Nijntje went to Manhattan, JEY!

We visited family in Birmingham, Michigan, America—a very nice place near a lake. Everybody met Nijntje het konijntje :-) (the bunny) and learned some Dutch words. They laughed when I asked, "Do you have WIFI?" because I pronounced an English word in a Flemish way... WIFI in Dutch sounds like WEFE. We pronounce the vowels differently; for example, the letter 'e' sounds like 'i' in Dutch.

We had a wonderful family time, and on our way back to Europe, we made a stop in New York. Finally, we were in the Big Apple from the movies—a dream come true! We stayed at a hotel near the Empire State Building. What was the first thing we did? Yes—finding the Apple Store! We needed an American charger for our iPhone to stay connected to the world. It was the best thing we could do because then we were in the best part of the city, near Fifth Avenue and Central Park. We found a nice restaurant and passed Rockefeller Center. Sarah loved it, even though she is only three. So many lights, flowers, and things to see!

The next day, we took a Hop-On Hop-Off bus, and in the next two days, we saw everything: Harlem, Central Park, Uptown, Manhattan, Downtown, Brooklyn, Wall Street, Chinatown, etc. And Nijntje went everywhere with us! We had a great time—when we were tired, we took the bus, and when we wanted to walk, we got off. We saw all the playgrounds in the center and played in Central Park. Sarah was very happy to see all the squirrels in the city. We ate every day at our favorite restaurant next to Fifth Avenue.

Tired but happy, we flew back home to our "small big Apple," Antwerp.

Now we have beautiful memories. Our three-year-old now recognizes New York on TV: "Mammie, mammie, we went there!"