R&R in The Netherlands

We'll be back soon!

2008-04-09T08:25:00.003+02:00

Sorry for not posting recently, we've been busy traveling and will share some more soon! You might have noticed on our daily photo blog that we're on our way back to the U.S., but once we get settled a bit we'll share a little more from our travels in Europe.

Christmas in Spain

2008-02-20T15:52:00.015+01:00

The Andalucia region of Spain made for a really nice Christmas break. The area has everything we like -- from mountains to sea, city to rural, and of course food and wine! Christmas turns out to be a pretty laid-back affair in most of Spain. There were plenty of decorations and nativity scenes, as well as some street performers and a market in Seville. The main gift-giving occasion is after Christmas in early January, when Spain celebrates Three Kings day (Dia de los Reyes Magos).

Pictured are a nativity scene (belen) from Granada and a group of street performers from Jaen.

We call this our "car" trip, since the major cities sound like a list of bad 70's American autos. Our first stop, Granada, is most famous for the Alhambra palace. Situated high above the city, the Alhambra is an impressive sight, combining the Moorish architecture of the Muslim kings with european renaissance buildings introduced after the christians regained control. The intricate designs in the wood, plaster, and stone are amazing. Photos above and below are from Alhambra.

This region is truly tapas-land. Everywhere you go, when you walk into a bar and order a glass of beer or wine, you get handed a plate of tapas with each round. And each round is usually a different sort of tapas. If you want you can order additional plates and really make a meal out of it. Or, you can walk out after 2-3 rounds, having only spent 8-12 euros, and be pretty satisfied. In some places it gets so crowded you can barely stand -- especially during siesta, when all of the shoppers and shopworkers cram themselves into the most popular places. Not always the most comfortable, but definitely a great value!

We spent 3 nights, including Christmas, at a Parador in Jaen. Paradors are government-run hotels, many of them built in or near historic buildings. The Jaen parador is built on the Castillo de Santa Catalina, an arab castle captured by the catholic kings and later sacked by Napoleon's army. Terrific views of the city and the surrounding olive groves greeted us in the morning. The photos above are from our room and of the hotel/castle. Below are more photos from the castle and the town's cathdral dating from 1570.

We took two day trips from Jaen. First to Cordoba, home of a magnificent cathedral, which is adapted from a moorish mosque.

Pictured above: Moorish architecture inside the Cordoba cathedral

Many of the towns we visited tout their Columbus connection, some of them more believable than others. But just about every major city in the area has a Columbus statue of some sort. It's said that he first proposed his trip at the castle in Jaen although others say it was outside of Granada. Seville's cathedral contains Columbus' tomb, although it's disputed whether his remains are actually there. He set sail from Cadiz. Below is a scene from the Alcazar garden in Cordoba, showing Columbus as he receives his commission from Isabella and Ferdinand.

Our second day trip was to Ubeda, a nearby town with some nice renaissance buildings (and another crowded but good tapas bar). We drove further to the Cazorla nature reserve, where we were treated to some pretty exciting driving (there are no barriers on the steep side of the road) and pretty forest scenery. You can see some of the higher snow-covered peaks of the Sierras poking out from the forest.

Pictured: renaissance courtyard in Ubeda; the forest and mountains of Cazorla

On the way out of Jaen we stopped in the "white town" (so called because of the white wash on the outside of the buildings) of Ronda. A lot of sights are packed into this small town. There's a deep gorge running through it (along with the puente nevo bridge dating from the 18th century). There are plenty of interesting buildings like the Salvatierra palace with it's interesting Indian-inspired columns (dubbed the "gotta pee" building). And it's known as the home of modern bullfighting. Some of the Ronda sights are pictured below.

We stayed two nights in the resorty area of the Costa del Sol in order to take a daytrip to Morocco. The area between Malaga and Gibralter might as well be called Little Britain ... there's so much british influence there you feel more like you're in a spanish-themed town somewhere in the UK. We can understand why it's so popular -- in the sunny season it's a world away from the dull grey. But it's not our kind of area, even in the off season when the big hotels seem empty without the hordes of people heading for the beach.

The trip to Tangiers was precisely as we expected. For those of you who've been over the border from the U.S., we liken it to Tijuana. The tour group was herded off the ferry onto a bus where we were dropped at strategic points designed to get the most stereotypical view of Morocco: camel rides, a rug market, an apothecary store. All the while practically mobbed by street vendors selling cheap trinkets as we walked through the casbah (the old fortified center of town). It was pretty amusing, as it's what we expected. And we did touch our feet on Africa, which was our goal. And we did get a new phrase to laugh at occasionally, which came from the rug salesman -- "Touch My Rug!!!"

Pictured above: camel rides, Tangiers skyline, wares displayed in the casbah

On our way to Seville we made a sidetrip along the western coast town of Cadiz (pictured above). It's easy to see why this is a popular resort town, with it's colorful buildings, picturesque cathedral, and long stretch of beach.

Seville was a really pleasant city (other than driving to and from our hotel, which was a nightmare in the small one-way streets). The old town is dominated by the cathedral, once again a mosque that was adapted and is said to be the largest (by volume) cathedral in europe. The Plaza de Espana is a large pavilion built for the 1929 Ibero-America exhibition. It contains tiled vignettes from each of Spain's provences. We noticed that it was popular for Spanish tourists to sit and have their pictures taken in their province's space.

Pictured above: the Plaza de Espana, built for the 1929 exhibition, and flamenco dresses for sale

Pictured above: more of the Plaza de Espana, and the cathedral's Giralda tower at night

Our day trip from Seville was out to the Coto Donana national park. We chose to hike around the nature areas, which was really pleasant on a mild winter day. Along the way we saw many birds, lizards, and a pair of storks nesting on the tower of the visitor's center. On the way back to Seville we stopped outside of El Rocio, which is famous for it's religious pilgrimage. It's a strange scene looking to the brilliant white church (below); there are horses in the mudflats along with many different types of waterfowl. In fact, if you look closely at the 2nd photo you can see flamingos in the background -- the first time we've seen them in the wild.

Although we only visited one province, we found that Andalucia was a great place to experience different aspects of Spain. It was definitely a good choice for a winter holiday.

Prague

2008-01-10T17:20:00.000+01:00

We went to Prague, with our friend Cathy from Michigan, expecting it to be our most challenging european trip to date. After all, we were visiting a place where we couldn't even begin to pronounce the street names, let alone ask for something in a store or restaurant. And the Czech Republic is known for a cold surliness, right?

Pictured above: Tyn church (Rochelle calls it "Evil Disney"), Powder Gate

To our surprise, it was more english-friendly than many other european cities. And while not everyone was happy-smiley-friendly, it wasn't all grumbles, either. The food is fairly cheap (in european terms anyway) but hearty. More pork knuckles and potatoes than you can imagine, not that we're complaining.

Pictured above: Tyn church at night, Astronomical Clock, and the crowd waiting for the clock to strike the hour

Good thing, because what we were grumbling about was the weather. After a bit of sun on our first day, it was grey dreariness the rest of the week. I mean, we expected some of that -- it was November after all -- but we are starting to think that mother nature is hell-bent on having every european capital trip we take be under a blanket of grey gloom.

Pictured above: The Charles Bridge, day and evening

There is a definite charm to Prague, despite the countless number of souvenir and glass shops that dominate the old town. The bohemian architecture is very distinctive, even more so for being mixed in with the more familiar european styles of gothic, neo-classic, and art nouveau.

Pictured above: scenes from the Jewish Cemetery

Each area of the city has such a distinctive feel: old town with it's touristic hubbub, the relative quiet of the jewish quarter, the Vinohrady (with it's Paris-like feel of endless continental-style apartment blocks), and the Vysehrad cemetery, where we found the graves of the famous composers Smetana and Dvorak.

Pictured above: from the Vysehrad graveyard (Dvorak's grave on right)

Our day trip to Kutna Hora started out with an annoying delay due to a mixup with some of the passengers. The trip was worth it -- we saw snow on part of our route and really enjoyed the gothic cathedral which is the centerpiece of the town.

Pictured above: St. Barbara and view from Kutna Hora

Our tourguide was accidentally hilarious ... she started every sentence with "I would like to say..." and rushed us around as we tried to make up for lost time. She did pull off a minor miracle in getting the Sedlec Ossuary to stay open an hour past normal closing time, and we're glad she did. It's an amazing sight to see a church decorated with the bones of over 40,000 skeletons.

Pictured above: from the Ossuary

There's a lot to remember from this trip: the company of a friend, the sight of the crowd at the astronomical clock (and the following "that's it?" expressions), the joyful playing of a quartet at Prague Castle, and the unique architecture.

Pictured above: in the area of the Prague Castle

Join us in 2 weeks for a recap of our Christmastime trip to Spain.

See you next year!

2007-12-19T17:01:00.000+01:00

The holiday rush has prevented us from posting about our Prague trip. Check back shortly after the holidays. This pic is from our daily blog.

Happy Holidays and thanks for visiting!

Back to Berlin

2007-11-30T12:22:00.000+01:00

Berlin is nothing if not a city of contrasts ... old/new, east/west, clean/dirty, relaxed/uptight ... one could go on forever. But that's what makes it such an interesting town. We met friends Jon & Scott there for a sightseeing-packed extended weekend. We last visited Berlin 8 years ago ... at that time it was a city of construction cranes, so we weren't surprised to see that a lot has changed since then.

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche is one of the city's most familiar landmarks. We didn't go inside during our previous visit, so the beautiful ceiling mosaics were a new sight for us. The church was a symbol of German pride, constructed in the late 1800's with intricate mosaics depicting the life of Kaiser Wilhelm I. All that was left standing after the April 1945 bombing was a portion of the tower.

Pictured: Kaiser-Wilhelm church and mosaic (click to enlarge any picture)

There are, of course, many signs still around the city of the war and the divided city. Although there's not much left of the Berlin Wall, there are segments on display in the Postdamer Platz. And if you look closely at many of the old buildings you can see the scars of war.

Pictured: Berlin Wall segment; damaged building

The Holocaust Memorial and Jewish Museum are new since our last visit. They're both very moving, but in different ways. The Jewish Museum follows the entire history of Jews in Germany. Inside is a Holocaust tower ... only a few people are allowed in at a time, and when the door is closed you are standing in a tall, windowless space ... almost completely dark except for a shaft of light at the top. The interpretation is left to the visitor, but clearly it is a space for reflection.

