We're sad that this is our last day in Holland. It's going so fast! Today we went to see the biggest collection of working windmills in Kinderdijk. It was so interesting to go inside and see how people lived in the windmills. The rooms were so tiny. They had all the original cooking utensils and shoes, etc. Afterwards we went to another old Dutch city called Dordrecht. We had so much fun there, shopping, eating lunch, and learning Dutch words with Corrie and Marieke. We laughed and laughed. Ann and I are pretty sure we could order a meal here with no problem. We can say "please, chicken, egg, fruit, ice cream, chicken legs, pancakes, and thank you very much," but neither of us could get the word for vegetables so I'm afraid we'd have to do without fiber. Ann learned how to say "money please," but I advised her not to say that outside or people would think she was a street walker. Ann is pleased that she has a handle on European money, so she feels pretty confident about going to Paris tomorrow. I myself am not as confident. With all I had to do to plan this trip, the only, only thing Ann had to do was to read the French phrasebook on the plane and learn a little French to get by, and I know for a fact that she did not even open the book! She said not to worry. She was going to make friends with people on the tour who speak French and just stick with them. If that doesn't work, she has made arrangements to have Stanley pick her up at the Eiffel Tower and bring her back to Holland, and I could just be on my own. And what is up with this woman and shopping? Today she bought a windmill! Look for it to arrive in the mail soon. And I kid you not, when we were in Breda on Queen's Day, she was in the Ecco store trying on shoes! Yes, more shoes! The biggest adventure in the last 24 hours, though, happened last night after we got back to our little apartment. Ohmigosh! Corrie had been bugging us to give her our laundry so she could wash it. I just didn't want her to go through the bother, so I told her I would wash out a few things at the apartment later. We got "home" quite late, and I really, really didn't feel like washing things out by hand. Next to our apartment is a washer/dryer combo, so I thought that would be easier. The problem, though, was that I can't read Dutch. So many settings! Witte Was, Bonte Was, Donker Wasgoed, Overhemden... I decided on Koud, which I thought was cold. Ann was going to put a few things in there, but she said she'd only put in things that she didn't like that much. In the end, though, she decided she liked everything and wasn't going to wash anything in there. It was a front loading machine, so I just put in a tiny bit of detergent just to be sure. As soon as it started, lots of lights started blinking. One of them said 1200, and I was afraid that my clothes were going to be baked at 1200 degrees! Another light said Kreukbeveiliging. What on earth could that mean? The washer was behaving really oddly--the clothes sloshed just a little bit and then stopped. Really strange, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I tried opening the door to stop the machine or change the settings, but it's a front loader and it was locked. With a top loader, you could just open the lid to stop it. Not with this machine. I was scared, so I sat there and watched the clothes until it finally went off. Finally, finally I had the clothes in my hand. That should have been the end of it, but noooo. Ann said the machine washed and dried the clothes, so for some strange reason, I thought I could get the dryer to work. What possessed me to think that I don't know. I thought the settings on the right side would be for drying, so I threw the clothes back in. The minute I shut the door and it locked, I knew that was big, big mistake. Water started gushing in, lights were going on and off, and the timer said 60 minutes. By this time it was 12:30 AM! This time the clothes were spinning like crazy. I didn't think there'd be anything left of my shirts after an hour. The bad part was that it was after midnight and the washer was right up against the apartment next door and there was a sign on the door that said, "No washing clothes after 10:00 PM!" I tried everything I could do to change the settings or stop it, but nothing worked. I was afraid someone would come pounding on the door, and Ann said we shouldn't answer the door if they did. The washer just kept going "tha-thump, tha-thump" so loudly. I didn't know what to do! Ann said I should try to unplug it, but I kept thinking about the first time we were in Holland and I blew a fuse in the B&B, so I didn't want to mess with their electricity again. Ann went to sleep, but I sure couldn't. I just crouched in front of the washer and watched it until the water started draining. By this time it was about 1:30 in the morning. I was so relieved when I could open the door. The clothes were soaking wet and dripping on the floor. I didn't care, though; I just wanted it to be over. I was so worried that the neighbors would tattle on us. All's well that ends well, though, and no one said a word the next morning. When I told Corrie about it, I said that teaches me a lesson for not learning more Dutch when I was here before. She said that teaches me a lesson that I should say "yes" when someone offers three times to do my laundry! Tomorrow we're off to Paris and new adventures. We're going by high speed train, and we have to change trains. That should be interesting. Corrie insists on going to go as far as Rotterdam on the train with us because she says she wants to make sure we leave the country. Seriously, though, we've had so much fun with Stanley, Corrie, Carine and Marieke. We're going to miss them and wish we could bring them home with us. I think they're going to miss their crazy American relatives too. :( Check out our pictures.