Stirring the barley at Heineken

Would you buy beer from these two 17 year olds?

A nice little Dutch couple from AmsterdamTry to find the kids in the picture

The pond just opposite the I amsterdam sign by all the museums

Our last stop in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank House. On this visit, just Bob, Maria and Kaitlin took the tour. The twins and I played by the canals. They don't allow pictures inside but it isn't really a place where you would want to log memories with a camera. It is more of an emotional museum which leaves an unforgettable imprint that you won't forget.

Overall, Amsterdam was a great place to visit!

Is anyone able to see the video posted below?

2nd stop in Amsterdam

After the quant little village experience in Zaandm, we headed into the city of Amsterdam to tour the Heineken Museum. Here is a video recorded by Bob and Jennifer. The funniest part is that it was recorded BEFORE we got the free beer at the end of the tour!
http://heineken_video.bitmove.tv/bitmove/cgi/receive.jsp?uid=85B05F394C913140401A35764CDF6228&format=wmv

Sunday in Amsterdam- First stop Zaandam

We had a great day in Amsterdam and the camera helped us take some great pictures. Our first stop of the day was in Zaandam just north of Amsterdam. It is a quaint little town attracting busloads of tourists. They have real working windmills, which the girls toured. There was a cheese making deomonstration, but the animals the cheese came from were much more interesting!The clog making demonstration was probably the most intrigueing. Everyone tried on real Dutch wooden shoes and bought a few souvenirs.For lunch we had a real Dutch treat, Pannekoeken with cheese and bacon. It might look wierd, but everyone loved it! Of course, now Bob will try to make these at home. We sat outside in the beautiful sun and watched the goats eat grass and the bus loads of tourists load and unload!

Brugge

Brugge is a short drive from our house in Overijse. The city is full of canals running in and out of all the streets. I got a brand new camera and unfortunately I wasn't quite ready to be a good photographer. These pictures were the best I could do because I think I accidentally erased the others!

The girls climbed to the top of the Bell Tower on the square, we toured the Guuthuse Museum and Church of Our Lady and then we viewed the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Read more about it at http://www.sacred-destinations.com/belgium/bruges-basilica-of-holy-blood.htm

Local siteseeing

We returned from our driving trip on Tuesday evening. Since then, we have kept Kaitlin busy with local activities.

Wed. - Overijse Pool
Thurs. - Woluwe Mall and Grand Place at night

Friday - Brugge (Pictures are coming soon)

Saturday - L'esplanade Mall and downtown

Sunday - Amsterdam (pictures are coming soon)

Tomorrow we will see the Atomium and Little Europe

And finally on Tuesday we will go to Koln, Germany to get Kaitlin some Cologne in Koln. (And maybe some of the wonderful pretzels they sell at the train station!)

While Maria and Kaitlin shopped for souvenirs at Grand Place, we had ice cream at Haagen-Dazs! The other picture is of Jennifer and me in front of my favorite set of buildings on Grand Place.

Pictures have been added - check out the old posts from our trip!

Back home again in Overijse

After our long road trip, I have come to a few conclusions.



1. McDonald's is everywhere. But if you are in Austria, do not order the fried calamari at McDonald's. I know you are wondering why we even considered it.

2. 4 Star hotels in Germany are not the same as 4 star hotels in America. They are more like 2 star hotels with an awesome breakfast to help you forget how icky your room was the night before.

3. Cars drive REALLY fast on the Autobahn. Stay to the right and don't even wander to the left or you will be honked at and maybe even waved at with only 1 finger by the driver speeding in the left lane.

4. People will pee anywhere. You should not be surprised if a man is in the woman's restroom. You should not be surprised if someone is peeing near the boarding area of the train station. And you should really not be surprised to see someone peeing in a fountain and then washing their hands in it afterward. Hey, at least the guy washed his hands!

5. Wearing scarves is not only fashionable in Europe but they are also a great way to cover your nose when you are next to someone who stinks. Why do people smell so bad in Europe?

6. If you want to be entertained, take two 17 year olds and two 11 year olds on a road trip through Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.

Disneyland Paris

I can't believe we lived here an entire year and never went to Disney! We loved Disneyland Paris. The kids road every important ride but left out things like Peter Pan, the merry go round and other non exciting rides. Our girls are big pin traders and got started right away. They collected some really cool ones. We went without Bob but we all realized that sharing Disney with Dad will be so much fun. Over and over I heard, "Dad will love this!" Kaitlin and Maria had fun making the most of our Fast Pass times and riding rides more than once. Jenn and Leah have really grown up because they were just as excited as the big girls to ride the more daring rides. We can't wait to go back and we bought a pass for the entire year so we can really see even more!

24 hours of tourism

We saw so much of Paris in the short time we were there. Here is the list of things we saw...
Eiffel Tower at night
Walk down the Champs Elysee
Arc de Triumphe
Eiffel Tower in the AM and ride to the top
Notre Dame
Louvre (Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo)
Sacre Coeur
Montmartre
Plus we rode the Metro everywhere. Thank goodness Maria has a handle on public transportation. She got us where we needed to go!

Road Trip - Driving day to Paris!