The Holocaust Memorial (technically, the "Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe") is topped by thousands of concrete slabs, of different height and on an uneven surface. Again, walking through this space is clearly designed for contemplation. The exhibit portion is underground, and consists of different remembrance rooms with stories told in a very personal manner. Several times I noticed people trying hard not to totally break down. It was a very moving experience.

Pictured: The concrete "stelae" and an exhibit in the letters room (click to enlarge)

Such sobering sights are contrasted by the new signs of life throughout the city. Walking around the Unter den Linden area (literally translated, Under the Trees), you can see the revitalization that's happening throughout Berlin.

Above: evening stroll on Unter den Linden

After waiting for the train strike to end at exactly 10:00am, we took the train out to the town of Potsdam. Here we visited two sites: the Sans Souci complex with its multiple palaces and gardens, and Cecilienhof, where the Allies met to decide the fate of postwar Europe.

Above: The "New Palace" and Sans Souci
Below: Cecilienhof and looking into the conference room with the flags of the U.S., Great Britain and Soviet Union

Berlin is really a top-notch museum town. We visited the Pergamonmuseum, with the amazing Pergamon Alter, Ishtar Gate and Mschatta facade. The Altes Museum currently houses antiquities from Greece, Rome and Egypt. And the Gemäldegalerie had a fantastic collection of art from gothic to baroque.

Pictured: a frieze from the Pergamon alter, and a panorama of the Ishtar gate

A morning visit to the Berlin Zoo was a nice contrast to the hustle & bustle of the city. It wasn't very crowded early on a beautiful autumn day. We noticed that the Germans are not shy about sex education, at least not as far as the zoo animals are concerned.

Pictured: some of the zoo occupants and more than you needed to know about asian wild horses

A trip out to the Olympic stadium was a worthwhile detour. Newly renovated to host the '06 World Cup soccer championship, it is still an impressive structure. It's amazing to think that it has hosted numerous sports events, as well as Hitler, Jesse Owens, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, and the Pope.

Pictured: the entrance to the Olympic Stadium and a panorama from the interior

Having lunch at the Reichstag/Bundestag is a great way to avoid the very long line of visitors waiting to go to the dome at the top. It's a great way to see around the city; unfortunately the day went from sunny to overcast in no time, which doesn't make for good photos from inside the dome.

Pictured: Reichstag exterior, and the mirrored center of the dome.

On our final day we paid a visit to the Berliner Dom. It's another imposing structure, but the inside feels much smaller than you'd think. Perhaps it's because of the space the massive organ takes up on the inside. In the basement are the tombs of the Hohenzollern dynasty. We featured one of the memorials in this post from our daily blog.

Pictured: Berliner Dom

Of course, inbetween all of the sights we had our fair share of food, wine & beer. From german to italian to thai to sushi, Berlin has it all. So you can go from a sobering experience to a not-so-sober state of mind. Just part of the contrasting character of Berlin.

Octoberfest (but not Oktoberfest): Münsterland and Düsseldorf

2007-11-06T08:53:00.000+01:00

In October we found ourselves traveling to Germany three weeks in a row. We didn't make it all the way to Munich for Oktoberfest, but that's not a problem in Germany because they don't seem to have a problem enjoying themselves no matter where or when you are there.

The first trip was a quick journey over the border into the Münsterland area. It's known for the many moated castles/estates that dot the area. Here are a few shots from our visit.

Pictured Above: Schloss Lembeck has nicely landscaped grounds including a rhododendron garden.

Pictured above: Schlosspark Nordkirchen is called "the Versailles of Westphalia." It now operates as a business school, but the grounds are open and include a large formal sculpture garden.

Haus Havixbeck is still a private home.

Above: The Kreislehrgarten in Steinfurt. We featured it on our daily blog.

Our final stop was in the town of Xanten, known for its medieval town center and roman ruins. The town center was very active for a Sunday (many stores were open, so they have the tourism thing down pat).

Above: Xanten town center, and inside the St. Viktor Dom (construction started in 1263).

The next weekend we were off to Düsseldorf. We planned this weekend back in May, when tickets to the Police concert went on sale. Were it not for our stop in the tourist office on Saturday, we wouldn't have known that the concert was cancelled. It seems that Sting developed a sore throat ... wimp! At any rate, that gave us more time to enjoy the town. We were pleasantly surprised ... knowing that the town was heavily damaged during WWII, we didn't expect much. But it is a vibrant town, with an intriguing mix of old and new.

Above: looking back at the Altstadt (old town), and the old Town Hall.

Above: around the TV tower and "media harbor," home to some unique modern architecture

Above: one of the streets in the old town--this one packed with tapas restaurants, and fall goods at the market

Above: from the Düsseldorf city monument; we featured it on our daily blog.

During our stay we saw a wedding in the old town (above), and some characters on the street (below, street performers and a stag party).

Perhaps the thing we'll remember most is our stop in a tiny little bar in the old town (pictured above). It was packed, but a woman sitting on the bench moved over enough for us to squeeze in. She was drinking the local liquor called Killepitsch. We ordered a round, including one for the nice lady, and managed to get by with broken german and gestures (we know how to say "cheers" in many languages now).

She started to tell us a story, and a guy standing at the bar was kind enough to translate. Her story was about how the Americans bombed the city after the fighting had stopped. And there were two guys that were buried beneath the rubble but survived. And to celebrate their survival they made a special liqueur and called it Killepitsch, which meant something about being killed.

Now, you have to understand that this woman looked like she was old enough to have lived through the war. And we all had a good laugh ... it didn't seem like she was telling us this story to make us feel bad. But frankly, we thought that she was either making it up or maybe the 7 or 8 shots she had before ours had taken their toll. After all, the drink is a really dark red color, and it's 84 proof!

However, the makers of Killepitsch are nice enough to have translated their story into english, and darn if it isn't pretty close to the story we were told. So if you're ever around Düsseldorf, be sure to stop into the tiny pub in the Altstadt and see if you get told the same tale.

Back to Brussels

2007-10-17T10:08:00.000+02:00

Last month we found ourselves hopping on the train for another quick weekend trip to Brussels. One of the reasons we went was to see the Royal Palace, which is only open only during the summer. The "Heaven of Delight" room is quite a sight ... you can't take pictures inside, but you can see some at this site. The ceiling is covered with thousands of wings from Thai jewel beetles ... truly bizarre.

We spent some time exploring Brussels' art nouveau architecture. Here you see the Musée des Instruments de Musique. We went up to the top floor cafe to see the view of the city, but decided we'd leave the exhibits for another visit. Another stop was the Musée Horta, the home and office of one of the most influential art nouveau architects, Victor Horta. The outside is deceivingly simple; the inside is another matter (click on the museum link to see indoor pictures).

We also did a lot of walking around, taking in the Grand Place (which you see poking up in the vista) and the Marolles market. We really like the statues of various guilds in the Place du Petit Sablon ... like this guy -- got the wine & the fish, let's party!

Speaking of party, we seem to be on a roll in seeing stag parties wherever we go. The chicken groom-to-be even stopped for a photo with the two of us (which we'll keep for our private collection). And in a repeat of our last trip to Brussels, we saw a marching band again, this time in a military/veterans procession to the Grand Place. Add to that a couple of drinks at our favorite Brussels witch-themed bar, and some great Belgian food, and it made for a perfect weekend escape.

Come back in about a week for our next post from our recent travels to Germany.

The Deep South

2007-10-03T09:52:00.000+02:00

The province of Limburg, squeezed between Germany and Belgium, is the only part of the country that has rolling hillsides. We took a weekend to explore some of the unique sites, avoiding the main town of Maastricht (as we'll surely venture back). The Maas river (pictured above), which goes through Rotterdam on its way to the North Sea, cuts through much of the province.

Our first stop was the town of Thorn. The main draw is the "picturesqueness" of the whitewashed buildings in the town center that surround the old abbey church. The town itself dates from the 10th century; the church from the 12th (although like most old churches it has undergone a number of changes).

From Thorn we headed to the town of Arcen, famous for its Kasteeltuinen (castle gardens). Really more of an "estate" than a castle, the gardens are quite extensive.

Fall hadn't quite taken hold yet, so many of the roses and other flowers were still in bloom. There are also some small animal exhibits; among others we saw cranes, antelope, and capuchin monkeys (all pictured below; click to enlarge any photo). There's also a pic on our daily blog.

We stayed in the small town of Kessel. We had a neat room in what looked like an old stablehouse next to the castle ruins. We picnicked by twilight next to the castle along the river Maas, watching the muskrats in the river and listening to a production of "Romeo & Juliet" being performed inside the castle (in dutch, which was quite novel for us).

The next day we headed down to the Netherlands American War Cemetery in Margraten. The only American military cemetery in The Netherlands honors the soldiers who fought in this region during WWII. To see more, here's a post from our daily blog.

On our way home we skirted into Belgian Limburg (yes, just to confuse you, both countries have a Limburg province).

Rochelle was able to enjoy one of her favorites ... mussels ... and with apologies to the dutch and french, she still insists that Belgium does them best.

And I was able to enjoy one of my favorites, Belgian beer ... with apologies to just about every european country, Belgium wins here too, if you like unique flavorful beers.

Tongeren is dominated by its 13th century gothic church. Next to the church is a WWI monument, topped by small children or cherubs that almost look like they're playing with war implements. Pictured below are some detail shots from the church and the memorial (sorry for the blurry crop).

Come back for our next post on 15 October when we return to Brussels.

Our kind of town...

2007-09-19T14:00:00.000+02:00

Last month was our annual "home visit." Our trip was split between Metro Detroit and Chicagoland (our European friends like to remind us that "Chicagoland" makes it sound like a theme park). Our Detroit time was spent out in the far western 'burbs ... it's hard to think of Brighton as a suburb, as it used to be considered "the boonies," but with urban sprawl it's now pretty much part of the area. We had a great time catching up with family and friends, even though we didn't get to see everyone on our list.

For the Chicago portion of the trip we managed to squeeze in a very limited amount of "free time" in and around the city. We made a quick stop at one of our favorite nature spots, the Magic Hedge. The picture at the top of the post is looking back at the city -- through typical Chicago summer haze. Note the strange formation in the upper left ... it was practice day for the Air & Water Show. The weather turned miserable for the weekend and the show was rained out on Sunday ... too bad they couldn't have held it a day earlier! For those of you who don't know what the magic hedge is, click on the sign to enlarge.

