Monkey See...Monkey Do

Day #5: Saturday, 27 October 2007

We all enjoyed another long morning of sleep to recharge the batteries this morning, and didn’t get rolling until fairly late in the a.m. I took the downtime to get out of the house early and make my first trip to the Albert Cuypstraat Maarkt, an open-air market that runs Monday through Saturday.

Every manner of goods you can imagine is available here, minus automobiles and, oh I don’t know, purple hair dye. No, wait…I saw an entire stall selling just hair dye representing every color of the PMS book. So, no automobiles (but I’m sure someone there would sell you one if you pressed hard enough).

Need Sensodyne toothpaste? Lots of that! Same goes for fish heads, eels, yellow kiwi fruit, incense, luggage, bike locks, tools, leather jackets, razor blades, antique Asian furniture, stockings, spices, sheet music, perfume, thong underwear, and many other useful items. Need some fresh herring? There are at least 3 stalls dedicated to the Dutch delicacy. I managed to stick it to the guys at my local hardware store, who had the nerve to charge almost 10 Euro for a roll of duct tape, finding a roll at the Maarkt for just 2.50! A screaming deal! Note to self: Consider importing cheap duct tape and undercutting the market.

After my triumphant return from the Maarkt, it was off with the family to the (infamous?) Apenheul Primate Park (www.apenheul.nl), about an hour drive east of A’dam. Our new GPS unit came in very handy as we negotiated the Dutch highways and back roads on our way to what promised to be a very fun afternoon for us all. And the place was fun…mostly. But the kids’ cumulative fatigue was starting to manifest itself in crankiness, so it was good to see all of the gorillas and monkeys and get the heck out of there. (Another) trip to Ikea on the way home didn’t help much, either. When kids are tired, furniture shopping is not the antidote. But tasty Swedish meatballs sure help!

Tomorrow: Stacey’s last day before the job starts; cycling around the city.