Part 43: A very cold, old "Cold World"

The best times to travel, for us, are around other prescheduled days off from work. This allows us to take longer trips without tapping into the vacation pool as much. Our original idea was to take a trip to the North Pole... I know crazy, but we found some cool vacation ideas in Rovaniemi, Finland where you could spread your time between visiting Santa's "real" home, playing with his elves, Reindeer and Husky rides, and other snow games. It would have been a great vacation, but it got outrageously expensive. This would have been the first trip where our 2-year-old would have to pay - ouch! So, the 1500 USD / person tickets were way too much.

So after booking the hotel, we ditched the idea and got our refund. We then looked to the "list of places we want to visit before moving home" and merged it with what was financially appropriate. We decided on Berlin and Prague.

These two cities had been highly recommended by numerous people, "Berlin is a great city" and "Prague's archetecture is unbelievable". Plus, when looking at the costs, travelling in and out of these cities was easy and very, very cheap.

We ended up booking a one-way flight to Berlin, a train ride from Berlin to Prague, and then another one-way from Prague back to Amsterdam. The one-way travel options in Europe are great; thanks to all of the discount airlines like Transavia, Ryan, Sky, etc. They offer point-to-point service that is priced appropriately. Unlike the majors that charge you more for a one-way than they do for a round trip. The total cost per person was 185 Euros (100 + 50 + 35). Yeah - the Prague flight was actually 7 euros + 28 euros in tax...

The agenda was leave on Friday at 6:30am (to Berlin), stay for 2 days, then train to Prague (5hrs) on Sunday, stay for 2 days, and then fly home on Christmas Eve morning. It was ambitious (as usual), but everyone I talked to indicated 2 days per city was sufficient.

We arrived in Berlin, basically on schedule, found our hotel via a cab driver with budding tour guide ambitions, and then started out on the town. Amanda and I like to see a town by walking it. We typically take the first day, or few hours, and map out our personal walking tour. These days, with Rick Steves, those tours are much more insightful and information-packed.

When you walk a city you see stuff that wouldn't get highlighted in the tour guides - i.e. odd art exhibits (like the ball shown above --- we have no idea what it is supposed to mean).

Since we woke Jacob up very early and cooped him up in an airplane / airport for most of the morning, we decided to find something for him where he could expell some energy - Berlin's Legoland.

The biggest, most famous Legoland is in Copenhagen (it's on our list). It is built up like a themepark, complete with rides like Six Flags. This one is much smaller. But, still a lot of fun. There are tons of "sand-pits" filled with lego parts, a big ball park w/ slides (Jacob's favorite), a mini-Berlin (pretty cool since we hadn't seen the city yet), and a mock-up lego factory.

We spent a couple of hours there, and the entire time I kept thinking "we just arrived to Berlin and we are wasting precious time playing with legos indoors?" But, as expected by Amanda, doing so eventually led Jacob to a long nap and contentment in the stroller. Plus, we scored some souvenir blocks that were a big hit the rest of the trip.

Legoland, by the way is stationed in Potsdammer Platz, a newly rennovated area that has a lot of high-end shopping. Previously, however, Potsdammer was one of the busiest squares in Europe. After the war, it was split in two by the Berlin Wall.

After we left Legoland, we headed north along Tiergarden Park (Berlin's Central Park) to check out the Holocaust monument, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Reichstag building.

This trip, while we didn't know it before, was to be largely jewish-focused. In Germany, and the Czech Republic, a lot of Jewish memorials and museums have been erected to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust. The first was call the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe".

As you know, over 50million people died during WWII and 6 million were Jews murdered during the Holocaust. Germany didn't build a momument too quickly, but finally in 2005, finished this memorial.

This one is pretty cool. From the outside it looks like a New Orleans cemetary with all graves above ground. The graves look about the same size (length and width), but seem to vary a little in height. It looks like ~3000 graves evenly spread out over a flat field. But, when you walk into the "symbolic" cemetary, you realize that the ground is not level. In fact the monument is built on a slope/valley. And, each of the stones are much different in height, so to give the appearence of a flat field.

It was unique and, like all monuments, a good opportunity to mentally wander through that chapter in history.

After the Jewish Memorial, we kept walking north until we found the Brandenburg Gate (bottom left picture in collage). This is the last remaining old fortification from the 18th century Berlin. At one point in the early 1800's Napolean stole the horse and Chariot from the top and took it to the Louvre; the German's later took it back when Napolean lost to the Prussians in 1813. It was also made famous in 1933 when a "torch parade" walked through the gate to honor Hilter's election victory. After WWII it became yet another site along the Berlin wall. You can see the two "actors" carrying American and Soviet flags --- this is a very common show for Berlin. Anything to make a buck.

Just one block north of the gate is the German Parliament building called the Reichstag. This building has a tattered history. It was symbol of democracy built during Kaiser Wilhem's reign (the German guy who orchestrated WWI), burned by "someone" in 1933 (most now believe it was Hitler who used it to grab more power from the Communists), the last stand for the last 1500 nazis at the end of WWII, and abandoned for ~40 years during the cold war. The current government uses this building like the US uses the capital building (top row of pictures).

There are so many monuments in Europe for WWII. The bottom-middle picture is a monument for the murdered politicians that opposed Hitler.

