Saturday, November 29, 2008
Interlude...
Well, there's much to say about my travels, but I'm not going to say them now. This is a short interlude as suggested by the title! We've arrived in Ukraine where we were surprised and blessed to spend Thanksgiving with the Lynches. We're having a great time here and are enjoying the many people we meet! Our trip is winding down now...one more week here, then two weeks in eastern Europe. After that, we will spend a week with our family in Germany for Christmas, then two more weeks in England before flying home. In many ways the time has gone by so quickly, and in other ways I feel that I've been gone for years. I'm excited to see my family and all of my friends, but it will be strange to be home. Only about six weeks left...we'll be home on January 15th. And by the way, Aubrey, if you're reading this, I'm in desperate need of a shopping trip! I'm so sick of my clothes now and they're sick of me! Well, that's all for now, folks. I have news of our travels and pictures to share, but those will have to wait as I'm very tired and am about to go to bed!!!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Slovenia to Greece
Well, the last week or so has been an adventure. We stayed a couple of nights in Lake Bled, Slovenia, where we enjoyed the view of yet another castle, walked around the lake, rented a row boat and headed out to an island, and enjoyed the hospitality of the hostel owners. Damien drove us into town and back, and they had an amazing 6 euro dinner which turned out to be a four course meal! After leaving Lake Bled, we spent one night in the capital, Ljubljana (pronounced Lubliana, although I called it Libblejibble before I knew that...)
After reviewing several options on getting to Greece, we finally decided on taking the train from Slovenia back into Croatia, then on through Serbia, Macedonia, and then into Greece. That meant we had to go through immigration eight times...each time we left a country and each time we entered another one. That gets really annoying! We had about four hours in Serbia during which time we visited a local fast food restaurant and got some delicious burgers. After that we met a guy named Marco who we chatted with for a while before finding our beds. (It was an overnight train, so we got beds...fortunately for us, we had the little room to ourselves.) Marco was an interesting character. Our train car didn't open up until right before we left, so we sat in another part of the train talking about things like jobs and politics. Ugh...I'm sick of people asking me about U.S. politics! Anyway, he was pretty nice, but in Serbia there aren't really any non-smoking areas so after a while we had to politely excuse ourselves from the small cabin with limited air flow where he was continually blowing smoke in our faces. I tried to put up with it as long as I could, but I already had a headache and I do have my limits...
After the very long train ride to Thessaloniki, we arrived at our hotel and went out around the city for a few hours before bed. The next day we took a bus to Mount Olympus where we hiked for a while. It was a beautiful area and again, nice to be out of the city...oh, and lots of cats for Rebecca to play with!
From Thessaloniki we took an overnight train to Athens...and for anyone who might consider doing such a thing in the future, don't! Or at least, take the later train and make sure to get a bed or couchette! It would have been worth paying a little extra. That was the most miserable train ride ever! But that's enough of that...we don't wish to discuss miserable things!
Athens...Athens...well, our hostel was really nice. After the miserable train ride, they kindly let us check in really early (7 am) and we slept until noon before heading out into the city. As for the city...it's a city! The ruins are amazing and the area is great for its historical importance, but overall, I didn't love Athens. It's huge, dirty, and a typical big city I guess. Anyway, we spent three full days in the area, but the second day we took a day trip to Delphi where we saw more ancient ruins. This time, though, they were away from the city. It was really nice. Most of our last day in Athens was spent making arrangements for our ferry travel and ultimate arrival in Turkey. We will be visiting a few islands before taking a ferry to Turkey.
Picture Explanations...
