Olympic Disappointment

Due to the ridiculous time difference between here and Vancouver, we don’t get to see anything cool. Due to NBC not being cool, it’s hard to find any clips online of medal runs. I really wanted to watch the men’s aerials but nothing on TV is so important for me to wake up at 3:30 a.m. I just have to cut my losses of not being part of the crowd to witness amazing tricks, but I supposed I’ll survive.

At work today we have had an interesting subject come up. One of my co-workers has the gift of gab and enjoys using it. I generally have an ear to listen but you can only beat a horse so many times. I know we are all guilty of when we get fired up about something that is all that we want to talk about. She wants to personally deliver a part to one of our customers so that she can meet them in person and start to build a bigger relationship with them. Now I don’t see anything wrong with this what-so-ever. In fact, my mother gave me the same advice about a project I’m working on: go out there and meet these people, you never know what comes of it. Well my co-worker was told by another co-worker to ask another co-worker because it’s really his “domain” to solicit outside business. Well, his reasoning: they’re already a customer why do we really need to go? I understand that, he is in charge of business development, which indirectly pertains to keeping business good, but mainly to solicit and find new business. This back and forth “argument” of who’s “domain” it is to go out and visit a customer coupled with the venting that has gone in on my ear has left me a bit peeved. The biggest part? I don’t see a problem what-so-ever with going and meeting a customer. Even better if you hand deliver a part to them. It only helps to build relationships. I don’t get why other people are making a “big deal” out of this and trying to pass the buck and act like someone is going on a renegade mission. Alright, that is a bit of an exaggeration but I fail to see why this would be an issue of any sort which leads to my slight irritation of listening to my coworker vent for the majority of today.

Moving on, the weather this morning was 8C (46F) which I do believe is the warmest it has been here yet. That is exciting. Now, since the Netherlands are against us (well, since Kelly isn’t here, it's just me) enjoying any sort of good weather, it has rained this entire week of “warm weather.” Great! It’s warm, but if you step outside you get rained on. I guess we can open our windows? Although I hardly believe 46F weather is something you want to celebrate with open windows. I guess I’ll just enjoy the high temperature reading on the car’s display and turn the windshield wipers on. Thank you Holland!

Thank goodness it’s beer Friday though. That makes everything alright and do-able. And, I can sleep in tomorrow. After much debate of what I should do this weekend, I think taking it easy will win. There are also, apparently, some amazing egg rolls sold on the Grote Markt on Saturdays that I need to go try. That sounds like a good mission for me. Maybe it won’t rain and I can enjoy the “warm” weather with a walk along the canal!

Patience

Today is ticking by, slowly. I've been asked to create a presentation for one of the guys at work. Powerpoint demands patience. Perfection demands patience. Patience isn't one of my strongest qualities. I like to do things to the highest level of my ability and make them as perfect as possible, but it goes against my lack of patience. It seems to be a continuous battle for myself. I don't like I like to do things the easy way.

I just recieved an email from a friend about something to do, if I get bored over here. The link is attached HERE. I can't believe people actually do this sort of stuff for fun! Women too. Who would subject themselves to the possiblity of such torture for 8lbs of cheese? Apparently, the English would.

I am lonely since Kelly is gone. I hope her and Stu are having a good time! I'm sure they are. I think today is when they visit Neuschwanstein Castle (the one Cinderella's castle was molded after). Yesterday, I believe they went to the Hofbrauhaus. I'm sure they had a great time. No word though so I'm taking that to mean they are too busy to worry about little ol' me slaving away. Hehe. Maybe I'll get a sympthay vote.

I try to find raw almonds to keep on my desk for a healthy snack. So far, I have 2 tubs of cooked/smoked almonds and a deal of pistashios. No luck with the raw nuts. One of the guys' mom works at a place where they sell nuts and he brought me some once. I was trying to be independent and not ask, but I think I might cave. I miss those raw almonds. And to think, not so long ago I detested the nut. How our tastes change!

My parents and aunt and uncle are headed of for a very exciting trip half way around the world to Africa. My mom is a bit nervous about surviving it and she informed me she updated the will and is leaving everything to the dogs. She is so kind. I assured her people travel to and from there all of the time with no major mishaps. I hope they have fun though, I'm very jealous I can't stow away in one of their bags for the ride.

I'm already thinking about dinner and I believe we are out of left overs and there are only 2 pieces of bread left, which need to be for my lunch tomorrow. I think I might have to go to the grocery store alone. I've only done it twice and I leave a nervous wreck each time with my groceries bagged completly wrong and smushed bread. Least I have a cute pink canvas groceries bag to help do my part and not waste plastic bags! Wish me luck!

A Historical Sunday Funday

After a late evening rocking out to Q.E.D. none of us really wanted to get up Sunday morning. We wanted to get on the road about 9:30 but I don’t think we left until about 10:30. Such is life. It’s nice to have a bit of flexibility. We figured since it was still early, we better t go to the Anne Frank house before the line gets long. We figured a cold, rainy Sunday in February there wouldn’t be a line. We were wrong. The line went out the building and around the corner, half way down the block. Well, we were going to see this piece of history no matter so we go to the back of the line. It moves at a slow but steady pace but it does get longer faster than people are let in. We’re glad we decided to bear the line. It did take about an hour or so but we didn’t completely freeze. The “fun” part of standing in lines: people watching. I found a car that if I follow it, will take me to Texas. I don’t know a lot about mechanics and what not but I’m pretty sure this car can’t swim.

You aren’t allowed to take pictures in the Anne Frank house so I have no evidence that I was there (besides the ticket stub I threw away) but it was such a great experience. This was the 2nd time I’ve been to the house but it was still emotional and humbling. I’m really glad Kelly and Stu got the opportunity to see it and experience a small part of history.

When the Germans found the hiding place, they cleaned everything out. When Anne’s Dad, Otto, came back after surviving Auschwitz he said that all the rooms should remain empty as a memorial to his family who all died in the concentration camps. There is a glass building built up and around the house so you can’t see it from the outside which is disappointing, but at least it has been preserved. The tour takes you through all of the rooms and artifacts left behind such as the actual diary and other hand written letters. It’s amazing the insight that she had at such a young age and going through such difficult things in life. Compared to what those people had to go through, our society has become a bunch of “sissies.”

Well, being the sissies that we are, we were hungry after the Anne Frank house. We were walking back to Dam Square to catch the tram over to the Heineken Brewery when we came upon a Dutch pancake house. Well, we are on a mission to make sure Stu gets to experience all things Dutch, so we decided this was a great lunch place. I love the simple Dutch pancakes with cheese and ham but I thought I’d get a bit crazy and order the Mexican Pancake. It wasn’t bad, I don’t think I’d order it again, but it had a nice kick and lots of veggies.



We finally made it to Dam Square where I’m walking with a map in my hand looking at it when we see a giant crowd of people standing around. Well, I decide to walk around the crowd towards the tram stop that we need and I get yelled at by some clown looking man. “YUP! YOU FOUND ME. I’M RIGHT HERE. THE SEARCH IS OVER!” I was, to say the least, a bit embarrassed and confused. I just got yelled at by a clownish man in front of a crowd of people for wondering around slightly lost.

