The first thing to learn before you get on a train in a foreign country...

...is how to read the train schedule, or perhaps more accurately, to overcome the hubris that tells you, oh, you've traveled on enough European trains in your life that this is no big deal, just go see which train heads to your stop next. But be sure to pay particular attention to that pesky little asterisk that means that the crammed-full train you're getting on with your two tired kids doesn't stop at your stop but rather goes sailing right on through it toward one of four or five towns named after cheeses (begging the age-old question: which came first, the cheeses or the burg?).

I told D. before we left this morning that he'd get to ride on four trains: two on the way to the international schools we were looking at, and two on the way home. Well, he got more than he bargained for when we hopped the wrong train and ended up having to take four trains to get home. Oh, the joy. Somehow the intrigue didn't wear off for him, though, and A. plowed through several chapters of her history book and livened up the ride(s) with anecdotes and little known facts about Peter the Great. It only rained on us once -- a good day in the Netherlands -- and we got to see two really cool schools, either of which would be great for both kids. A's voting for the one with the 2-story rock climbing wall, I think.

Both of them are international wings of Dutch schools which is cool because they teach in English, but their private-school tuition is subsidized substantially by the Dutch government because they teach the kids Dutch and integrate them to a certain extent with the kids in the Dutch-speaking stream of the school. I wish there was something like this in Utrecht, but Hilversum is a pretty town -- this duck pond to the right where the kids busied themselves chasing geese is most of the walk to the two schools -- and the commute doesn't seem bad (all together now: as long as you hop the right train). Now if we can just get them to find spots for both kids at one of the schools...

Tomorrow is D's fourth birthday. I had considered taking him on a train ride somewhere, but I feel pretty comfortable ruling that out now. (Isn't this a great picture? A. snapped it on the first train.)

And if you can't tell, I'm getting link happy today. Girl's gotta have a little fun after a day like today...