Thanksgiving-Leiden style

Yesterday, as you all remember, I made and took some pumpkin cupcakes to my Dutch class in honor of Thanksgiving.They were a big hit!I talked a little about why we celebrated Thanksgiving and there were many questions about it. Some people thought it was related to Christmas, others had never heard of it. One person made a comment, after I said the Indians helped the pilgrims learn how to hunt and fish, "yeah and then you killed all of the Indians".I said, "That's not exactly what happened" but in my head I was thinking, "Do you really want to get into a history lesson right now?I don't think so." She was from Germany.

Overall they were a huge success! Then last night I was watching the Macy's Day parade via live stream on CNN. I started getting sad thinking about how awesome America is, as the dough boy float was passing by and the crowd was chanting"Dough Boy! Dough Boy!".  Dan and I were both sad that we were missing Thanksgiving dinner ON Thanksgiving(we are having a few dinners with friends later in the weekend) so we decided to jump on our bikes and head to the Holiday Inn.

Yes, there is a Holiday Inn here in Leiden. And yes, they were serving a "Real American Thanksgiving Meal"! We  paid way too much for a meal where the only "real" Thanksgiving food was turkey, cranberries, and pumpkinpie but we still got our turkey fix and a memorable first Thanksgiving. The good thing about eating a feast here, is that you get to bike it off after you're done!Check out the pics below. If you click on the slideshow, it will make the pictures full size.