She's Gone.....

The past few days have been busy and exciting. It is all, now, overshadowed by the fact that this morning I took Kelly to the airport. I hated having to take her, but I’m happy for her to be able to be with her family and Stu these next few months. She has a fantastic wedding to plan!! I’ll keep touring Europe (just alone) and she’ll keep me updated about her new exciting life in Houston.

Over the weekend Mom and I went to Keukenhof (again) and then to The Hague to see “The girl with the pearl earring.” The flowers were blooming even more so than last week when Kelly and I were there. I have taken PLENTY of pictures and will put them up soon. I forgot my camera today. After spending several hours ogling over the flowers we headed just down the road to The Hague. I am slowly learning my way around this country! We parked and headed to the Mauritshaus. They have an amazing collection. It is a smaller museum that used to be a house. Each corner of the building is a room which houses the pictures. They have 3 Vermeer paintings and I think one of my favorite is his townscape of Delft. He really is the painter of light! You can see a picture of the painting HERE.

Mom and I had fun wondering around the museum and hearing the histories of the paintings from the audio guide. After about 2 hours we were art-ed out and our parking meter was about to expire. We also had a dinner date with Kelly so we headed back. Mom was a bit put out by me that we didn’t go to the beach since we were so close but I told her we would go before she leaves. It’s not exactly warm around here but I guess it is beautiful to see.

On Sunday we headed to the Van Nieuwkoops’ for Erik’s confirmation at church. It was neat to go to such an old church. The royal family is buried in the church, dating back to 1584. The service was extra long due to the confirmation and the benches are of the true, medieval style of hard wood and straight backs. I can see why all of the children wanted to go off to Sunday school during the service. I expected the church to be cold since it is rather old but they had installed heaters under the benches so it warmed your legs and tush. It was quite a nice little treat. I will admit though, my upper body was a bit chilled and it was terribly early (and we just had our time change to make it worse) and I wanted to curl up and the floor and take a little nap. My mom and I had headphones so we got an English translation of the service which was nice to know what was going on, but it wasn’t the best translation ever done. We found it rather entertaining at times.

After the service everyone headed over to Ton and Gina’s (Erik’s parents) house for coffee and tart. There were so many people!! It was multiple generations and cousins and aunts and uncles and friends. It was a lot of fun to see all of the people and be able to put faces to names that we have heard from Mark about his family. They were all very nice and Mom and I had a very enjoyable Sunday. We were exhausted afterwards though! I met some great people and they invited me to visit them so even though Kelly is gone, I should have plenty of things to do and people to see.

After we got home from Delft, Kelly had made us reservations for Wilma and Albert, our favorite place. We thought it was appropriate for her “last supper.” She had the garlic butter steak, I had the spicy ribs, and Mom got the salmon. We all traded a bit and had a super tasty meal. I also learned that they have little portion of the ribs which is ½ of what is normally provided. A great discovery!! We all also had a bowl of French onion soup to start. That is the best soup! Kelly is determined to learn how to make it and I keep warning her I might move in if she isn’t careful. I’m sure the newlywed couple wouldn’t mind!

On the walk home we stopped at the newly opened ice cream shop. This place is always packed so we had to try it out. None of us needed it, or really had room for it, but we couldn’t let Kelly leave without one more taste of the country’s amazing treat. After that Kelly and I curled up on the couch to watch one last episode of Grey’s Anatomy together illegally over the internet before we called it a night.

I got Kelly to the airport this morning with no major incidences and she got all of her luggage check in and had no problems. I headed to work where I claimed a new desk so I wouldn’t have to sit in the office by myself. It’s interesting to be back in the middle of the office and around everyone. I now hear a lot more Dutch so maybe I’ll pick it up a bit faster! I also get control of the radios since it is on my desk and I threaten to make country CDs for everyone to listen too. I might be kicked out then!

The rest of the week Mom and I are going to be travelling so I’m not sure how much I’ll be updating the blog. I will do my best to figure out mobile blogger but I won’t make any promises. If anything, you will have so much to look forward to next week!!!

I hope everyone has a great Monday!!

Last Day

Today is Kelly’s last day in the office; our last day to share our glass aquarium like room/office. We had to go out for one last lunch at our Neighbor’s Wife. That’s the English translation of the restaurant. We can’t remember it in Dutch. But they have great food and a wonderful chicken and pesto sandwich. We each had a bowl of soup as well. Kelly opted for French onion, I went with the mustard soup. Mustard soup is popular here and Kelly’s dad told her about it and that she had to try it. The first time I had it was a few weeks ago on our trip to Utrecht. The soup there was better, but this wasn’t horrible. Kelly’s French onion was delicious though! It seems to be such a safe bet in these parts, I might just start having to opt for that.

