Europe Diary - Post #10 by Patrick

Besides all the history, writing, and photography practice that I’m getting, homeschooling on the road also includes math. Here are some problems I solved yesterday while driving from Switzerland to Italy.

1)      We took the St. Gotthard tunnel into Italy. It is the third longest car tunnel in the world at 16.4 kilometers which I converted to 10.2 miles. It took us several hours to get through it because of metered traffic.

2)      The entire estimated driving distance of our Europe trip is over 4,000 miles which equals to about 6,437.37 kilometers.

3)      The time difference: 6:00PM in Italy is 9:00AM in Arizona.

4)      The temperature in Manarola right now is 18° Celsius which equals 64.4° Fahrenheit. Yeah, pretty cold.

5)       We bought 250 grams of parmagiano reggiano cheese for €3,50 at the Stuttgart Markthalle in Germany. It costs $10.50 for a pound at Costco. 250 grams is equal to 0.55 Lbs and €3,50 equals $4.61 if purchased in Stuttgart. Whereas, 0.55 Lbs of parmagiano costs $5.78 at Costco. So I have found one thing in Europe that is cheaper than in the U.S. and it is cheese. Plus it tastes better here.

6)      Eleven Swiss Francs (CHF 11)  = 12 dollars ($12): the price it costs to take the elevator to the top of Trummelbach Falls, but we spent all our CHF buying groceries at the Coop in Lauterbrunnen (like a European Walmart) so instead, they charged us €10 per person to go up to see the unique corkscrew falls. Which was a better deal? CHF 11.00 = $12.00 or €10,00 = $13.18. It pays to have the correct currency in your pocket.

Europe Diary - Post #9 by Rebecca

10 days into our trip and we’re an hour away from our apartment in the Cinque Terre, Italy. It has been a long and stunningly scenic drive from Switzerland, so, before I forget its splendor, I will write about it.

Though slightly frightening at some moments, the road to Lauterbrunnen, the city in which our hostel was located, had beautiful views. We saw waterfalls every 30 feet and snow-capped mountains around every turn. There were fields of yellow dandelions and pastures with happy, grazing cows.

That brings me to my main point. While in Switzerland, the thing that struck me most was that the animals were extremely happy. At the hostel, we saw this cat that looked very content nibbling on grass in the nice weather.

This was a chicken we saw. It looks very healthy from living in an unindustrial, family owned farm.

This was the most adorable cat (of course, not as cute as my Serafina that I miss so much) that just walked right up to us while we were on our walk and started rolling on the ground and rubbing against our legs.

We also saw these cows jumping around from the road and decided to walk closer to photograph them. They looked so happy and so loved.

The farmer was even coming up to them, petting them, and playing with them. He looked like he really enjoyed what he was doing, like he was a farmer because he loved farming, because he loved his cows.

Although the Swiss animals were considerably the most happy, all the animals in Europe look like they’re at the peak of their life. This includes the swans and ducks we saw in Keukenhof,

the assorted sheep, goats, pigs, and cows in Holland and the rest of Europe,

 the fake horse in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.

Well, Maybe not him.

Between the animals and the landscape, Switzerland has definitely made an impact on me. I will never forget its beauty.

Europe Diary - Post #8 by Mike

24 April, 2012


Stuttgart, Germany


We started our day with a good German breakfast of hard rolls, cold cuts and cheese, then had a nice walk into the city from our Hostel and through the local park toward the local rail system on our way to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. A short walk to the S-Bahn and a couple of stops later we were there, Right between the manufacturing plant and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium (where the local soccer club plays). The people at the museum were very courteous and I should take a moment to mention that Patrick and Rebecca's admission was free as was the lanyard used to hold the audio guide. So, after a coat check and an explanation of the audio guide, we were on the elevator to the seventh floor where the story of Mercedes-Benz starts with a... Horse?... Yes, a horse! The museum tells the story of MB from the top down starting with the stories of Daimler and Benz who worked separately on developing and building powerful single piston engines called "grandfather clock" engines due to the overall shape... all the way through the first and second world wars to todays emphasis on green engines and technology. Every floor showed a different era and had a special place to show specific tasks or cars beyond the history of the company, like busses, campers of what they called "helpers" (Kathy especially loved the garbage truck that she was able to sit in), and "famous" Mercedes vehicles like the bus that transported the World Cup champion German team and the Pope Mobile. Another nice part of these "Special" exhibits was they had widows that looked out onto the area around Stuttgart including the practice fields where the local soccer club played and the Ferris Wheel  for the Stuttgart Frühlingsfest.


The Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) was only a 4 or 5 block walk from the Mercedes-Benz Museum and when we got to the actual area where the festival was taking place, I wasn't very impressed. I wasn't expecting much for a Tuesday at 4PM and as such, I didn't see many people. Kathy saw a big tent and was trying to direct us to it. I was hoping to see, or at least compare, a German carnie to ones that I'm used to, but mostly I was struck by the booths that surrounded a few of the rides. Most had some inference to what Germans must think is Americana; a picure with Rambo or Charles Bronson ususally was outside a shooting gallery or a Goofy and Donald Duck at some game or another, but again, I didn't see a whole lot of people. My thought was that this place was dead. Then after a booth where the main subject appeared to be how Lady Gaga must love chocolates, I saw a picture of a cartoon chicken pointing to the left and a long German word under it... it made me think of El Pollo Loco back home.


We eventually got to the place the chicken pointed us to, was called Göckelesmaier, an open (and empty) outdoor picnic area with tables and the yellow chicken pointing us inside. All we saw was a private security guard watching the door and we could see quite a few people. Being the "when in Rome" type travelers, we waited to see someone else head in before we attempted to. When we got in, we saw where all the people had been, this place was packed! Inside was a large tent with picnic tables running from the front of the tent, where a stage stood, all the way to the back. A band was set up, but no one was on the stage. There were at least 100 tables which stood end to end then the tables were at least 20 wide and every table was full of people. Gaps had been set so the waiters could come, get your order and deliver your food and drink. The first place we sat was at the back of the back near a awninged area that we thought was the smoking area, so we moved to the area next to where they were making the rotisserie chickens. Imagine 4 or 5 Costco chicken ovens side by side and you'll get the size of the ovens they needed for the hundreds of people there. A server came up and asked us something in German. Kathy tried to reply, in German; something about the tent specialty. He looked at all of is in turn and asked "Englisch?" to which Kathy responded asked, "Englisch, bitte..." He came back with, "English? Of course! What can we get you today? Our special is two beers for the price of one." We ordered the beers and 2 half chickens and an order of wiener schnitzel with potato salad. All the food was very good, and the people seated around us were very entertaining. Most of the younger girls were in a traditional dress and some of the boys were either in full lieder hosen or just the shirt. A group of these boys (probably around 17 or 18) were singing loudly, drinking heavily, and slamming their mugs together so hard their beer sloshed out. At one point, I was video taping them. They saw what I was doing, they shook their fingers at me as if to say, "what happens in Göckelesmaier, stays in Göckelesmaier..." The beers Kathy and I got were in liter mugs. Basically, it's a 40 with another one for free. I drank most of mine, but Kathy got about a third through her's and was asking me for help. I got about another third drank when I couldn't have any more, so we left the rest there.

I was feeling very buzzed at that time, and as we left, there was a strange, giant animatronic gorilla out front. It was chasing a regular sized guy up a rope. There were only 2 things we were looking forward to while we were in Germany; spatzel and bratwurst. It just so happened that the very next booth we came across was one selling wursts.... So we all had some Bratwurst with some very spicy mustard. We walked some more looking for the "Big Tent"... We found a little traditional village with a couple of bakers, a pub and some craft people. We walked even further and found a place called Zum' Wasenwirt.... Similar in size to Göckelesmaier, the main difference was much more security due to what appeared to be a much younger and wilder crowd... Oh and the fact that everyone was standing on the tables singing the song that was blasting through the tent. We couldn't see if there were any tables to sit at as everyone was standing on them, so we decided to sit outside. There we met Jörg, a young man of Chilean decent. He also started talking to us in German, then switched after he realized it would just be easier if he spoke English... After a few moments of talking to Jörg and finding out his origins... We decided a half liter was in order... and a Fanta for me and the kids because I'd had too much already. That one didn't particularly appeal to Kathy's palate, so I helped finish that one as well... As Jörg was dropping off our drinks, he tried to give us a chip. The price of the beer also included €2,50 surcharge that would be refunded if we returned the glass with the chip... so we got a mug as well.