1. Temple of Athena in Delphi.
2. The stadium in Delphi.
3. Parthenon
4. This is a panoramic view of the sprawling city of Athens. We were at the Acropolis when I took this photo.
5. Mount Olympus (or around there)
6. The White Tower in Thessaloniki.
7. This is the island in the middle of Lake Bled.
8. And this is the Bled castle, up on the hill, overlooking the lake.
After reviewing several options on getting to Greece, we finally decided on taking the train from Slovenia back into Croatia, then on through Serbia, Macedonia, and then into Greece. That meant we had to go through immigration eight times...each time we left a country and each time we entered another one. That gets really annoying! We had about four hours in Serbia during which time we visited a local fast food restaurant and got some delicious burgers. After that we met a guy named Marco who we chatted with for a while before finding our beds. (It was an overnight train, so we got beds...fortunately for us, we had the little room to ourselves.) Marco was an interesting character. Our train car didn't open up until right before we left, so we sat in another part of the train talking about things like jobs and politics. Ugh...I'm sick of people asking me about U.S. politics! Anyway, he was pretty nice, but in Serbia there aren't really any non-smoking areas so after a while we had to politely excuse ourselves from the small cabin with limited air flow where he was continually blowing smoke in our faces. I tried to put up with it as long as I could, but I already had a headache and I do have my limits...
After the very long train ride to Thessaloniki, we arrived at our hotel and went out around the city for a few hours before bed. The next day we took a bus to Mount Olympus where we hiked for a while. It was a beautiful area and again, nice to be out of the city...oh, and lots of cats for Rebecca to play with!
From Thessaloniki we took an overnight train to Athens...and for anyone who might consider doing such a thing in the future, don't! Or at least, take the later train and make sure to get a bed or couchette! It would have been worth paying a little extra. That was the most miserable train ride ever! But that's enough of that...we don't wish to discuss miserable things!
Athens...Athens...well, our hostel was really nice. After the miserable train ride, they kindly let us check in really early (7 am) and we slept until noon before heading out into the city. As for the city...it's a city! The ruins are amazing and the area is great for its historical importance, but overall, I didn't love Athens. It's huge, dirty, and a typical big city I guess. Anyway, we spent three full days in the area, but the second day we took a day trip to Delphi where we saw more ancient ruins. This time, though, they were away from the city. It was really nice. Most of our last day in Athens was spent making arrangements for our ferry travel and ultimate arrival in Turkey. We will be visiting a few islands before taking a ferry to Turkey.
Picture Explanations...
1. Temple of Athena in Delphi.
2. The stadium in Delphi.
3. Parthenon
4. This is a panoramic view of the sprawling city of Athens. We were at the Acropolis when I took this photo.
5. Mount Olympus (or around there)
6. The White Tower in Thessaloniki.
7. This is the island in the middle of Lake Bled.
8. And this is the Bled castle, up on the hill, overlooking the lake.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Questions
So I've had a couple of questions that I haven't answered. My dad asked if we had gone up in the Tower of Pisa, and the answer to that is no. While viewing it is free, they like to charge a lot of money to go inside, which makes everyone feel like they have to go inside. This is a very common trap which we have sadly fallen for a few times. Rebecca likes to call it the GUS Syndrome (Go Upstairs). I find that the outside of any given structure is most often more interesting than the inside, so unless we really want to go in somewhere, we tend to avoid the ridiculously priced fees. Maybe it would be cool, maybe not. I just get annoyed with how over priced things like that are, so we tend to avoid them.
Okay, next question about the Anne Frank tree. As far as I understand, it is still standing. There was a plan to take it down, but of course that was met with resistance and I think the protesters have won for the time being. The tree itself is enclosed in a courtyard that is not accessible to the public, so no, we didn't get to see it.
I think that's it for now...
Okay, next question about the Anne Frank tree. As far as I understand, it is still standing. There was a plan to take it down, but of course that was met with resistance and I think the protesters have won for the time being. The tree itself is enclosed in a courtyard that is not accessible to the public, so no, we didn't get to see it.
I think that's it for now...
Heidelberg and Plitvice
Yep, back to boring titles for now...sorry to disappoint!
