Part 17: A Slice of Holland

After Dustin’s parents left on Monday, I had a few days to prepare for my Mom and Dad’s arrival that Friday. This visit was going to be different, though, because we weren’t planning any big trips. We planned a few day trips and on our down time, I put my parents to work on some projects around the house.

Jacob and I picked them up Friday around lunch time. They were all smiles, even after the long flight. We headed straight home for a relaxing afternoon (recovery from jet lag).

We woke up Saturday morning with plans to go to the market. My parents really seemed to enjoy it. They even ordered some cheese to be vacuum-packed and picked up the next week so they could take some home.

My Mom was so amazed by the tiny European cars that she had to get a picture on one of our trips out.
The rest of the day we hung around the house making our list of projects. That night we celebrated my birthday. It was nice to have my parents there to help me celebrate. My Mom even baked me a cake. Yummy!

The big surprise for my birthday was flower boxes and flowers from Dustin. We have a balcony outside our bedroom with holders for flower boxes. We just didn’t have any boxes. With my Mom’s help, Dustin picked out some flowers for me. They look so great from the street. Plus, this virtually guaranteed a return trip by my Mom in April / May to refill the boxes.

Sunday we drove to Kinderdijk to see the 19 original windmills of Holland. It was a beautiful day – perfect for pictures!


That night, we had a little celebration for Jacob’s birthday (mainly so my parents could see him open his presents). One of the presents was his Halloween costume – a monkey! He’s going to be so cute!

Monday we worked through our project list – sewing buttons, mending pants, hanging hooks, pictures, etc. I didn’t want my parents to be bored! We also took a stroll to the grocery store so my parents could see what every day living is like. We picked some bread up at the bakery as well as an appeltart for desert.

Tuesday we headed to Amsterdam for the day. The day started out a little slow due to a rain delay. We debated on whether or not to go or wait for another day, but in the end we decided to give a shot. As it turned out, we didn’t have any rain the rest of the day. We first toured Anne Frank’s house. Then, holding true to our past visits to Amsterdam, we had lunch at the Pancake Bakery. After that, we headed to the Rijksmuseum to check out some Dutch masters. Following that, we headed back towards the train station to pick up a canal tour. We needed to rest our feet, so the boat ride was nice. We headed back to Voorburg after the tour.

One thing on my Mom’s list to see while she was here was a Delftware factory. So, we drove to Delft Wednesday morning to see how the famed pottery was made. We took a 30 minute tour of the factory and probably spent 1.5 hours in the gift shop afterwards. We learned that there are 4 Delftware patterns, not just the blue and white that everyone seems to recognize. All are beautiful! It’s amazing that they’re hand painted. It must take some serious patience to do that all day long. We were surprised how expensive Delftware is and couldn’t decide what we wanted to purchase for our souvenir. After walking laps around the store, we decided on what we wanted and made our purchases.
Thursday morning Jacob had his 11 month checkup (he had to get 2 shots). That afternoon, we went to Madurodam in Den Haag. Madurodam is a miniature Holland. You walk through an outdoor exhibit of all the major sights in Holland at 1/25th the scale. The detail in the miniature buildings is unreal, and it really does give you a good feel of the country.

That evening we met Dustin at the beach so my parents could see the North Sea and have a nice dinner out.

Friday, Dustin was able to take the day off from work. We decided to go to Brugge. After visiting the town back in August, we just new my Mom would love it. So, we drove down to Belgium to see some lace and taste some chocolate. We strolled through the cobblestone streets and went in one lace shop after the other. We also learned that Belgium is famous for its tapestries. In the end, my Mom and I each picked out a lace table runner. We also purchased my Mom a tapestry purse for an early birthday present and took a carriage ride through the town. Jacob even rode up front!
On the way back home, we decided on a different route. We drove up along the coast and saw a beautiful sunset!
Saturday we went back to the market and hung around the house the rest of the day. We took my parents to the airport first thing Sunday morning. We had a great visit! I think Jacob had a great time, too!

Part 16: Great Anticipation, Concern, and Reward

This vacation was met with more anticipation than any other trip we have planned. From the moment that we moved to Holland, Dad and Kay started planning a trip. It didn’t take long to know what we wanted to do (i.e. where we wanted to go), but it did take some time to pull together the details.

Dad and Kay are aggressive planners. Give them an agenda and they will map out every possible contingency, check the list 3 times, and add 4-5 layers of safety stock. True to Murphy’s Law, the items that you think are the easiest turned out to be the ones that created the most concern: most notably, getting the passports.