We had left the Frühlingsfest using the great public transport that got us there and we said for the price that we'd be back tomorrow. We didn't go back, at least not on this trip, but it was well worth the stop and will give me something to look forward to next time I'm in Germany.

Europe Diary- Post #7 by Patrick

In a desperate attempt to forget about the McDonalds McKrokket (basicly a deep fried cheese sandwich with just about the same texture, taste, and digestabillity as molten rubber) that I had for lunch on our third day in the Netherlands, I'm going to talk about all the food we've had since entering Germany. First thing to note is that German food is very, very, good. Our first meal in Germany was dinner at Gastkof Kurz, where I had the Jaggershnizel followed by a delishous dessert of Vanilleeis mit Heisse Himberen, which is four scoops of vanilla ice cream with warm rassberries drizzled over it, and topped with a waffer cookie. It is easilly the best dessert I've ever had. The next morning, we had breakfast at the adjoined bakery/hotel called the Goldinger. There I had a croissant with rassberry jam, a roll with two types of ham, salami, and swiss cheese, a kind of powdered sugar coffee cake, a glass of orange juice, appricotts, and a cup of Darjeling tea.

The lady who owned the hotel also offered to make us eggs or pancakes, but even without them we still felt too full to eat lunch. Along with the food I've also seen alot of interesting cars. While we've been driving on the autobahn, my dad has been going mostly at 130 Kph which sounds fast but really only equals about 80 Mph. I was very excited to see a Daihatsu, which is a car company that mades one of the slowest cars ever. In the video game, Grand Turrismo, the car had difficulty getting to 40 Mph, and anything over 60 was virtually impossible. I also got to see a Ferrari Enzo parked in a parking garage outside the Van Gogh museum, which is one of the fastest sports cars I know of.

We also got to go to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, yesterday. The museum showed hundreds of their cars in chronological order starting with the motor carriage, and the grandfather clock engine it used. They also had a detailed timeline of the history of Mersades-Benz spiralling down the seven story walkway. I kept lagging behind because I kept trying to read every sign. We have been staying in Stuttgart, and it isn't the biggest city in Germany which stuns me. We had to squint at the map of the city we bought at a gas station to see it, and yet it was still wider than the car. It makes me wonder what the largest city in Germany looks like.

Europe Diary - Post #6 by Kathy

It's laundry day at the Stuttgart Youth Hostel -- a timetaking process as there is only one small washing machine and one small dryer and after careful consolidation and reuse of clothes, I have managed to narrow it down to no less than 6 small loads of laundry after one week of wear x 4 people. No, I'm not going to wash out clothes every night and hang them to dry on every available surface in our room, only to have them never get dry so I can display them drying out the back window of the car, as we move from place to place. I do laundry once per week at home so this is also how we're handling it here on our month long journey. It also gives us some downtime to relax and get caught up on stuff.

Unfortunately, we are having technical difficulties here at Our Tripping Mystery, as as this seems to be a running theme in my life. I was so ready for this vacation after the hospital where I work went to computerized charting on March 1st, and my stress level with this process was at an all-time high. Give me the most difficult patient, drunk or dying, and I can handle it better than the frustration of trying to figure out a new computer system with limited help.