With a couple of extra days we decided to spend some time in western Germany, in Heidelberg. We stayed in a hostel in the old city, which was beautiful. We actually took a day trip our first day there to Freiberg where we took a cable car through parts of the Black Forest. In reality, it’s just a forest, but it was pretty neat. We had the cable car to ourselves, and the change in the view as we rose in elevation was great. We began the trip with green trees at the bottom, fall colors soon dominating, until finally little patches of snow became a blanket of white everywhere. We enjoyed a brief walk at the top before sipping hot chocolate with rum at the restaurant.
Our second day in Heidelberg was spent at the Heidelberg castle. The castle itself was okay...the best part is the lovely location. On the castle grounds they had a museum about the history of pharmacy. If anyone can shed some light on that, I’d be interested.
An afternoon train took us to Munich where we boarded an overnight train to Zagreb, Croatia. We stored our luggage at the train station in Zagreb, picked up some maps at tourist information, and then did a short-ish walking tour through the city. Croatia is not yet a part of the EU, so they use a different currency, which is always inconvenient. It can be expensive to exchange money, so when we’re not using the euro, we have to try and calculate exactly how much we’ll need so that we come out as close to exact as possible.
Anyway, Zagreb was a nice city, but we were really anxious to get to Plitvice, where we planned to spend 3 nights near the National Park, spending one day in the park and the other doing as little as possible. We are so busy every day, we both felt like this would be a good time to relax and stay in, taking a break from being tourists.
The Plitvice Lakes were beautiful. There are 16 lakes in the park, and dozens and dozens of waterfalls. It’s amazing! We explored the park for the day, loving the lack of tourists at this time of year. There were only a few other people, which made for a quiet day! Marija, who runs the guesthouse we’re staying in, drove us to the park and picked us up again...she’s incredible!
We’re currently enjoying our day off, being as lazy as possible! Not much more to say at the moment. We head to Slovenia next...
Pics:
1-6. These are pictures of Plitvice Lakes. Number 6 is Cassie's fault...she started the whole hanging over rails thing and now Rebecca does it too and makes me nervous!
7-8. These are a couple of pictures of Zagreb.
9. This is a view of Heidelberg Castle. It's under renovation, which is the reason for the ugly scaffolding on the right. Other than that, it's beautiful!
10. This view is looking down on the city of Heidelberg, from the castle!
11-13. These photos are of the Black Forest. They show the various climate changes we experienced on our way up!!!
By the way, these pictures loaded backwards this time. It's different every time, which is why I gave up trying to make any sense out of it and just put the pictures up in one post and their explanation up in another post. Hopefully it's not too confusing for everyone!
With a couple of extra days we decided to spend some time in western Germany, in Heidelberg. We stayed in a hostel in the old city, which was beautiful. We actually took a day trip our first day there to Freiberg where we took a cable car through parts of the Black Forest. In reality, it’s just a forest, but it was pretty neat. We had the cable car to ourselves, and the change in the view as we rose in elevation was great. We began the trip with green trees at the bottom, fall colors soon dominating, until finally little patches of snow became a blanket of white everywhere. We enjoyed a brief walk at the top before sipping hot chocolate with rum at the restaurant.
Our second day in Heidelberg was spent at the Heidelberg castle. The castle itself was okay...the best part is the lovely location. On the castle grounds they had a museum about the history of pharmacy. If anyone can shed some light on that, I’d be interested.
An afternoon train took us to Munich where we boarded an overnight train to Zagreb, Croatia. We stored our luggage at the train station in Zagreb, picked up some maps at tourist information, and then did a short-ish walking tour through the city. Croatia is not yet a part of the EU, so they use a different currency, which is always inconvenient. It can be expensive to exchange money, so when we’re not using the euro, we have to try and calculate exactly how much we’ll need so that we come out as close to exact as possible.
Anyway, Zagreb was a nice city, but we were really anxious to get to Plitvice, where we planned to spend 3 nights near the National Park, spending one day in the park and the other doing as little as possible. We are so busy every day, we both felt like this would be a good time to relax and stay in, taking a break from being tourists.