Anyways, we get on the right tram and head off to the Heineken factory. This was our first time using the trams because usually we just walk (and get a workout in). The weather was cold though and the factory was pretty far away from everything so we figured we better suck it up and figure this out. It wasn’t too bad. You can get a day pass for unlimited rides for €7 or for €7.60 you can get a strip that has 15 “slots” on it. Each ride, though, uses 2 “slots” per person. We had 30, that’s good enough for what we needed to do. We even have some left over for the next person. They don’t expire in the calendar year. Each tram you get on, the driver stamps them and away you go. We arrive at the brewery with little issue to start taking some pictures of the outside. You can see my excitement.


They have recently re-done their “museum” so that now it is the Heineken Experience. And boy was it! When you walk in the first thing is a digital bar and bartender giving you the rundown of the history of the company and its founders. It is still to this day run by a Heineken family member, and a woman! We had to take advantage of the photo op that was available:


The next room had all of the huge copper vats where they used to heat up the hops and malt and all sorts of other stuff. They had a great idea and you could look into the vats and on some of them they had little projections on the dark insides showing what would have been going on. I thought it was such a neat idea! There was also a station where you could help out the brew master by grinding the barley and helping stir them. I couldn’t go without putting in a bit of hard labor:

Now, we thought it smelled like horses in there but we figured it must have been the barley oats that give it the horse-ish smell. Nope, there were really horses in the next room. It is where their stable was for the real Heineken horses. Apparently, they will still pull the wagons around town and deliver kegs. Another great marketing/promotional scheme. The horses were so pretty! You could only see them through the glass partition so I couldn’t get a good picture but thankfully Stu was along who happens to be in the 6’3” range and could hold the camera above the glass to get a picture. During my photo op Charly decided to scratch and Freddy thought it looked like a good idea so he wanted to copy. They are such pretty animals!


After the horses we got bottled. Yup, we as humans got bottled. Well, via the 4D experience. It was a lot of fun that people of all ages could enjoy. You walk into a little room where you stand on a little platform that moves and shakes as you go along the bottling process. The moving platform is complimented with spray, heat, and wind. I now know how beer feels while being bottled.

After being bottled we got to go have a little taster. They had neat star shaped bars where we all stood around and answered questions and got some more beer drinking tips and lessons. Since I paid attention another exibit I learned that the foam head on beer serves to keep the beer carbonated and fresh by keeping the carbon dioxide in and the oxygen out of the beer. It is also the lightest part of the beer, primarily made from hops which is why it tastes bitter. American and England aren’t big on serving beer with the head but I learned it is better; you just have to take bigger drinks to get below the foam head. I figured that wouldn’t be too difficult. So because of all of my great new knowledge, and not being afraid to speak in public I answered the questions right and got an extra sampler of beer. I knew paying attention would pay off someday!

The next stop is where we got to bottle our own beer. Well, I’m sure it wasn’t the exact beer, but we got to create a label that has our name on it. I now own a beer that says “Brewed in Amsterdam by Amelia Christensen.”

After that there was more interactive areas where you could create your own music video and send video messages. What a fun idea! There were also crazy chairs that you could sit in and watch commercials from the past 50 years. Such simple things, but so neat. They also had a bit of a museum set up that displayed all of their old beer bottles and labels. At one point Heineken wanted to make recyclable bottles so they created the WOBO, or the wall bottle. They are square bottles that basically interlock with one another so that poor people could use their empties to build a house! Now, if that isn’t helping out the world, I don’t know what is. I am standing in front of a small WOBO wall.

What makes Heineken beer so special is that “A” yeast that is used to create it. It was one of the first beers to come out with standard yeast so that no matter where it is made, it will have the same taste. A student of Louis Pasteur developed it. Those smart people seem to hang out together!

After the tour we got to enjoy 2 free beers. That’s worth half the admission cost right there! They have a great atmosphere created for the bar area and throughout the entire Experience. I wanted to post a picture of Kelly and I drinking, but I forgot and it’s so hard to do after the fact. Kelly’s blog has plenty of great pictures! After the Experience we wanted to take a canal cruise. I also needed to get my train tickets for my trip to Halle, Germany so that I could still get the cheap price. I told Kelly and Stu to go try the food in the wall (to continue Stu’s Dutch food experience) and I’d get the ticket. Well the ticket took forever and I ended up missing the canal cruise, but Kelly and Stu went and I take it they had a good time. I will have to go one of these days! I took the train back home, bought some groceries, and settled in to call my German host parents and tell them I am coming.

After a while into my call to Germany my cell phone rings and it is Kelly. I have no idea why she would call, but I figured it was important so I answer. She needs me to go pick her and Stu up from the other train station/stop in Haarlem. There is 2??? Apparently, there is. It’s by IKEA. Do I know where IKEA is? Nope. So I get in the car and pull out of the garage and try to find it on TomTom. TomTom can’t find it. I start to worry and the thought of driving towards the giant IKEA sign sounds slightly promising but I’m still worried Kelly and Stu might freeze to death. I have the bright idea to Google the address! Sure enough, Google has it and it gives me the proper address I enter it into TomTom and head on my way. I pull into the giant black, empty parking lot and wonder where in the world they are hiding. I call Kelly and she starts shouting that she can see my headlights and gives me turn by turn directions to their side of the parking lot/bus stop. I could hardly see 2 silhouettes’s jumping up and down in the darkness. I found them! They thoroughly enjoyed the warm car and we headed home. They grabbed their bags out of the car and I see a blue Doritos bag. Now, Kelly has been on the search for “Cool Ranch” Doritos since we’ve been here but she hasn’t had any luck. She finally found a bag of “Cool American” which is the Dutch version of “Cool Ranch.” There is some minor debate around the apartment whether they are made with real “American” or not.

It was an adventurous day. Monday and Tuesday we have taken it pretty easy. Monday we had ravioli at the house and watched some Olympics and yesterday, we went out for another 4 course meal. We wanted Stu to experience the Dutch 4 courses. The only downside, the Dutch are so slow! We were there almost 2 hours and none of us were prepared for that. Kelly and Stu still had to pack for their trip to Munich and I was just tired. They got home and managed to pack a bit and get to bed at a decent hour. This morning still came very early though! Their flight left at 7am which meant we left the house at 5:15. I gave them a ride so I had to be up too. It was really early! They are off and I’ve received the BBM that they made it and I haven’t heard anything bad, so I guess that means everything is good! I am happy they are getting the experience. They are going to have a tour of the Hofbrauhaus, Neuschwanstein Castle, the concentration camp Dachau, and a day trip to Salzburg, Austria. They are going to have such a great time and I’m happy they can see those amazing places together. I’m just going to be left alone for 4 days so I have to find something to keep my busy. I guess I can watch Olympics and start a new book. That should be enough. And sleep, I can always use more of that!

KELLY'S ENGAGED!!!!

I now have permission to finish my blog. You will soon read what happened, but the involved parties wanted to blog about it first, together, so I had to wait till today before I could spill the beans.