The beginning of our vacation technical problems started in Heidelberg when we programmed the Renault GPS to go to the castle when we were about 100 km away. All was going well, it is our first time using a GPS, and I was starting to get used to following the little red line everywhere -- it is brainless. However, when we got into the old city of Heidelberg, the GPS was trying to get wind us up the hill, and I didn't want to go there, as I wanted to park down below and take the funicular up. Well, when I started leading us to the parking garage, TomTom got pissy and kept trying to reconfigure our route to reroute us back up the hill. It became a battle of TomTom vs. Kathy in Old Heidelberg, and I suppose TomTom won as the red line has never since reappeared. Now we just have a blue triangle that just tells us where we actually are rather than where we're supposed to be going. All it's really good for is showing us if the side of the road is green or beige at any given moment. We tried calling Floris in Amsterdam, but I think he's done with us after my comments about the stretchy Peugeot get-up so he was no help in telling us how to reset it, and instead he told us to find a Renault dealer then promptly hung up the phone. Finding a Renault dealer would be a lot easier if the GPS was working. Duh. I was able to get us to Stuttgart, and then we picked up a city map to get us to our destination.

Then the follwing technical problems all happened in rapid-fire succession after the broken GPS -- even I'm not sure WTF . . . The hostel doesn't have free wi-fi; it costs 5 euros. Mike paid the 5 euros so he could quickly look up the Stuttgart Renault dealer on his iPhone (which is now on a "global plan" but not a "data plan" because that#s super expensive.) We have been charging the 4 cameras, 2 iPhones, 2 iPods, and a netbook nightly on two 220v to 110v converter boxes with Mike's homemade mission control. Here's a photo:

Also, the wi-fi only works in the lounge area of the hostel and not the rooms. So we're all sitting in the lounge pulling out the laptop to get a better idea of where the Renault dealer is and maybe blog or post pictures, and Mike realizes that the wi-fi code is only per device so we elected to pay another 5 euros to get the netbook on the wi-fi. Ouch. Mike heads up the stairs to the lobby to get the new wi-fi code. Meanwhile, the netbook is plugged into the wall through the converter box, and the kids and I are seated around the table. A few minutes later a loud "pop" goes off and the outlet where the netbook is plugged in is smoking. Mike comes back and asks, "What's on fire?" and we tell him, "The computer," and he gets all excited. He's not the ER nurse of the family, and he loves his computers so you gotta feel bad for the guy. I have no idea why the fire alarm did not go off. Mike opened the window really fast, and no one was down there when we were there, but I listened to subsequent people walk through and say over and over again, "Do you smell smoke?" Later, we took this picture on the back of the door in our room. Made me laugh . . .

Luckily, the computer is fine, but when this battery life is done we will be out of luck. We do have another converter box, but it is smaller and doesn#t run the netbook. So after laundry this morning, we are going to "Media Mart" to look for another converter. Oh joy. Right now I'm on a pay hourly hostel computer with this funky German keyboard:

We are still having a good time, despite attempting to burn down the youth hostel. I'm super excited because this afternoon we are going to the Staatsgalerie for a special show of Turner, Monet, and Twombly together. I wanted to see J.M.W. Turner's, "Peace: Burial at Sea" again at the Tate Gallery in London because I did my first sketch of this painting back in 1989 when I took an art history class while studying in London. Turner is one of my favorite painters, and I was so sad when I read that the Tate had this particular painting out on loan right now. But then elated to research that it was on loan to Stuttgart's Staatsgalerie, and I would be staying 3 blocks away from the museum! Coupled with a show that includes Monet AND Twombly, and I am in art heaven!!! All is good, and we are off to Switzerland and then the Cinque Terre over the next week for some R & R. I mostly miss my doggy (a little), but I know he's in good hands with Grammy Christine whom I love so much :) My brother-in-law lost his 7 year battle with cancer on Monday so I was thankful that I had some technology and connection to home at that moment. Mary, I didn't light that candle for Michael yet, but I said a prayer here in the chapel of the Heidelberg castle. I will be at Tim's graduation with you come hell or high water . . .

Europe Diary - Post #5 by Rebecca

German Food: One word, Yum!

After our anything-but-fantastic lunch at McDonald's, we drove through Belgium, Luxembourg, and finally into Germany where we spoiled ourselves with their flavorful dishes.