The Plitvice Lakes were beautiful. There are 16 lakes in the park, and dozens and dozens of waterfalls. It’s amazing! We explored the park for the day, loving the lack of tourists at this time of year. There were only a few other people, which made for a quiet day! Marija, who runs the guesthouse we’re staying in, drove us to the park and picked us up again...she’s incredible!
We’re currently enjoying our day off, being as lazy as possible! Not much more to say at the moment. We head to Slovenia next...
Pics:
1-6. These are pictures of Plitvice Lakes. Number 6 is Cassie's fault...she started the whole hanging over rails thing and now Rebecca does it too and makes me nervous!
7-8. These are a couple of pictures of Zagreb.
9. This is a view of Heidelberg Castle. It's under renovation, which is the reason for the ugly scaffolding on the right. Other than that, it's beautiful!
10. This view is looking down on the city of Heidelberg, from the castle!
11-13. These photos are of the Black Forest. They show the various climate changes we experienced on our way up!!!
By the way, these pictures loaded backwards this time. It's different every time, which is why I gave up trying to make any sense out of it and just put the pictures up in one post and their explanation up in another post. Hopefully it's not too confusing for everyone!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Corrections
I made a bad typo and spelled medieval terribly wrong...which has now been fixed...I hate it when I do that! Anyway, go back and read the whole blog now, because I’m sure that typo ruined the whole experience last time you read it...
Also, I forgot to mention two veryveryvery important events that took place while we were with the Garbers. The first occurred on October 18th. This marked the halfway point of our trip, and by halfway I mean, of course, that we had completed half of the trip and had half of it yet to go... We celebrated with Wolfgang and Julie in our hotel room with a glass of wine and later in the evening, a genuine German puppet show! And by genuine I mean nothing of the sort. This particular puppet show was...interesting...we’ll leave it at that. I will say that I will be laughing for years to come every time I think of it!
The second event took place on October 19th when we celebrated the birthday of my sister, Rebecca. She is now 22. And we are most happy. A couple of the neighbors came over and we had cake...Mmmm! Rebecca was also presented with a delightful birthday present (no, not the ring). It was an adorable mini Christmas carousel and I, because my birthday is in 7 months, got one as well! Even better!
Okay, moving on...you get a new post...lucky you!
Also, I forgot to mention two veryveryvery important events that took place while we were with the Garbers. The first occurred on October 18th. This marked the halfway point of our trip, and by halfway I mean, of course, that we had completed half of the trip and had half of it yet to go... We celebrated with Wolfgang and Julie in our hotel room with a glass of wine and later in the evening, a genuine German puppet show! And by genuine I mean nothing of the sort. This particular puppet show was...interesting...we’ll leave it at that. I will say that I will be laughing for years to come every time I think of it!
The second event took place on October 19th when we celebrated the birthday of my sister, Rebecca. She is now 22. And we are most happy. A couple of the neighbors came over and we had cake...Mmmm! Rebecca was also presented with a delightful birthday present (no, not the ring). It was an adorable mini Christmas carousel and I, because my birthday is in 7 months, got one as well! Even better!
Okay, moving on...you get a new post...lucky you!
Berlin
We began our time in Berlin with a free walking tour. Those are really neat, by the way. It’s this company that offers free walking tours in various cities in Europe, their employees working on a tip basis, so everyone just pays what they can at the end of the tour. We did the tour in Madrid and now Berlin, and loved both of them! Our guide’s name was Colin and he is from Scotland, which made Rebecca very happy! He was great and even dramatized his stories for us!
We began our tour at the Brandenburg Gate, which has now become an emblem of a reunified Germany and several embassies have been built in the square there. Apparently, the U.S. wanted 80 meters of security clearance when building their embassy, and the German government wanted to know what the U.S. would like them to do with the large gate there...move it or blow it up? The U.S. was fine with either...or at least, that’s the story Colin gave us.