Thinking nothing of the random event Kelly wanted me to meet her at the bar and celebrate; I kept on reading, watching the clock, thinking how I needed to get ready for dinner. I hear the keys in the door and Kelly and Stu ended up coming home. Kelly comes down our little hallway and asks if she can come in…she hands me a Stroopwaffle McFlurry (My new favorite) and I thought that was so sweet! I have been trying to get one for a few days now and McDonald’s Holland has been against me because every time we go look for one, their ice cream machine is broken. I thought that was so nice of Kelly and then I catch a glimpse of her left hand…I proceed to squeal! I can’t believe it!! I let her out of my sight for one afternoon and she gets engaged!!!! I also got to sneak in an “I told you so!” because Kelly and I had a few debates if he was going to bring the ring or not. She said “No” since he kept giving her excuses of how he didn’t want to travel with it and things like that. I went with “Yes” because he was actively ring shopping with his female family members and any man that I’ve ever known doesn’t ring shop….and if he does, he is not going to hang on to it for a few months until the timing is just perfect. I was right. He brought it and I’m so happy he did!!! I get to be the only member on the sidelines for their perfect Dutch fairytale!

After they tell me the story of how Stu romantically proposed under our windmill and I squeal some more I figured I better hurry up and get ready. They had to call all of the family members so I let them be as I worked on my beautification process. I figured since Kelly got engaged, I better look cute; maybe I can hook myself a cute Dutch boy. I hear Kelly and Stu talking to their family. It was super cute though because most of the Houston family knew what he was coming over to do so they were just waiting for the call. I loved being able to over hear their conversations because everyone was so supportive of the event. The little nieces have been practicing how to say “Aunt Kelly” and all of the brothers and sisters were so welcoming to the both of them. I don’t know how many times I heard “Welcome to the family! We’re so happy for you two! Congratulations!” It was just the way everything should be. I think this is my first experience with an engagement that has gone by the fairytale books. I also informed Stu he owes my man (whenever I find him) an apology because he is now going to be held to very high standards. I know this stuff happens in real life, not just in the movies. I am so happy for them and so happy I get to be a default part of this. I like living my “relationship life” through Kelly, it’s a good one!!!

***This story can be read from firsthand experience at Kelly’s blog site HERE***

So as you can see this was a major event that filled up most of our weekend. Our dinner at Wilma & Albert’s was fantastic, as expected. We each got something different and we shared so we could get a taste of everything. I got the spicy ribs again, Kelly got salmon, and Stu got a great steak with garlic butter. The steak and ribs are now my 2 favorite things there.

One of our co-workers is in a band. The guys always give him a hard time and call him the “Rock Star.” We decided we had to go find out for ourselves how “rock star” he really is. His band was playing in Beverwijk Saturday evening so we decided to drag Stu along (and have him be our man protection, if needed) and head out to the bar. We got a bit lost, but we ended up finding alright and we were about 20 minutes late. Well, sticking true to “Rock Star” standards they didn’t start till an hour late so we didn’t miss anything. Their first song is an original and called “Love Me (a.k.a. The Stalker).” Now, we couldn’t hear the words (it sounded if their acoustics were off) but I really liked the title. It still makes me laugh….I wonder if I could get the lyrics from him? Anyways! We stayed for about an hour and a half, which covered the first and part of the 2nd set. Kelly and I were asking him what type of songs they play so he printed us off the set list and I told him I was going to bring it with me and make sure they didn’t mess up. I did bring it, but we really used it more for reference. The most important fact though, was that there was a “costume change” between the two sets. Now, this was not included in the set list, we were taken by surprise!

They have a cute little drummer, and by cute I mean short, kind of mean looking, a picturesque beer belly, and a blue tooth in his ear. Well this stud changed from a black shirt to white. I know crazy rock stars. Well the lead singer (our co-worker) changed from jeans and a dark t-shirt to SHINEY BLACK LEATHER PANTS and a T-shirt that has scrolling letters that said “Welcome to Q.E.D. Have fun” I couldn’t help but to laugh my head off. Really? Black leather shiny pants! When we first saw them I thought they were covered in sequins. I had to get some pictures!

These pictures don't do the pants justice, but you can see the shine! This is "Sally" (we can never remember his real, full name)

I had to take a picture with him and his scrolly shirt. They were taking a short pause and I grabbed him on my way out. Oh, the clothes!!!

At one point they were singing the old American classic “Sing-a-long” “Brown Eyed Girl” and when he was doing the “Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da” part he came over and let me and Kelly sing. Yup, we have now sang with/in a Dutch band. Cross that off my life’s list of things to do! It was a lot of fun but we had a busy day in Amsterdam planned so we had to get home. After a short drive home we were all in bed, ready for our exciting day touring the Anne Frank house and the Heineken Experience. Be ready for that recount. It was a fun time!

What a Weekend!

I’m not sure really where to start, but as you are aware, I will drag this weekend out into several posts. It keeps my excited throughout the week.

For Friday dinner, Kelly had made chili the previous night with some chili seasoning her mom sent. It was quite tasty for chili made in Holland! I was very impressed and had a great dinner. She also made some guacamole to go with it. We had tortilla chips and decided nachos would be a great dinner. It was a lot of fun to sit and eat our nachos watching the Olympics. I’m sure the store doesn’t know what is going on with their inventory because I’m sure they don’t sell as much Mexican food ingredients normally. We take a small delight in messing up their inventory forecasts and buying them out of salsa (a very mild version of Pace Picante).

Bright and early Saturday morning Kelly and I head to the airport for the 2nd time since our time here. We went to pick up her lovely boyfriend, Stu. We also learned a very important lesson; there are 4 main areas of Schipol. Areas 1 and 2 are not by 3 and 4. After only a minor incident and Stu having to wait 10 minutes for Kelly (I waited in the car so it wouldn’t get towed), they came walking out. It was great to finally meet him. I’ve obviously heard so much about him, and have mentioned him once or twice in my blog. He is a really nice guy and pretty laid back. He also brought with him some sun shine. Saturday was the first sunny day we have had in a while. It was also decently warm! Stu thought it was normal, his judgment would later be changed. We took him home where we had some birthday cake Kelly made for him. His birthday was last week and Kelly was sad she didn’t get to celebrate with him and his family so she made him her own cake, a sopapilla cheesecake. She baked it Friday night and I really wanted to eat it then, but she made me wait so it could chill. It was delicious!!!! The bottom crust is croissants then the cheese cake goes in the middle, with more croissants on top sprinkled with cinnamon and butter. It was amazing! Kelly didn’t think it baked right, but I enjoyed it immensely none the less. Happy belated birthday Stu!

The rest of Saturday was pretty lazy. I watched re-runs of the Olympics and ready my book. I ended up getting completely absorbed in it and couldn’t put it down. I finished it by the end of the night. Kelly and Stu kept to themselves as Kelly came into the kitchen once a bit teary-eyed she was so happy he is here. They got ready and head out into the city for an afternoon walk around town. I was still reading my book and wanted to take a nap so I figured they could enjoy the alone time. Kelly later BBM’d (BlackBerry Messaged) me and told me to come meet them for a drink at the wine bar for a celebratory glass of wine. I figured we already celebrate Stu’s arrival with sopapilla cheesecake (and I was still in my PJs reading my book) so I told her to have a glass for me and I’ll be ready for dinner at 7 (we had reservations for Wilma & Albert’s, the great rib place). If only I had known……

Ugh

Today is finally Friday. That is a big relief. However, it’s raining (which might be better than snowing) and it's a nasty grey color everywhere outside. It does not excite happy feelings, or a sense of productiveness. If we had a fire place, chances are I would have given up on today and watched the Olympics from there. The upside though, we get beer today!