We enjoyed dinner at Kurz Gasthof in Hutschenhausen after our long drive from Amsterdam. I was pleased by my choice of meal which was a mix of my two major ethnicities, it was a Parmesanschnitzel! My mom got the Rahm schnitzel which was schnitzel in a cream sauce. Patrick got the Jaegerschnitzel which is schnitzel in a mushroom sauce.

I've just realized that for some of you who don't know what schnitzel is, this story is very confusing, so I will take a moment to explain. Schnitzel is a pounded-out pork chop that is usually breaded and fried, but not greasy. Now back to my story.

My dad got the daily special which was Zigeunerrouladenbraten. It was a rolled roast, stuffed with bacon and sauerkraut with brown sauce over the top. My mom and Patrick's schnitzel came with fries (or Pommes Frites) while mine and my dad's meals came with noodles, mine covered in spaghetti sauce. We rounded off our filling meals with a typical German treat: ice cream.

After one night in a nice hotel in Landstuhl and a very satisfying breakfast, we drove up to Burg Nanstein (built in 1162 by Emperor Barbarossa, but owned by knight Franz von Sickingen) to see the ruins. The ruins were great for pictures and we had great views of the city from the hill it is on, but those views were nothing compared to the beauty of the plate we ordered at the restaurant next to the castle.

We ordered Tomtaten Suppe (or tomato soup) and Burgunderragout with spatzel. Our dishes were so big, we only ordered one tomato soup and one Burgunderragout for the four of us, and we were still full when we headed to the car. The tomato soup was very good and creamy, but not nearly as impressive as the Burgunderragout. One half of our plate was a stew-like mixture of beef pieces, broccoli, and carrots under a magnificent, creamy red wine sauce.

The other half of our plate was entirely covered with my favorite German food, what I had been craving since we crossed the border, something totally worth flying over the Atlantic for: (pause for dramatic effect) SPATZEL! I must admit, this spatzel wasn't nearly as good as some of the other versions I've tasted, (not even close to as good as my mother's recipe) but it's really hard to mess up spatzel. We later realized that this was a different type of spatzel than we were used to, which cleared everything up.

Full form our lovely lunch, we drove to Heidelberg to see the Schloss (or as I put it, the Scloesh). Built originally before 1214, the castle was later expanded into two castles around 1294. It is unknown who originally owned the castle, but the first known occupant was Ludwig I in 1214. It is crumbling a bit in some places and a whole half of one tower has been planted on the ground next to it since it fell from a lightning strike, but it is intact enough to take tours in, to have your wedding in the castle's chapel, and to have your prom in the King's Hall.

When we first entered the castle grounds from the garden, I thought, "Huh, this would be the best place to sit on the grass, under a tree, and write stories about the castle." Unlike Burg Nanstein, Heidelberger Schloss still looks like a true castle (that is to say, it's more intact). So, pretty much, I've seen everything I've ever wanted to one this Europe trip. My life is complete . . . -ish.

The first thing we did was take a tour inside the castle. They had a few really neat original furniture pieces and decorations, and the history about the castle was pretty cool, but I think that the most interesting part of the castle is it's architecture. It's easy to see where additions were made to the castle because of the usually confusing staircases and hallways. One interesting fact I learned on the tour was that the builders of the castle had to engrave their symbol into the walls of what they had just built if they wanted to be paid.

It was a really amazing feeling to be at the castle live and in person. I love the idea that just being near the castle is like being near history itself.

Europe Diary - Post #4 by Rebecca

Some of the most significant parts of Dutch history are the holocaust and boats. When the Germans started banning Jews in their country, many of these German Jews fled to the Netherlands. The Franks were some of them.

Then the Nazis started to invade other countries. Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, tried to move the family to England and twice tried to move them to America, but emigrating was impossible because they were no longer German citizens and they weren’t Dutch citizens yet either, so they were forced to go into hiding.

They hid in the secret annex above the jam factory the Otto Frank managed. They lived there with the van Pels family and Fritz Pfeiffer. The annex was found two years after they went into hiding and Otto Frank was the only one that survived the concentration camps.

When I first saw the Anne Frank Museum, I thought,”Why is there a museum about this? What’s so important about a girl’s diary and where she hid for a few years?” But that thought was short lived and I quickly realized that this is all here to keep that kind of prejudice from happening again.

