We've arrived!

After an uneventful 8 hour flight (Vinnie was great! He even used the airplane bathroom on command!) we arrived in Amsterdam and were met by a banner proclaiming "The American School of the Hague". Marianne and Henry (ASH teachers) took us to Leiden to the Hotel Minerva where we settled in. Today we got a rental car, looked at 2 apartments, got Dutch passport pictures taken (DON'T SMILE!!!) ,and visited the school. It's just like an American school, and they're working on renovations right now. We have more apartments set up to see tomorrow. I'm glad we got a U.S. Tom-Tom with European maps already loaded. It makes it much easier getting around. Tomorrow we go to the bank to set up an account, look at more apartments, and try to drive around and see exactly where we are. It rained for a while today, which apparently it does almost every day. I told them I would ride my bike to school but not in the dark, the rain, or against a strong wind. Apparently that's 6 months out of the year. The school campus is beautiful, as is the rest of Wassenaar and Leiden. Verschooten is very quaint, and we'd like to find an apartment there. Vinnie has perched himself on the hotel window and is thrilled with the canal seagulls, and all the pretty blonds biking by.