That basically ended the first day. It was getting late and we were all very tired. So, we walked home along the Unter den Linden, found a quick place to eat, and settled in for the night.

The next morning we decided to make it a "museum-day". There were several to choose from, but we opted for the Jewish Museum and the German History Museum. The Jewish Museum was south of us and the German museum was north; so, we had a heavy day of walking in front of us.

While visiting the "best" Jewish museum in Europe (according to Rick), we had a chance to visit a Chanuka market. It was really small, didn't offer anything different from a Christmas Market, but was still cool to say we've been to one.

The Jewish museum was really good. It chronicled the long history of the Jewish people starting somewhere in "pre-Jesus" time period. It was interesting to learn about the many plots throughout history to exterminate this ethnic group. The Jewish people have a lot of enemies.

The most moving part, for me, was the memory void. It is a room filled with thousands of faces cut out of iron. Aside from the clanking sounds that echoes when people walk in the room, it is very quiet. The faces are left to symbolize the senseless death of the Jewish people throughout history. It is called the memory void because there are specific times in history where the Jewish population has been so far reduced that the memories (i.e. history) have been lost. This was also evident in the quality of exhibits in the museum. While it was still really good; for this to be the best Jewish museum in Europe is kind of sad. I just don't think there is enough "stuff" leftover. Most of it has been burned, destroyed, and lost forever. A very sad story.

While walking between the two museums, we had a chance to see most of the Berlin sights. I think Berlin can be best described as a place looking to forget its past, by building a new future. Berlin, literally, is a massive construction site. Since it was decided to move the capital from Bonn to Berlin in the 1999 (by just a few votes), massive construction projects have been underway. A few of my work colleagues indicated that 10 years ago you could still see WWII bullet holes in the buildings. Since 1999, Germany has invested heavily into the city to "cover-up" the past and create and environment worthy of the capital. Today, the city looks great. It is clean, new, and fun.

We finally made it to the German Museum around 4pm and had to rush through to see everything by the 6pm closing time. I must say, this is an exquisite museum. It is richly adorned with great artifacts from all time periods. To me, it is an example of how relavent Germany has been in developing the history of the world (both for good and bad). They have collected a ton of unique and impressive exhibits.

Unfortunately, the museum didn't allow flash photography, so only a handful of pictures survived the blurry abyss of a shaky photographer's hand.

The pictures below show (1) Charlemagne - the guy that brought Chistianity to Germany and defined Aachen as the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, (2) the Fat Pigeon - still the symbol of Germany's Government - like our eagle, and (3) Napolean's cap and sword - taken from him after a defeat --- a very different display than in the Invalids (in Paris).

Today, we tend to think about castles as just the final result. These four pictures show the evolution of a castle over time (left to right, top to bottom). It starts as a small homestead and gradually grows into a massive fortification.

I especially liked these exhibits. The left side pictures show games sold to children during WWI and WWII (i.e. Uboat and Trench warfare kits). The center and right pictures show "old-school" video games. The middle picture is probably the first pinball machine and the right pictures is a cannon game (looked like the old baseball game where the marbled would "get-hit" into a single, double, triple, etc slot).

One of the things that I love about museums are the great pictures on display. They are always the best that captured the moment. The left-most picture below shows a time-action shot of the torch parade and the right shows the burning of the Reichstag building.

The left picture here shows a propaganda poster showing how Britain and the USSR are collaborating to win the war. The second picture shows the booster engine from a V2 rocket.

Some of the best pieces are old newspapers. I have never been good at saving the "right" newspapers (nor, do I have a wife that would allow that kind of clutter). So, I guess I will have to be happy with those that do. This one shows the jubilation at the end of the war.

We were literally the last ones to leave the museum. Just before exiting, I turned and counted the number of guards waiting for our departure; there were 14. And, each of them despised our deplorable act of being last. Oh well --- their problem, not mine.

Berlin is very far north (like 500 miles north of Maine), so the days of winter are very short. Especially so, on Winter Solstice, which was one day away. Needless to say the sun was down by the time we exited. But, lucky for us, the German Christmas Market's of Berline are in full swing the week prior, so we had plenty to do.

These markets were nice. Not so different from others we had seen, but definitly bigger. These markets had ice rinks, big candle things (whirly giggers - Amanda's term), and lots of food. So, we spent some time in market, Jacob and I took a "Choo-Choo-Ride", and we found a nice steak place for dinner.

Again, we were exhausted... So, after dinner, we headed home to get some sleep. Getting to the hotel couldn't have come any earlier.

The next morning we decided to take it easy and check out a few sites close to the hotel. Our hotel name was Hotel Mercure at Checkpoint Charlie. So, after our breakfast we headed out to the most iconic symbol of the Cold War; Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall.

Just two blocks from our hotel, there was an outdoor exhibit that chronicled the events following WW II. It basically boiled down to a power struggle between the majors (USSR and USA) where the USSR adopted Communism and the USA maintained a well-grounded belief in Democracy and Capitalism.

The world agreed to not make the same mistakes they had following WWI; that is, to so punitively punish the agressor (i.e. Germany) that they have no hope. So, following WWII, they decided instead to engage and rebuild the country. Some say that the best way to avoid a war or collapse is to ensure a strong economy and middle class. Doing so will create a standard of living such that the people will not yearn for something better.