Another quick stop: the Wicker Park/Bucktown area, which had become a favorite haunt for us. Here are a couple of reasons why: good "pubs" like Lotties, where you can pop in anytime for a cool drink and a nice game of darts, and neighborhood features like the dog park.

We call the drive north along the lakeshore the "inspirational drive" because of the huge homes (some are truly mansions) and the beautiful scenery. Just over the border from Evanston in Wilmette you'll find a nice harbor and the B'hai Temple. We had never stopped in the temple before, so we decided to be tourists and check it out. The way the building incorporates symbols from a variety of religions is really amazing, and it's beautiful on a sunny day (or lit up at night).

No pics, but we drove by the old house. Rochelle was expecting the worst for her garden: in her mind, it was probably layered over by stones. But surprisingly little had changed. We suspect that the new owners are waiting a year to see what comes up. It'll be interesting to keep an eye on it over time.

Just to throw in some other nice Chicago pics, to follow are some shots we took last year (on our "leaving Chicago" tour). Thanks to all of the family and friends for their time and hospitality, and to anyone we didn't have a chance to see hopefully we can meet next time (or come and visit us).

Pictured left to right:

The Sears Tower looming behind 311 S. Wacker building (which is more interesting at night) ... from the Architectural Boat Tour which is high on our list of Chicago reco's

Looking north on Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River: Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower

The wonderful Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park; if you squint that's the Grant Park Orchestra performing on stage

In the Eifel

2007-08-29T10:15:00.000+02:00

The Eifel region of Germany, that is! Just under 3 hours' drive from Wassenaar, we visited the part of the Eifel region that borders The Netherlands and Belgium.

Aachen is probably one of the most historic German towns you've never heard of. The town is dominated by the cathedral (left), part of which dates back to the reign of Charlemagne. While the exterior (with its mishmash of styles) and the interior (particularly the mosaic dome) are interesting, the treasury is the real can't miss. Several huge reliquaries, a sarcophagus dating from the second century, and numerous other invaluable relics are displayed here. Charlemagne built quite a treasure trove of goodies, and Aachen's importance as a place for the coronation for German kings evidently kept the riches rolling in for some time.

Above: Charlemagne (looking a little concerned); detail from the cathedral roof

Above: cathedral interior; mosaics in the dome

Above: decorative mosaics, Persephone sarcophagus

Above: Charlemagne's bust and reliquaries from the cathedral treasury

Of course, there are more sights than just the cathedral. There are more statues than you can count, and the streets are filled with shops selling the local delicacy printen (a sort of chewy gingerbread).

Above: local statuary (the one in the middle picture moves!) and a printen shop window

We happened upon a pretty busy day: stag/hen parties, a string trio, and a bike race! All that and we still found time to relax at a friendly wine bar (those are real grapes pictured above).

Above: a groom-to-be, string trio

Above: scenes from the bike race

The following day we visited two picturesque villages. We blogged about the second town, Valkenburg (NL), on our daily blog. Our first stop on Sunday was the picture-postcard town of Monschau (DE). Situated about a half hour's drive south of Aachen, it is nestled along the sleepy riverbank of the river Rur. Tourism seems to be the order of the day; not very crowded when we first arrived, by afternoon it was bustling with activity.

Above: Monschau contains lots of pretty half-timbered buildings, old churches, and interesting architectural details like downspouts shaped like lobsters.

Among the sights (pictured above) were a sculpture garden, a brass band, and perhaps the prettiest firehouse we've ever seen. After a nice riverside meal, we set off for home relaxed and ready for our trip back to the US to visit family & friends.

We'll do a mini post on Chicago in two weeks as our next installment.

Scotland Part III: The Animal Life

2007-08-07T09:26:00.000+02:00

By "animal life" we don't mean the pubgoers. Truthfully, although we consumed our fair share, we didn't see much rowdiness. But we did see more than our fair share of real animals!

The guy on the left is a red squirrel; they are endangered in the UK because the American grey squirrel is taking over. Great, another reason to resent the yanks!

The farm animals lived up to their billing on this trip: the highland "coos" grazing in wild fields, and sheep everywhere, as you can see from the pics below.

At the farm in Glen Fruin, part of the menagerie was a group of peacocks. At right is a female that posed in the sunset; pictured below are the male showing off and one of the young in the trees (we had no idea peacocks flew up into the trees).

One of our stops on the Isle of Mull was a bird of prey rehabilitation center, "Wings over Mull." Despite the cold rainy weather, we were treated to a falconry demonstration.

The second of two boat trips took us to Troup Head, a bird sanctuary on the east coast. Just us, five Scots, and two RSPB guides. The seas were very rocky, so it was difficult to try and hold on while taking pictures. But the trip was great for several reasons: (1) the guides were very knowledgeable, (2) the other passengers were very friendly, (3) we saw lots of birds including the gannets and kittiwakes the area is famous for, and (4) we had an incredible pod of dolphins following us for most of the trip.

On the way back from the cliffs, we had somewhat of a tea party on the boat. How the captain and our guides prepared tea and coffee in these seas we'll never know. We talked about places to see, where to eat, and our experiences with the Dutch. And one of the passengers shared her homemade tablet. A great end to a wonderful trip!

Pictured: the foggy coast; gannets and kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs

Pictured: our dolphin escorts

Our first boat trip was to the Staffa & Trenish Isles. The main reason we took the trip was to see puffins, and we weren't disappointed! One of the best days of our trip weather-wise, we saw other animals on this trip too. Soon after we left the dock at Ulva, there was an otter sighting. We didn't get very close, but as this was the only otter we saw in Scotland it was nonetheless pretty exciting. No good otter pics, though. Once out to sea we saw the dorsal fin of a minke whale. On Staffa we saw numerous seabirds like oystercatchers. And on Trenish the guillemots tend to nest on one part of the island; there are so many you can't hear anything but their calls.

Pictured: minke whale, guillemots

But the stars of the show were the puffins. It is incredible how close you can get to these birds; they were only slightly wary of the group of us rushing to snap their photos. The first pic is Rochelle's prize photo; out of the hundreds of shots we took, this is the only successful one of a puffin coming in for a landing (along with a couple of the missed shots).

All in all, we couldn't be happier with our trip. As we said in our first entry, Scotland is a land of contrasts, and we experienced a lot in our two weeks there. Next time we visit we'll spend a bit more time in the cities, which will likely be a different sort of "wild!"

Scotland Part 2: Castles & History

2007-07-31T11:40:00.000+02:00

All around Scotland are reminders of the history that has shaped the country ... there are so many castles here that you lose count. Some are ruins, some are still homes. Some try to recreate a long-gone era, some keep moving with the times. In and among the castles are many monuments, gardens, and other historical homes.

Our first truly dramatic castle sighting was on the ferry from Oban to Mull. Duart Castle (below) sits alone as you turn the corner toward the Craignure ferry dock. We later visited it, passing the MacLean clan cemetery on the way in to the castle.

Some of the castles have extensive gardens and grounds to explore. Pictured below are: Cawdor (is this where Duncan died in Macbeth?), Crathes (we didn't see the ghost of the Green Lady), and Glamis, with it's nice photo exhibition of the Queen Mother.

Ruins abound across the country. Many of the castles were destroyed to ensure they couldn't fall into enemy hands. Two of the ruins we visited are pictured below. Urqhart sits on Loch Ness ... we didn't see Nessie, but perhaps the rain scared her away. Loch Leven sits on an island (in -- you guessed it -- Loch Leven), and is one of the castles where Mary, Queen of Scots was held. To get to the island you take a ferry (in this case, a very small boat); the poor ferry driver was getting soaked this day!

We visited a few historic buildings as well. Our favorites were the Hill House in Helensburgh (designed by the famous Glasgow architect Charles Rene Mackintosh) and the 18th-century Duff House in Banff.

Scotland doesn't immediately leap to mind when we think of WWII, but there is a lot of world war history around the country. The Commando Memorial looks out across a sweeping view of Lochaber and Glen Nevis. Outside of Poolewe is an old training ground with old gun hides; many Russian sailors set out from here during the war.

It wouldn't be a vacation without a visit to some gravesites, right? At least not for us. The Clava Cairns might not look like much, but it is amazing to think that we were viewing burial mounds and standing stones that date back to 2000BC. A little more recent, but still old, were some of the gravestones in the Stirling Holy Rude cemetery, like this one dated 1696.

Some of the cities were protected by impressive fortresses. Unfortunately, the weather kept us from snapping impressive pictures. Below are Stirling Castle, the view from Stirling to the Wallace Monument, and Inverness Castle.

We'll leave with the most scenic of our Scottish castle stops. First is Castle Stalker (Rochelle loves the name); it's privately owned but there is a great viewpoint from the highway. If you're a Monty Python fan, you might recognize it as Castle Aaaarrrrggghhh!

Second is Eilean Donan, restored in the early 1900s by the MacRaes. It's no wonder why this is one of the most photographed spots in Scotland. Luckily the weather held for us as we toured the castle.

Stop by next week (August 6) for our final Scotland installment on the wildlife (as in animals, not pubs)!

Scotland: Land & Sea

2007-07-25T09:57:00.000+02:00

We left Scotland after two weeks with many memories and even more photos. Scotland is a land of contrasts. Things change instantly. From land to sea. From civilized to remote. From rainy to sunny (mostly rainy). We hope to share some of those contrasts with you over a few weeks. So we'll publish three posts: today we'll feature Land & Sea, next week (Jul 30) Wildlife, and the following week (Aug 6) Landmarks. (Click on any of the pics to enlarge)

Our first five days were spent having a blast in the Loch Lomond/Glen Fruin Area with the Johnson-Rondenet-Smith clan. Joining them in their vacation rental, we totaled four adults, seven kids, three cats, a goose, a parrot, at least 10 peacocks, numerous wild birds (including a barn owl that visited at night), some dead birds/mice (thanks to the cats), and a gazillion midges. At least the occasional showers helped scare away the midges sometimes. Right: some of the changing scenes from the house.

Above: Views from Bute, including one of the many ferries from the area

Above: From the ferry to/from the Isle of Mull. Same lighthouse, different views/days/weather!

One of the things that struck us is how quickly the scenery in the highlands and islands can change, as you can see in the following pictures.

From lush green to desert-like moonscapes

From hills hidden by fog to hills covered in heather

From inland waterfalls to islands made of geometric stone (Staffa/Fingal's Cave)

At Inverewe Gardens (above) you can see the unexpected. The gulf stream moderates the temperature and some tropical species are grown there.