The museum takes you through the factory and through another building with more history of the holocaust. In the latter building, we found a cool room where they showed us recent problems on a TV screen and had us vote on what we thought of the problem. It wasn’t an official vote, but more like a way to practice working for the better. I think that was the most interesting thing in the museum, though it was all worth seeing.

My two favorite things mentioned in history are castles and ships. I like manors, houses, and other boats as well, but the first mentioned are my favorites. I want to be a pirate! Yes, I’m aware that I sound like an unsocialized, homeschooled weirdo, but most pirates aren’t well socialized anyways.

I got to partially live my dream when we visited the Scheepvaart /Maritime Museum. The museum is in an old ship-cargo-loader-thing with an awesome boat tided up out at the deck next to the building. The boat Amsterdam is a typical 18^th century cargo ship. It has really neat decorations on the back including full color statues of Neptune and Hermes.

Inside the museum, we saw multiple exhibits about subjects such as whales, globes, and the Dutch trade routes. One exhibit about the modern use of ships in the Netherlands has a room that stimulates what it would be like to be shipped. My dad was fully convinced that we were cheese. Oud cheese.

To end of our day, we took a boat tour through the canals of Amsterdam. It was a perfect summary of Dutch history from the water view.

Well, as I’ve been writing this, we’ve gone through multiple different countries, visited the World War II museum in Diekirch, Luxembourg, and saw a Roman guy yelling from the Porta Nigra (no, it was not my dad), so I need to wrap this up so that I can start writing about those. So . . . I saw cool stuff! It was really interesting seeing the importance of those in Dutch history.

Europe Diary - Post #3 by Patrick

I learned quite a lot about the Dutch Golden Age yesterday while at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. For instance, before the English became the major nautical power, the Dutch controlled most of the trade between the rest of the world. The Eastern trading route or the “Voc” had bases in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, China, and Japan. The western trading route, or West India Company had bases in Central America and all of western Africa.

Two of the greatest artists of the Golden Age were Jan Steen and Rembrandt von Rijn. Jan Steen’s paintings are easily recognizable by how chaotic they were. In his painting, The Merry Family, the scene shows a family gathered around a table doing a variety of different tasks. It was so chaotic that it was difficult to remember everything that was going on in the painting. The only part that I remember distinctly was that one of the children was balancing at the edge of the table playing a flute, while a dog was running around the table with something that I think was a sock. Rembrandt’s painting The Night Watch was originally never meant to be called that. He had named it The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq. However, because of a buildup of soot and dust in the protective lacquer, the colors appeared darker and it was dubbed the Night Watch. Once this was realized, the lacquer was removed and the true appearance of the painting was realized. However, despite the fact that it is a day scene, everything about the painting looks like it is a night scene. Thus, it remains the Night Watch.

We also went to the Van Gogh Museum which I was honestly far more impressed with than the Rijksmuseum. The Van Gogh Museum had hundreds of different works by many people who used the impressionist style including Van Gogh. One of the great impressionist paintings was one by Paul Gauguin which was of Van Gogh while he painted his Sunflowers.

We also had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant called Sama Sebo, where we had a Rijstaffel dinner which is rice along with about twenty side dishes that you pile around the rice and can mix different flavors together with the rice. I recommend it.

Europe Diary - Post #2 by Mike

 We had started the day after some sporadic sleep trying to recover from slight jetlag.  Breakfast was hard rolls, cheese, sweet rolls, hardboiled eggs, juice and coffee with the United Nations of Hotel Guests. The only reason I mention this is that the woman working the breakfast for the hotel we are staying at would answer questions from the guests in any language but her own…  English, check…. French, of course…  German, why not…? One of the most amazing things about the Dutch is how many languages they know…  Getting cheese at the Kaas Specialist for our picnic, the girl behind the counter was able to switch from Dutch to English with no problem… She explained that with the purchase of 500g of cheese, you’d get a piggy bank and some portion going to a children’s charity. Needless to say, we got the items for our picnic at Keukenhof there along with the bank; Rebecca chose the cow bank.  At Keukenhof, the picnic area was just some straw bales that had gotten wet in the rain.  I decided that instead of getting wet sitting on these, I would sit on my coat while I ate. This resulted in a large mud stain on the back of the coat that required a trip to the dry cleaners. The man at the dry cleaner was working on fixing a seam as I came in with my dirty jacket, “Give me 45 minutes… No problem!”  Then back to the conversation he was having with his friend in Dutch. The man collecting the parking fees at the exit of Keukenhof saw our French license plate and sent us off with a “Merci, au revoir…” 