For Germany, this platform meant it would be split in half; East Germany and West Germany. West would follow US ideals and East would follow Communism. Berlin was the center stage for this movement and it too was split in half. Berlin, however was divided into four segments: USSR, USA, UK, and France. The USA, UK, and French sectors allied together to form West Berlin.

At the beginning the differences were not so apparent and people were allowed to freely move between the different sectors. But, as the Cold War heightened and the differences grew, the segregation increased. Over time, the line between the two evolved into a barbed wire (on the ground), to a flemsy fence, and then to a wall. The wall was actually built over 3-4 phases too. The wall that everyone remembers is just the final installment of the program.

The wall became a physical example of the tensions rising between the nations. As the tensions increased, the wall got bigger.

The map below shows Germany. If you look hard enough you can see the dark line that surrounds the city. One interesting aspect is that West Berlin was, at one point, actaully and island in the middle of East Germany. So, when tensions got high enough and people were not allowed to cross between the two countries, people in West Berlin were completely dependent on air drops from the US, UK, and France. There are a lot of heroic stories about those air drops.

The pictures below show a few of the cool pictures on display. The top-left photo shows then-president Truman shaking hands with Churchill and Stalin just after WWII, the top-right photo shows a picture of Kennedy right after his legendary speach in Berlin, and the bottom photo shows the famous quote coming from that speach.

When the cold war hit the peak during the Cuban Missle Crisis (13-days), both the US and USSR moved munitions to Checkpoint Charlie. This is where the US and USSR faced off for days (maybe longer) without firing a shot. It was a very tense time and this location was the center of focus.

Today there is a pole with a double-sided sign with pictures of a US and USSR soldier. This is to forever remind people of the standoff between the nations. The other two pictures below are of only remaining section of the Berlin wall. Where once it stood as a permanent divider between two warring ideologies, now it stands as a symbol of democracy's victory over communism.

In 1989 the wall fell. Hoards of people rushed to the streets and started picking away at the Berlin wall. It was a moment in history that most of us remember. But, until this weekend, I had no idea of the true meaning behind the event. Today, there is only one section of wall remaining, but the entire wall is still marked by a cobblestone line in the ground.

Walking that line and reading the history left a great impression on all of us.

After the wall, we had to rush back to the hotel and grab a cab to the train station to catch our connection to Prague. We felt really good about Berlin. We only had 2 days, but it was enough to catch the highlights and learn about the city / country / cold war. Berlin is an excellent place to visit. And, Christmas time is a good time.

The train ride to Prague left at 12:30pm and arrived at 5:30pm. So, it was a long ride. Fortunately, we were all pretty tired so we slept for the first 2.5 hrs of the ride (at least Jacob and I did), I think Amanda stayed awake for most of it.

After we woke up we started studying the Rick Steves guide to Prague to develop a game plan for our time. From our studies, one thing became abundantly clear to us. Prague was not as safe as the rest of Europe. The guide book made it very clear that the Czech Republic is a young entrepreneurial nation that is still learning how to most effectively govern itself.

There were several examples in the book about taxi cabs, counting your change, and pickpocketers that scared Amanda and I a little bit. Oh well, another challenge, right? Plus, we figured he was exagerating a little bit.

When we first arrived we decided to take a cab to the hotel. We found the cab stand in a very, very dark corner of the station. It seemed like a shadowy murder scene from CSI and had both of us scared. Nevertheless, we found a cabby that spoke decent English and took our chances. We followed his route fairly closely with one of our maps and felt good about the trip; no problem.

In the book Rick says no cab ride should cost more than 200 Koruna. When we arrived at our destination, the driver informed us the bill was 600 Koruna. Rick said we should just give him 200 Koruna and then walk away to the hotel. We tried, but the cab driver grabbed one of the bags and held it hostage. He wasn't going for less than 600. Finally, after about 10 minutes of arguing, we ponied up the 600 and left. The cab driver saluted us and told us to F-off.

It wasn't the greatest start to the trip. Lucky for us our hotel was going to turn things around quickly. We booked everything through http://www.venere.com/ (a great website for European hotels). But, during the booking I must have forgotten to say that we had a baby with us; so, when she saw Jacob she offered to put us in a room that was a little bigger for no extra charge. Easy decision for us.

When we got to the room (or, should I say rooms), we were astounded by the size. We ended up with the Junior Apartment Suite. It was four rooms: a living room, a foyer, a bathroom and a bedroom. The bathroom had a shower that could have held 10 people (with a great shower head --- an upgrade that is often missing in hotels) and was bigger than one of the rooms we rented in Paris. The foyer was the size of an average EU hotel room with a full-lenght mirror coat rack and cocktail table. The living room was decked out with a flat screen TV, big coffee table, couch and love seat, and desk. The bedroom (get this) had a kingsize bed --- we didn't think Europeans knew about beds that big --- and, another flat screen TV. Literally, this hotel room was 8 times the size of a normal EU hotel room. Awesome!

The location was great, too. We were only 200 meters (fully integrated, huh?) from the main square and a 10 minute walk from everything of interest. Aside from the hotel that Phil booked for us in Florence, this was by far the best place we have stayed in Europe.

Since we got in so late and were pretty hungry, we decided to take a stroll to the Christmas market. Much to our surprise, this market was very different from the German markets. They still had the same "crafty" stuff that isn't terribly unique, but they also had a completely different menu.