Driving in Scotland is nothing less than a heart-pounding adventure. Rochelle called the roads "Scotland's Disneyland Ride." One-track roads abound, where the locals zoom through and you have to be on your toes, ready to pull over at a moment's notice (literally). The pics (above) don't do it justice, it's one of those things you have to experience yourself.

The setting of some of the towns can rival the countryside. Here are two of the most scenic we visited; Tobermory (Isle of Mull) and Culross (Fife).

Finally, we'll leave you with our favorite sunsets (below). The first is from Poolewe, just outside of our hotel. The second is from our evening drive around Loch Ness -- can you spot Nessie?

Don't forget to come back over the next two weeks for our other Scotland installments!

A Quick Visit to Normandy

2007-07-03T20:18:00.000+02:00

Having only a short weekend, we decided to focus on the gardens and abbeys of Normandy. We managed to see a lot despite the occasional thunderstorms that followed us the entire trip. We spent our first night in Rouen, taking a nice stroll around the old city center. The center has no less than three gothic churches, including the Cathedral Notre-Dame (which was the subject of numerous Monet paintings) and the very modern St. Joan of Arc. Rouen is infamous for being the city where Joan was held and burned at the stake. Speaking of death, a weird find was the courtyard of the Aitre St-Maclou. It used to be a plague cemetery, and the timbers are all carved with macabre symbols of death. The rest of the city center is a little less macabre, with a nice mix of stores and restaurants. We had dinner at La Couronne, a traditional restaurant that prides itself on famous visitors ... from Salvador Dali to Sophia Loren.

Pictured (click to enlarge) from Rouen: Notre-Dame, Aitre St-Maclou, Great Clock, St-Joan-of-Arc

The next morning, we hit the "Abbey Road." Our first stop was the Abbaye St-Georges in St-Martin-de-Boscherville. It's amazing to think that this church was built in the 1100s, and the beautiful garden is from the late 1600s. Deciding to be very french, we bought a picnic lunch from the patisserie and charcuterie, and stopped along the river Seine for a nice break inbetween rainstorms.

Pictured: St-Georges abbey, garden, and details from columns

The next stop on Abbey Road was at the spectacular ruins of the Jumieges Abbey. We narrowly escaped a drenching as we huddled underneath the old entrance to the church until the rain passed. Even the pigeons had to hide from the rain (see below). The ruins have a kind of eerie peacefulness about them, even with other visitors walking around (but thanks to the rain it wasn't crowded).

Pictured: Jumieges ruins

Our next abbey, St-Wandrille, is still a working place of worship for Benedictine monks. The monks pray in silence and there are numerous signs asking visitors to respect the silence. Still packing in the sights, we were off to the Chateau de Beaumesnil. Finished in 1640, it no longer serves as a residence, but the grounds and the first two floors are open to visitors. During our stop in the small town, the police shut down the main road for some sort of motorcycle rally. We don't know what it was for, but the participants and spectators were enthusiastically cheering and honking as they drove through the town.

Pictured: St-Wandrille window, Beaumesnil chateau and bikers

The next morning it was off to Giverny and Monet's garden. Monet lived the last 33 years of his life in this small, peaceful town. Well, it would have been peaceful without all the tourists. It is amazing to see the source of inspiration for many of his works, but you do have to elbow a lot of other people to see it. On the way out we were surprised to see two parrots grooming themselves in the tree of one of the village homes.

Pictured: (above) scenes from Monet's garden, (below) parrots in the trees of Giverny

On our way home we picked the town of Beauvais to stop for lunch, for no other reason than our guidebook said it had some good restaurants around the town square. We were surprised to see a festival going on. Turns out it was a medieval fair centered around "Jeanne Hachette" (literally "Jean the Hatchet"). We found out later (thanks again, Wiki) that she is a legendary heroine who ripped down the flag of enemy troops in 1472, an act which revived the town's defenders.

We had a classic medieval lunch of chicken thigh and potatoes served on a slice of tree trunk. Rochelle heroically mustered up the courage to try to order in French, and was heroically saved by the fine English of the servers. Rochelle's French skills failed her when she was asked if she was enjoying the food. When Rochelle answered "tres bien," the waitress thought she was speaking Italian. So Rochelle tried "heerlijk" ... the Dutch word for "delicious." That didn't work either, and when Rochelle told the waitress that it was Dutch and that we lived in Holland, the waitress gave her a dirty look and groaned. Evidently the French still have some of that famous attitude!

Eating peasant food, watching the entertainment (and the boisterous crowd), and being harassed by the waitress was one of those unexpected finds that made the trip extra special.

Pictured: from the festival--poster, musicians, tightrope walker

Next post: Week of July 22

Luxembourg with a side of Belgium

2007-06-20T08:20:00.000+02:00

Europe has a lot of "one and onlys" ... this time we visited the world's only sovereign Grand Duchy, Luxembourg. Actually, our first stop was in Belgium, since you pretty much have to drive through most of it to get to Luxembourg. There's a lot of war history in this area; we stopped to see some in the Belgian town of Bastogne. A pleasant little town, it was a crucial spot in the Battle of the Bulge. To commemorate, the Mardasson Memorial sits just outside of town. It's an impressive monument even on a rainy day.

Pictured (click to enlarge): Mardasson Memorial

Then it was off through the rain to the Luxembourg town of Grevenmacher. If the name sounds German, it's because it's right on the border of Germany on the Mosel river. Actually, you're never far from a border in Luxembourg (Belgium, Germany, or France). That's probably why the residents all seem to speak French, German, and their own language (Luxembourgish, a strange combination that sounds like there's some dutch in there too) interchangeably. A quick check in wiki shows that the country is indeed trilingual, and most could speak good English as well.

Grevenmacher has a butterfly garden with many beautiful butterflies as well as the occasional lurking chameleon and a group of chicks that Rochelle was obsessed with but refused to sit still for a picture.

Most people outside of the area probably don't know that this region is known for wine production, in particular cremant (the poor man's champagne). What a surprise that we would visit! After a few stops the trunk was full and we were off to the city of Luxembourg (yes -- Luxembourg, Luxembourg).

Regional artwork: now, if only these fountains spouted real wine...

Just outside of the city are war cemeteries for both Americans and Germans. These are always moving sights. The American cemetery is resting place for over 5,000 soldiers and General George S. Patton. The German cemetery has over 10,000 soldiers; most are in a mass grave.

Pictured: top-American cemetery bottom-German cemetery

The city of Luxembourg is unique; divided up by high cliffs and deep ravines; the geography creates some nice views. The center is compact and easy to walk around. We stayed right around the corner from the palace, but there didn't seem to be a lot of activity there. Luxembourg is Europe's culture capital for 2007, and when we were there the main event was a gathering of drum corps. Everywhere we went we saw (heard!) small drum groups, some playing on stages but most kind of walking around performing. Mostly around our hotel. Late at night. It was fun, but luckily we're heavy sleepers.

Pictured: Luxembourg views, Duke's Palace, Night Drumming

Driving home, we decided to get off the motorway in Belgium and take some side roads for a while. This turned out to be a good decision for a couple of reasons. First, we found a really nice wine store in the middle of nowhere. The friendly owner helped us fill our trunk even further. Second, we stopped at a Carrefour grocery store. Dutch grocery stores are much smaller, and it was nice to stop in a big store with such a huge selection for a change. Third, we discovered that the region along the Meuse river is very pretty and scenic. We picked up some strawberries from a roadside stand and stopped for a picnic. A great way to finish a nice quick trip.

Pictured: along the Meuse river

Next post: Week of July 1

Off to Chelsea

2007-06-05T09:35:00.000+02:00

Since we landed in The Netherlands last year, Rochelle has been waiting for her chance to go to one of the huge garden shows in the UK. So we hopped over to London to go to the biggest of the big, the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Garden Show. Rochelle's even a member of the RHS even though we don't live in the UK. The weather was anything but spectacular this trip, but luckily the clouds parted on Friday, the day we went to the show.

We decided that we wanted a different view of London, so we took the advice of friends and stayed outside of the city in Richmond-Upon-Thames. Only about 30 minutes by tube, Richmond is a very casual river town, with a very nice pub & restaurant scene. We flew in Thursday morning and spent the rest of the day pretty much just strolling around town. It was off-and-on cloudy but at least not raining. For more about Richmond visit the photoblog.

We loved the name of this wine store in Richmond.

How british can you get ... watching an evening of cricket from a Richmond pub.

In order to try to beat the crowds, we headed out early for Chelsea and made it there right at opening time. Even then it was pretty populated; I found that I didn't take very many garden pictures, because you couldn't get a shot without a ton of people in it. The shots below don't do the gardens justice ... click the links for full descriptions. Rochelle's favorite garden was the Linnaeus garden -- she does tend to like whites & blues (click the link to see why there was a tribute to Linnaeus). My favorite was the Fetzer garden, not because they are a former client of mine, but because I liked the way they recreated a California style garden, especially the real vines and the cool bat house. We both liked the Cancer Research garden with its wood sculpture.

Pictured (click to enlarge): Linnaeus, Fetzer, and Cancer Research gardens

By 10-10:30 or so the legendary crowd was in full force. We finished looking at the displays in the pavilion, then took a walk through some more of the outside commercial exhibits. We tried our first Pimm's cocktail and decided it must be an acquired taste. So we headed for an early lunch at the Laurent-Perrier/Loch Fyne champagne/seafood restaurant. We tried unsuccessfully to find a boat launch from the area, and ended up heading back to Richmond for the evening.

Pictured: midday crowds at Chelsea

Saturday & Sunday were miserably rainy, so we decided to skip our planned visit to the Kew Garden and head into the city. On Saturday we shopped on Oxford Street (it seemed almost as crowded as the flower show) and took a boat ride on the Thames during a break in the rain. We visited the British Museum, which is very rich in history/archaeology. Sunday we headed in to the Tate Modern. Before we know it we were back on the train to Gatwick and taking off for home. Hopefully we'll make it to one of the other big shows while we're living in Europe.

Pictured: (L) From our boat tour, a view of the HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge.

(R) The Millennium Bridge (click the link to read about its interesting history), looking from the Tate Modern to St. Paul's (evidently this area is in the midst of a building boom!)

Dublin

2007-05-22T10:22:00.000+02:00

The second part of our visit from Joan & Jim was a trip to Dublin. We chose to fly on RyanAir (cheap) out of Eindhoven, which is normally about 1 1/2 hours from our home. After a not-so-quick lunch in Gouda (the Dutch are not known for fast service, particularly when you are "terrassing"), we ended up in a horrible traffic jam. Turns out that Eindhoven was hosting a rally for their football team PSV, winners of the Dutch title. The result of missing our flight (barely!) was more time on the road, as our only option to get to Dublin was to fly out from Belgium.