My mother arrived this morning. I went to get her from the airport. It was an interesting challenge. Not that I haven’t made numerous trips already, but I parked in the bus lane (since I wasn’t going to leave the car) to keep an eye out for mom. A young police like officer on a motor cycle came up and knocked on my window and told me to move. He was a bit nicer than that, but not a lot. So I make another lap around the airport worried I’m going to miss mom but then I find a new road to a new parking area. Now, I don’t know if I’d be able to get there from how we usually come in, but maybe. I now know where to look. I was able to park the car and get out and stand looking for mom. I didn’t have to wait too long and out walked my mother! I was so happy to see her! She had her stuff on a little luggage stroller and pushed it over to the car. I eyed the 3 larger suitcases and got a bit worried. I also eyed the instructions on how to lay the back seats in our car down. I figured now would be a good time to try it out. Turns out, Its pretty easy! Just lower the board thing that covers the “trunk” when in normal use and pull the little handle and they flop forward. The car has some pretty spacious luggage room when there are no seats in the way!

I got mom to the apartment, showed her the direction of downtown, and the windmill, and any other sights she might want to get out and see. There isn’t a lot open in the mornings so I figured that would be a good time for her to sleep and unpack. Hopefully, she’ll make it out for a stroll this afternoon. The weather doesn’t appear to be great, but I haven’t seen any precipitation fall from the sky yet either. I guess we have to count our blessings. If she doesn’t make it out, I guess that’s alright too. Before we left I wanted to give her some money in case she does get out but I left my purse in the car. Kelly was nice enough to shell out the cash for my mom. Such a good roommate! (I promptly paid her back when we got to the office!) For dinner we are going to head down that way anyways for dinner at XO and a glass (maybe 2) of champagne.

On Saturday my mom and I have planned, well, I’ve planned for us, to go to Madurodam and Keukenhof. I feel bad leaving Kelly since she only has a few days left but I know she doesn’t want to re-tour those places. Sunday, mom and I are headed to Delft to visit the Van Nieuwkoop family (the source of two Christensen family exchange students) and to catch up with them and see how their life is going. Mom also brought several things for them as well as hauling some of their son Chris’ belongings back. My mother is a bit of a pack mule on this trip, I hope she doesn’t mind! I guess that’s what happens when you start having children.

I’ll work on Monday then on Tuesday we are headed for a tour of Belgium. On Thursday we fly out to Nurnberg, Germany to visit Doris and her family and then go to Prague for the weekend. I’m not sure how much blogging I’ll be able to do during the time but I’ll try to keep everyone semi posted. This is a forewarning if I fail at my attempts.

For beer Friday Kelly and I (but mostly Kelly) brought stuff to make guacamole and queso for the chips. I have to take note of Kelly’s ability to make these simple things since I will be on my own soon. I knew I should have been paying attention to all of those fabulous meals she made. Now I’m going to have to try and figure it out by trial and error….hopefully not too much error though. I might starve. If worse come to worse, I can always count on the Albert Heijn premade section. I don’t have to worry about it for a few more days though.

I See The Sun!!!!

Oh the weather outside is….AMAZING!!! Yesterday after work Kelly and I decided to go out for dinner. Since she is headed back to Houston soon (we still don’t know exactly when) we figured she needs to go out to all of our favorite places for “one last meal.” This was the first time that I have been excited to walk around after work. Usually, it’s a necessity for food, but yesterday it was quite enjoyable. The people were out in masses. The ice cream shops were filled with customers. A few weeks ago we didn’t even know those buildings were ice cream shops then one day POOF! Apparently, the one by our house is quite delicious because there are always a ton of people there.

On our walk to dinner we had to walk through the Grote Markt and it was full of people and tables and chairs and beer. Everyone was just sitting around having a great time enjoying the warmer weather and sunshine. By warm weather, I mean mid to upper 50’s. I never thought I’d be so happy to see such low temperatures but it really does feel like a day in the summer. I mean, we only wore 1 layer of clothes. I am wearing the lightest jacket I brought. It’s just so enjoyable!! Today’s high is supposed to be 59F it was 55 when we woke up this morning! I slept with my window open last night! Spring time really is a happy time. The buds are popping out on the trees and the birds are singing. I just can’t get over the great weather.
Last night’s dinner choice was tapas. Their bread with aioli is just amazing along with their empanadas. What’s best about the place…the quick service! We were in and out in less than an hour which is just unheard of here. We usually don’t get out in less than an hour if not an hour and a half. It was only our second time to visit so it hasn’t big such a big “repeater” but I have no idea why! It might have to become a more frequented establishment. After dinner we went to the other ice cream man, he isn’t as nice but the ice cream is still great and got a little treat. I got a scoop of apple tart and it tasted just like apple pie with little chunks of crust and a nice cinnamon flavor. Kelly got a waffle with sugar. We sat on the bench and enjoyed people watching. A man asked us for directions, we had no idea according to the map (we would have if he would have said the name of the restaurant!) but we felt special because that means we didn’t look like tourists ourselves.