Most Christmas markets are defined by the loacation and the food. In Germany, most Christmas markets have sausages, crepes, and maybe a potato cake stand (if your lucky). Prague had all of that and much, much more. When we first walked up to the market we could smell the open pit fire and could see four hams rottisserie roasting over the fire. It was superb. When we turned the corner we found a potato cake stand. And then we found something completely new - TRDLO. I have know idea how to pronounce the word, but it was tasty. It was basically bread dough rolled into long strips and wrapped around a rolling pin. Then they rolled the dough through cinnamon and sugar and placed it over the open fire and spun it until it was golden brown. Needless to say, we weren't hungry for long.

Prague is very proud of its intellectual and artistic heritage. Since they have never had the resources to be a world power, they have always differentiated themselves through the arts. Therefore, every night at the market they brought in musical groups to perform. The first night we were there a lady played an "organ-like-instrument" which rang bells. It was superb.

The decorations at this market were differential. They set up an enormous tree and lit it with thousands of lights; it was the first thing we saw when we walked to the market and it really set everyone into the Christmas spirit.

After we had sampled all the food and taken in a few concerts, we decided to head back to our luxury apartment to hig the sack early.

The next morning we headed out early to get the lay of the land and see the city's main attraction: the Castle Quarter. While walking across town to the venue, we got to see the main square in daylight. It is truly a sight to see.

Prague is notably different than the other European cities because it wasn't impacted at all by WWI or WWII, so all of the buildings and sights remain in tact just as they were hundreds of years ago. In fact, the archetecture is the most striking feature of city. It is as if every building has its own character and personality.

There are a couple additional notable sight in the main square. The first is the Jan Hus monument (top left). He led a "pre-protestant-reformation" about 100 years before Martin Luther. He was, and still is, revered by many across the world as the first to begin breaking the corrupted Catholic grip on the continent. There is still a group call Hussites that follow his teachings very closely.

There is also a very unique clock mounted in the square. If you can figure out how to tell time by the clock, then you're better than I. Every hour people gather below the clock to see it ring.

The Chrismas market looks completely different in the daylight. You can see the TRDLO in a few of the pictures. We never figured out what the significance of the devil creature (bottom-right) was, but lots of the kids were wearing horns. Go figure.

We had to walk across town and up a big hill to the Castle Quarter. The distance wasn't too far, but the hill was a killer. To make matters worse, Jacob has gotten into a habit of wanting to be carried rather than sitting in the stroller or walking. So, on top of carrying ourselves up the mountain, we also carried Jacob. It was a drain.

Like all difficulties though, the reward was completely fulfilling. The view from the top was great and showed us a top level view of the city. We found the rooflines most striking.

After finding the summit, we walked through the gates (played a couple of games on the guards --- they don't smile for anything) and made our way to the cathedral.

The cathedral was nice, but it was like a miniature Cologne cathedral. The style (inside and outside) looked just like Cologne, but Cologne is about 5 times bigger. For those that haven't seen Cologne, this church would have been very impressive. For us, it was nice, but didn't quite measure up.

The inside of the church was good, and like most impressive cathedrals, was completely adorned with breathtaking stainglassed windows. The window in the top-left grid was especially impressive. Rick Steve provided a panel-by-panel review of the story. It is amazing how big a message can be told in one picture.

The Hapsburgs are buried in the cathedral. The Hapsburgs ammassed massive fortunes and yielded unparalleled power during the 1500 - 1600's.

After the cathedral we headed back toward town and to check out the statue for Good King Wenceslas. The good king Vaclav is credited with Christianizing the region in the 10th century. He also brought additional power to the region by gaining a vote in the Holy Roman Empire --- I wonder if he knew Charlemagne personally.

The two guys memorialized in the second picture are martyrs that set themselves afire as a demonstration against communism. They were philosophy students that loved freedom so much that living without it, inside of that communist regime, was simply unbearable.

That pretty much summed up our day. It doesn't seem like much now, but Prague is just one of those cities that you have to wander aimlessly about. We had a couple of great meals and a couple of good long walks. It was a good relaxing day.

The next morning we headed to the second venue: the Jewish Quarter. This area has a high concentration of Jewish residents and, as expected, has faced immeasureable attacks over the years.

The area is defined by 5 or 6 different synagogues that each house a museum. The museums were basic, but good. They highlighted some of the key tenets to the faith, typical traditions, and what it was like to live in a Jewish home. It was interesting and we each learned a lot, but just like in Berlin, it was sad to see how little they have to show for the thousands of years of service.

The most impressive sight was a Jewish cemetary. Over the years the Jews were only allowed to be buried in one spot. So, after quickly running out of room, they started burying people on top of each other. Over time this created a hill some 15 feet above grade. The Jewish faith doesn't alow for people to be reburied, so this is how they chose to leave it. The pictures do a pretty good job of showing how the tombstones have shifted over hundreds of years of settling. It was an impressive cemetary.

I don't know the significance, but as part of the faith they also place messages on little pieces of paper and stick them into small crevices in the stone. They also stack pebbles on the tombs - not sure why.