Pictured: Obviously not Dublin ... this is a wedding at the historic stadhuis in Gouda

Leaving the Dublin airport, our cab driver was the definition of "the gift of the blarney." Our 40-minute ride was a lesson in Irish politics ... everything from the local elections to the European Union to immigration to the Spire of Dublin. It was interesting, to say the least (unlike our driver).

Luckily, Dublin is a very good city in which to drown your sorrows, or anything else for that matter. First stop was the Temple Bar pub. The Temple Bar area is the party central of Dublin -- it seems busy at all times of the day. All in all, we visited 13 pubs. You can even take one of the predefined pub crawls, like the Literary pub crawl where you visit pubs that were frequented by literary giants like Joyce, Beckett & Wilde. One of the most interesting in terms of looks was Kehoe's; many of the fixtures were old (including the urinals in the basement). One of the most interesting in terms of people was the Hairy Lemon; we had a great conversation with the bartender & they had some good tunes on the jukebox.

Pictured: Kehoe's Pub

We decided to take the open-air tour to get an overview of the sights. Dublin's city center is fairly compact and it doesn't seem as big as most other European capitals. We split the tour between two days, and it was a great way to see the sights like St. Patrick's Cathedral (pictured below).

One of the tour stops was the Guinness Storehouse (pictured below). It's a multi-level, multimedia experience that takes you through the history of Guinness and the brewing process. The tour culminates with a cold pint in the "Gravity Bar" with a great view of the city.

To give ourselves a bit of a break from the city, we took the train out to the fishing village of Howth. It definitely feels different than Dublin, with its row of fisheries, abbey ruins, and WWII. After lunch at the Abbey Pub, we trained to to visit the Malahide castle. I don't think I can adequately describe the tour of the castle. It is semi self-guided ... after a brief introduction a woman plays recordings in each room. Jim described the woman running our tour as "Aunt Clara" ... if you're familiar with (the original) Bewitched you might know what he meant. Let's just say that the timing of the tour was a little off. Then when we went outside we ran into a horde of bees ... evidently two rival nests were fighting it out, much like it might have been hundreds of years ago when the castle had to defend itself.

Pictured (click to enlarge): Howth

Pictured: Malahide castle (click to enlarge; the "spots" on the 2nd photo are bees)

Saturday morning brought an early flight ... we thought that we'd find an empty airport at 5AM. To our surprise it was completely packed ... the following Monday was a bank holiday and it seemed like everyone was getting out of town. After a stop in Leuven, Belgium, it was back home for a quiet dinner, and Sunday morning Joan & Jim were back on a plane to Chicago. We had a great time and look forward to our next visitors. Thanks again to Jim for contributing to the photos.

Queen's Day 2007

2007-05-07T14:17:00.000+02:00

Our friends Joan & Jim flew in from Chicago for a week's holiday, starting with a few nights in Amsterdam to celebrate the Queen's Day holiday. Prior to the actual holiday, we spent a couple of days roaming the streets of Amsterdam. If you've ever been here or you know anything about the city you know that there's more than enough to keep you busy ('nuf said). The city was busy as usual, but you could call it downright tranquil compared to what was about to happen on Monday. This post contains many pics, so click on photos to enlarge -- pictured: pre-party lounging along a canal; decorated boat; lonely (but not for long) beer tap.

Between our boat tour and just walking around, we saw quite a few interesting sights. You can really see the city getting ready for the party ... balloons and decorations of all types all over the place. Some red/white/blue but mostly orange. We looked on in amazement as a group of guys were tying ribbons across the street between the pubs and stores ... in order to steady the ladder on the uneven street, they used the advanced method of cardboard beer coasters! They were very confident (or it might have been the beer that they were drinking as they performed this dangerous task).

Although we've never been, we think the closest thing in the US would be Mardi Gras. The party starts early -- when we walked out on Monday morning, the streets were already crowded and people were literally streaming in from the train station. The streets get so packed, especially near the canals and the main squares, that you can barely move.

The party really starts with the street sales. People all over the city put out their junkiest wares hoping that someone is already drunk enough to buy them (they are). Also, it's a chance for people to make money in strange ways; kids playing instruments (some better than others), pie-in-the-face, and so forth. We even saw people peddling hugs and the right to pet their dogs.

There's entertainment all around the city, but our favorite activity of the day was watching the canal boat parade. The boats quickly turned from a trickle to a steady stream. There's everything from two-person motorboats to floating "decks" of people. Each one has its own sound system -- the bigger ones actually have DJs and some had brass bands! The really good ones get the crowd going -- someone on one rocking boat threw a bottle of wine to Rochelle (it's like they knew us)! One of the boats was even broadcasting for MTV. Sometimes the crowd watching the parade was as entertaining as the boat parade itself.

Sadly, the sun and excitement (not to mention liquid refreshments) led to an early end to the day for Rich & Rochelle. Even though we got an early start I'd be embarrassed to say what time we were back in our hotel room. Joan & Jim managed to stay out quite a bit later. We're amazed at how orderly the holiday is ... despite all of the partying, it begins and ends early, and people seem relatively well-behaved. Next year, if we don't have any visitors, we'll have to see how it's done outside of Amsterdam.

We're posting more Queen's Day pics daily for about a week on our daily photo blog; check it out at www.wassenaardailyphoto.blogspot.com. And look for our next post on the 2nd half of our trip with Joan & Jim (the party continues in Dublin) in two weeks. Thanks also to Jim for contributing some great shots to the pics.

Ola! Barcelona

2007-04-18T13:58:00.000+02:00

Sunny Spain, right? Well, not exactly, there was better weather here in The Netherlands than our rainy visit to Barcelona. Oh well, can't win them all.

pictured: view from cathedral courtyard, Columbus statue at the harbor

Barcelona is truly an architecture-lovers city. The modernista movement, and in particular Antoni Gaudi, transformed the city in the late 1800s. We've pictured some highlights below...as you can see, even the lampposts are stylish. One that we can't do justice to is the Palau de la Musica Catalana; the inside is a spectacular work of modernista design. We toured the hall but photos are not allowed. Click the link and explore the "facilities" section to see more of the hall, especially the inverted stained glass dome.

pictured: Gaudi building, Palau exterior, lamppost (we liked the bat!)

The Sagrada Familia is as much a living construction site as it is a uniquely amazing building. The century-long construction has resulted in a real variety of styles. Look at the difference in the musical sculptures vs. the menacing "passion" facade. Touring the site, it's hard to imagine what it will be like when it's finished (current prediction: about 20 years).

pictured: Sagrada exterior & column, musician carvings, "passion" carvings

Saturday we took a bus tour to three sights outside of the city. The Torres winery is one of Spain's largest. An interesting tour, but if you know us you know that we were "somewhat" disappointed that we only got to taste one wine. Next we were on our way up to Montserrat, where a Benedictine abbey sits halfway up the mountain. To get there we took a "rack railway," and while we were there we took a funicular to the top. At the abbey, we saw a wedding and a drum corps/procession (we never did find out what it was for). Leaving by bus, we went to Sitges, a resort town on the medittereanean. Although the weather wasn't great, we can see why this is a popular spot; beautiful beaches and lots of restaurants and nightclubs.

pictured: montserrat & rack railroad, the abbey

Speaking of restaurants, of course we had a good time sampling the food and wine. In fact, at most places the wine is ridiculously cheap (in price, not quality), so we had the opportunity to have lots of cava (spanish sparkling wine). Our best meal was lunch at Ot, a restaurant near the Sagrada Familia. Our most interesting meal was lunch at Can Culleretes, where the only english spoken was when the hostess seated us. Our waitress, best described as a spanish version of the typical "italian mother," didn't speak a bit of english, so ordering was an adventure. We didn't do too bad, but did end up ordering three desserts by accident!

The food market is huge ... everything from meats to seafood, cheeses to spices ... but the best thing is that there are even tapas bars right in the market! We sat down to some cava and a big plate of serrano jamon that was carved right off of a leg hung by its hoof.

pictured: fruit/nut and seafood stands at the market

Other than the weather, the only other bad point in Barcelona is the amount of "non-violent" crime. Within our first 20 minutes of walking around we were approached twice by pickpocket scams, even by two old ladies (trying to "sell" flowers, they distract & steal money). Luckily we had been forewarned, and Rochelle's use of the dutch "Nee!" (no!) stopped them in their tracks. See, we are learning to speak dutch!

NEXT EXPECTED POST DATE: May 7

Paris Redux

2007-04-03T15:37:00.000+02:00

For our second trip to Paris, we decided to make the Musee d'Orsay our main sight. Situated right on the river Seine in an old train station, it is a fantastic museum with extensive impressionist and art nouveau collections. We really enjoyed the setting and the artwork.

Pictured (click to enlarge): interior of Musee d'Orsay

After satisfying Rochelle's otter-like love of oysters for lunch (not to mention wine for Rich), we toured the Cimitiere du Pere Lachaise. Although the vandalism is a shame, it is a beautiful cemetery. Music lovers can visit the graves of Rossini and Chopin, among others. Those with more modern taste can brave the throngs looking for Jim Morrison's grave. It's now blocked off with a fence and guarded by an armed guard. I'm not sure he would appreciate the tacky flowers and cigarette butts, but who knows?

Pictured: graves of Jim Morrison, Gioachino Rossini, wine lover?

Saturday we headed off to the market. When we first got off the metro, we followed some equally clueless English people until we found some signs that pointed in the right direction. At first we were bummed that we made the trip -- the first market we came to was filled with cheap stuff (clothes & tourist junk) and scary guys hawking pirated DVDs. After a while we found the antiques section. We weren't really shopping for anything, but it was interesting to see everything from huge chandeliers to art filling stall after stall.

Pictured: Notre Dame gargoyles and rose window

We headed back to the Ile de St. Louis to tour Notre Dame. While the inside view of the windows is beautiful, it's the details on the outside that really make it interesting. There must be some sort of gargoyle record here! At dusk, we took a boat ride on the Seine which provided some great views of the Eiffel Tower (pictured below).