France - Country count for Kaitlin is now 7!!!!
This was our longest driving day. The kids did a good job amusing themselves. I had planned a stop in Dijon, France, home of Dijon mustard. If we had been in America and were going to the birthplace of a famous condiment, there would have been billboards advertising the entrance to the town. I halfway expected to see a dancing jar of mustard with an arrow pointing the way to the center of the city. There might even be a Dijon mustard museum with a tasting room and free samples...not in France. We saw no clue that the infamous mustard was born there. I should have known better. Europe doesn't advertise their greatness. Tourism exists without billboards or advertisement. In fact, there are no billboards along the highways! We ate a great Italian meal and got right back on the road.

Picture translation: Mom has led us to the stupid town of Dijon. We are not complaining, we are not complaining, we are not complaining.

They kept themselves busy making origami from an old map.

Road Trip - Lausanne

Luasanne, Switzerland with a stop in Austria. (Kaitlin's country count is now 6! UK, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria and Switzerland)

It rained from the moment we drove into Switzerland until the moment we drove out. For a short time it stopped long enough for all the girls to drive a paddle boat around Lac d'Ouchy the port located in Luasanne on Lake Geneva.

We also toured the Olympic Museum. Luasanne is the home of the International Olympic Committee and has a very interesting museum dedicated to the history of the Olympics, its founder and sports in general. It made me want to watch the movie Chariots of Fire.

On this day we also ate Indian food (adventurous), watched the 5th Harry Potter movie (magnificent) and ate Swiss fondue (delicious).

Road Trip - Castle Day

We followed the Romantic Road south from Rothenberg and went to Fussen to the Castle Neuschwanstein. Built by Mad King Ludwig, it is the most beautiful castle we have ever seen. Unfortunately, we had to pass the location of Maria's car accident, but she kept her eyes closed and pushed ahead. The prize at the end of the ride was worth it!

This is the horrible picture I took of King Ludwig's Castle. If you click on this link http://www.romanticroad.com/neuschwanstein/sights.php you will see what the castle really looks like. I think the kids take much better pictures than I do. Below is our transportation up to the castle. Jennifer was the driver of the horse drawn carriage.

King Ludwig's father, Maximilian The Second, built the yellow castle seen here from the balcony of the Neuschwanstein Castle. Below is King Ludwig's view of the Bavarian Alps from his window.

The castle had modern conveniences unknown to many at the time it was built. He installed hot water heat to warm the floors and running water fed from springs in the mountains. Each faucet was in the shape of a swan's head and the water flowed out of its mouth. The outside stone used to build the castle was found near Swan Lake so the motif of swans is carried out throughout the castle. The interior walls were painted with scenes from Operas and Fairy Tales. Even the kitchen looked modern for its time! This castle is so beautiful, that Walt Disney patterned the Cinderella Castle in Disneyland after it.

Road Trip - Rothenburg ob der Tober, Germany

We ate Schneeballen. Now we can say we ate them, but we sure didn't think they were very good!

The view from our hotel room. We actually stayed in an old nunnery!

Wooden alter in Rothenburg. I think we saw at least one church everyday.

Medieval soldiers.

Wednesday we drove to Rothenburg ob der Tober, Germany.
Unbelievable!!! We were transported to a time only described in Fairy Tales. Located on the Romantic Road in southwest Germany, Rothenburg was delightful. We toured a church, walked through gardens, ate Schneelballen and just had a great time. We stayed in a hotel within the medieval city walls and probably could have stayed a lot longer than 24 hours. There are many other towns similar to Rothenburg located on the Romantic Road but I doubt that any of them are as magical as our little Rothenburg. The pictures speak for themselves. (I will add them ASAP!)

Road Trip - Trier, Germany

On Tuesday we departed Belgium and headed toward Trier, Germany. On the way we stopped in Luxembourg to add another country to our list. It's all about the quantity of countries seen not just the quality!
Trier was unbelievable. The twins had gone there on a 4 day field trip this spring and I have already posted so many of their pictures. Leah and Jennifer were our tour guides. They did a fabulous job recounting the steps of Charlemagne and the Romans. Some of the ruins we saw dated back to 16 B.C. A favorite spot was Port Niegra which served as part of the wall surrounding and fortifying the city. Another great site were the Roman baths. Leah and Jennifer led us through the areas below the actual baths where the slaves used to walk to bring warm water to the Roman men and cold water to the Roman women.
It was a great city with lots of shopping, great restaurants and unbelievable history.

London in Pictures

Trafalgar Square

We saw Wicked on Friday night and Lion King on Saturday.

Street performers, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, a double decker bus and so much more! London was lots of fun!

Kaitlin arrived!

Maria's friend, Kaitlin, arrived on Thursday and started her travels with us almost immediately! We boarded a ferry for the UK and headed off to pick up Maria at Cambridge.

Leah, Kaitlin and Leah on the ferry from Calais, France to Dover, UK.

As the ferry crosses the channel, you can see the White Cliffs of Dover. It was an incredible site! As we disembarked, Bob drove our car on the wrong side of the road with all the rest of the Brits and we all picked up Maria. Then it was off to London for the weekend.

More pics from Maria

Yes, Maria is supposed to be studying at Cambridge. I think she might be having a little fun too! Note the phone booths in the background. They were in London.
It might be hard to concentrate on IB Chemistry and Biology if this is where you are taking classes!

They got to go Punting!

Maria at Cambridge

Maria has been studying for 2 weeks in Cambridge, UK. This is the university.

We had a great 4th of July with....

food

fun

and patriotic pyrotechnics!