Part 23: Ooo La La!

Dustin had a business trip to Fos, in southern France by Marseille, and so Jacob and I tagged along. Dustin had to be in the office on Thursday, so we flew out Wednesday night and planned to stay until Sunday. We rented a car so we could drive along the French Riviera. The weather forecast called for sun and temperatures in the 50s and 60s – a big improvement from the cold, rainy Holland weather. The only problem was that when we arrived, it was sunny but in the 30s and 40s. Dustin had his heavy coat that he had worn to work and Jacob had his heavy coat because I always pack for all kinds of weather for him. I, however, in an attempt to pack light did not bring my heavy coat. Instead, I brought a lighter weight jacket appropriate for temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Needless to say, I froze.

While Dustin was at work on Thursday, Jacob and I drove to Les Baux (about 30 minutes from where Dustin was). The travel book said you could see castle ruins so it sounded fun to me. Once we got there, however, I had visions of Capri where Dustin and I carried Jacob in his stroller up a million steps to see Tiberius’ ruins. This time, though, I was on my own and Jacob weighs a lot more. He can walk, but I didn’t think he could climb castle ruins. Dustin would have said that “since Jacob is so advanced” he could handle it, but I didn’t think so. And, since there was no way I was going to carry him up a bunch of steps, I decided to take a picture of the castle remains from below and opened the tour book to find another town to visit (preferably something without manual labor).

Thus, we headed to Arles. I drove to the town center and just walked around the narrow streets of shops. I stopped to grab a sandwich for me and Jacob and continued walking. We found a park, so I let Jacob out of the stroller to walk around.

Dustin ended up calling to tell me that he would be done early and that our plan was changing - we were heading to Avignon for the night instead of Nice.

We arrived in Avignon late afternoon on Thursday. We immediately fell in love with the town. The city center is surrounded by a medieval wall and the entrance and main street are completely covered in Christmas lights. In the center of town, there was a Christmas market. We perused that for a while and enjoyed a crepe with nutella (a yummy chocolate spread) and a waffle with powdered sugar. On the way back to the hotel, there was a beautiful crescent moon. It definitely put us into the Christmas spirit.


As you can see, Jacob had a long day.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast and then toured the House of Popes (Dustin language; it is actually called Palais des Papes). In the 1300s, the papacy was moved from Rome to Avignon due to some political reasons. Seven popes resided in the Avignon House of Popes from 1309 through 1377. It’s pretty impressive, but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to the Vatican. We can’t wait to go to Rome in March!



Aside from pure southern French charm and the palace, the other notable item found in Avignon is the St. Benedict Bridge. This bridge was made famous in the 1100’s after Benedict told the church that God spoke to him and told him to build a bridge across the river Rhone. He was quickly laughed at and mocked by both the clergy and citizens. The story indicates that the Pope told Benedict if God told him to build the bridge, then he can start with this rock. As the pope made the statement he pointed to a huge boulder left over from building the cathedral. Without hesitation Benedict walked over to the boulder, picked it up, moved it to the river, and tossed it toward the river edge. That clearly signaled to all watching that God supported his mission and the town rallied behind Benedict to build the bridge. After Benedict’s death at 26 years of age, the papacy canonized his life work, and he was thereafter only referred to as Saint Benedict.

After Avignon, we drove to Aix en Provence. Aix is similar Avignon. We walked through the many streets of shops and through the Christmas market. Jacob also had a carousel ride. This town reminded us a lot of Italy. I think we are learning that there aren’t really country-by-country differences. Instead, there are regional differences. Southern Europe (Italy, Southern France, Barcelona, etc.) all resemble one another just like Northern Europe (Holland, Germany, etc.).

That night, we finally made our way to Nice. We didn’t really have a plan once we got there. On Saturday morning we woke up to cold, rainy weather (we could have stayed in Holland if we wanted that). Since it was so yucky outside, we took a quick stroll through town to the beach and then decided to drive north along the coast to see what there was to see. The biggest surprise for me was that the beaches are rocky, not sandy.


The drive along the coast is gorgeous!


Monaco (the second smallest European country behind Vatican City) is not far from Nice. We stopped there to see yet another Christmas market in Monte Carlo. Each market seems to have something a little unique, but for the most part, they are all very similar. This one made snow to help decorate. This was really just another gross display of wealth by the “rich and famous”.