That is actually what was so ironic. Dad and Kay submitted applications to get their passports 23 weeks before their trip. At the time they submitted the paperwork, the average time for approval was 12 weeks. As luck would have it, the approval took much longer than expected --- Dad and Kay swear that they are not on any special “watch list”, but one never knows and I’m still not sure.

Their flight was scheduled to leave on Thursday morning around 8am. As of the Wednesday 10am before they were supposed to leave they still didn’t have the passports. Lucky for them, and us, the passports arrived at noon on Wednesday, they got the green light and off they went…

It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention the good family friend that came up with the solution to fix the passport problem. Paul advised Dad to call his Senator’s office and ask for help. He did and they did. As is turned out, the US government changed the law. Now passports are required when traveling to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands which apparently is causing a huge backlog of passport applications.

It even got some press in the UK Financial Times.

Dad and Kay did make the flight and found their way to Amsterdam by 7am on Friday morning. We have tried many different tactics to break jetlag: both for Amanda and me and for our guests. We have found that the best method is to stay awake all day long on the day that you arrive. It is very difficult to do (just like staying up for more than 24hrs at a time), but if you can then the first night’s sleep is very good and you typically break the jetlag in one day.

We have also learned, however, if you arrive too early (i.e. 7-8am) then staying awake is virtually impossible and you seem to get over-tired. Sometimes you can get so overtired that even if you stay awake the entire day, you still can’t sleep well during the first night.

The best time to arrive, as far as we are concerned, is around lunchtime or early afternoon. Then, staying awake is manageable and the first night sleep is very good.

Dad and Kay probably arrived a little too early. We met them at the airport at 8am, checked their baggage at an all day locker, bought a couple of coffees (Euro-style – Dad and Kay were not impressed – they said it was like drinking coffee grinds), and we headed off to Amsterdam.

We achieved our goal to see the Anne Frank House (must-see), eat at the Pancake Bakery (near the AF house), and step into the Oude Kerk (the old church). It was a good way to start the trip, but we may have walked a little too much (especially since they just finished a 12-hour plane ride).

We made it home by 6pm and fixed some dinner for the night. As you can see from the pictures, Dad and Kay didn’t make it to dinner.

That ended Friday, the first day of their trip. On Saturday we took it easy: got up late, went to the market, took naps, and played board games. Not a bad day. In fact, I think it is one of the best ways to spend a day.

In all honesty, this is really an example of something that I didn’t expect to learn in Europe. The value to living in Europe isn’t just getting to see the historical sites; it is also about learning the day-to-day lifestyle. Walking to the grocery store or the market, spending more time at home, driving less and taking the train to work, cooking with fresh bread and cheese… Of all the things that we have gotten to see, I will enjoy these most.

On Sunday our vacation began. Paris.

We did it completely Euro-style by walking to the bus-stop, bus to the tram, tram to the train, and train to Paris. Amanda and I have gotten used to using the public transportation system, but I think it shocked Dad and Kay a little bit. I can understand their position; it is very different to resign control to someone / something else. Instead of driving to your destination (where you are in nearly complete control of all your surroundings), we were completely dependent on someone else.

The Thalys train is a high-speed train that connects Amsterdam and Paris. It is pretty good, but not quite as nice as the ICE that we took to Cologne. We had 4 seats that faced each other and a table in between. We packed a traditional Dutch lunch (sandwiches and fruit) and added potato chips (totally “un-Dutch”).

When we arrived in Paris, we gave Dad and Kay a quick tutorial on how a Subway system works (i.e. gotta know your stop and the stop at the end of the line) and found our way to the hotel.

It was a nice little hotel located in the Eiffel Tower district. In the planning stages, we decided to try to save a few dollars by staying in the same room. I can’t really say it was the best decision; the room was a little small for 4 adults and a baby. But, we managed.

The first thing you have to do when you come to Paris is see the Eiffel Tower. It was a cloudy day, but it was cool to see. What was even better than the tower, however, was seeing Dad and Kay react to it. They were like kids in a candy store. They kept saying that they never thought they would ever get to see something like this.

After the Eiffel Tower, we decided to trek our way to the Louvre. It was a long walk, but a lot to see on the way. After crossing the Seine, we worked our way into the “Jardin”, French for gardens. Parts of the gardens are dedicated to a Greek Mythology exhibits. It is nice because it reminded me of all the stories I learned about in my Junior High class.