The other upside is the Heineken factory in Amsterdam. Kelly is planning what to do with Stu on Sunday in Amsterdam and we have purchased and printed out our tickets for the Heineken experience. It sounds really neat where one can experience being bottled. We're not sure what that means exactly, but we're excited none the less. I cleared out my camera card today and am getting ready to take lots of pictures.

Our resident rock star (a guy who works here is also in a band) is playing Tomorrow night in Beverwijk. We're not sure if we will go or not, but we figured it would make us look less groupie like if we had a guy with us (Stu). We will see how this plays out. He might be so tired he just wants to sleep! I also just made reservations for us at the amazing rib place for Saturday night. I'm sure he will love it, and I know I will too!

I would also like to give a public thanks to my uncle for the alpaca sweater. It has come in very hand here in the frozen country. Very simple but warm and soft. I have to figure out how to minimize the shedding though. I guess that's another battle for another time. I never thought I would have gotten this much usage out of such an article of clothing.

Where To Go?

I’m sorry my blog post has been a bit late today. I try to have it posted before America gets up and going, but today, I just didn’t know what to post about. After reading many articles for the day in the news, I found a few that are interesting.

First, I like the ease that the Euro has to offer while travelling. I don’t like that it is stronger than the dollar, but I guess we can’t all get what we want in life. I never thought, though, what implications a currency that spreads across many different countries has. I read this article the other day explaining the issues at hand. You can find the article HERE. The biggest point in my mind is that countries don’t have the ability to adjust the valuation of the currency to affect the prices and attract investments. This one currency floats across many different economies that are very different in many ways as well as the power and stability that they offer. I guess we are seeing the implications what unified money can do to many countries. I just hope the dollar gains some strength.

Another article Kelly sent me about things to do in Amsterdam. The article can be read HERE. Rest assured visitors, we will save the article for you to help you have a more successful and enjoyable visit. We want you all to have a unique experience from the “local” perspective and we will do our best to educate ourselves so that we may offer it to you.

And for those of you who have trouble imagining where to take the next vacation to, HERE is the article from NY Times about the 31 places to go in 2010. Granted, I don’t have the money or time to get them all, but there were a few on there that caught my eye. Copenhagen, Leipzig, Istanbul, Breckenridge, Kitzbühel, and Norway really caught my eye (I would like to point out my umlaut usage, I’m proud of myself for figuring that one out). I have a trip in the works to Copenhagen, I’ve been to Leipzig numerous times, Istanbul I might have to wait on for a few years, and the last 3 just really make me want to go skiing. I had a great time in Breckenridge several years ago with a fun group of people. Below are 2 of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

We went hat shopping! I don't have a better picture with Josh's eyes open, but you all get the idea. We also went for sushi right after so it was a pretty awesome night.

This little room is where we all (all 20 of us) kept our skis, boots, poles, snowboards, and random bicycle. To say the least it was a bit full and the littlest movment had the opportunity to cause a dominoe affect. Karla and Kayla wanted to test it out. I miss you two!

Someday I’ll have my dream ski vacation in the Alps at some fabulous resort. Whether it be St. Moritz, Kitzbühel, Zermatt, or anywhere else I can come up, it’s going to be fantastic. It didn’t work out this year so I guess it wasn’t meant for me to have the ski trip of my life, yet. Can you tell I have high expectations for this trip? I can wait for perfection (and hopefully a slightly larger budget to have it on).


Input from my daily life: sushi was great last night. They also gave us a web site that has a TON of different restaurants that deliver. I think delivery is Holland’s drive through. We don’t even have to say our street name (which is Waganmakerslaan) we just type it in. Another point for technology. For those of you worrying about Kelly and I gaining weight since all you hear about is food, I wanted to give you a rundown of our daily meals:

Breakfast: Muesli with yogurt (I try to find a fruit to put in there with it)
Lunch: Sandwich (or leftovers) with 2 small oranges.
Afternoon snack: Pineapple or another fruit
Dinner: a frozen pizza with fresh basil, vegetable fajitas, Sheppard’s pie, chicken breasts, fish, pasta

We go out to eat 2-3 times a week and generally always take our lunch. To put this in perspective I ate out lunch every day in Houston and most dinners as well. We also have to walk to any food destination we choose (this delivery discovery might be bad) as well as the grocery store, post office, and to get any kitchen utensil that we need (we always forget the can opener. I’m glad I brought my Leatherman).

Don't worry, we're not rolling around Holland just yet.

It's Light Outside!

Finally! There was a beautiful sunrise this morning. The sky was pink and blue with clouds in between. I wanted to take a picture of it but I was driving and my camera was in the “trunk”. Granted, it was probably not much better than your normal New Mexico sunrise, but considering we haven’t seen one in a few weeks because the sky has been so grey with clouds, it was beautiful to finally see sunlight.

I realized yesterday that I never posted about my dinner on Saturday night. I don’t have pictures to commemorate it, but it was great. We went to another new restaurant that was recommended to us. I had made reservations the day before by simply emailing them (I really like technology some days) and I am glad I did. The place was full when we arrived and only got fuller! We opted for the 4 course meal. Apparently, it is quite popular here. There are always advertisements for 4 courses for 25 Euros so we thought we would give one a try. We had read the menu while sitting there though and found a few things that we really wanted to try. Lucky for us, they ended up coming as part of our meal. They were so tasty too! It was prawns/shrimp rolled in a tortilla and fried with amazing sweet chili sauce. The food here is just different enough to never really know what you’re getting without being fearful of wondering what will show up on your plate. It’s always an adventure!

Saturday Stu (Kelly’s boyfriend) comes and I’m sure we will have a decently easy day giving him some time to rest. On Sunday we want to head to Amsterdam and at the train station Kelly and I need to buy some train tickets. The high speed train website won’t take credit cards that have a billing address outside Europe. I’m trying to figure out how to go visit Uwe and Andrea (my German host parents) in a few weeks and I think by train will be just as easy (and about 100 Euros cheaper) than flying. I just have to get my tickets plenty in advance for them to be economical. I also have some friends who will be in Frankfurt for a day next Saturday and I’m trying to figure out how to meet them. It is a 4 hr drive, but I have to be home to get Kelly Saturday night from the airport, or at least have the car at the apartment for her so that she can take Stu to the airport on Sunday. I don’t know what to do, but I’m sure after a phone call to my mother, I’ll have a better idea. Be prepared Mom.

Kelly’s Mom sent a care package and we received it yesterday. It had taco and chili seasoning in it as well as some of her grandma’s homemade pecan pralines. They are AMAZING! Just like little balls of sugar, butter, and nuts. It can’t get much better, or unhealthier, but they are sweet little treats. The office also loved them, asking if we could hire her grandma to send more. The package also had ranch dressing in it! Well, the little packs for us to make our own, but still. We are excited, a little taste of home.

Tonight is Sushi for dinner. We found a cute place on the square and want to try it out. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, I got food poisoning and will be contemplating my death. Otherwise, expect a full report! I better get off to harass the guys and get my Dutch lesson in for the day. I’m not as far with my Dutch skills as I’d like to be so I better pick it up!