After Monaco, we continued north (back into France) and stopped in a small town for lunch. Then, we turned back south and drove to Cannes: known for the Cannes Film Festival. How could we be that close to where all the Hollywood stars go and not go ourselves? Unfortunately, the festival is held in May and it was freezing cold, so we didn’t see anyone famous. The beaches of Cannes were less rocky. I guess as you travel south, the beaches get nicer and nicer.

We left Cannes early evening with the hopes of finding a neat place to eat dinner on the way back to Nice. Luck was on our side. We came upon Antibes (Dustin pronounces this one as AnTEEBS – he really has no culture at all – the proper pronunciation is ahn-teeba). This town was the highlight for Dustin. It was quaint and charming. It also held a Christmas market where we found a unique stand that sold children’s puzzles and other items. They were all handmade by the lady running the stand. We purchased an elephant puzzle for Jacob, and he now plays with it constantly. Mostly he brings me all the pieces and watches me put it together. Hey, whatever keeps him entertained makes me happy. Each piece is a different color so it’s a good learning tool as well. We found a nice restaurant and had a wonderful last dinner on our trip.

The next morning, we woke up and headed back to Marseilles. We made a detour through Saint Tropez, another hot spot for celebrities. Supposedly, it also has the nicest beaches of the French Riviera – these were sandy. The scenery is beautiful and it’s easy to see why St. Tropez attracts so many people (and money). The boats sitting in the marina are unreal!

We need to try to make it to the Mediterranean when it’s warm and we can actually enjoy the beaches.

Jacob enjoyed the plane ride home.

Part 22: It's Christmas!

Everyone raves about the German Christmas markets. They start around the last week of November and run through Christmas. We’re so close to Germany and we had a free weekend, so we decided to head to Germany to check out a couple. After looking at some websites, it seems that just about every town in Germany has their own market with a little different spin. Cologne is probably the largest city in Germany that we could make a day trip out of, so we headed there.

We heard that Dusseldorf had some nice markets and it’s on the way to Cologne, so we stopped there first. Unfortunately, on the way I realized I had forgotten the camera. We were too far along to turn back, so our first order of business once we arrived was to buy a disposable camera (pictures will be forthcoming once we get them developed and scanned in). After finding a camera, we needed to get some lunch. We stopped at the first bratwurst stand and dug in. Next door was a potato cake tent, so we tried some of those, too. Not too healthy, but very yummy!

After eating, we started walking through the markets. There were stands selling candles, glass ornaments, wooden ornaments, puppets, honey, candy, toys, crafts and more! The stands themselves were set up along the sidewalks in a busy shopping area of town. The first market we went to looked like a log cabin village in a forest. We found another market that had angels everywhere. It seems that each market area had its own theme.

Jacob also had his first ride on a carousel. We couldn’t tell if he liked it or not, but we sure thought it was cute!

After walking around downtown Dusseldorf for awhile, we drove on to Cologne. Since we’d already been to Cologne, we knew the basic layout of the city. We were able to hit 2 of Cologne’s markets before heading back to Voorburg. Cologne’s markets were much larger and more crowded. The first one we walked through was right next to the massive cathedral. They had a brass ensemble playing Christmas music nearby. It definitely put us into the Christmas spirit. We didn’t purchase much, but it was really fun to walk through all the stands and see what was there.

The one thing that surprised us was that we didn’t buy more. We saw a lot of neat items, but didn’t purchase anything. This suited Dustin quite well, but left my Christmas list a little empty. Next year we’ll have to pick out a couple of other towns to check out.

Part 21: Where's the Chocolate?

We decided that we wanted to bring some Belgian chocolate back to the States to share with family because it really does seem to taste better. However, our available weekends were booking up quickly so on short notice we slipped away on the last Saturday of November for a day trip back to Belgium.

To try something different we drove to Ghent instead of Brugge. To be honest, we expected basically the same thing in Ghent as we found in Brugge, chocolate and lace, but when we got there it was completely different.

Our first impression was not that great. We almost decided to just drive the extra 45 minutes to Brugge. But at the last minute, we decided to give it a shot. We parked the car and started walking. Jacob needed to stretch his legs, too.