This morning Kelly and I talked about weather again so I looked it up online about what it is supposed to be like this weekend. Light rain, highs in the upper 40s. Dang. Back to the cooler wet weather that I was so happy was gone. One of the guys told us a Dutch saying about weather and it basically translates to “April will do what it wants.” That is pretty true for a lot of places around the world. I know April can offer some crazy weather back home as well. I guess CO is getting hit from what I hear……

My mom will be arriving tomorrow morning, first thing. I can’t wait to see her. It will be so nice to have her here and spend some time with her. It is also a great birthday present!!! We have a busy schedule planned with lots of things to do and see. I hope this warm weather means more things will be in bloom at Keukenhof! I also have planned to go down and tour a bit of Belgium and see a few cities I’ve wanted to see. After reading and hearing about Kelly’s trip to Brussels, we might have to see how to fit some of this in. I can’t run Mom too ragged since she is still recovering from Africa. I’m just excited to have her here!

Halle, Deutschland

On Friday afternoon I jumped on the train and started my journey towards Halle, Germany. For those of you who don’t know, Halle is where I spent the year as an exchange student. It is about 20 minutes from Leipzig and an hour and a half south of Berlin. It was very interesting and educational living there for a year because both of my host parents were raised under communistic rule. I got to hear their stories and learn a little piece of history first hand. When I spent time there over New Years I mainly hung out with my friend Evi and her family and didn’t spend much time with my host family so I wanted to make this weekend all about them. It was really nice to be at home again and I’m very glad I took the time to go see them.

I didn’t arrive until late Friday evening, just in time to go home, eat a snack, and then head to bed. Since I can’t sleep in anymore, my host mom, Andrea, and I got an early start Saturday morning. Uwe’s, my host father’s, dad has passed away a few weeks ago and he was meeting up with his siblings and friends to clear out his apartment. I guess the young guys never showed so the “old men” had to do it all by themselves. I told Uwe it’s just the kid’s way of making sure the “old guys” stay young. He wasn’t too amused.

Andrea and I just walked around town poking our heads into shops and enjoying the time to catch up. It was rainy and rained off and on all morning. Andrea found a beautiful shirt and then she insisted on getting me a birthday present. I’m not one to shun presents. I was still jealous of Kelly’s big LL Bean bag that she uses for weekend trips and since I had brought all of my stuff to Halle in a canvas shopping bag I figured I needed a weekend bag. We went to the store and found a cute brown and white one. It looks like this:

Now, Kelly ain’t got nothing on me! And…I won’t be asking to borrow her bag anymore. I’m sure she appreciates that. I love my new bag and it will be so useful. In this country the roller bags aren’t always the easiest because there are so many stairs everywhere and cobblestone streets. It makes trying to roll things a little less fun. Which I also wonder how and why rollerblading is so popular around here.

Anyways, Welcome to Halle! The church in the below picture is the only 4 towered church in Europe. It used to be 2 separate churches but then was later joined together after one was destroyed. Martin Luther has even given a sermon in this church. It is so neat to be such a part of history. The composure George Frideric Handel was born in Halle and stayed for 17 years of his life.

Halle, the word, is thought to have been drived from the pre-germanic word for salt. The city is officially known as Halle (Saale) because it is situated on the Saale river. The word Saale also contains the Germanic root for the word “salt.” Salt harvesting in Halle has been going on since the bronze ages. The town was first mentioned in history in 806 AD and became part of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. They have Giebichenstein Castle (that is now in ruins) that was first mentioned in 961.

Halle’s industrial heritage (as copied from Wikipedia):

Salt, also known as White Gold, was extracted from four "Borns" (well-like structures). The four Borns/brine named Gutjahrbrunnen, Meteritzbrunnen, Deutscher Born and Hackeborn, were located around the Hallmarket (or "Under Market"), now a market square with a fountain, just across from the TV station, MDR. The brine was highly concentrated and boiled in Koten, simple structured houses made from reed and clay. Salters, who wore a unique uniform with eighteen silver buttons, were known as Halloren, and this name was later used for the chocolates in the shape of these buttons.

The Halloren-Werke, the oldest chocolate factory in Germany, was founded in 1804. Old documents are on display and a chocolate room can be visited at Delitzscher Street 70. The original "Halloren-Kugeln" are sold in a box of eighteen little pralines.
Within East Germany, Halle's chemical industry, now mainly shut down, was of great importance. The two main companies were Buna and Leuna, and Halle-Neustadt (Halle Newtown) was built in the 1960s to accommodate the employees of these two factories.

Halle also has a diverse scientific and cultural history as well. My mind really isn’t working this morning (or I’m lazy) so it’s another copy and paste from Wikipedia.

The University of Halle was founded here in 1694. It is now combined with the University of Wittenberg and is called the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. The medical school there was founded by Friedrich Hoffmann. The university's botanical garden, the Botanische Garten der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, dates to 1698.

The famous Baroque composer George Friderich Handel was born in Halle in 1685, where he spent the first 17 years of his life. The house where he lived is now a museum and houses an exhibition about his life. To celebrate the composer, Halle stages an annual Handel festival every June.

The German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina is one of the oldest and most respective scientific societies in Germany.

Halle accommodates Germany's oldest Evangelic Bible college, known as MarienBibliothek, with 27,000 titles.

In the past Halle was a centre of German Pietism and played an important role in establishing the Lutheran church in North America, when Henry Muhlenberg and others were sent as missionaries to Pennsylvania in the mid 18th century. Henry Muhlenberg's son, Frederick Muhlenberg, who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was a graduate of Halle University.