Is it Worth the Money?

I often ponder many things and today I figured I would present the subject of my current ponder, the Mercedes car. Now, we see them all over the roadways in all shapes and sizes but we often see this one:

Now, I do not find this car cute, or pretty, or cool. It is approximately $25,500. That is a pretty penny. I guess you are still getting the Mercedes name, motor, and luxury but I could think of a better way to spend that money…and get a lot more car for your buck.

Now when most people think of Mercedes they think of luxury, style, class, not the above blob. If I were able to choose a Mercedes to drive around in my retirement days, I would choose this one:

This is a pretty CL Class Mercedes, more of what one expects from the name. Now for $138,000 a person better get the best car Mercedes makes. I don’t even know if it is the best, but it sure does look cool. I guess that is why people get the blob, it’s an affordable Mercedes. I don’t think I could drive one. I prefer our new, black Opel to the blob. I bet it would have more get up and go though. Oh well, speed kills.

So that was my random Tuesday ponder. We are getting ready for Kelly's boyfriend, Stu, to arrive on Saturday. I am very excited for her, I know how much she misses him. I'm also excited to meet him. He seems like a very nice guy. Next week they are headed to Munich for 4 days and I'll be left here all alone. I stock up on groceries before she leaves so I won't have to go out and eat alone....or maybe if I open myself up I can start making local friends. Why worry about it now, I'll worry about it next week when I'm left to fend for myself.

Half Broke Horses

This weekend was uneventful but I did manage to eat some great food. Friday evening Kelly, C, and I all went out for dinner but we wanted something light since we were still full from our amazing lunch. Richard had taken us to a CUTE place on the harbor that served amazing chicken sate. Kelly had a burger that looked great as well. The best part was sitting by the windows looking at the ice filled dock area and icy lake. It is a sight you definitely don’t see in the Southwest.

The building at the end of the road on the left is the restaurant. Super tasty foods!

There is the icy harbor/docking area. Some boats didn't get rescued before the ice it, but that seems to be semi normal. Ice can be beautiful.

This restaurant had some candy to grab on your way out. Richard made his way in search of a particular sucker and urged us all to try one. So Kelly and I both grabbed one, C did not. I opened mine, liked it and it tasted alright. Richard opened his and had Kelly taste the powder that was in the middle of it and she started yelling and practically gagging. She was not happy with Richard. Apparently, it’s no tootsie pop…it’s a black/white. Kelly’s said the sucker tasted like licking the bottom of the ocean floor. Heading that warning, I proceeded with caution. I made me way through the sweet exterior of the sucker and once I started getting the salty, yucky taste I stopped. On the car ride back, Richard told me to ask another one of our American coworkers about this sucker. I took the liberty and asked, apparently, it got the best of him too. He is not a fan, to put it lightly. Lesson learned: the Dutch have an odd taste for sweets.

After all of the lunch adventure, none of us were very hungry for dinner so we decided to go somewhere light. We went back to XO (or first repeat dinner) for their wraps and quiches. It was just as good the second time around. C has a sweet tooth so she talked us into desert and man oh man does this country have some fantastic ice cream! Since I have a special spot for ice cream anyways, it’s just a little slice of heaven in a bowl.

On Saturday, Kelly and I enjoyed sleeping in and we planned on meeting C for lunch. She had a lazy morning and went shopping but we weren’t that motivated. We started walking along the shopping street and there are so many cute deli-like places but they are always closed for dinner so we just picked one for lunch. It was great! It was called Pluk and they had a bunch of organic things and their bread was big thick soft pieces of dark, almost black, goodness. They also served fresh smoothies so that was a nice way to spice things up a bit. Apparently, Americans are not the only ones to have credit card trouble. After C had been shopping all morning and didn’t have any problems with her card she tried to pay for lunch. They don’t accept credit cards. She explained it was a chip card, it still wouldn’t work because it was a credit card, not a debit. We then all had a big discussion because many of these vendors tell us that “Holland doesn’t accept….” when the store right down the street didn’t have a problem with it. I think this country needs to get on the ball and choose a story and stick to it. Either way, Kelly and I are used to it and always carry cash on us now. We then headed back to get C’s luggage and headed off to the airport. She was our first victim of the airport routine, so all future visitors, we are now experienced.

On Saturday I had finished my book “The Friday Night Knitting Club” and it was such a good book! It made me cry! I then started another book “Half Broke Horses” and managed to finish it in one day. It was an easy, enjoyable read. The book was set in New Mexico, West Texas, and Arizona and talked about ranching, the weather, and how hard life was then. It was so fun to read, though, because I knew places like the Hondo River Valley and Lincoln and Capitan. The book was written by the main character’s granddaughter based upon stories she had heard from her grandmother and mother through the days. It also made me realize how little I know about my grandmother’s upbringing. I need to call her more often anyways so I guess now I will have questions for her. I better learn this part of my family history before the opportunity is lost. The book took up most of my Sunday while I read and watched some of the Olympics. Nothing like a lazy day reading, watching the snow outside, and wishing you were off skiing with all of the Olympians at Whistler. Maybe next year……

American Spicy or Dutch Spicy?

Last night Kelly, Richard, myself and another woman from work all met for a drink and then headed to dinner. This was enlightening because we always walk by this sign for the Whiskey Bar on a side door. Glancing through the beveled glass in the door it looked nice, but the outside looks a bit shady so we were always too skeptical to go in. Well, we met Richard and C. in the hotel bar before dinner, and guess what? It’s the same bar as the side entrance and it is very cute and nice! It's decorated in the Scottish plaids, has a long list of whiskey offerings, and some very tasty beers on tap. It was probably a bad thing we discovered this place so close to our apartment. I also now know where I'll be sending my mother if she starts to act up.

So after our drinks we headed to Wilma and Albert's, a cute steak house located near the Grote Markt. We have been told about it and have seen it but we haven't been because it was expensive and we figured we would wait till we could find someone to take us. That lucky day finally came. C told us how tasty the ribs were so I had to listen. They offer sweet or spicy so being the south westerner that I am, had to go with spicy. Kelly got a great steak so that we could split our plates and have the best of both worlds. I'm glad we did. Those ribs were AMAZING and SPICY. Not Dutch spicy which really just equals flavorful but American spicy. My lips were burning, my mouth was very, very warm and I was a happy, happy camper. They were so great. We are definitely putting that restaurant on our repeat list, whenever we start repeating restaurants.

It is also finally Friday, which means we get beer this afternoon. I thoroughly enjoy this tradition. We missed last week because we left a bit early so we could get a start on Paris. I really like the tradition and it is fun to have something to look forward to. I also enjoy how normal it is to drink beer at work. I guess everyone realizes that they can survive with just one or two and behave so they don't ruin it for everyone. The Dutch do have the moments of ingenuity. This would be one of them.

Inventory Time!

Today and tomorrow we are doing an inventory at work. I enjoy inventories because everyone is talking and working together and I think it is a good opportunity to get people out of their normal element and to open up. I also can't count so it opens the door for jokes and laughs. Even if they are at my expense, I'm glad when everyone is having a good time.

We got a new car today, it is another Opel. We really like the Peugeot that we had for a day but it was a standard and I don't believe they trust us. This new one is black, not light blue like the other. Maybe we'll blend in a bit better. Poor Opel. We’re going to have to give this one a new name. Maybe we will get creative.....