We soon discovered that Ghent is quite charming. Where Brugge is authentic medieval Europe with chocolate, lace, castles, and everything very,very old, Ghent is like a cross between medieval and modern. At first we didn’t see any “old Europe” in the city, but after walking around a bit we found it interjected within a modern city infrastructure and soon discovered its unique charm. I think the modern-medieval look could be awful (like a city that can’t decide what it wants to be), but Ghent managed to pull it off.

As we were walking, we ran into Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). Sinterklaus has many helpers (lots of Black Petes) who help him deliver gifts to children in Holland on December 5. Pete is black because he slides down chimneys and gets covered in soot. Sinterklaus and his helpers arrive by boat from Spain on November 17th. After that, you never know when you’ll run into Zwarte Piet, they are everywhere. We happened to see them in Ghent passing out crackers and gift certificates to children.

There were two main differences between Ghent and Brugge. First, we only saw a couple of lace shops and they didn’t have nearly the selection as we found in Brugge. Second, we only saw a couple of chocolate shops. Apparently, not everywhere in Belgium has lace and chocolate. Because of the lack of chocolate shops, we walked into the first one we found. As it happens, this was one of only two true chocolatiers in Ghent (they actually make their own chocolate on site). Jackpot! The store just smelled yummy!
While we probably prefer Brugge, Ghent is lovely as well. On the way home, we needed to stop at IKEA. We ended up eating dinner there (they serve Swedish meatballs that are tasty) and got some cute pictures of Jacob being silly in his highchair.

Part 20: Tapas, tapas and more tapas!

Daddy and Jacob took an early morning bike ride to return some movies before heading to Barcelona. It was super chilly!

Public transportation can be your best friend or worst nightmare. In terms of our trip to Barcelona, it was our worst nightmare. Amanda and I really try to live within the environment; so naturally, we try to take advantage of the public systems because “everyone does”.

The plan was the bus to Den Haag Central, train to Schipol airport, fly to Barcelona, and train to the hotel. The first part went pretty well, but then again, we know that system cold. We left with plenty of excess time, just in case, and used all of it; this vacation happened to coincide with the Holland’s fall break. By the time we reached the Barcelona airport, filed a claim for the broken luggage, and found our way to the train station, 6 hours had passed. Nevertheless we persevered…

The Barcelona airport is located just 30km from the downtown area, so we thought taking the train would be a snap. It wasn’t. To start, we had to catch a bus to the train station – not a good sign. It was crowded so not everyone could sit. When we reached the station we learned it is designed similar to Paris – no consideration for the handicapped; in other words, lots and lots of stairs. It literally seemed like we went up twice for every time we went down.

After two hours of sweating our way through the system, we found our way to the hotel. Much to our appreciation, the hotel exceeded all expectations.

For this trip, we had the good fortune to travel with a close group of friends. Our friends also have a young child, so both families were well matched. As you probably know, traveling with people can be good or bad; and, you don’t really know until you get into it. For this trip, the odds were actually stacked against us; we generally pack too much education and touring into our vacations and they like the relaxed, no schedule, no pressure, “if you don’t see it, don’t worry about it” method. Lucky for us, this trip ended up being a “perfect blend of education and relaxation” – not our words.

We arrived at our hotel around 4pm and decided to meet up again at 7pm to head to dinner. It is very normal for Spanish dinners to start around 9pm and last for hours. I guess the afternoon siesta gives everyone a little more energy at night.

The hotel was nice – probably the first Euro-hotel that seemed like a US hotel. It was very new, modernly decorated with wooden floors. The wooden floors turned out to be a real treat for Jacob because it gave Mom and Dad the confidence that it wasn’t overly skeezy.

We met at 7pm and headed off toward downtown Barcelona. The walk was only 15 minutes from our hotel and it was good weather.

When you first get to a new town you have to spend a little time getting your bearings. Unless you have a very well-traveled compadre, finding restaurants, directions, and “things to do” can be difficult. The worst is finding a good restaurant – we learned our lesson the hard way in Paris and struck out with every meal with my Dad and Kay.

I think upfront research can be helpful, but it isn’t a guarantee. We didn’t have a Spain expert nor did we do any research. We just relied on instincts and luck.

The first night we struck gold. The downtown area was like a picture from a tourist book: narrow cobblestone streets, laundry hanging from the windows, and plenty of small boutique stores. We maneuvered ourselves toward the “old-centre”, just west of the La Rambla, and found a really neat restaurant named Origins.

