside the bakery, when along came a baton-twirling team of majorettes, followed by a marching band, followed by a small army of "Zwarte Pieten" handing out FREE gingerbread nuts, followed by, you won't believe it... a horse-drawn trolley car in which Sinterklaas himself sat waving at the kids!!! The girls were thrilled. Ha!