Kelly likes to live vicariously through me and my single life, but I get to enjoy her benefits of being in a relationship. Today her boyfriend sent her a dozen roses and white lilies for Valentine's Day. Now I get to enjoy fresh flowers in the apartment. They are so pretty! Kelly has pictures of them on her blog; I didn't think it was appropriate for me to put up pictures of her flowers. :)

C. who flew in from Aberdeen to help with the inventory has been up since 3am today so she wants to leave shortly. She is staying at the hotel next to our apartment so we told her we have no problem giving her a ride. We are also debating about our possible dinner options tonight. There are still so many!

Hope everyone has a good day!!

R.I.P. Dear Opel

When we woke up this morning, we were met with a white world. Yup, it snowed again. I was running late and asked Kelly to drive so I could eat my PB&J (breakfast) in the car on the way. When I made this request, I completely forgot that it had snowed. Kelly accepted and off we went. I felt so bad when I realized what I had done. She has told me more than once she is not a fan of driving in the snow. She said it was fine though and off we went. We get all the way to Beverwijk and start our "back road" journey towards the office. There is one notorious corner along the way, a flat 90 degree turn. Kelly was going slow, we had the snowflake on and we started down the road towards the turn. We're not sure what the snowflake does, but it helps give traction when in "snowflakey" conditions. Well, it didn't help this time. Kelly attempts the turn and we don't turn. We just continue sliding into this big yellow van. We all see it happening. We look at them, they look at us, we scream, they continue looking at us....all very slow motion. Then the SMACK came and we stopped sliding. We all get out look around, then decide its best to move the car from the center of the turn. Kelly backs it up out of the way and we call Richard. He is stuck in traffic so we call Ger. Poor guy. He was also the one who found us our apartment, took Kelly to the doctor when she was sick, and now this. He is probably ready to send us home! The people we hit turned out to be construction guys that work on cranes....and pick up wrecked vehicles from the road ways. What are the odds? They were really nice, took pictures of everything, and talked to Ger. Our car wasn't too bad. A bit of cosmetic damage, a crunched hood, bent license plate, but no fluids leaking out onto the ground. We didn't know what was going on or what to do so we stood around helplessly. Ger told us that Teus (who came with him) would take us back to the office and he would take care of it. An hour or so passes and Ger finally comes back to the office. We're not sure what he did exactly, but he showed up with a standard little car and told us they would get us an automatic tomorrow. Luckily, I know how to drive a standard, we'll see how that goes on the ice and snow. Wish us luck!

Sunday Funday.....in Paris!

On Sunday, Kelly and I headed to Notre Dame. Again, we didn't get a terribly early start so we got there in time for 11:30 mass. Kelly went to mass and I started taking a tour of the church.


It was really neat, though, because they had a choir singing and the organ playing. It was beautiful. The other neat thing about taking a tour during mass, the fact that I could walk behind the alter area and see what was going on. They were swinging the incense and preparing things just like you see in the movies. I was entertained, until the incense started making my allergies act up. That was the end of my snoopyness. So I continued on my tour of the church, taking picutres (without flash, of course). I was able to see their beautifully famous windows...

...as well as all of the side alters. It was crowded though. I can't imagine it on a day in the summer. I am not a big fan of crowds or lines so I usually avoid them. I probably should have spent more time in the church, reading about all of the history, submerging myself in the ambiance, but I just wanted out. I was sneezing and being pushed by strangers, I needed air so I head outside. Kelly and I had seen some people up on the roof of the church when we arrived, via metro, and I wanted to go up there. I love climbing bell towers and church spires so I found the door.....and then the huge line. Kelly was still in mass and I had planned on just sitting on a bench waiting for her. When I saw the line, I figured "why not just wait in line?" So I did. It was a pretty dull experience. The girls in front of me were drinking hot wine which happens to be my all time favorite winter, cold weather drink. I was jealous, but alone in line so I took a drink from the water in my purse and tried to imagine. I also watched people buying crepes from the cafe selling the hot wine. I went with a piece of gum. Finally, after about 45 minutes this man starts dancing around and causing a commotion. Turns out he was our in-line entertainment. This is a picture of him (on the left) posing with a man and his luggage.

There was also a cute old couple walking down the street arm in arm wearing georgous long coats (hers in fur) and the starts yelling "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE PRESIDENT!" Everyone laughs, he catches on and starts waving. It was fun. He also tried to kung fu chop any asian person that walked by. Very un-PC but still entertaining. Kelly finally came around the corner with several other people and then he started acting like their tour guide. Kelly started to break away from the group to join me and he kept trying to direct her back to the other people. I got a good chuckle!

So after an hour plus we got to head up the stairs towards the bell tower, home of Quasimoto, of Notre Dame. I love gargoyles. I don't know why, but I think they're cute. Here is one of my favorite...a bored flying monkey-ish type creature. Kelly counted 368 stairs, I counted 384 stairs and google said 317. We're not sure what the answer is and what was or wasn't counted by google but either way, it was a lot of stairs. This picture is on the first stop.

This next picture is from the second level up. We were level with the roofs on the top of the church. There was an amazing view of the city and we were able to enjoy all 360 degrees of it. I just loved the Eiffel tower sticking up out of the busy city. Such a pretty sight.

We also go to go up into the bell tower. This is the home of Quasimoto. We read a little history about him, and let's just say it was a bit different than Disney's version. We also now know why he was huntched over: little doors!

Kelly and I had to take a picture with the Notre Dame roof as our back drop. There is proof we were at the very top!

By the time we were done climbing stairs and taking pictures, it was 2 o'clock and we were hungry. There were plenty of crepe places around so we took a cute looking one and went in. Restaurant Roulette French style was success again. Kelly had a great chicken, mushroom, and cheese crepe (below). I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwhich, excpet the cheese was on top of the bread. Kelly's won the taste award.

There was also mayonaise on the table, presumably for the Dutch tourists. We thought it was funny so we had to take a picture.

Yup, all the way from "California" in Paris, mayonaise for the Dutch. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel, via metro, rescued poor Opel from her dungeon of parking, took her on the elevator back up to civilization. It only took us 5 hours to get home and we luckily didn't have any traffic issues...or gas. It did rain a bit, but that isn't anything to new to us in the wet world.

Paris was a great experience and there is still stuff for me to do when I go back....whenever that day may be!

The Historical Side of Paris

Update: It took Mom 3 days, several hours, and lots of strong urging before she read my blog close enough to find the "challenge." Thank you Mom.

Disclosure: This is going to be a rather lenghty post and I don't believe I will use the copy and past function from Word becuase I don't have enough pateience today so therefore, please forgive any misspellings.


To start off our Saturday, Kelly and I took advantage of the snooze button on the alarm and didn't leave the hotel until about 11. I know, we are bad tourists, but our Eiffel tower excursion didn't get us home until midnight. We came up with a game plan and headed off to conquer the city. First stop, the Arc de Triomphe. We didn't want to pay 5 Euros to go inside it, so we took pictures from the safe side of the roundabout.

While we were standing there we hear a loud crash, see a hub cap roll across the street and there is a car skidding to a stop and a bumper with a license plate in the middle of the road. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but it was funny to see and made me happy our Opel was parked safely in her little spot. Kelly and I had to get a picture together to mark the occassion!