Most restaurants in Spain (or at least in Barcelona) is a Tapas restaurant. Tapas is a family-style of eating. Instead of ordering one meal per person, you order a bunch of smaller “meals” and then share with the table. It’s kind of like ordering a lot of appetizers. As you might expect, I tended to over estimate my ability to consume the food and always ordered too much; let’s just call that one a character flaw.

This restaurant was a sight of perfection. The food was authentic and really tasty, the table location was perfect (plenty of room right by the front window), and the ambiance was peaceful.

It was the best meal of our trip.

We finished eating at midnight (Jacob slept through the whole meal) and made our way back to the hotel. It was a great end to a very, very long day.

The next morning we decided to just do some exploring. We met at 9am and started off with a little Spanish breakfast at a nearby café. A normal breakfast generally consists of a pastry (or two or three) and a coffee (or water or hot chocolate).

We didn’t have an agenda, so really we just wandered around. We walked past the Arc de Triumph (Barcelona’s version of the famous one in Paris). We also found a nice park just south of the Arc. The park was nice because it had a little kid’s park and a zoo. Jacob clearly liked the swings and the zoo.


And, like most big parks, they were full of great flowers.

We started toward the beach (or port). Whenever you visit a town on the Mediterranean, it is generally accompanied by a lot of really expensive boats. Honestly, it is amazing at the display of wealth.

What was particularly interesting about this port, however, was the statue dedicated to Christopher Columbus. While this wasn’t the port that Columbus sailed from (that is located in Palos, Spain), he is still the most notable Spanish explorer. The statue points towards the Americas.

I don’t know what it is, but I really like retracing the steps of people like Columbus. It makes you feel like you are really seeing something special.

One aspect of Barcelona that was exceptionally striking was the architecture. Most cities we’ve seen carried the typical European mystique, but Barcelona was different. It had really exceptional buildings all throughout the city. They weren’t bigger or newer or cleaner, just uniquely special. I don’t know if it is the Gaudi exposure or a deeper, richer history of building art that has influenced Barcelona. But, no one can argue it is something special.

We ended the day by walking the La Rambla (Barcelona’s most famous street) and touring the cathedral in the old city.

The La Rambla was nice, but honestly, I didn’t see the allure. It was wide, filled with restaurants, and very busy, but it lacked the small, old-town feel. The high-end shopping was probably good (we didn’t really check it out), however, there weren’t any small “only-Barcelona” shops.

After La Rambla, we headed off toward the cathedral. On the way we found a Starbucks and an Ice Cream shop. It was a nice detour.

After the ice cream, Amanda and I decided to tour the church. The inside was really beautiful (they all are), but not overly distinctive. The outside looked nice, but was covered with scaffolding. The only thing that really set it apart was the “pope exhibit”. During most hours, one of the past popes is on display (like really on display – in a glass coffin). Unfortunately, the pope was resting when we came through – rats! It would have been cool to see a well-preserved 300 year old corpse.

We ended the day with another great meal. Not quite as good as the Origins, but still really good Tapas. And, true to form, I irritated the entire table by ordering too much food. I will work on that for next time. Remember, character flaws don’t change over night.

We planned to visit Montserat the next day: a monastery in the mountains of Catalonia. This place was highly recommended by several people, so we made it a day trip and off we went.

We traveled by public transportation (you would think we would learn) and it took about 2hrs longer to get there than we expected. The last leg was most capably traveled by gondola.

When we arrived we were impressed, but it looked just like the pictures. Some places that you visit in person look and feel completely different than the pictures; this one didn’t. We toured the grounds for a little bit basically because we didn’t know what was out there.


Finally, we found our way to the main attraction – the chapel. It was maybe the most impressive that we have seen yet; literally, it rivaled Cologne Cathedral. It was different though. Cologne is special because of its raw size. This cathedral was very clean and very high quality. It just took your breath away.

The centerpiece attraction was “Our Lady of Montserat”. This is a “black-colored” Virgin Mary. The legend says that the lady was found in a cave in the 8th century by some farmers in the area. From that legend it was decided to build the monastery. It is in a fairly inauspicious location – located near the top of a relatively unapproachable mountain. Nevertheless, it was decided to build on that spot.

The black Virgin Mary was originally thought to be colored black because of the Moorish roots in Spain; however, subsequent non-intrusive forensic testing indicated it was actually lead paint that turned black over time. People routinely line up to see / touch the statue of the Lady.