Looking for some refreshments, we stumbled on a Canadian pub called The Beaver on the Ile de Cite. We went upstairs and played darts for a while before a group of french students came up. We decided to let them play a round and then quickly decided that we'd move downstairs before we were killed (the darts were real, and the students were real bad)! Downstairs we talked to some friendly Canadians while the France-Scotland rugby match played. This explained the kilt-wearing men we saw all weekend (unfortunately, France won by a landslide).

Catching a restaurant on a weekend night in Paris can be an adventure, especially if you're looking for something other than the typical bistro. We got lucky both nights, finding a spanish/catalan restaurant Friday night and a french/ place on Saturday. But we had to do quite a bit of walking past overflowing places first!

Sunday we did more walking around the latin quarter. We stopped at the Pantheon, checking out Foucault's pendulum (pictured) and the nationalist surroundings. All in all, it was a great 2nd trip to Paris and we've barely scratched the surface of all of the things to do and see there.

Sting in Antwerp

2007-03-09T09:03:00.000+01:00

Onze Lieve Vrouw (Cathedral)

We hopped on the train last weekend over the border to Antwerpen, Belgie. The primary reason for the trip was to see Sting in concert, but that was a great excuse to do some sightseeing and enjoy the great Belgian food.

The weather wasn't too great when we arrived Friday night, and Saturday morning greeted us with gale-force winds. We didn't let that stop us, as we walked to the river to check out the old castle De Steen, which is now the Shipping Museum. Needing to get inside, we headed to the old Vleeshuis (meat market), which is now a museum for musical instruments. This was a great find -- you get an audio/visual guide that lets you learn more about the instruments on display (albeit in Dutch) and listen to audio selections.

pictured: De Steen

Antwerp is proud of its artistic tradition, particularly Peter Paul Rubens. The cathedral has two large altarpieces. We also visited the Rubenshuis, which gave a glimpse of how he lived, worked, and collected art.

pictured: Rubens' The Raising of the Cross

The skies parted in the afternoon, and we met up with one of Rochelle's colleagues from the states. Coincidentally he was in Antwerp for a weeklong course. It was great to have an early dinner with him and get the scoop from back home.

The concert itself was not your typical Sting concert. Last year Sting did an album of music by the Elizabethan lute composer John Dowland. The encore included some Sting/Police songs performed "unplugged" with lutes. No one whipped out their lighters, at least not that we saw.

pictured: Bird Market

Sunday we walked around the "Bird Market," so named for its origins as an animal market. Today it's more of a flea market, but there are still vendors that sell rabbits, guinea pigs, and birds.

After the Rubenshuis and lunch, it was a quick train ride home. The train station is, by the way, a great example of the Art Nouveau style for which this area of Belgium is so well known.

Early Spring Visitor

2007-03-02T10:49:00.000+01:00

In contrast to the snow, this shot gives you an idea of just how mild the winter has been here in The Netherlands. Not only are the crocus, snowdrops, and daffodils in bloom, we were surprised to catch this big guy gorging himself on pollen.

Holland Snow

2007-02-23T07:57:00.000+01:00

It has only snowed twice here this winter. The first time was a dusting that melted quickly. Last week the snow actually stayed around for a day. Have to say that it was beautiful, but we are glad we haven't had the bitter cold that the midwest US has experienced lately.

Holidays 2006

2007-02-21T17:47:00.000+01:00

Our first Christmas holiday in The Netherlands could have been lonely but ended up being anything but. Our friend Jon came to visit, we met up with our nephew Tommy, and we had a visit from Flat Stanley!

Jon came in on the 14th and stayed in Amsterdam for the weekend. We spent Sunday exploring Amsterdam; on Monday we picked him up and Tuesday we were on the road. We had decided to visit some Christmas markets in France and Germany. Along the way we stopped in Bouillon, Belgium to check out the 1000-year old Bouillon castle.

Pictured (click to enlarge); View from Bouillon castle, Flat Stanley on the torture rack (this pic didn't make it into his report for obvious reasons!)

Our next stop was Strasbourg (check out the archives - previous post for Alsace-Lorraine). The highlight was our quick daytrip to three favorite wineries, the result of which was a crowded back seat. The food in Alsace is great but gets old fast -- how much sauerkraut, sausage, and onion tart can you eat? Also, let's just say that the food can be a little "rustic" -- not quite to the taste of adventurous but sometimes squeamish Americans. The recommendations from the owner of one particularly authentic cafe were as follows:
Baeckeoffe de joues (joues de boeuf, pied de veau) Translation: casserole of cheeks (ox cheeks, calf's foot)
Tête de veau ravigote Translation: Calf's head (an Alsatian specialty ... yum!)

Furthermore, a special not on the menu was lovingly translated by the owner as "Bambi." Now, we ended up having a nice meal (Jon & Rich: chicken, Rochelle: sauerkraut & sausage), and the owner couldn't have been nicer, but it was all we could do not to totally crack up as we ordered.

Pictured: shopping street at night, Strasbourg cathedral

On to Germany: we stayed in Koblenz so that we could visit the Marksburg castle. We just made the last tour after a panicked hike from the lower parking lot to the visitor entrance. It was just the three of us plus our guide, who conducted the tour in english for us. The castle sits high above the Rhine river and is also very old – it was started in the 1200s, and during the 1800s it was actually used as a prison.

The next day we drove to Munster but made two stops. First, we visited the beautiful Romanesque abbey of Maria Laach, located on the shore of a volcanic lake. Midday we visited Koln (Cologne). The cathedral is magnificent and we visited one of three markets there, sampling the gluhwein & bratwurst.

Pictured: Marksburg castle, Maria Laach, Kolner Dom

Munster has rebuilt its center nicely and although beautiful the streets have a strange sameness (and being northern the buildings look very Dutch). The market was fun, we tried some gluhwein with other liqueurs added in (rum & amaretto) and the market was even more fun. We went to a bar after dinner -- sitting at the bar, the bartenders were very nice about putting up with Rich's very bad attempts at German.

For those of you who haven't been to northern Germany or the Netherlands, "normal" beers here are quite small, about 10 ounces or so. If you want something closer to a pint you have to ask for it. Sometimes you get a slightly disapproving look when you order a bigger beer. While we were sitting at the bar, a waitress came up to the bar and mocked some customers, saying REALLY loud "TWO BIG BEERS PLEEZE" much to the chagrin of the bartenders, who obviously knew we were english-speaking. We decided to let them off the hook and Rich said "Oh, there must be some other Americans here." The waitress didn't skip a beat, replying "No, they're British!" We all had a good laugh and "two big beers pleeze" is now part of our vocabulary.
(ps, if you doubt the beer size story, check out expatica.com's "guide to dutch beer at www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=34&story_id=1667 )

Pictured: Munster at night

From Munster we headed back to Wassenaar (Rich was adamant that we make it back before the stores closed) for a couple of days of relaxation around Christmas. The day after we hopped on a plane to London. Although expensive, we love London, it's so diverse and has a lot to offer. We visited Harrod's for the famous after Christmas sale (never again), saw three musicals, dropped into umpteen pubs, and visited Hampton Court (Henry VIII's palace), saw mice in the underground, and so on.

Pictured: dancing at Hampton Court, another Flat Stanley picture that didn't make his report

We were lucky enough to spend a day with our nephew Tommy, who was in London with his high school marching band to perform in the New Year's Day Parade. We started the day at Starbucks (Rich has been going through withdrawals), went on the London Eye, visited the Tower of London, waited in the rain for the London Dungeon, and dropped him off at Westminster Cathedral. We had a great time and particularly liked egging him on by the tower ravens ... they looked like they were in the mood for some American food. Speaking of food, we lunched at a pub, a slightly controversial choice but a great place for some real English fish & chips.

Pictured: Tommy & Rich across the Thames from the "Eye"

We returned to Wassenaar for New Year's Eve. The tradition here is for families to buy fireworks (the real stuff). At midnight you really wouldn't believe how many fireworks are going off in all directions. The neighbors were out, so we ventured out to join them. Friendly as always, they explained that the city tried to ban fireworks around the windmill (after all, it is 300 years old and made of wood), but it was useless so they finally repealed the ban. The next day the streets are literally covered with junk -- the remnants of thousands of different fireworks, sparklers, and bottle rockets. The weather wasn't great (kind of a sleety rain) but that didn't stop the celebration.

The next day we dropped Jon at the airport and spent a quiet day recuperating, watching the Simpsons, and breaking into some of the Alsation cremant (sparkling wine) we picked up on our trip. And although we missed family & friends we had very little time to be homesick!

Italy part III -- food and wine

2007-01-27T14:23:00.000+01:00

It's no surprise to those who know us that a major draw of Italy is the food and wine. We had a great time exploring and trying new things. In Rome we happened to luck out one night. It was just around the time most restaurants open -- 7:30 -- and we were in an area not particularly known for good restaurants. But our guidebook listed a small, authentic restaurant (Colline Emiliane) nearby, so we popped in. There wasn't anyone else in the restaurant yet, but when we asked the owner said that he had one table left to give us. The place soon filled up, and we watched as countless people came in and were turned away. The food was great--simple and delicious--and we felt very lucky to have been the only non-reserved diners that evening.

Note the resemblance!

Another unique experience in Rome was the brunch near the Piazza del Popolo. It was warm enough (with a little help from the heaters) to sit outside, and the way the brunch worked was you filled up your plate and it was weighed. The basic charge covered a certain weight, and an extra charge was added per gram over the set weight. We did pretty good at coming in just a little over, and the wine was so good we went around the back to the small wine bar and had a couple more glasses. That was a great start to the sightseeing for the day!

Art or food?

In Florence, food is art, as we saw in many places ... meats, cheeses and bread displayed artfully and architecturally. The enotecas we lunched in offered not just ordinary meat platters but the opportunity to try four prosciutti from local pigs versus four from wild boar (Cinghiale). Cheeses are offered up with a variety of mustards and honey to highlight their flavors. Of course, this must all be enjoyed while sampling Tuscan wine varietals (such hard work!).

When in Florence, it's practically a law that meals must be followed with a cappuccino, vin santo (dessert wine) and some biscotti. Two hour lunches were, to quote Cole Porter, delightful, delicious, and de-lovely!

Art is not just for meat and cheese. These penguins were ready to march right into our mouths! These little guys were in a shop off the main square in Florence.

Statue of Bacchus on the Arno river

Florence is filled with a great selection of enotecas. The first we went to was connected to a Tuscan winery, and we had a nice waiter who helped us select from the appetizer plates, crostini and wines (Cantinetta del Verrazzano).