The street, Champs-Elysees is laid out with the Arc on one end and the Louvre on the other. It was built as a memorial Arc so that Napolean could ride his horses through it back to his palace at the other end (the Louvre). Champs-Elysees is one of the most famous, prestigious streets in the world with some rents at 1.1 million Euro per 1,000 sq ft. They also have stores such as the largest Adidas store, Europes' largest Gap store, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Zara, and Disney. It is just a beautiful street with a long history dating back to 1616.

Another store on this street is Swaroski. So of course Kelly and I had to pop in! We found an AMAZING stair case that we will both someday have in our houses. It was crystals in the glass and with all of the bright lights, it just sparkled! I love all things shiny and this was no exception!

After Swaroski it started to rain, and rain, and Kelly and I are not a big fan of getting wet so we ducked into the Gap. I was able to find a few nice sweaters, all 75% off, so I invested further into warm clothes attire. It has already proven useful! After the Gap it was still raining so we hurried to the next metro station to jump on it to take us to the Louvre. I started reading the history of the Louvre and got so involved with it I couldn't pick out any history to include in the blog. Instead, here is a link to the site. I will say though, that it has nearly 35,000 objects dating back to Pre History until the 19th century that are displayed over 653,300 sq. ft. To say the least, you could spend an entire weekend in that place and still not see all of it.

Kelly and I have both previously been to the Louvre so we did not go in this time. We did take pictures of the outside though.

This above picture has a story, one that ends in black and blue marks on one of us and the other practically rolling on the wet ground laughing. I will give you a moment to guess. Ready for the answer? Here is the story: Kelly took a very similar picture and I got jealous and decided I wanted one too. So I climb up on the wet, slick stone to pose for my picture with the Louvre in the background. So classic right? Well in addittion to the fountains in the courtyard area there are also two larger-than-life pyramids (so I thought anyways). The larger pyramid can be seen in my picture and the smaller one is behind and a bit to the left of from where this picture was taken. Kelly didn't like the prespective of my picture so she started backing up to get a better picture and I thought she would have noticed the gian 10 ft pyramid behind her when we walked in, but apparently she missed it. She was stepping backwards, I don't really grasp what is happening until Kelly is leaning over, trying to regain her balance slowly rolling down the pyramid landing on the wet ground silently. She tried to break her fall with her arm but it just caught the edge of the glass pyramid and she had a bruise forming by dinner. It all happened in such slow motion. I wanted to run to her, but I was on a wet stone and hear of falling into the fountain on my right, so as a bad friend, I was blamed for not warning her that a giant, stationary pyramid was behind her. I am laughing so hard as I write this, I am tearing up. Kelly isn't happy that I still get such a chuckle out of it, but it was too funny.

Now, back on to serious tour business: This is another picture of the Louvre. The skies are nasty grey, just waiting to keep raining on us. We see a man selling umbrellas for 5 Euro each, we end up walking away with 2 for 7 Euro. I consider that a decent deal. Happy to report though, we did not need those umbrellas because it didn't rain anymore. Murphey's law I guess.

The below picture is a view from the "courtyard" of the Louvre to the Eiffle Tower. It is such a beautiful city!

The below picture is a view down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. A beautiful (and expensive) district.

After walking around the Louvre, we headed to Tiffany & Co. I was given a charm bracelet from there for my college graduation gift from my grandparents. I admit, I sometimes browse their website and discovered they sell Eiffel Tower charms. I informed my loving, patient mother that if I make it to Paris, I would be investing in one of those. She nodded so I took that as approval. On our adventure there, we walked by so many beautiful stores. DeBeers, Cartier, Chanel, Mikimoto Pearls and many, many more. Their window displays were amazing. The jewelry looked like something that you might see a princess wear...or at the Oscars. There were people actually in these stores as well. We continue past all of the amazing jewelry until we see the tale-tale blue sign. We head to the door, try to open it and it's locked. They had to buzz us in (unlike the gas station). Well, actually they had the scary looking door man open the door for us. This would be my second trip into the depths of this amazing store. The first time was when I was 17 and in DC for a field trip. I also found my $97,000 engagment ring that I'm holding out for...but I won't hold my breath. Anyways, he head downstairs to "cheap" sterling sliver charms and I find my Eiffle Tower, buy it and we head out. Our curiosity gets the best of us though because we decide to look around. We wander upstairs where they have the "bridal" collection. There were several couples up there as well. Oh the beauty of all that sparkles! Kelly and I head out before we bankrupt ourselves and go back to the direction of wisdom and museums. We grab a dessert at a cute bakery and map out our afternoon plans. I have a hankering to do a museum so we decide on the Musee d'Orsay (picture below).

On our we walk over a bridge that has all sorts of locks attached to it. It is a lock of love, as google informed us. Couples put a lock on the bridge signifying their unbreakable love. Very cute. If I ever succomb to this, I will be sure to engrave my lock ahead of time. Those look so much classier.

Now, back to the museum. It is housed in an old train station built between 1898 and 1900. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces (the largest in the world) by such painters such as Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat, Gauguin and Van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum's opening in 1986.

That was plagerized from Wikipedia. Here is a picture we took of one of Van Gogh's work, The Church at Auvers .

And one of his self portraits:

The museum was a big, wide open space, very much like a train station. It was an enjoyable experience compared to a cramped museum with painting after painting. Of course the museum was also undergoing renovations so things were a bit different than normal but it was still a great experience. They also have 86 paintings by Monet which we enjoyed looking at as well. In addition to the traditional paintings and sculptures they had antique furniture and a beautiful hall that overlooked the river. Once again, in my fascination with lighting fixtures, I had to take a picture of what the Europeans do so well, elegance.

It was getting late and the museum would be closing soon, as told by the giant clock, so we headed out. It was a quick trip around, but suitable enough for me and Kelly.

When Kelly was here a few years ago a friend, who used to be a tour guide in the city, recommended a fun restaurant to her and her family. We decided to set out in search of it again. It is in the Montmarte district so we hopped on the metro and headed that way. Well, we were 30 minutes early and walked in on them eating dinner. Whoops. So we knew Moulin Rouge wasn't too far away and headed that way. We also found a cute gallery displaying original works of art by various local painters. I would have loved to spend money there, but I have to draw the line somehwere. We kept walking downhill until we found it and took some pictures:

We didn't want to look desperate by showing back up at the restaurant at exactly 7 so we tried to play it cool and went to an Australian bar for a beer. At about 7:30 we decided we were too tired to walk uphill so we hopped on the metro again and rode the one stop. That public transportation and sure be handy! By the time we got there the place was PACKED. We luckily squeezed in becuase there were only two of us. You have to hang your jacket in a certain area because there isn't room at the table for personal belongings. Kelly then decides she has to go to the restroom before we sit down. I don't want to stand in the jacket hallway like a wierdo so I head to the table. To sit down at this table, one side is against a wall on a bench and the other has chairs and you have to stand on the chair and step over the table to get to the bench. Kelly warned me about this and we decided she would step over. I think she did the bathroom stunt on purpose although she won't admit it. I head to the table, alone, and the waiter moves the chair, offers me his hand, and that is how I got pressued into stepping over a table in a really crowded restaurant in Paris. I was mad at Kelly. After I'm squeezed back into place between the table and the wall, they ask if we want red or white and cheese or meat. Those are the menu choices. Red or white wine and cheese or meat fondue. The wine is served in baby bottles because, from what I've read, you have to pay at tax for all wine served in glasses. We get our baby bottles and the fondue and enjoy our dinner.