: - )
Much of the history in Berlin is so recent and during the Cold War, even in some of my early memories. There are numerous memorials, which are very sobering to visit. The Holocaust memorial is incredible. It’s in a grid patterns, consisting of 2,711 concrete blocks rising from the ground at various heights, which can be walked through from all sides. It looks like a graveyard as you walk through the narrow paths, never knowing who might be coming around the next corner. Another interpretation that our guide shared with us was that the levels of the blocks represented the various levels of anti-Semitism, the blocks at ground level representing anti-Semitic attitudes, and the tallest blocks representing the systematic extermination of their race. We also went into the museum they have underneath, which was, as all Holocaust museums are, difficult to work your way through.
We also saw the remnants of the Berlin Wall. It’s actually been fenced off to protect what’s left from the tourists, who used to come and chisel off pieces of it as souvenirs. The Book Burning Memorial was also really interesting. There’s a huge room underground with rows upon rows of empty shelves. The room has been sealed off to represent our inability to change the past. The only way of seeing the room is a square glass panel in the middle of the plaza. The glass is slightly reflective, the designer trying to remind us through our reflections that we have a responsibility to avoid this in the future. The students from the university also have a used book sale outside the school every day, which I thought was pretty neat!
Our second day in Berlin, we actually left the city and visited Leipzig, which is about an hour away. There are several important monuments to music there, including a concert hall where Mendelssohn performed and a church (Thomaskirsche) where Bach led a choir and Mozart played the organ. Ooh, and we also bought socks there...because we needed some.
Umm, that night we went to see a movie...I won’t tell you which because I hate you*...I mean, because Rebecca already has. It starts with an H and ends with a 3, and there is “igh School Musical” in the middle.** Anyway, while we were at the plaza, grabbing a bite to eat prior to the movie, there was a red carpet premier going on. It was for a German movie that I’ve never heard of, but the atmosphere was kind-of fun!
We left this morning for Bruges, so see you again in Belgium!
*A quote from Steven Fry from “A Bit of Fry and Laurie.”
**A reference from Dreamfall, which is a computer game that Rebecca loves!
Explanation of Pictures...
1. This is the Red Carpet Premier...
2. Ummm...okay, this was the "ceiling" of the shopping area where we saw the movie I won't tell you the name of. We came up with all kinds of interesting things that it might be. What do you think?
3. Okay, I don't know if this is true, but our guide told us that this was the first free public toilet. Interesting, no?
4. This gate has come to represent the reunification of Germany.
5-6. The Holocause Memorial
7. The Book Burning Memorial
8. The Berlin Wall
9-10. Thomaskirsche
11. Bach
We began our tour at the Brandenburg Gate, which has now become an emblem of a reunified Germany and several embassies have been built in the square there. Apparently, the U.S. wanted 80 meters of security clearance when building their embassy, and the German government wanted to know what the U.S. would like them to do with the large gate there...move it or blow it up? The U.S. was fine with either...or at least, that’s the story Colin gave us.
: - )
Much of the history in Berlin is so recent and during the Cold War, even in some of my early memories. There are numerous memorials, which are very sobering to visit. The Holocaust memorial is incredible. It’s in a grid patterns, consisting of 2,711 concrete blocks rising from the ground at various heights, which can be walked through from all sides. It looks like a graveyard as you walk through the narrow paths, never knowing who might be coming around the next corner. Another interpretation that our guide shared with us was that the levels of the blocks represented the various levels of anti-Semitism, the blocks at ground level representing anti-Semitic attitudes, and the tallest blocks representing the systematic extermination of their race. We also went into the museum they have underneath, which was, as all Holocaust museums are, difficult to work your way through.
We also saw the remnants of the Berlin Wall. It’s actually been fenced off to protect what’s left from the tourists, who used to come and chisel off pieces of it as souvenirs. The Book Burning Memorial was also really interesting. There’s a huge room underground with rows upon rows of empty shelves. The room has been sealed off to represent our inability to change the past. The only way of seeing the room is a square glass panel in the middle of the plaza. The glass is slightly reflective, the designer trying to remind us through our reflections that we have a responsibility to avoid this in the future. The students from the university also have a used book sale outside the school every day, which I thought was pretty neat!