On the last day we made our way back to the Charles bridge for some pcitures without rain. The Charles bridge is probably the attraction most people want to see. It was built by Charles IV (Karlo Quatro) in the 14th century. It was the only bridge in the area until the 18th century and today serves as "one of the most enjoyable 500 meter strolls in Europe". It is adorned on both sides by many statues, each of which has a story.

It is currently under reconstruction which is expected to last for another 6 years. The bridge is beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable. Aside from a near pickpocketing miss and rather cloudy weather, it was perfect.

Just below the bridge lies the "Little Quarter". It is famous for the small cobblestone roads, unique shops, and atmosphere. Inside the quarter there is another wall, similar in principle to the Berlin wall and, in my opinion, equally unique.

It was originally called the Lenin Wall and is now called the Lennon Wall. In 1980, the year that John Lennon was killed, grafitti instantly popped up on the wall by protestors. Each day, the Communist regime would paint over the wall and then each night, the grafitti would reappear. This continued for 9 years until the communist regime fell in 1989. Today, it is call the Lennon Wall to commemorate the man who preaches Peace and Love through his song Imagine.

After leaving the wall, Amanda found her way to one of the small shops and picked up her souvenir - a garnet ring. Garnet is a gemstone unique to the Czech Republic and she found a good deal.
That basically ended the afternoon and since Jacob was really tired, we decided to give him a proper nap in the hotel (as opposed to the stroller). We still had the evening left though and were running out of things to do and see. So, we consulted Rick Steve's and the front desk and decided to go to a Hockey game. Pretty cool right? I mean seeing a hockey game in the former Soviet Block, how cool is that? It was easy to get to the game and it was a lot of fun. There was a huge riot police presence in the area and that was a little creepy. But, other than that, it was a totally unique experience.

That was our last night and ended our time in Prague. Our flight on Christmas Eve left at 6:50am, so a 4am wake-up call came early. But, the upside is we didn't get into any scuffles with the cab driver after a prenegotiated fee. :)

Prague is definitely a city we would recommend to visit. We think it would be best in the spring or summer as it is more about enjoying the atmosphere than it is about seeing specific sights - i.e. avoid rainy seasons. On the other hand, the Christmas market and small crowds were huge plusses, so a Christmas visit is also good timing.

Part 42: Pre-Christmas events in Holland

There were several "Christmas Events" in Holland. It started 2 weeks prior with a party at the American Woman's Club of the Hague. Our friends Rachel and Ben hosted another great party. We all decorated cookies and ate lunch. Liam, Ben and Rachel's son, was especially talented at the decorations.

Afterwards, Amanda, Jacob, and I headed off to The Hague for some shopping. While only a few kids (6) showed up, it was still a great starter for the holiday season.

The next step was just 1 week prior to Christmas and it involved what Amanda and I believe was the start of a very successful career: Jacob's Christmas Concert. He is clearly a budding talent. To be honest though, there were about 15 other sets of parents that thought the same about their child.

I took the morning off from work and joined Amanda for the concert. It was pretty cute. The kids pulled off an excellent rendition of Jingle Bells (complete with bells to rattle) and all wore nifty green santa hats (I don't know who chose the color).

The most interesting part of this day was watching the parents. The room was packed with about 1/3 kids and 2/3 parents. Every parent had a camera in one hand and a camcorder in other. Each one wore a grin three miles wide and were trying to make eye contact with their kiddo for a quick wave.

There were a couple kids that couldn't handle the stress and melted down in mid-performance. The remaining, including Jacob --- one of the youngest in attendence, pulled through to make a great performance.

During December, Jacob would come home with various Christmas related crafts. The one shown below is especially nice. Our little angel.

Part 41: Great Misadventures on the Rhine

We are blessed with a number of people in our circle that have visited us while we have been over here. Quite honestly, I think this is one of the things that keeps our attitudes high; the ability to look forward to another guest arriving.

So far (including this blog), my Mom has come twice, her Mom has come three times, her Dad has come 2 times, and my Dad and Step-Mom have come once. In addition to that, my Sister, Amanda's Sister and my Aunt Sherry have all come over too. From the friends side, we have had a lot of visitors too: Phil, Brett and Beth, Brandon and Kristi, Jason and Terri (with a second trip planned in March), and PJ...

It seems like every 1-2 months someone new comes over to visit. So, this trip was another made by Amanda's Mom and Dad.

Originally, we thought we could fly off for a destination weekend, but the logistics and cost planning just weren't working out in our favor. Instead, we decided to take it easy and drive over to Germany for a three day trip to the Rhine. It was definitely off-season, but with any luck we could see all the major sites and catch a cruise on the river.

The trip started off brilliantly. Gary and Judy arrived on Friday morning and nearly kicked the jet lag the first night. The next morning we completed the most critical part of the trip for Gary; we made it to the morning market for appleflaps and cheese. As expected, they didn't disappoint.

Our general plan was to leave on Saturday afternoon and try to catch the Burg Eltz (Rick Steve's #1 rated castle in Europe - Amanda has been 3 times) and then drive over to the Rhine for two nights in a hotel. Amanda did all of the research on this trip and opted for Bacharach, a small town directly on the Rhine River in the middle of castle country.

As you probably know, Rhine River cruises are "all the rage" in Europe. When I mentioned this to my colleagues they all agreed, but added "if your older than 70". I guess the mystique of the cruise is largely lost on Europeans. Still, that single 10 mile stretch of river has approximately 15 castles on its banks. Pretty impressive. Where else in the world can you go to see so many historical sites packed into one area.