We found another great spot just over the river ... we stopped in for a late lunch one day and were greeted by the very friendly and enthusiastic owner. Again it was warm enough to sit outside and try the selection of local meats and cheeses (Le Volpi el'Uva). The guidebook described it as relaxed, mellow and welcoming -- a perfect description.

Another great lunch in Florence was in a deli-restaurant (Olio e Convivium, pictured above -- a bit blurry as we were trying not to use the flash). The small dining room was decorated with chalk boards of specials, walls of wine bottles, and all of the meats, cheeses, and olive oils were on display.

Pictured: Tuscan villas, view from winery

We didn't rent a car on this trip, but we wanted a chance to see some of the Tuscan countryside, so we decided on a half-day bus trip into the Chianti wine region. We were a little concerned about who would take the tour, but it turned out to be a good mix of young/old from a variety of English-speaking countries. Our destination was the Castello del Trebbio, a castle that is family owned (and lived in); they produce wine and olive oil.

Pictured: Castello del Trebbio

After a nice tour we had a wine and olive oil tasting. We sat next to a couple of American guys who were separated from the rest of their party. They were acting a little strange ... after drinking the wine one guy would say "this is fruity" and the other would say "no, I'm fruity" ... turns out they had been drinking and playing cards the night before, and this was their payment for a lost bet! We ended up running into them again a couple of days later, at the McDonald's at the train station. Guess you can take Americans out of America, but not vice-versa!

Pictured: We don't know why anyone would name a cafe for a spleen, but we really liked the americana playing on the tv!

Ciao (or Chow)!

Italy part II -- Florence

2007-01-26T16:21:00.000+01:00

A quick train ride from Rome and we were in Florence (Firenza). The first thing you notice is that there are statues everywhere! The most famous is Michelangelo's David, which is housed in the Accademia museum but a copy is on display in it's original location in the Piazza della Signoria. The viewing experience in the museum is quite nice, you really have time to admire the statue, unlike the crowded, noisy experience of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. But back on the streets you can barely turn around without seeing some sort of statue or architectural element, which means it's never boring even if you make the same journey many times like we did.

Pictured: David (copy, at night), Statue at the Orsanmichele church, Monument to the heroes of Mentana

The buildings that define the skyline are the Duomo cathedral, the Campanile belltower, and the fortress-like Palazzo Vecchio. The marble-guilded churches are quite unique; the inside of the duomo is quite plain except for the painted dome.

Pictured: Duomo, Campanile, Palazzo Vecchio

A short walk across the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio, brings you to the church of Santa Maria del Carmine. A fire in 1771 all but destroyed the church, but miraculously the Capella Brancacci and it's frescos were spared. Started in 1424 by Masolino and Masaccio, the frescos depict the life of St. Peter and is also famous for the depictions of Adam and Eve before and after being expelled from the Garden of Eden. A counterpoint to the horror of the expulsion is the touch of humor of the sleeping soldier. Also at the church is a fresco of the Last Supper, which like many medieval paintings included cats at the foot of the table ... likely meant as an evil representation due to a cat's independent spirit (as opposed to a dog's loyalty).

Pictured: Adam & Eve (before/Masolino, after/Masaccio), sleeping soldier, cats from the Last Supper

One of our favorite statues was this fountain near San Lorenzo. Reminds us of the monkeys from The Wizard of Oz!

We were really surprised at the numbers of Americans we saw & heard -- on the train, in cyber cafes, and at the art school. There's even an English-language theater company, and we took the opportunity to celebrate the holiday season with a performance of "The Reindeer Monologues." It was pretty funny to hear a wide variety of accents tackling a farce about dissension among Santa's reindeer.

Florence is filled with small alleys/streets and you never know what you'll find when you venture down one. On the south side of the river we were drawn by a unique metal dragon. Inside the shop an old man was metalworking, and his friend offered to let us into his workshop to see some of this creations. He pointed to a board of pictures from San Francisco ... turns out that a rich visitor to Florence saw his work and paid for the artist to go to San Fran and design/build a custom metal staircase. We really liked some of his animal sculptures but got cold feet about asking prices. Florence's association with metalworking is also evident in the jewelery shops on the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The bridge is famous for men who declare their love by putting a lock on the lightpost and throwing away the key as an expression of everlasting love.

Florence was definitely one of our all-time favorite stops, not only because of the art but because of the people, the culture, and the food! We'll talk about our culinary adventures in a separate chapter.

Italy part I -- Rome

2007-01-25T15:15:00.000+01:00

To say that Italians are passionate people is the understatement of the century. Our tourist experience started with a common Italian sight -- temper! We took a van from the airport to our hotel in downtown Rome. We were barely five minutes on the highway when a car cut us off. With little concern for the 6 passengers, the van driver sped up and harassed the offending driver for what seemed to be 10 minutes by pulling up beside him, rolling down his window, and yelling something that we can only guess we shouldn't repeat here. Once we realized we weren't going to die we found the whole experience hilarious.

Pictured: R&R on the Open Bus in front of St. Peter, the "Wedding Cake" (Il Vittoriano), Trevi Fountain ("3 Coins in a Fountain" fame)

One of our favorite ways to explore a city is by the tourist or "open" bus tour. These double-decker buses let you hop on and off as you tour the major sites. One night we were on the last bus intending to ride back toward our hotel, but halfway through the ride Rich needed to "use the facilities" which are not available on the bus. We were forced to jump off and wouldn't you know it, there wasn't anywhere convenient close by! Just before total panic set in, we saw a combination bookstore/wine bar. As Rich ran for the little boys' room, Rochelle sat down and started a conversation with the bartender and her single patron. Turns out the customer was a Canadian living in Rome who knew seven different languages (but refused to learn Dutch because he thought it was a useless language). He was trying to score with the pretty bartender, who was working her second job ... turns out her first was (of course) an actress and she had a recurring role on an Italian sitcom. It was an enjoyable diversion and it just goes to show that sometimes good things come from bad situations.

Pictured: cats in the Largo di Torre Argentina, starlings in masse above Vatican City, Palazzo Navona

The sights in Rome are incredible -- every time you turn a corner there's another fountain, church, or ruin. One of the things you don't see a lot of is wildlife. Unless you count pigeons (on every fountain & statue), starlings (which do put on a good show when they fly in formation), and cats (living in the ruins)!

Pictured: various in/out of St. Peters including the apostles from the roof and Michelangelo's Pieta

The churches are simply spectacular. At St. Peter's you can take an elevator up to the inside of the huge dome (this didn't sit well with Rich, who got a little disoriented) and walk on the roof. We didn't do the stairs to the top of the dome, but the view from the roof is still amazing. Some of our other favorites were San Pietro in Vincoli (Michelangelo's Moses), Santa Maria del Popolo (mosaic dome and newly restored Caravaggio painting, Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Maria in Trastavere (mosaic domes), and Santa Cecilia (patron saint of music and 1600 statue of the saint).

Pictured: S.M.Trastavere, S.Cecilia,S.M.Popolo, Caravaggio Conversion of St. Paul

We noticed several recurring themes as we saw the sights. One of our favorites were feet, we don't really know why but once Rochelle snapped a photo from St. Peter's dome, we found ourselves noticing them all over.

Another theme is the legend of Rome's founders Romulus & Remus, who were raised by a wolf. The image pops up everywhere -- a bit creepy at first but humorous the 100th time you see it.

The third is the depiction of Moses with horns -- the result of a mistranslation but pretty interesting to see.

Our other favorite sites were the Capuchin crypt and the Villa Borghese. The crypt is beautiful and creepy at the same time -- the walls are decorated with the bones of thousands of Capuchin monks. The Borghese was our favorite museum. Housed in a former "vacation home," this mansion holds many wonderful Bernini sculptures and other works of art. We took a guided tour with only 4 other tourists, which gave the informative guide lots of time to explain how the Borghese family ingrained themselves in Roman culture.

Other than seeing the outside, we did miss exploring some of the ancient sites like the Colosseum (pictured above) and the roman forum. These will have to wait until the next visit. Ciao!

Fast train to Paris

2006-11-22T14:48:00.000+01:00

For our first-time ever in Paris, we took a quick weekend trip with the goal of just getting familiar with the city--we know we'll be back and we didn't want to kill ourselves trying to see everything. The train only takes about 3 hours from Rotterdam. It was packed on a Friday afternoon. We landed at the hotel early in the evening and ventured out to find a place to eat. We had looked up some seafood restaurants and were disappointed to find the one closest to the hotel had closed. Lesson learned: internet reviews aren't always up-to-date! We found ourselves settling for a "portuguese" brasserie ... not the best but it did the trick. We spent the rest of the evening wandering around. The (old) opera house looks great at night! Also, they have Starbucks in Paris so we stopped in to get some coffee beans ... a little taste of home.

Of course, we were still hungry, and as we were walking we came across a very small restaurant with a window open to the street. Through this window was a small oyster bar -- all it took was a quick glance and Rochelle was hooked. We went in and struggled to ask the hostess (who spoke little english) if we could just have oysters-no dinner. After asking the chef for help interpreting, she took us upstairs to a small dining room. There were quite a few people there, including a pair of very posh-looking women with their little dogs. An older couple sat next to us and ordered the seafood tower -- incredible to see people ripping apart crab legs and lobster tails late in the evening (Paris, like New York, seems to operate on a totally different time zone).

Rochelle had noticed a picture of Gerard Depardieu in the stairwell but we didn't think anything of it. The next day when we were asking about dinner reco's at the hotel, we told the concierge where we had been, and he said "Oh, you went to Gerard Depardieu's restaurant!" Not that we're so impressed, but we had no idea that our little "find" was actually one of the most popular spots in town!

The next day we spent doing one of our favorite things -- playing tourist on the double-decker bus. These hop-on, hop-off buses are a great way to get to know a city ... we'd go for a few stops, get off and walk around an area, get back on and do the same. We walked down the Champs Elysee (a lot like the Mag Mile in Chicago) to the Arc du Triomphe and explored the Latin Quarter. We found a great little market area while we were looking for (another) seafood restaurant - this time it was open. We went by Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, but the queues were so long (even in November!) that we decided we'd save them for a different day. It's incredible how crowded it was just walking down the streets during the evening.

Sunday we planned to go the the Musee de Orsay but ... you guessed it ... the line was so long we decided that we'd do some more exploring and people watching. Double decker tours are so much fun, particularly in the rain with some champagne. So it was a nice trip and now we feel like we know the city and are smart enough to do some planning ahead for the sights for the next trip.