The Silver Treasure of the Halloren is displayed occasionally at the Technical Museum Saline. It is a unique collection of silver and gold goblets dating back to 1266. The ancient craft of "Schausieden" ( boiling of the brine) can be observed there too.

The Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte houses the Nebra sky disk, a significant (though unproven) Bronze-age find with astrological significance.

Halle Zoo contributes to the EAZA breeding programme, in particular for the Angolan Lion and the Malaysian Tiger. Halle is also known for its thriving coypu (or nutria) population, which is native to South America.

So now that you have the official history of Halle, I'll give you a bit of personal history. On the pictures of the church, you can see the bridge across the two front towers. I celebrated my 19th birthday in Halle as an exchange student and I was a bit home sick so my host parents prepared an amazing party for me. They arranged that the towers be opened for us and we got to climb all the way to the top. When we got up there, there was a bottle of champagne and glasses waiting for us. We got to take pictures on the bridge and watch all the little people below. It was such a fabulous surprise I think of it every time I see the church. The tower and bridge aren’t normally open so it was a very special occasion.

Another cool thing in Halle, they have a paternoster which is basically an open elevator. There is a chain of boxes/cabins that are continuously rotating. So to get on and off, you have to jump on when the box comes by and jump off in time. It’s a bit scary. I’m also not a big fan of rotating doors, so it’s the same concept, just elevator style.

At home, the kitchen is the place to be. It’s where everything happens - food, drinking, talking, laughing, everything. In Uwe’s kitchen that’s not the same. He likes his space. He doesn’t like anyone else in there while he is cooking. I just don’t get it. I always thought it was the perfect time to catch up with him. He isn’t going anywhere and if I was lucky I got to taste test his great cooking. He still wasn’t a fan, no matter how much positive light and happiness I brought into that kitchen. Things still haven’t changed. He was cooking; I wanted to hang out with him. He did seem to resist it a whole lot less though. I guess after 5 years he has given up. It's interesting how “soft” all of these “old” men become. I guess it just takes guys a little longer to realize life is easier if you don’t fight everything. Andrea had to document me harassing Uwe. The picture is evidence that some things never change.

On Sunday, Andrea and I lounged around and watch Little Women (in German) and I cried. I'm becoming such a softie these days! It was so nice to just relax and hang out with my German family and not have any pressures. I needed it since I was going to be tested on the journey home. At least the weekend was good, it made up for the horrible journey home. If you missed that post, it's HERE.

Now the bigger news at hand, Kelly is leaving me :( She has super important stuff to do back in Houston and they finally realized how amazing and smart she is and they can't do it without her. We just don't know when, but the count down has started and we will be out eating all of our favorite things so she gets a nice, last taste of Holland.

Keukenhof

Last Thursday, March 18, Kelly, her mom, her Mom's friend, and I headed to Keukenhof. It was officially opened the day before by Princess Maxima and Mrs Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of the President of the Russian Federation. It has been a long cold winter so we wern't sure how many flowers would be blooming but we took our chances and headed there on opening day.

It is a beautiful garden that is rather large. There are ponds and fountains and trees and a windmill. Most of the flowers wern't in bloom yet but there were still several indoor structures that housed many flowers and flowerbeds. Those were decked out and in full bloom. There were also pots of plants scattered throughout the park to add color and beauty.

Of course I had to take a picture of the pink tulip!! I'm working on my photography skills and trying to be more creative. I'm not sure how it is working, but I do like the tulip picture!!

They had a group out singing under the windmill. They were singing fun, upbeat, happy songs for the opening day. I have no idea how long they were there since we didn't get there until late afternoon, but they were very enjoyable!

These little suckers are blooming all over the country side. They are in the medians of the roads, scattered around parks, and can be bought at the grocery store. They are a bulb plant, but I'm not sure if they are officially a tulip or something similar. Since they are so common I could probably find out a lot of information about them if I investigated it further. I haven't, my appoligies.

Red tulips might be my new favorite. Even more so than pink. I know, its quite the shocker. They are just so radiant and pretty. We even had some at our house a few weeks ago and they are still my favorite. There is just something about their deep, vibrant color.

Of course I had to take a picture by the pink potted plants. I think these might have been hydrangeas but I can't promise. I did learn something about hydrangeas though, that their blooms change color with the acidity levels in the soil. Stu gave Kelly one while he was here and I'm not sure if its dead yet, but it is headed that way. We are not good flower people.

See! They had lots of flowers planted indoor! A wide variety of all colors of tulips. Even they were still on the verge of blooming though. I guess you can't see all the flowers at once and it makes sense that they stage the flowers to bloom during different periods so that the place is always beautiful. I guess I'll be making a few trips back. One of which will be this weekend with my Mom when she comes. I wonder how much will have changed during this week of warm weather and sunshine.

The theme for Keukenhof this year is "From Russia with Love" which is why the gardens were also opened with the help of the Russians. They also bred a new type of tulip called the VVV tulip, and its baptism will be March 31 at 12. I know this from the web site HERE. I have not become a lunatic tulip follower...at least not yet. They are pretty plants though! Below is a picture of an indoor exhibit we saw. They were still setting it up and getting things ready, but there's nothing like a ballerina dancing in the flowers!