Since it was supremely "off-season" we didn't know what would be open, but expected it to be fairly slim. That turned out to be a relatively accurate assumption.

So, after lunch on Saturday, we left basically on-time. And, aside from the turnabout 10 minutes into the trip to get Passports, it started off without a hitch. The first pictures below where taken at the Burg Eltz. As mentioned before, this is a great castle nestled in a valley just south of Cologne.

We arrived just at dusk so the pictures were a little dark and the doors were closed due to off-season (which we knew in advance), but still a good site to see from the hilltop above.

Unfortunately, the pictures don't do the site justice. But, then again, that's how it normally works. This was Gary and Judy's first look at a German castle, and they were very impressed. This was also my first time seeing the castle and, after hearing the stories from Amanda's previous visits, was happy to finally have seen it.

It was getting dark and colder by the minute. In fact, in some areas snowflakes were starting to fall... Yes - an ominous start to the next paragraph.

This is where the story gets a little "offtrack" (pun intended). Since we detoured off the main roads to see the Burg, we had to traverse several smaller roads to get us to Bacharach. It basically amounted to climbing one small mountain (really a big hill) and then down the hill to the town by the Rhine.

From my perspective the roads and weather were fine; some Monday morning quarterbacks have since suggested differently. Even though the snow was blowing pretty hard in parts, the roads were still very clear.

Nevertheless, as we crested a hill and headed downward, the brakes stopped working. You know how it goes, right. You gently pump the brakes to control the skid while slowing the car a little. And, you do so as long as you can until you either regain control or start spinning the car. In my case, the later occurred.

It felt like we spun the car around 3-4 times, but it was actually only 180 degrees and slid into the ditch. After taking out 2-3 reflector signposts, we came to a stop against a wall of snow covered dirt. Neither Judy nor I could open our doors since we were pinned against the wall. At that point, I rolled the window down and climbed out the window "Dukes of Hazard" style to inspect the damage. From what I could see there wasn't much except for a dented rear fender (minor) and a broken hubcap. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

After the wreck, 2-3 "English-speaking" Germans stopped and checked in on us. One of them, shockingly, drove a pick-up truck and had a tow-rope in the back. He immediately tied us up and pulled us out. Amazing. Literally, 25 minutes after the accident we were out of the ditch and on our way again. Sort of.

The road, at that point, was so slick that we couldn't drive back up the hill. So, our only option was to spin the car around and drive down the icy gauntlet. Gary and a few other Germans helped out by manually pushing the car around (really slick, not really strong) and we started off. I must say that I was a little gun-shy of driving, so the way down was very, very slow.

Nevertheless, we made it down the hill, which by the way was the only patch of ice on the road, and made it to our destination. Whew.

It did again reinforce the genuine generosity of people of all nationalities. It doesn't matter the flag you carry, if a person is in need, others will help. Our German angels made an awful event very okay. The worst injury was my seriously wounded pride.

We made it to the hotel and found a nearly deserted town. There was only one restaurant open and we were the only people staying in our hotel --- weird. I mean the town was completely abandoned.

After a traditional German meal, we headed back to the hotel for an early night. Well, early for most, but I was about 800 pages into Atlas Shrugged, so I stayed up a while to read.

The next morning we met for breakfast (included in our dirt cheap rates) and developed a game plan. Everything we read indicated a Rhine Cruise was highly unlikely, but we decided that finding out for sure was our top priority. The most likely departure point was 5 miles upstream in a town call St. Goar, so we headed that way.

On arrival we learned that there was a Rhine Cruise, only one per day, but there was a cruise. We were ecstatic. Since the cruise didn't leave until 11:30 and we had a couple of hours to kill, we decided to do some shopping around the town.

The first shop we stopped at was a nice "general purpose" souvenir shop owned by a German couple. Interestingly enough, they were the people that helped us get out the ditch the night before. It was one of those small world moments. They told us that that particular stretch of road is the worst in the area and people often wreck their cars there.

Since they saved the day for us, we decided it was our duty to purchase all of our gifts in that shop. We left about 100 Euros poorer, but felt good about spending every cent.

After leaving their shop we wandered onto another "World's (insert word here) Stein Shop in Germany". It was an impressive shop. Maybe not as good as the sign advertised, but still very impressive. They had thousands of steins of every shape, size, and style for sale. You could find a stein with the local futbol team, with a piece of the Berlin wall or with the coat of arms of a 4th century tribe --- literally, anything you can think of, could be found there.

The problem with the shop is each stein cost about 100 Euros. So, instead of buying, we snagged a few illegal pictures for the blog.

There wasn't much open, so we spent more time walking around than we otherwise would have. Still it was enough to get a sense of the town and the activities during the busy Spring, Summer, and Fall...

At 11:30, we boarded the boat for the 3hr cruise. We were lucky to have a relatively nice day: cold, clear, and no rain. The boat probably held 500 people, but there were only 15 passengers on board. Needless to say, we had plenty of room to move about.

I don't really know where to go with the story of this cruise. We saw a lot of castles, most of which are shown below and each of them have their own story. The Rhine is riddled with Medieval stories of conquest and power and laden with despair and sadness. The river, in this section, follows a tortuous path where many shipwrecks have occurred.