It was a moving experience. We just sat in the cathedral for a while and soaked it up.

We made it home by 7pm and headed off for a quick dinner (this one was only 2.5 hrs long) and then went back to hotel to hit the sack early.

The next morning we woke up a late and engaged in our final day of vacation. Like the first day, we just planned on wandering around, but instead of going south toward the sea, we went north toward La Segrada Familia.

Barcelona is best known for two things – La Rambla and Gaudi. Gaudi was an eccentric architect that created gravity / mind-defying works of art. He was the type of guy who really saw things differently. There is Gaudi park which hosts his smaller works and the cathedral which is his crowning achievement, or rather, idea.

The church isn’t finished yet; however he left very detailed plans on precisely how to construct the building. The artisans currently completing the work are doing so without any government funding (i.e. donations only) and using only the tools available to him. This is a painstaking process and remarkably similar to the Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota.

The church is like none other. It is almost like a cartoon. The ceiling is made to look like trees, exterior walls are decorated with numerous Christian dioramas (i.e. using cubism techniques), and the key structural pillars resemble candles.

Some people may be offended by the gross interpretation of the work; it definitely defies the traditional view of a Christian church. However, it is still very professionally done.

Unlike Crazy Horse, I believe this Church will be completed in my lifetime.

We didn’t push it on the last full day; instead we just took it easy walking through the town. We ended up having lunch/dinner on the beach.

The next morning part of the group had to leave really early to catch a flight for work. The rest of us just hung out in the morning, quickly visited a Picasso museum and then headed back to the airport.

By the way, on the way back to the airport we took a cab. It cost 30 Euros (10 Euros more than the train / bus route from before) and got us there in 20 minutes (about 2hours quicker than before). Guess which way we will be traveling next time…

Everyone had a good time…

Part 19: Jacob is One, Come Join the Fun!

It’s hard to believe, but Jacob is already one year old. We celebrated his first birthday by having lunch with another expat family that moved here around the same time we did. And, of course, we ate cake! Jacob had his first taste of cake and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Later that day, we had a Skype party with family and friends. We were able to talk with and see many of you back in the States. I think Jacob had a unique birthday celebration.

Now for a one year Jacob update:

He is crawling and cruising all over the place and keeping Mommy on her toes! He’s getting braver everyday. He now lunges between furniture that is just out of his reach, but he still hasn’t taken that first step. He stands for a few seconds on his own, and I think he surprises himself every time he does it. It won’t be long before he takes off running.

Jacob also loves to dance. Whenever he hears a catchy tune, he starts bouncing up and down to the music. It’s adorable!

He has a few different toys where he has to put balls into them to get music to play. He has figured those out and now puts everything in them, not just balls! I’m constantly digging out his blocks and fish and whatever else he has found to stick in these toys. He has a shape box as well. So far, he has only been able to put the circle in (with some guidance). The other shapes present a bit more of a challenge.

Jacob loves books! He’ll sit and entertain himself flipping through the pages. Touch and feel books are his favorite.

He finally started waving back to people on his birthday, and he loves giving himself applause. He also loves to share his toys with Mommy and Daddy. And somehow, he has figured out exactly which household items are NOT toys: like the TV remote and phone and dishes. He really doesn’t like it when we take those away.

I’m still working on teaching him how to give hugs and kisses. Sometimes I think he knows what to do, but he doesn’t do it consistently, so we’ll see.

He’s saying “mama” now (in actual reference to me, we think). And, he just said “dada” for the first time when Dustin walked into the room. Very exciting! He also says a gamut of other sounds, but we don’t think he’s matching sounds to objects just yet.

Jacob is officially off of formula, bottles and baby food. He pretty much eats everything that we do and drinks milk or water from a sippy cup. It’s nice to not have to do the bottle thing and buy formula and baby food, but now I have to worry about preparing well-rounded meals. It makes it easier that he’s a good eater and doesn’t turn his nose at much (not yet anyway).

He is just getting over his first illness. I got a cold and successfully passed it to Dustin and Jacob. It’s taken some sleepless nights, but I think we’re finally kicking it. We know we’re lucky, though, having only had to deal with a sick baby once during the whole year.

I think that takes care of the update. Jacob is a joy and doing well!