Below, they have carved out and planted a mosiac of St. Basil's Cathedral. I can't wait to see this in bloom! I will probably have to go back several times to see everything in bloom. I might look into their spring pass. The story though, is that after the architect designed and built the cathedral the "President" of Russia had him blinded so he could not recreate anything to compete with it. I'm glad I wasn't born in Russia although I would love to go there someday!

These tulips have a crinkly type edge around them, sort of like they are wilting but not. I have never seen such tulips until I bought them last week at the local flower vendor. I thought they looked interesting. Of course the tulips here are much prettier than the ones we had, but I still find the deep red ones my favorite.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the flowers! It sounds like you will be seeing more of them when I go with Mom this weekend. I can't wait for her to arrive and be able to do a bit of touring. We have planned to go to Delft, Brugge, Antwerp, Amsterdam, and then Nurnberg and Prague. It will be a fun but busy week while she is here. I have taken off a few days of work to be able to spend extra time with her. It is a very great birthday present, I couldn't ask for more....but then we are going to the diamond district.....

Oh Monday...Must you always come?

Oh Monday, why do you always come so fast? I apologize for my blogging absence. This is the longest time I haven’t blog since I started this. Many fun and exciting things have happened since Wednesday. First, we went to Keukenhof on Thursday and on Friday I headed to Germany for a weekend with my host parents. I got back last night.

So about this journey home…..I jumped on a train in Halle, Germany at 2:07 Sunday afternoon. I crawled into bed at 12:03 Monday morning. What should have been a 7 hour journey turned into a 10 hour torture. Apparently, our train had an accident somewhere outside of Amersfoort, Holland. We endured a 75 minute delay full of police walking up and down the outside of the train, Deutsche Bahn (DB) people walking, and the train conductor making announcements out of breath. No idea what happened. I Googled but didn’t find anything. Well after this accident our train is kaput. Yup, that’s what they said, a literal German translation. The English translation: broken; such elegance with the languages. It got a chuckle out of all of the passengers, at least in my car. We also had to wait for an alternative driver. This was fun. By the time our train got going, there was a group standing outside where our engine car would have been (I’m assuming).

Our train was originally headed to Schipol. I’m glad I wasn’t on that train playing roulette with a plane to catch! I just wanted to get home. I’m also glad I brought a 600+ page book with me to read. It’s almost finished. I started it on the journey. The trained ended in Amersfoort, well before the place where I was supposed to get off. So I get off (I don’t have a choice) and another train headed to Amsterdam Centraal is set to arrive at 10:29. All sorts of trains had delays. I don’t know why or how much was the domino effect or if something was going on with the train power grid. I finally arrive in Haarlem at 11:30. I have to figure out the busses. Now, I know how one bus line works. The others, no idea. I ask around and I’m told to wait for bus 140. Ok, I can handle that. The bus is parked there, but the driver is nowhere in sight. It isn’t schedule to leave until 11:44 so I way the 10 minutes. The driver shows up and I ask to verify and he tells me to ride till Tempeliersstraat. I can handle that. It’s only about 3 stops and takes 4 minutes. The good part of this journey, I discovered the Tempeliersstraat stop. The stop we knew about only 1 bus goes there. The other, about 10 different lines swing by. When headed to the train station, any of them work so it was nice to know that we have so many options at our fingertips.

I was so tired by the time I got home last night. I really wanted to wake up early and say good bye to Kelly’s mom but I didn’t hear a thing until my alarm went off well after they had left. Whoops. I’m sorry! I hope you have a safe trip home and it was so nice to meet you!

I am now exhausted today and don’t really want to get into a recount of everything just yet. It is too overwhelming for my brain this morning. I do want to leave you with a teaser picture though.

I believe my mom will be here this Friday in celebration of my birthday. I'm excited. Another fun week and weekend of touring!!

Hump Day

Today is Wednesday and the big move day. Well, the start of it anyways. All empty desks and computer are to be taken out of the office and to the warehouse or upstairs so that we can prepare for the floor lifting. All cabinets need to be emptied out so that they can be carted out with the pallet jack and dolly. Now, the rest of the office seems to grasp this. The little office Kelly and I sit in, has had no sense of moving. Not even a single binder removed from the shelves and put in a labeled box. I guess they’re not worried.

My birthday is in 2 weeks and 1 day. Now, I realize most people don’t mention their birthdays at all but usually, I celebrate it. Shout it from the mountains, celebrate. Last year I took over poor Ron’s calendar and made a big countdown followed by happy balloons and martini glasses drawn on the magical day of April 1. Since this calendar hung behind the counter, all customers saw it as well. I think anyone remotely involved with me on any level knew about my upcoming birthday. I was so excited. It’s my day!! My one day!! Everyone I worked with even surprised me a cake and ice cream. They used to celebrate birthdays but stopped then made an exception just for me. It was a great day!!! We won’t get into all of the jokes everyone played on me that day also. It just goes with the territory of having your birthday on April Fool’s Day.