I am feeling a little overwhelmed by not knowing Dutch, so I’m trying to pickup words here and there.  I learned from Google Translate that thank you is “Dank u” and that I will have to use it almost never.  We did learn a new Dutch work from walking around Keukenhof; Beenham! It’s ham that’s cooked on a pan, then served in a soft roll with a mustard sauce. One of those, split four ways, got us through our cheese, cracker and apple picnic. With all this Dutch, I was feeling a little cocky. While we were waiting for the jacket to get cleaned, we went to a place called the Family Cafeteria in Lisse.  On their menu, they offered milkshakes, so we ordered 4 klein(small) milkshakes; 2 in chocolade, 1 in vanille, and 1 in aardbei (strawberry). I was feeling pretty high and mighty until the girl ringing up our order told us what we owed in Dutch… I just kind of looked at her for a few seconds, then had to admit I had no idea what she just said, then she gave a small laugh and told us what we owed in English…

Tonight, it is 9:00PM (Noon in Arizona), the kids are fast asleep, Kathy and I are having an Amstel and trying to decide which of our 400 some odd photos to share. I’ll post a few of the best here and figure what to do with rest later…

Keukenhof

The Kaas Specialist - Where we bought 500g of Oul Cheese.

The Picnic

BEENHAM!

Oskaar The Grouch from Sesamstraat

Learning Dutch - The Duck goes Kwak Kwak Kwak!

The flower fields of Lisse

Europe Diary - Post #1 by Kathy

It is 9:00PM on our first night in Europe. Our plane landed at 11:00AM this morning, which was 2:00AM Arizona time, and despite all attempts, none of the four of us slept on the plane. I kept everybody up as long as I could today, to try and convert them to Europe time. Patrick was falling asleep in his pancake at 3:00PM today so after much rousting, I pushed them out until about 5:00PM when I let them go to bed for the night. Rebecca had some complaints that it was still light under the angled wall window where their bunk beds are situated, but she quickly conked out, and here it is 9:00PM, it just got dark, and guess who's the only one up?!

I want to compliment Mike right now on his fine driving of our Renault diesel Kangoo, manual drive so I am useless, that we are leasing. I want to compliment him now before he totals it. Just kidding. There aren't a lot of barriers between the canals and the roads out here in the Dutch countryside so I have only said, "Please don't put the Kangoo in the canal," about twelve times so far. He loves me :)

Pick up of the car was pretty uneventful. We took the Crowne Plaza Hotel shuttle to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. From there we were directed to a covert location on the second floor of the hotel, behind several closed doors, where was seated a man in a stretch white nylon leotard top with a metallic Peugeot emblem above his nipple. On later inspection, when he stood up, we noticed that he was wearing what I like to call "house-party jeans," extra electric-blue with back pockets that end just above the knees. The nice, farm-boy-like, middle-aged innkeeper that checked us in at the hotel was also wearing these jeans which we have also affectionately called "Simon's jeans" after our Scottish soccer coach who was young and hip and wearing these jeans a few years ago. So Simon, if you're reading this... what have you done with European fashion, man???

I have just a few pictures to share so far... The ferry, which is the only way in or out of Kaag... not sure why they don't just build a bridge... must research this...

Our Renault (brown) in front of the hotel:

Kaag village life walking down the main street... it takes about 5 minutes total to see the whole town...

And the pancake... We weren't sure what meal we were having... breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but our innkeeper assured us that, "We can have pancake anytime in the Netherlands..." :)