The best part of this walk is it provided a glimpse of how many pictures would be taken on the trip. Dad is a picture maniac. During the walk, Dad insisted in taking pictures of every single statue in the garden. And, when we made it to the Louvre, he took a picture of everything he saw there too… It was a little funny to watch; it didn’t bother us, because it made the trip a little more relaxing. Dad probably walked twice as far as we did: back and forth between pictures.

We harassed him a little bit, but in the end it was fun to watch.

The Louvre itself is impressive. It is very busy (too bad), but very, very cool. Since moving here, Amanda and I have been to a lot of museums. All of them are nice, but after seeing a few, you can definitely see the differences. The differences lie in the quality of the artifacts. While in Luxemburg, I went to a museum that had items from ~2000 to 1000 BC. The items they showed off were wooden bowls and old arrowheads. They are cool, but not really breath-taking. However, from the same time period the Louvre showed a woven rocking chair, a hand-crafted / painted chest, and a harp --- incredible. The point – Napoleon did the Louvre well; the quality of the exhibits is second to none.

If you read the DaVinci Code or saw the movie, then you know the significance of the inverted pyramid. In the movie, Tom Hanks is walking around the outside of the Louvre and then walks over the pyramid. In real life, the upside down pyramid is inaccessible and surrounded by a roundabout. You can, however, view from inside the Louvre.

After the Louvre, we walked along the Seine River toward Notre Dame. It turned out to be a nice day with no rain and temperatures in the 60’s. The walk wasn’t too long, but after the Louvre, we were getting pretty tired. Notre Dame is located on an island in the middle of the river just west of the Island of St. Louis. We walked past Saint Chapelle, which is also on the Top Ten list in Paris, but didn’t have time to stop in.

When you walk toward Notre Dame from the front, it does look impressive, but not as differentially impressive when compared to the other sites. I guess I expected otherwise. But, when you walk away from the church and look at it from the south side of the river, it really looks stunning. In the 19th century, Victor Hugo wrote his famous book The Hunchback of Notre Dame and called attention to the state of the cathedral. He and other famous artists raised public concern over the dilapidation and called upon the state to make the necessary repairs.

They did and today Notre Dame stands as one of the most visited sites in the world.

We walked through the cathedral, but only stayed for few minutes. The one thing that I remember about Notre Dame from my last visit in 1992 was the Pieta. I remember it being the most impressive sculpture that I had ever seen. In ‘92, I think we got much closer to it than we were allowed this time --- I guess that is a carryover from 9/11.

If you search for Pieta online you will find a number of statues that carry that name. If you dig deeper you will learn Pieta is an Italian word meaning pity / grief. The word is typically used to describe the sculptures of the Virgin Mary holding Christ after the crucifixion. I originally thought that Notre Dame held Michelangelo’s Pieta, but later learned that that sculpture is held in the Vatican. We saw one pieta in Sacre Coeur and the second in Notre Dame – I can’t wait to see the original in Rome.

After Notre Dame we walked across the bridge and checked out the Latin Quarter. We didn’t know what to expect, but it was the coolest street in Paris. That place was hopping. It is lined with tons of Greek and French restaurants, Ice-cream shops, and Crepes stands. Most of the Greek restaurants have an open grill at the front-window where they are BBQing huge prawns, steaks, and rotisserie chickens. They looked awesome.

We settled on a neat little French restaurant and had the best meal of the trip. Incredible.

After the Latin Quarter, we once again miss-judged the distance on the map and decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower --- our calculations indicated it was just around the corner. Then, 1.5 hours later, we made it to there.

It is really difficult to convey the beauty of the Eiffel Tower. Afterall, it isn’t that old, vintage 1880, and it is just a bunch of steel. As a matter of fact, the Parisians were so irritated with the eyesore that they tried to get the city to take it down after the world’s fair. The Parisians lost that battle and the monument stayed.

At night, the Eiffel Tower is really beautiful. The soft yellow lights lining the structure make it glow. And, every hour the tower sparkles for about 10 minutes. It’s beautiful! Our camera didn’t get many great shots, but Dad’s did. He has one of the cutting edge digital SLR’s. His shots turned out really nice.

After the Eiffel Tower (and about 15 miles of walking for the day), we headed back toward the hotel. On the way we pasted the Invalides, Napolean’s Tomb. It looks great during the day and really good at night too.

That essentially ended our first full day in Paris. Too busy, but that seems to be a trend with our vacations.

Tuesday was forecasted to be the nicest day of the week: clear skies and 70F – an ideal day to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. When Amanda, Jacob, Mom, and Aunt Sherry visited Paris in April, they only spent 15 minutes in the Eiffel Tower line… Needless to say, it took us a bit longer. We actually stood in line for 2-3 hours; at least it was a nice day to stand outside.