But this year, I’m not as excited. My friends aren’t as close by. Tabatha (whose birthday is 2 days after mine) isn’t even all that excited. When the pond splits the fun duo it is just less fun (and tax season, that’s always a dampener for an accountant). I’m not sure how many people here even know my birthday is coming up. I am also perplexed by the traditions here. Another lady at work had her birthday not too long ago and there was tart, which was fantastic. But did she bring her own tart? I think so. That’s fine; I just have no idea where to get amazing tart from. I could probably ask, but I just don’t have that fun, close personal relationship with people here. Not like the ones I made the people of Colorado develop with me. It’s alright though, you can’t win them all.

It is a real possibility, though, that I will be heading to Barcelona on the first or second depending on how airfare goes. So, celebrating my 24th birthday in Barcelona isn’t really a reason to be sad and depressed about the lack of total excitement for my birthday. It’s actually a reason to start celebrating! Kelly and I are both dying to go, but for some reason neither of us can get really PUMPED about it and book it. We also need a European mailing address to be able to buy cheap tickets online, so it’s dependent on the bank account I’m opening tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll get it booked this weekend or next week and be able to blog about an amazing 4 days there and now how we got robbed. That’s our other concern.

Time to get moving…it appears this mission is in full force with the rest of the office. I guess I should try and help somewhere!

Utrecht

On Sunday, besides playing fantasy in my future castle, we visited Utrecht. It was such a quaint little town, that was closed for the most part. We wern't able to do a lot of shopping but we had fun walking around and seeing different things.

Utrecht is the religious capital of the Netherlands dating back to the 8th century. Until the Golden Age, Utrecht was the most important city in Northern Netherlands until Amsterdam became the cultural and populous capital. Utrecht is also home to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands along with many other higher education establishments.

There is some evidence of habitation of Utrecht dating back until 2200 BC although the founding date is generally considered 50 AD. As far as I’m concerned though, the town has been around a LONG time! In Medieval times Utrecht was a popular area for transport because the Rhine river used to run through the town. Since it was a religious place, it was previously a walled, fortified town. After the mid 1800s the walls came down and the town was allowed to expand. Since the Rhine had moved (oddly, but apparently it did) the arm that was left as well as the moat became more canal like which made moving goods via water ways still possible. To support this tradition people began building wharf like basements at water left. This basically created a 2 level street system. You can still see them today!

Since Utrecht is considered such an important religious place, many churchs are still intact. Dom tower (in the photo below) is one of the highest buildings in Utrecht. It used to be connected to the church, but the nave collapsed in 1674. There is now a tree and a pleasant court yard type area seperating the two.

Below is the rest of Dom Church. It was a beautiful church. Online, it said it wasn't opened but when Kelly and I showed up, people were going in so we followed. We wern't the only visitors, but I do believe most people going in where there for church related activities. There were clearly people enjoying coffee after mass but we poked around and took some discrete pictures then went on our way.

Below is a picture of the inside and the organs. I cannot wait till it is summer and there are organ concerts at our local church in Haarlem. I still haven't seen the inside of it, but I did learn that it is Protestant so that is interesting. Usually, the big pretty ones are Catholic.

More pretty, stained glass windows!!! I love all of the art work and time put into these creations so that we can all enjoy their beauty.

Here is a courtyard behind the church. It was so neat. Its uses have transformed over the years originating as a place for meditation. It is now an herb garden. Between the times of meditation and today's herb garden it was used as a gather spot popular for beer and poker, a place to store crops, then later wagons, then later ammunition powder and supplies. At least they don't waste space!

A picture of the outside. So many church's follow the gothic/neo gothic architecture. I still enjoy each and every single one of them though! It still amazes me how people with such "limited resources" built such amazing, beautiful structures.

After walking around town, and before the castle, we got hungry so we stopped for lunch. This place as busy, so we figured it had to be tasty and it was! Kelly's dad reccomended the mustard soup, which sounds a bit scary. They served it and it seemed like a soup day so I sprung for it and a tuna fish sandwhich. The soup was great!!!! Probably one of my new favorites. It was also served in a great little bread bowl which probably didn't help any. The sandwhich was fantastic too. We won again. During lunch we got a bit of entertainment, the resident cat. Can you imagine a restaurant in the US having a pet cat roaming around?? It would never fly. I had to take a picture of the cat sitting on one of the tables, welcoming visitors. This was the 2nd table we saw it sit on, not including the chairs it used as scratching posts and napping spots.

MMM Tasty cat infested tables. I have a pretty high tolerance for "unsanitary" things, but I'm just not a fan of cats on the inside. Private or professional, I think they are dirty. There was also an article I read that supported the argument that cats were dirty indoor creatures. Either way, we found this public restaurant issue interesting compared to standards back home.

Kelly's mom and her friend Leona are headed to Amsterdam today. We filled them full of advice and knowledge to make the most of their trip so I hope they wern't too confused and have a good time! It appears to be sunny outside so that is 1/2 of the battle right there. I guess spring really is rolling in because it seems to only be getting warmer around here. And by warmer, in case you were wondering, I mean 39-45 F. Not exactly a day at the beach. Tomorrow they are headed off to Antwerp to look around and browse the diamond district. How could you not??