Our second day in Berlin, we actually left the city and visited Leipzig, which is about an hour away. There are several important monuments to music there, including a concert hall where Mendelssohn performed and a church (Thomaskirsche) where Bach led a choir and Mozart played the organ. Ooh, and we also bought socks there...because we needed some.
Umm, that night we went to see a movie...I won’t tell you which because I hate you*...I mean, because Rebecca already has. It starts with an H and ends with a 3, and there is “igh School Musical” in the middle.** Anyway, while we were at the plaza, grabbing a bite to eat prior to the movie, there was a red carpet premier going on. It was for a German movie that I’ve never heard of, but the atmosphere was kind-of fun!
We left this morning for Bruges, so see you again in Belgium!
*A quote from Steven Fry from “A Bit of Fry and Laurie.”
**A reference from Dreamfall, which is a computer game that Rebecca loves!
Explanation of Pictures...
1. This is the Red Carpet Premier...
2. Ummm...okay, this was the "ceiling" of the shopping area where we saw the movie I won't tell you the name of. We came up with all kinds of interesting things that it might be. What do you think?
3. Okay, I don't know if this is true, but our guide told us that this was the first free public toilet. Interesting, no?
4. This gate has come to represent the reunification of Germany.
5-6. The Holocause Memorial
7. The Book Burning Memorial
8. The Berlin Wall
9-10. Thomaskirsche
11. Bach
Belgium and Holland...Land of the Kamikaze Bicycles
I know, right? I actually thought of a good title...how exciting! Anyway, Belgium and Holland...we didn’t have much time in either place, but I think we made the most of our time! We stayed in Bruges while we were in Belgium and took a short half day trip to Brussels. Bruges is supposed to be the Venice of the North, or so our map said. It was a pretty town to walk around in.
Our short trip to Brussels required a visit to their chocolate museum. This probably wasn’t worth the 5 euros we paid, but we were in Belgium, so... Also, apparently French fries were originally invented/introduced in Belgium, so we stopped at a little roadside restaurant and got some fries to go, smothered in mayonnaise. That’s how they typically eat them, and it was pretty good! Every store you walk into in Brussels has models (among other things) of the Manneiken Pis, which is a fountain. The reason it is so popular is because the water from the fountain comes from the statue of a little boy who appears to be peeing. Haha...very creative. But it has become quite the thing here...in fact, locals periodically make outfits for the little boy (with a well-placed hole, of course) and many of these outfits are on display in a museum. Hmmm...I really have nothing more to say about that!
One of the things we really enjoyed in Brussels was the Musical Instrument Museum. You get a headset and as you walk through the museum, it tunes into the area you’re in and plays samples of those instruments. We had a lot of fun there!
Back in Bruges, we did some shopping, specifically for lace. You have to be careful to make sure you’re getting the real deal (Belgium made). The shop owners are upfront and honest about what they sell, but if you automatically head for the cheaper things, you might accidentally pick up something made in Taiwan! We went to a cute little shop that was recommended where everything they sell is genuine, and sometimes they even have the lace makers sitting outside the shop working.
After leaving Bruges, we made our way to Amsterdam, where we stayed at Shelter Jordan, which is a Christian hostel that was recommended by someone we met at L’abri. It was a great atmosphere! We were able to get inexpensive meals and we had the room to ourselves the first night...that was a nice surprise!
On our first morning in Amsterdam, we went tot he secret annex where Anne Frank hid with her family and penned her famous diary. It is always very sobering to see things like that and to imagine what it must have been like...
We visited a small town called Zaanse Schans where we saw windmills (we were in Holland, after all), and made a quick trip to Delft as well!
