This afternoon, Elizabeth and I cancelled 3 other plans to enjoy the unusually warm and sunny November afternoon in kayaks. We borrowed a couple boats from the Windhappers kayak club and paddled around in the canals nearby... 

Click below for photos of the menagerie, scary plants, and weapons we encountered along the way (how's that for a cliff hanger?)... 

This weekend, Elizabeth and I joined the Windhappers kayak club on a whitewater ("wildwater" in Dutch) excursion. Elly, Annette, Paul, Jan, Han, Cees + and his girlfriend, Jacques,  Elizabeth, and I piled into three cars (stacked high with whitewater boats) and road tripped to the Ardennes, a densely forested region in the south of Belgium. Two days of chilly but adventurous paddling, Belgian beers and other strange drinks, pepernoten, and glamping ("glamorous camping") ensued. 

The Ardennes is a region of rolling hills, forests, rivers, and natural terrain. Most of the region falls in Belgium and Luxembourg, but parts are also in France and Germany. The highest point, Signal de Botrange, is 2,277 feet, so were not talking about huge mountains, but anything's huge compared to the Netherlands! The region was passed back and forth between European powers throughout its history, and was the site of three major battles during the World Wars, including the Battle of the Bulge. Today, it's mainly a region for forestry and tourism. All the villages look the same (I kept getting them confused), with a small stone church in the...

After enjoying the Rotte River trip described on Johan's Kayak Site, I decided to contact Johan himself. I sent him an email with some questions about kayaking in the Netherlands and to see if he wanted to go for a paddle. Apparently I'm not the first person to have this idea, because he later mentioned that two other avid kayakers (a New Yorker and Californian) had inquired similarly. We took advantage of one of the last sunny weekends and paddled around the center of Amsterdam. Over the course of the day, we paddled most of the three routes described on his Amsterdam route page. 

Click "Read More" to hear about the trip and see some classic Amsterdam canal photos. 

Paris! ... What is the first thing that just crossed your mind? I bet 5€ it wasn't kayaking. Well, I visited Paris last weekend with no intention of spending time on the water, and yet I somehow found myself floating in a rowboat in the Grand Canal in front of the Palace of Versailles. 

Last weekend, Elizabeth, Sander van den CargoBroek, and I rented a tiny car and road-tripped to visit UMich friend Nicolas in Paris. We spent Saturday and Sunday making epic 10 hour walks across the city, stopping at Nicolas' swim meet, the Electronic Circus, le Pain Quotidien, Montmartre, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, the Eiffel Tower, Le Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and many more, including a late night walk along the Seine.

On Monday, we left the city center to visit Versailles before heading back to the Netherlands (with a quick stop in Belgium for dinner)...