My Dream Worlds Have Collided

This weekend was a very enjoyable one. Kelly took the girls to the airport early Saturday morning, I slept in. Then we just relaxed around the house in our pj’s all day. It was a day that we needed after a busy week and in preparation for an early Sunday of sightseeing. Kelly Googled about Utrecht, or destination and found a castle, De Haar. We had to go visit it!! It is a real life castle!! I love fairytales. And this is where my two fantasies collided.

We actually saw this truck on our way out. But for stories sake, that detail isn’t important. Let my fairytale life begin:

I admit, I find a young guy driving a big truck a very attractive combination. A big truck, in my eyes, can make just about any guy attractive. Unless he is short, then he just looks silly. But either way, I like big trucks. It is completely shallow of me, and I recognize this. There are more important things in life, but I still can’t help but notice the big pretty trucks. This is where my life fantasies collide. Meet dream man’s vehicle:

His truck was parked outside of his (and my future) house/castle. I figured I better go in and find him so welcome to my future residence:

Don't worry, I'll be having plenty of large parties and there are a ton of guests’ rooms. I don't own it yet, so I couldn't take pictures inside but my dream room is there. It is pink. It’s meant to be. When you arrive after receiving a gorgeous invitation in the mail, or an extremely excited phone call from me, you will keep an eye out for the entrance gate. The parking is on your right. I’m sorry you can’t park closer, we don’t want the cars bothering the horses.

Please, mind the moat and don't fall in on your way across the draw bridge. If a child falls in, I'm sorry. I can't make any promises. I don't yet have alligators installed, but once it warms up, it'll be a given.

Welcome to my humble abode. I would like to thank you for taking the time to come visit me! If you woul like to stop by and see the horses on your way to the main house, they are on the left as you come over the bridge. There will be plenty of time for rides later, but if you can't resist (Karla) they are there for a pet. They love the carrots. You can find them in a bucket outside of their stalls.

Please enjoy your stroll up to the main house (on the right). One of my staff members should meet you at the gate to help you with your luggage. After you check in with one of my staff members, your room might be in the Chalet (on the left). We will notify you of any events that you need to know about. Until then, enjoy your visit!!!

My landscape teams work very hard. If you must wonder across the grass to look at my blooming rose bushes in the rose garden, please tread lightly. Otherwise, they would appreciate it if you would stay on the paths.

As you make your way around there is lots of water. In the summer months I'm sure I'll have a mosquito problem, but since the world is still frozen (as far as I’m concerned) it is not yet a worry. If you get thirsty on the way, there is a little snack bar area for you to grab a drink and enjoy the scenery. Just don’t drink too much, there is plenty of time for that later.

If I don't have anything going on, I will try to meet you at the main gate. If not, please proceed across and up towards the main entrance.

Welcome!!! I'm so happy you were able to find it! I hope the gardens didn't offer too much trouble. If you are still frisky though, there is a hedge maze out across the way. Maybe we can head out there later, or you can just send the kids. It'll keep them busy for hours!

I hope you enjoy your stay here!! There will be plenty of food and fun. For the dancing, there will be a personal hair dresser to help the women with any makeup and hair up-dos needed. Don't worry about heat and water. My future home is completely up to date with running water since the early 1900s and radiant heat. If you don't see a radiator in your room, don't worry, its under the floor. The previous owner, Hélène de Rothschild thought ahead and didn't want to trouble visitors with their unpleasant appearances. I thank her for her forward thinking.

On Sunday morning there will be a church service. You may attend if you like, but not required. It will take place at the small chapel out back around 10am. It will be followed by tea in the main hall and lunch shortly thereafter in the dining room. Please, respect the occassion and dress appropriately.

If the weather is nice, there will most likely be some tables set up in the front of the entrance, to the side of the chapel. From here we will be able to enjoy the scenery and the beautiful pond. I hope you don't mind the fresh air.

I hope you have all enjoyed your visit. Please don't overstay your welcome, as nobody likes a mooch. If you don't leave, i'll have my prince husband drive you out with his big, giant truck. We don't want tire marks on the grass. We ask for your consideration. It was such a pleasure having you all and can't wait for your next visit. Until then, please don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I am not going to ruin my fairtale dream life by recounting the total, actual history of the place. If you want to burst my bubble, click HERE for the website.

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow, you can hear about the near by town of Utrecht, where we get all of the provisions needed for hosting such a glorious stay.

The Hague

So, I didn’t think ahead on how to upload the pictures so you will get a backwards recount of Sunday. After Madurodam we headed into Den Haag for a look around and some lunch. Since the pictures are backwards, we shall start with our visit to Scheveningen. It is one of the 8 districts in The Hague and is a modern beach community with a pier and a lighthouse. We parked and only had enough change for 45 minutes. Right when we were coming back to the car the cop man was checking and looking up our license plate, our parking ticket expired 30 min earlier. Thankfully he was very nice and didn’t give us the 50 Euro ticket he was threatening. A successful Sunday.