It is a great view from the top; especially on a clear day. You can see everything.

The best story about this trip is about Kay. I first met Kay when Dad brought her to Ericka’s high school graduation. I remember it because Kay was clutching Dad’s arm as he led her up the bleachers; she was terrified. She was scared because she is deathly afraid of heights.

So, after knowing that and then seeing her climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower, you can imagine how proud we were of her.

At the top of the Tower, Amanda was smart enough to scope out a path to the Arc de Triomphe. When we got back down, she led us over to the next stop.

The Arc de Triomphe was a monument erected in honor of the Napoleonic victories in the early 1800’s. This was the time that Napoleon Bonaparte expanded France’s territory and tried to conquer the world. This war and WWI are France’s claim to international fame, and some would say their only claim to arrogance.

Beneath the Arc there is a tomb to the unknown soldier (built after WWI) with an eternal flame that resembles JFK’s eternal flame in Arlington. In fact, JFK and Jackie visited Paris and joined Charles De Gaulle at the inaugural lighting of the flame. Jackie apparently remembered this after JFK’s assassination and then suggested it for JFK’s grave.

Every day at 6pm, they have a formal relighting ceremony. We were for the ceremony that evening. I don’t know which dignitary was there with us, but he had to hold some authority. Everyone was taking his picture and shaking his hand. If you know who he is, please let us know.

After the ceremony at 6, we stopped and had dinner on the Champs Elysees, and walked back to hotel. It was an early end to the night, but given the last two days, we needed a good night’s rest.

On Wednesday, we rented a car and headed to Normandy. We were aiming to see as much WWII historical sites as possible. We knew that we could spend ~120 Euro / person for a guided tour to see the key sites, but felt we could save a bit of dough if we did it on our own. So, again with GPS in hand, we headed off to Normandy.

It was a miserable day. I mean raining / storming / cold --- very nasty weather. We were glad to be in the car instead of walking around Paris; besides, our feet needed the break. It took a bit longer to get to the beaches then expected (after a slight detour – caused by a GPS malfunction – ok, it was operator error).

We tried to leave at 8am and expected a 3 hour drive. But, ended up leaving at 9:30 and got to Normandy around 2pm. Not quite what we expected, but at least we got there.

Almost everyone knows the history, but here is a tutorial anyway. In 1942 Germany was winning the war on just about every front. Their interests that year were more fixed on Russia after they couldn’t quite bomb the UK into submission. Russia wasn’t falling for them quite as quickly as they expected, but by all accounts they were still “winning”.

Pearl Harbor had been bombed the year before and Germany knew the Americans were now in the war. It took a while for America to get itself pulled together and readied for war, but they were fully committed. Germany believed that America would focus on Japan, since they were to blame for Pearl Harbor and they didn’t really believe that America had the stomach for a war, let along a war on two fronts. They were wrong.

America did engage on two fronts – the Pacific and the Atlantic. After America joined the allied war, there was a lot of debate about how they should engage Germany. The US believed they should immediately invade France and drive Germany back. However, Churchill believed the Allies needed more time to prepare and convinced the allies to first move onto Africa.

After one year of building resources and setting the stage for the French invasion, the Allies attacked. They chose the coast of France (Normandy) for several strategic reasons, but the biggest was its proximity to England. For this invasion, they chose a 5 pronged attack: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Utah and Omaha were led by the US, Gold and Sword by the UK, and Juno by Canada.

Germany was well positioned and prepared for this invasion. They knew it would be difficult to defend the entire coast, but because of the high cliffs and limited beaches, they had a good idea where the attack would occur. They also planned to defend the beaches by being able to quickly swing troops up and down the beach to cover the most highly concentrated attacks.

Rommel, probably Germany’s most-highly decorated officer, was in charge of this defense. But, he was injured just days before D-day by a random strafing run by a British plane; bad luck for Germany.

The allied invasion was well-prepared. They bombarded the area with over 5000 tons of bombs, 12000 air forces (5000 fighters), and 6500 sea vessels (over 4000 were landing craft). All of this hit the coast at 6:30am on June 6, 1944.

Germany was awestruck and surprised by the attack. Rommel was in intensive care and only one division of German Regulars was on post. The remaining posts were held by new recruits and “lower-quality” soldiers.