Oh, and the bikes! Almost everyone has bikes in Belgium and Holland, and unlike cars, you can’t really hear them very well. They come from every direction, sometimes out of nowhere, and they’re treacherous! Our guide map in Bruges suggested we rent a bike and join the “kamikaze” cyclists in trying to run over the tourists. We didn’t really have time for that, but it sounded like fun!
Explanation of Pics:
1. This is Amsterdam...the pretty part. There are lots of canals, which make for some nice walks!
2. This is Holland. We ventured outside of the city for a view of some windmills.
3. Pretty! This is a windmill!!
4. This is a lace shop in Belgium. Two elderly ladies usually sit in the chair doing lace work, but in their absence, the doll takes over.
5-6. The chocolate museum...Mmmmmm... I'm standing behind a glass case showing the ingredients for various types of chocolate...milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate...
7. This is the main square in Brussels.
8. This is one of the side streets we walked down in Bruges. Bruges is apparently considered by some to be the Venice of the North. I liked Bruges, but I don't know that I would go so far as to say that.
Our short trip to Brussels required a visit to their chocolate museum. This probably wasn’t worth the 5 euros we paid, but we were in Belgium, so... Also, apparently French fries were originally invented/introduced in Belgium, so we stopped at a little roadside restaurant and got some fries to go, smothered in mayonnaise. That’s how they typically eat them, and it was pretty good! Every store you walk into in Brussels has models (among other things) of the Manneiken Pis, which is a fountain. The reason it is so popular is because the water from the fountain comes from the statue of a little boy who appears to be peeing. Haha...very creative. But it has become quite the thing here...in fact, locals periodically make outfits for the little boy (with a well-placed hole, of course) and many of these outfits are on display in a museum. Hmmm...I really have nothing more to say about that!
One of the things we really enjoyed in Brussels was the Musical Instrument Museum. You get a headset and as you walk through the museum, it tunes into the area you’re in and plays samples of those instruments. We had a lot of fun there!
Back in Bruges, we did some shopping, specifically for lace. You have to be careful to make sure you’re getting the real deal (Belgium made). The shop owners are upfront and honest about what they sell, but if you automatically head for the cheaper things, you might accidentally pick up something made in Taiwan! We went to a cute little shop that was recommended where everything they sell is genuine, and sometimes they even have the lace makers sitting outside the shop working.
After leaving Bruges, we made our way to Amsterdam, where we stayed at Shelter Jordan, which is a Christian hostel that was recommended by someone we met at L’abri. It was a great atmosphere! We were able to get inexpensive meals and we had the room to ourselves the first night...that was a nice surprise!
On our first morning in Amsterdam, we went tot he secret annex where Anne Frank hid with her family and penned her famous diary. It is always very sobering to see things like that and to imagine what it must have been like...
We visited a small town called Zaanse Schans where we saw windmills (we were in Holland, after all), and made a quick trip to Delft as well!
Oh, and the bikes! Almost everyone has bikes in Belgium and Holland, and unlike cars, you can’t really hear them very well. They come from every direction, sometimes out of nowhere, and they’re treacherous! Our guide map in Bruges suggested we rent a bike and join the “kamikaze” cyclists in trying to run over the tourists. We didn’t really have time for that, but it sounded like fun!
Explanation of Pics:
1. This is Amsterdam...the pretty part. There are lots of canals, which make for some nice walks!
2. This is Holland. We ventured outside of the city for a view of some windmills.
3. Pretty! This is a windmill!!
4. This is a lace shop in Belgium. Two elderly ladies usually sit in the chair doing lace work, but in their absence, the doll takes over.
5-6. The chocolate museum...Mmmmmm... I'm standing behind a glass case showing the ingredients for various types of chocolate...milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate...
7. This is the main square in Brussels.
8. This is one of the side streets we walked down in Bruges. Bruges is apparently considered by some to be the Venice of the North. I liked Bruges, but I don't know that I would go so far as to say that.
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