A beautiful sunset over the North Sea. We watched it set while we ate some tasty Dutch pancakes and poffertjes. They are so amazing! I might be able to live off those two Dutch "staples."

The glowing red sky was so amazing!

The beginning of the sunset.

The above picture is the UN Peace Palace. It was so pretty. We found it by accident driving out to the beach. All of us girls were ready to move in...and it was PINK! The Hague is the 2nd UN city after New York as well as the judicial center for the EU. It plays a very important rold in a lot of world politics.

This is the Binnenhof. We saw the miniture one earlier in the morning at.


This is a store that has a very modern look with the multicolor bricks. A miniture version of this building was also featured at Madurodam!

This is the courtyard for the Binnenhof. It was such a georgous area. I can only imagine what it looks like when the queen and her parade and horses ride through for the official ceremonies.

This is the front of the UN judicial room at the Binnenhof. You have to call ahead and schedule a guided tour if you want to see inside. There was, of course, also a mini version at Madurodam. We saw so many Dutch highlights, big and small!

The girls are leaving early tomorrow morning and we plan on going to the Beverwijk and then on Sunday we want to go to Utrecht and see the castle there as well as their large tower. It looked so pretty at Madurodam. It will be nice to have a semi relaxing weekend at home. I'll keep you posted!

Madurodam

Welcome to Madurodam! It is a neat little village that shows the highlights of all Holland in 1/25th of the original size. It is so cute! It is like a miniature country with mini people and mini cars. This is the dream land for any model builder. They have ships, planes, houses, towers, flowers, cheese, horses, trams, busses, and the high speed Thalys train. They have it all!

When you walk up the first thing is they give you an idea of where you’re located in comparison to the rest of the world. I love these signs; I always think they are fun. I also learned mom and dad are approximately 9,000+ km away. I waved, I doubt they saw.

The next famous Dutch boy…Hans Brinker the boy who stuck first his finger, then his whole arm in the dike so that it wouldn’t break and flood Haarlem. Yup, Haarlem. If it wasn’t for little ol’ Hans, Haarlem wouldn’t be a town.

Madurodam was opened in 1952 as a war monument and a charity foundation. One of the initiators was Mrs. Maduro. Mr. and Mrs. Maduro wanted to erect a monument in memory of their only son, George, who died of typhus while in the Dachau concentration camp. The Maduro’s met Mrs. Boon-van der Starp who wanted to raise money to help support a sanatorium who helped students with tuberculosis recover. The costs of running such an institution are high and she had heard about a miniature English city who’s revenues were so high the owners were able to make large donations to surround hospitals. An architect was approached about helping to build the miniature city and drew up some plans for a scale of a happy Dutch city to be 1:25 of the original size. Everyone that was approached about this project was very enthusiastic about it, including the mayor of The Hague who donated the piece of land in the ‘Scheveningse Bosjes’ in the form of a long lease. Students from the Delft Technical University helped to clear the land and so began Madurodam. The visitor center was built in 1996 and the Schipol airport received a complete renovation in 2003 to include space for the planes to taxi via magnetic fields. It is pretty cool!!!

The detail they have in all of the buildings/models is amazing. This church looks just like the real thing, just 1/25th the size! It had mini stained glass windows and everything. I'll have to track down the real one....

Below, the little people are trading cheese the traditional way in the Gouda market. I have no idea how cheese is traded today, but I'm sure they have a much more "sophisticated" way than this. I would love to see this done though! The mini people just work so hard!

Kelly and I had to take a picture next to the Frans Hals Museum. The real museum is located in Haarlem. We have not yet been, but maybe with our next visitors. The museum contains works of art from the 17th, 18th, and 19th century along with works from Frans Hals himself. It looks to be very interesting!

Its not the Netherlands if Anne Frank's house is not part of it. They have mini representation of it at Madurodam. Such an important piece of history cannot be left out!

The famous Dam Square. I don't know how many times I have walked around, and around, and around this square. The Royal Palace is also there along with the church we have not yet been inside. One of these trips.....

Since Kelly and I are being offered this amazing experience through work, we figured we better take a picture with the creation of our livelyhood. The offshore rig in the North Sea. It was a pretty big model and to imagine it as 25 times as big is very difficult! I would love to visit one, someday!

So, its official. Tulip season at the Keukenhof opens next week on March 18th. I cannot wait to go see the gardens. This year's theme is "From Russia with Love." The pictures on the website make it look pretty spectacular! The official opening will be on March 17th by Mrs Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of the President of the Russian Federation, in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands. I would love to see Princess Maxima!! She is my idol! Sadly, though, duty calls and we must work that day. Definitely plan on hearing a review about the place next week though! I'm so excited for tulip season! Here is a picture of the mini version:

If its this pretty out of plastic and glass I can't wait for the real thing. Luckily the tulip fields are not too far away so it will give a whole new meaning for taking a cruise through the country side. Yay tulips!!!

Tomorrow I will finish telling about our Sunday tour of The Hague. After starting it off with Madurodam, it had to be a good day! I was just so happy Kelly and the girls like Madurodam so much. I am 2-0 for good travel reccomendations.