We were seated between a French group of 3 and a very loud, singing group from Spain? The rest of the restaurant was filled with American girls. They looked young, and drunk. I have no idea what they were doing in the city in February, but they were having a good time and I guess that is what is important. We didn't loiter for too long and then we headed back to the hotel for bed. It had been a long day and we were exhausted!

That finishes up our Saturday in Paris. Congratulations on making through the entire posting! I appreciate the patience!

Hello Paris...and the Gas Station!

Kelly and I had a FANTASTIC time in Paris. We were able to see so much and do so many things in such a short time. I will, of course, be breaking these posts up to keep the suspense going…and so I have something to talk about all week. I just hope I can convey the amount of fun and laughs we had over the past weekend. I am very glad Kelly and I get along so great. It allows us to have fun wherever we go!

We decided to drive to Paris. There are cheap train tickets (35 Euros) that get you there in 3 hours, but you have to buy them a month in advance for the good price. We didn’t, so have a brief cost analysis, we figured it would be cheaper to drive. We loaded up our small, cute Opal and headed down the road. This was the first time that we have put luggage in her and let’s just say that my carryon bag and Kelly’s L.L. Bean bag just about filled up our “trunk” space. So visitors please pack wisely or else we might have to make multiple trips!

The good thing about driving was that we were able to see a lot of the country side of Belgium and France. It was so pretty; lots of rolling hills and green fields. Of course, the further south we headed, the more sunlight we got. This was nice because we also got to witness a beautiful French sunset. The traffic wasn’t too bad on our way there and the speed limits are fast enough you are able to really move. By the time it was all said and done it took us 6 hours to get to our hotel, including all traffic.

So this is where the fun really begins. We’re driving along and highway and we are on the outskirts of Paris and will be turning off the highway into the city loop pretty soon. We have a quarter tank of gas. The question: Should we get gas at the last highway gas station or wait till we get off the highway and in town? The chosen answer: Wait. What we should have done: get gas at the highway stop.

We take the exit to our destination and what do we get ourselves into? Parisian rush hour. Friday evening, 6:30 pm. Not fun. I thought Kelly and I were goners’. We only had 15km to drive (9 miles) and I figured ¼ tank, we’re fine! Nope, I didn’t plan on sitting in stop and go traffic. We as we barely move I watch the gas dial get closer and closer to empty. That is only one part of the stress. The other: the traffic. Apparently, people drive motorcycles in France so they can be faster and go in between lanes. So, we are sitting there, irritated an all of the sudden motorcycles ZOOM by Kelly’s window and we freak out. Guess I better scoot over and leave the “middle lane” open. We slowly crawl along and start to get nervous about the gas situation and I ask Kelly to have TomTom find the closest gas station. All of the sudden she shouts that it is only a few hundred meters away, she saw the sign. We try to switch lanes and I am not used to looking for the motorcyclist zooming in between traffic, but being the good driver I am I take a last glance out my window to check for any more traffic (mind you, we’re all at a dead stop in a traffic jam) and it’s a good thing I did because had I started to wiggle my way over any more aggressively I would have taken out 3 bikers. That would have been a sad, sad day. We traverse the lanes, safely, and take the exit. What do we find? A 3+ lane roundabout. I don’t really know how many lanes there are because everyone just zig zags around until their designated exit is found and they shoot off in that direction. Well, I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown. We take the wrong exit, I think we run a roundabout red light, have to do a U turn, and finally enter the gas station from the wrong side. Oh well, we’re there just as our low fuel light clicks on.

We pull up to the pump and it is credit card only and our credit card doesn’t work. I try to go in and pay for the pump but we HAVE to use credit card on that one. Kelly is waiting in the car for me and a bike comes up and starts knocking on her window. She is panicking, thinking this is the end of her and she is going to be car jacked. No worries, he is just informing her that the gas cap is off. So I come back and tell her the bad news and give her the keys so she can move the car to another pump. Well, due to our current positioning at the pump, to get to the closest one, she has to go the wrong way around the gas station, cuts some guy and pulls into position. She fuels up and I head inside to pay.

I get to the door and CANNOT for the life of me, figure out how to open it. I try to push, there is no handle to pull on, I grope at the hinges, I feel like a total idiot. So I look at the guy and hope he will “buzz” me in. I guess I’ve been hanging out at too many jewelry stores. I finally find the handle, it’s a hidden one. I go in to pay, and come out to find Kelly doing laps around the gas station. She stops so I can jump in the driver’s seat and she runs around to the passenger seat and we buckle up and we’re off. Well, not so fast says a big truck driver who parks his truck precariously near our car “sandwiching” us in. We slowly approach the opening where our dear Opal just barely fits. Everything is fine until the truck starts to pull forward at the same time. We scream and look up at the driver, and just in time he looks down at us before crush our dear car. That would have been a story to have to come back to tell everyone. We finally leave the gas station and get on the road to our hotel. No more major happenings.

We find the hotel relatively easily and we pull up in the front, no parking zone while Kelly runs in and asks where we should park. The lady gives her instructions and we head around the back of the building for the entrance. Well, there is a small, elevator looking blue door. Kelly tells me we need to ring and she will buzz us in, I insist that it’s a human elevator and we should park on the street and then ride it in. Kelly wins since she got the instructions and goes and buzzes. The doors open and it’s an elevator for our car!!!!

I pull and don’t even think about shutting off the engine. Kelly is standing infront of the car and is yelling at me and I have no idea what she is saying. Good thing it was a short elevator ride because I might have killed us both otherwise! We pull into the lone parking area where we plan on leaving our dear Opel for the next 2 nights. We unload and head upstairs to our room. They don’t have any rooms available with two single beds so we get the “king.” We’ll be fine. Turns our King in French equals a double in English. To say the least, Kelly and I really bonded over this trip. After ditching our stuff we headed out for food and to see the Eiffel Tower at night. We grabbed dinner at a café across the street from our hotel and the metro stop and it wasn’t good. It was just bland. The French do have some nice cuisine choices, but hamburger is not one of them.

As we are walking towards the tower, it starts to shimmer, or sparkle, or glitter, whichever adjective you would like to use to describe it. I included a video at the bottom. We got some great pictures. The nice thing about going to Paris in the off season: no lines. The bad: everything is being remodeled or closed for maintenance. We weren’t able to go up to the very top of the tower but still had some great views from the 2nd stop. Nothing is ever negative being around the tower!

The tower from the ground. So Pretty!

A view of the city and river from the Eiffel Tower.

After our tour, we had to get a crepe and sit and stare at the tower and let the fact that we are in Paris for the weekend sink in. The crepe was good, and the weather was great. It wasn't raining and relatively warm compared to what we have been slowly getting used to. A nice change of scenery.

Below is the video of the tower lighting up. I hope you enjoy it. I aploggize for it being sideways, but I guess we didn't think ahead to our blog. We are bad bloggers. Wish you there!!