As fate would have it, the American divisions attacked the beaches held by Germany’s elite soldiers. If you look at the casualties resulting from the 5 invasions, the US took the brunt of the losses. The British lost approximately 1000 people at both Gold and Sword beaches. The Canadians lost approximately 375 at Juno. And, the US lost 197 at Utah and 4400 at Omaha. Can you guess which beach was defended by Germany’s elite soldiers?

We went to the major historical site and cemetery at Omaha Beach. The site is set up such that you walk onto bluff and look over the Mulberry patch to the beach from where one of the main German bunkers was positioned. Then you can walk down to the beach and look up toward the bluff.

It seemed like certain suicide. Aside from a very small burme and the anti-tank obstacles, there is no cover between the gunners and the beach for protection. The experts are right…Steven Spielberg did a great job with Saving Private Ryan; it is just like it was depicted in the movie.

It is a little eerie to be walking on that beach when you know so many people died there.

The cemetery is also very well done. It very closely resembles Arlington cemetery in Virginia and the Luxemburg cemetery for the Battle of the Bulge with the white crosses, perfectly aligned, along very well manicured lawns. On one side of the cemetery you will find a small church and on the other side a memorial that details the military movements.

This cemetery stands out, however because it overlooks the beaches and ocean. It is a unique experience to stand with crosses in front of you as the waves crash onto the beach and the salty air pushes through your senses.

I can’t imagine charging that beach and facing those German guns.

At the end (or beginning) of the beach there is also a museum. It is moving. As you walk through the museum it gives a basic testimonial of what happened in WWII and definitely highlights the D-Day invasion. But, what set it apart from the rest were all the personal testimonials of bravery and heroism. It is amazing to me what some people did during that campaign – truly remarkable and completely selfless acts.

After leaving Omaha beach, we only had about 1-2 hours left before we needed to leave (and return the car by midnight). The next stop was Pont du Hoc.

Most people (including me) hadn’t heard about this site. This place is where the German heavy artillery was set. From this point the Germans were firing upon both Omaha and Utah beaches: clearly a strategic point for Germany.

This was a perfect place for the guns because they were surrounded on 3-sides by 60 feet of sheer cliffs. The American Ranger group (~220 people) landed on the beach below and climbed the cliffs up toward the Germans. The Germans knew they were there and fought them off with merciless intent. Even enduring massive losses, the Rangers kept coming forward and eventually captured the point. The Ranger group left with only 90 people still able to fight.

We left Normandy around 7pm and made it back to Paris around 11pm; much better time than we made coming in. It was a great day, but very sobering. I think this is a trip that everyone should make at least one time in their lifetime.

On Thursday we took it easy, stayed pretty close to the hotel in the morning and minimized our walking by taking the metro to the destinations.

The first place we visited was the Invalides. The Invalides is a monument erected primarily to Napoleon Bonaparte. He was the most famous Napoleon that led France to their highest point of glory in the early 1800’s.

The funniest part of this museum is the difference between the paintings and the sculptures. Painters have painted pictures of Napoleon as a short, chubby, double-chin little guy that does not look tough at all. But, the sculptures of Napoleon depict him as a tall, rippled chest dude that looks like a Roman Caesar. I suspect Napolean had more to do with the sculptures.

Attached to the tomb were to museums, one for WWI and the other for WWII. I have not studied WWI since high school, so naturally I forgot the majority of the key points. Both museums were really well done. It was interesting, however, to see the “French-side” of the history.

For WWI, it appeared that the French did a pretty good job holding back the Germans in the trench war. In WWII, however, the French did not hold up at all. All of France was conquered in like 4 days. So, when the French were describing the events of WWII, they framed their actions in the most positive light. Things like --- “although the French started slow, they rose to the call and met the challenge… Blah, blah, blah…” It was clear that they are very aware of how badly they performed during that war.
After the museum we took the metro up to Sacre Coeur. It is a beautiful white Byzantine church set on the top of a hill in downtown Paris. It is really an impressive sight. Dad and I decided to climb to the top while Amanda and Kay stayed at the bottom with Jacob and the stroller. After climbing to the top, we then walked through the crypt.

Here is a word of advice - in all churches in Europe the insides look the same. They are big rooms with lots of stained glass windows --- the coolest parts are in the crypt. That is where all the most-famous are buried and best pieces of art are displayed.
In this crypt there were two rooms holding numerous artifacts from the crusades and another room holding the pieta. It was great…

After Sacre Coeur we found a nice little restaurant in the Latin Quarter and called it a night. We made it to the train station early on Friday morning and headed back to Holland. The picture of Jacob summed up our time in Paris --- we were all very tired.

All in all, it was a good week… Long, but good. We had a fun spending time together and experienced a lot of history.