Today it is still the most highly travelled river in Germany (maybe in Europe). In fact, I personally move a lot of Propylene Oxide via barge to customers in Dormagen.

The landscape around the Rhine is beautiful. Hills bank each side (a.k.a. great opportunities for misadventures) and vineyards lace most of the hills. Since it had snowed over the past couple of days, the white blanket added a nice touch to the pictures.

There are very few bridges crossing the Rhine, but both highways and rail tracks parallel each side of the river. And, multiple tunnels interrupted the transportation lines.

We had just purchased a new camera (Nikon D80) because the price dropped over 500 USD and while the quality probably won't show up on the blog, the difference is quite noticeable. As such, with the new telephoto capabilities, I tried to capture a few impromptu moments. You can see that Jacob is also a big fan of Rick Steves.

After the cruise, we took the train back to St. Goar (where we had left our car) and then drove back to Bacharach. The snow really added a neat touch to that small town. Especially, to the church on the hill.

The bottom-right picture was taken from the boat with the telephoto lens --- cool huh?

The following morning we headed back home early since we didn't know what the weather would be doing. And, my driving had become extremely conservative (and slow) over the weekend.

Our final stop on the Rhine was the Marksburg Castle. This castle is open to the public for tours and is one of the few that never fell during battle. As a result, the castle is in remarkable condition and still looks as it did 500 years ago.

There was a battalion of cannons still standing in defense.

Much of the castle is carved directly out the rock foundation. The top-left picture shows the castle entrance where the knight would ride their horses up to the stable. The top-right shows the blacksmith shop: still equipped with authentic equipment.

The bottom-outside pictures show the toilet -- what you can't see is that it empties directly into the garden two stories below. And the bottom-center picture shows how the knights would pass their time while others were passing gas.

This is a collection of random takeaways from the castle. The left pictures show the winery - a fermentation process and a grape press. The two glasses carry an interesting story. In medieval times, it was customary to eat without utensils and personal hygiene wasn't a top priority. So, to keep too many glasses from slipping through slimy hands, the glass makers started to make glasses with multiple "hold-points" - either by twisting the glass or by adding nubs to the glassware.

These pictures show an assortment of battle wear and torture devises. The "near" top-left picture is of a chastity belt... Did they really have those?

After leaving the castle, we decided to make a quick stop at Cologne so Gary could see the church (everyone else had already been there) and to grab some food at an authentic German Christmas market. Amanda and Judy bought some kaas spatzel and Gary and I tore into grilled pork sandwiches, roasted mushrooms, and crepes. It was a good break for the drive home.

We made it home around 7pm Monday evening without any more problems. I am sure everyone learned a lot and took countless memories away from the trip. However, I have no doubt that the top story, told around the campfire, will be how I put everyone's life in danger with a careless accident. Oh well, add it to the list. For me it is just one more goof to live down.

Part 40: Sinterklaas

Christmas is very different for the Dutch. Instead of the massive celebration with gifts and the arrival of Santa Clause on the 25th of December, they celebrate the arrival of Sinterklaas.

Sinterklaas is a character that looks just like Santa Claus, however, there are several notable differences.

First, celebrating Sinterklaas' arrival is not a private event. It is a very public event. Kids all over the town dress up as Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) and gather at the town center to await the arrival of Sinterklaas. Community bands band together and celebrate with parades, singing, and candy.

Second, Sinterklaas is from Spain. In mid-November Sinterklaas sails a boat from Spain to Holland. He rides his horse off the boat and to meet all the kids and receive their letters.

Third, Sinterklaas doesn't have elvish helpers. He has Zwarte Piet. Zwarte Piet is a caucasian person who has shoveled coal into the boat furnaces to get Sinterklaas to Holland. By the time they arrive in Holland, Pete is completely covered head to toe in soot. Hence, the name Black Pete. There are other versions of this story, but this is the most politically correct one we've heard. Amanda already thinks elves are weird; Zwart Piet, on the other hand, is totally over the top (or freakish, as Amanda says).

Fourth, Sinterklaas doesn't come on 25-Dec. He first arrives to Holland in Mid-November and then returns on 5-Dec with gifts for the kids. Traditionally, he places the gifts in a wooden shoe by the fireplace.

Celebrating Sinterklaas was very cool. Granted Zwarte Piet is highly freakish, but after you accept that and just start enjoying the day, it is intensely fun to watch the kids go crazy. We had a great time.

Part 39: A Dutch Halloween

In Holland, and Europe for that matter, they don't celebrate Halloween. I know, I know... How dare they? But, when you really think about the pretense for Halloween, most Europeans are saying "how dare they".

However, since every kid has to have a reason to dress up and ask for candy, the Dutch have declared Sint Maarten's Day as a national holiday.

Sint Maarten was born in "modern-day Hungary", joined the Roman army, rose through the ranks, and was knighted by the Roman Emperor. Aside from being a good soldier, he also found a calling to help the poor, the homeless, and under-priveledged children. He soon dropped the army to become a monk. As a monk he traveled Europe and started a half dozen monestaries.

I don't know why, but today, Holland has adopted Sint Maaren as the patron of all things "almost halloween". On every November 11, kids will walk the neighborhoods, with pails ready for candy, and sing to the neighbors for a treat.