Belgian Food Theories

2006-11-22T14:29:00.000+01:00

Brugges is a wonderful example of a well-preserved (and restored) town. Some criticize it for being too "quaint," but it really is a beautiful city that gives one a sense of how european life once was.

Belgium is well-know throughout europe for its love of food. We were eating lunch in a nice cafe/wine bar and the locals at the next table asked us where we were from. When we mentioned that we lived in the Netherlands, they kind of chuckled and asked if we thought the food was better in Belgium. We do, and although the dutch would agree, don't tell anyone. The dining Belgians proposed an interesting theory -- that Catholic countries (from Belgium south) have much better food than the protestant countries (from NL north). We won't debate this now but suffice to say we've had a good time telling our dutch and english friends this story. Rochelle thinks the protestant ethic of working toward the afterlife, as opposed to the catholic's ability to be forgiven for their sins (like enjoying life today) explains this theory, but that's for the religious theoligans to debate.

There's a Michelango sculpture (Madonna & Child) in one of the churches in Brugges -- the only one to be taken out of Italy during his lifetime. It's beautiful but frankly the church's interior is somewhat unspectacular and for some reason seems to detract from the experience.

On the other end of the spectrum, a chocolate shop (there are too many to count) had a spectacular chocolate sculpture of a gargoyle. Have to say that the surprise of seeing this huge chocolate gargoyle outdid the centuries-old Madonna!

Bonjour - Alsace-Lorraine

2006-10-11T10:31:00.000+02:00

For our first trip to France, we decided to go to the Alsace-Lorraine region. This area borders the north & east sides of the country (near Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany & Switzerland). The region has had a turbulent history, having been caught in most of the skirmishes, and at various times has been considered to be part of the German empire. This sets it somewhat apart from the rest of France, but the result is a friendly and interesting culture. We drove in the evening and spent the next day exploring Metz and Nancy. Then it was on to Colmar, a town on the Alsatian wine road. Alsace produces a great deal of wine, mostly white, and wonderful cremant (sparkling wine). Colmar is a little touristy and the streets look a little more like a german town than what you'd expect to see in France. We settled in to a small cafe for the first of many traditional meals -- the region is famous for its sauerkraut and meat dishes. If you like comfort food then this is the place for you! Here's a shot of the town at night.

The next day we spent traveling the wine road. It's very different than America -- the wineries are mostly located in the many small medieval villages along the road. We had fun stopping at a few and trying to negotiate the language, which usually started with english, moved to french (Rochelle), then german (Rich), then pointing with our fingers (which sometimes worked best). Here's a shot of Rich in his dream cellar and an idea of the scenery.

Having been a part of so many conflicts, it's no surprise that there are many castles and ruins throughout the region. We went to Haut-Koenigsburg, which was restored in the early 1900s by Kaiser Wilhelm while the area was under German rule. It is sometimes criticized for being "overly" restored, but it's a spectacular sight nonetheless.

We spent 2 nights in Strasbourg, the closest major town, although the city center is so concentrated that it feels smaller than it is.On the way home we happened to see a sign for an American war cemetery. Almost every area in Europe has been affected by war at some point or another, and in France there are still many signs of WWI and WWII. We decided to make an unplanned stop and were glad that we did. It turns out that the St. Avold cemetery holds 10,489 American soldiers, the largest number in WWII military cemeteries in Europe. Strangely enough it was a great place to do some "birding," so it turned out to be a beautiful and moving end to our first trip to France.

Otter tug-of-war

2006-10-10T11:24:00.000+02:00

Flevoland is the newest dutch province, just north of Amsterdam. It's "new" because it only became a province in 1986 as a result of reclaimed land from the ocean via various projects that started in 1932. This created some interesting "natural" environments, and the area is known for a variety of birds & waterfowl that live or migrate through here. Our day was very windy so it wasn't great for birding, but we had a fun experience at the nature park. The park has a variety of animals in various natural settings, including some european otters (which we didn't see) and asiatic small-clawed otters (which we definitely saw). Some of our friends & family know that otters are Rochelle's favorite animal, likely due to their playfulness and their love of water (and shellfish). While looking at their area, some of the otters started coming toward the fence where we were standing. We put down our backpack, and Rich leaned over the fence to try to get closer pictures. Unfortunately, forgetting that the top of the fence was electrified was a big mistake and resulted in quite a shock (literally), but luckily the current isn't so great to stop the heart (at least this time).

But the otters kept coming our way, and before we knew it one stuck his little paw through the fence and grabbed the backpack strap. This quickly attracted another otter, then another, and before we knew it we had five little otters tugging at the straps of the backpack. We eventually pulled it away from them, but we'll never forget the little game of tug-of-war with the otters.

The weather started to clear up, so on our way back we stopped at another of Holland's castles, the Muiderslot. The current castle dates to the 1200-1300s. It's located in a quaint little sea town on the edge of the "bay" and made for a nice afternoon.

Brussels area (or more cafes)

2006-10-10T09:08:00.000+02:00

The Belgium border is just a little over an hour's drive from here. Brussels is in the middle of the country, just over the split between the dutch/flemish and french speaking parts of the country. Brussels is a strange city; it's almost impossible to see where the "good" and "bad" areas start and end. We always hear about how bad Amsterdam is for petty crime like pickpockets, but for some reason we felt more uncomfortable in areas of Brussels, particularly at night in some of the more crowded areas (and some areas get really crowded). The food more than makes up for it; Belgians are really proud of their food and the area is famous for its mussels. There's also a huge variety of cuisines, and there's a food "street" where you walk down a narrow, very crowded street and the restauranteurs literally try to grab you off the street to eat at their place.

There are some really pretty areas in the city, especially the main square or Grand Place. The town hall dates from the 1400s, but the surrounding buildings were built mainly at the end of the 1600s/early 1700s following a massive French bombardment. There are a number of outdoor cafes, and we enjoyed one our second night there when to our surprise we discovered that a group of marching bands from around Europe were playing there (yes, the band geek in us comes out every once in a while). Our guidebook recommended seeing the square at night and they weren't wrong -- here's a shot of the town hall. A group of french-speaking people were happy to take our picture -- so happy that the surrounding people clapped & cheered when they took it!

To and fro Brussels we also made some good discoveries. On our way we stopped at a great little town called Leuven (Louvain). Once again we found ourselves at a great little cafe on the square, enjoying the view of the 15th century stadhuis. The entire building is covered with statues of famous local people and bible reliefs. Belgium is home to a lot of beers, but the biggest name is Stella Artois, and we were surprised when we passed by their huge brewery here. On the way home we stopped in Mechelen (Malines), where we -- don't be surprised now -- spent a leisurely morning at a cafe on the square! Sundays are pretty sleepy throughout the region, so we weren't able to explore the buildings much, so perhaps we'll return to visit some of the historic buildings on the square. One thing's for sure, we definitely know where to go when Rochelle is craving a big bowl of mussels! (Pictured: Leuven stadhuis, Mechelen square)

2006-10-06T10:33:00.000+02:00

Trying to catch up on some posts, we thought we'd add a few from some of our travels. One of the great things about being here is that everything is so close. Most of the sights in the Netherlands are within a 2 hour radius. Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Germany & France are within 5 hours or less.

Exploring the Netherlands has been fun -- there are many really nice towns with central squares that are great for relaxing at an outdoor cafe and shopping the markets. Some of our favorites are Gouda (yes, like the cheese, but it's not pronounced anything like Americans would say it), Delft (famous for the blue/white pottery), s'Hertogenbosch (luckily the dutch call it Den Bosch), Maastricht, and Zutphen. Here's a picture of Gouda's beautiful Stadhuis, dating from the 15th century.

The Netherlands isn't really known for it's castles, but there are a few castles and ruins scattered throughout the country. We visited Kasteel Huis Bergh in the eastern part of the country (the current building dates from the 17oo's) ... here's a photo of the castle and Rochelle peeking out after we climbed the stairs to the tower. The tour was only in dutch so we can't tell you much of the tower's history. We just smiled politely while the tourguide took us through the narrow staircases and showed some of the armaments from the castle's history.

We stayed overnight in Arnhem, enjoying a great Thai dinner thanks to a reco from one of Rochelle's colleagues. We found a little pub and enjoyed a few good games of darts. The next day we stopped at one of the British war cemeteries -- this area saw a lot of action in WWII. The battles portrayed in "A Bridge Too Far" happened here, and we've since found out that the movie is a Christmas tradition in Great Britain. A group of Canadians had just been there and had placed a Canadian/Dutch flag pin on all of the Canadian graves. It's amazing how much war history surrounds us here and there'll be more in future posts.

Getting Settled

2006-09-01T17:08:00.000+02:00

We're finally in our new house in Wassenaar. Americans would call Wassenaar a suburb of The Hague, but I'm not sure that the residents here would think so. We live in a typical attached home (like a townhouse) -- that's ours on the end of the block. In The Netherlands there are very few detached houses -- most people live in townhomes or apartments. There are some big single homes here in Wassenaar, and they are considered very "rich" and "decadent" by Dutch standards. We find that we get a reaction like "oooooh, Wassenaar" -- almost like sticking their noses up in the air. This is getting to be really annoying, and it leaves us wanting to use some sort of qualifier like "we live in a regular house in Wassenaar." Somehow it probably wouldn't translate quite like we mean it.

What's not typical about our house is the view -- we can look right out our front windows and see the town's historic Molen (windmill). We haven't visited yet, but we understand that you can buy oatmeal made right at the mill. Despite the perception that there are a lot of windmills around Holland, not many people have a view like this!

Due to the high ceiling height (and probably the desire to save space), the stairways here are very steep and narrow. Not sure if you can get the right perspective from these photos of the stairs from the ground floor to the 1st floor (carpeted) and 1st floor to the 2nd floor (painted). For you Americans that's 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. We were worried that the stairs would freak out the cats (especially our 16-year old) but so far they seem to enjoy them. We're still not used to them and there are many times we miss our little old ranch!

More on Wassenaar & differences in living later.

2006-08-08T10:39:00.000+02:00

Hi! We're trying out this blog to share our experiences while living as expats in The Netherlands. We moved here in late June, 2006. While we're living in our temporary apartment, we're making lots of short trips around The Netherlands and neighboring countries. Here's one of our favorite photos, a windmill from the area called the Kinderdijk just outside of Rotterdam. There are many old windmills here, a scenic area where they no longer function to control the water level but have been preserved as an historic area.

We'll continue to post some of our adventures; feel free to post comments.

--R&R .