In our neighboorhood the local band also got together and paraded right in front of our house. As you can imagine it was a cool night because the kids were super excited to get into the candy.

We weren't ready for this one though. When the kids started coming by the house and singing, we had to scramble to the cabinets for something. We ended up finding a few boxes of theatre candy, some lifesavers, and a few packages of Oreos. Most parents seemed ok with the hodge-podge of offerings, but then other parents immediately took the candy away when they left. Oh well, we tried.

It was a cool "improptu" evening.

Part 38: Rembrandt, Flanders, and Trenches

When the daylight hours shrink and winter rains set in, the gloomy Dutch reputation bears full light. During these days, it is important to maintain a full agenda so to force oneself out of the house. If not, it is likely that one will get very lonely and depressed…

So, let the planning begin. Last weekend, we didn’t really have anything on the agenda. We kept talking about doing something, but then, we didn’t do anything to get ready. Nonetheless, with tour book in hand, we made our weekly vigil to the outdoor market tp purchase appleflaps, stroopwafels and the Sunday meal. While munching on the snacks we decided that a Saturday road trip was not in the cards, but instead, we should stay around and tour Den Haag.

So after a yummy lunch of leftover corn chowder, we headed out to find the Mauritshuis, Den Haag’s premier museum. We made it there in perfect timing to the garage closest to the building… and, by the way, felt pretty good about navigating Den Haag successfully for the first time in 2 years (for some reason, we always seem to make a wrong turn).

The Mauritshuis is located inside the Binnenhoff building. This is the old parliament building for the Hague and where the Queen rides her golden coach once a year. It is a really nice setting with lots of trees, ponds and cool architecture.

The museum was really first class. It is set in an older building that feels like a home more so than a museum. The floors are wooden and the mood is soft. It is well lighted and people move through at a comfortable pace. The art is spectacular. From this visit I really got a good sense of why the Dutch Masters are considered masters. During the 17th century, Holland was a Mecca for new art. It was to Europe what the Renaissance was to Italy. Literally, this small country generated and attracted some of the best artists in the world. The most notable was Rembrandt, but there were many others too --- Vermeer, van der Huygen, etc.

We left the museum and found our way back home. This is one of those trips that makes you feel good --- like you avoided watching college football and sitting on the couch all day. Plus, we were able to keep the Dutch Depression at arm’s length one more day.

On Sunday, we were a bit more ambitious. We decided to take a driving trip into Belgium. Ever since January (when DJ visited) I have wanted to come back to the town called Ypres. When DJ and I visited earlier in the year, the museum we wanted to see was closed. So, on Sunday, Amanda, Jacob, and I decided to make a go at it again.

The drive wasn’t too bad --- approximately 2hrs 15min --- and it wasn’t raining. By northwest European standards that was a success in its own right. The town of Ypres is pretty cool, a little different, but still pretty cool. We made it there around noon and quickly found a restaurant for lunch. In case you haven’t tried it, Flemish food is some of the best in the world. It is very rich, creamy, and unique. The Belgium chefs really know how to pull together a meal. And, this meal was no exception.

After the nice Belgium meal, we headed over to the Museum called Flanders Fields. Flanders is the ethnic name for the people that live in the Ypres area. It is also the location of a critial battlefield during WWI. The Ypres Saliant was critical because it was an allied "pennisula" surrounded on three sides by German attackers. The Belgium, British, and French soldiers held this area throughout the entire war. In a speech after the war, Winston Churchill said "there is no other place on earth where British soldiers have paid a greater sacrifice for the freedom of the world". I wonder if he would maintain that thought after WWII; I doubt it.

This museum is really well done. At the beginning everyone is given a card with a barcode and name. Throughout the museum you scan your card and get an update on how you were holding up during the war. The museum is a little strange because it is chaotically organized. It is loosely organized in chronological order, but you had to criss-cross back and forth across the museum to stay on track.

The museum is largely organized around the the Ypres battles, but also provides a good context to the broader implications. Mostly though, the museum attempts to evoke the daily human experience during the war. It includes scenes where German and Allied soldiers put the weapons down during Christmas, met during the evening, and shared gifts with one another. It also includes a sound room where audio clips (and a few video clips) from battles played.

In general, I think the museum did a good job tugging the emotional strings. When we left, Amanda and I turned to each other and both said "that was good". I don't think anyone can be too often reminded of the hellish nature of war.

After the museum we drove to a place call Hill 62. The is a hill on the outskirts of town where the war trenches are actually preserved.

We didn't have enough cash left over to pay full entrance to the site, so Jacob and I left Amanda at the car. Before going to the trenches the guides let us borrow rubber boots to slosh around in the mud. It was definitely a little over priced, but when you step back and consider the significance of the location and the raw carnage that overtook the hill, it was well worth it. Jacob and I had a great time wandering through the trenches.

After the trenches, we started our journey back home. After a day like this, you feel really good about forcing yourself to take the time to learn a little more about the history that has shaped our world.

Here are a few other pictures from the Hill 62 museum.

A bunch of old equipment that has been excavated from this site.

German and Allied headstones from two soldiers that lost their lives during the war.

A dummy used to trick the enemy during the war. They would use this mannequin to draw the enemy fire and give up their position. This one survived; it did better than 9 million other people during the war.