Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Germany, Belgium and Netherlands

Beautiful Rhine Valley. Famous Lorely cliffs on the left.
Exploring the Rheinfels Castle. It was perched just above our zimmer in St. Goar.Actual cannon balls....In an actual castle!!!! Cool!!!
Great ride down the Rhine.
Tour De France - Look closely at the spectators on signs, rooftops and climbing up our backs.
Notice the racer with the yellow jersey (current leader) holding his ribs. Many racers came by us in this condition. Nasty wreck just before they got to us. Lots of bloody knees and elbows.
Hazen warming up for the race.
The entrace to the hiding place in the Ten Boom House. Haarlem, Netherlands
Ten Boom House - Haarlem, Netherlands

Welcome to Amsterdam "Where even the dogs get some action"
Well, seems like it has been a while and we are very excited to share our latest and greatest with you.
After our last post we arrived in St. Goar, Germany. It is a tiny town located on the Rhine River. We arrived at our accomodation to find it was just an old German lady's home. She didn't speak much english but was very excited to have us. She reminded us of a grandmother in all that she did. When we checked in she asked if we wanted tea or coffee with our breakfast and we replied that we did not want either as we don't prefer them. As a true grandmother would, she said but the tea has peppermint leaves from my garden. So, she guilted us into drinking tea for three days in a row. Breakfast was toast (12 pieces, literaly), egg (1 hardboil), cheese, bologne, and homemade jelly. Every day we ate the same thing. Seemed a little bit weird but we didn't complain because she was so nice and we were looking out over the Rhine river and some of the most amazing castles. The next day was spent taking a nostalgic paddle boat up and down the Rhine. It was so nostalgic that it was 30 minutes late to pick us up. However, as we paddled by castle after midevil castle it was easy to imagine a time when the castles would pull a chain across the river to stop passing boats in order to enforce their toll. Very beautiful place.
The next day was spent touring the castle in St. Goar. It was a massive castle that was the only one in the region to withstand the seige of Louis XIV. However, that nasty old Napolean came through a few hundred years later and was successful where his previous countrymen were not. This castle was amazing because it was the real deal. Actual cannonballs, holes in the walls specifically designed for pouring hot tar on invaders, and secret underground tunnels. Ton of fun to explore especially because we had the hole thing to ourselves. We entered just after it opened and beat the masses by a couple hours.
Very long travel day to Brussels. We finally made it and were greeted at our hostel by a very friendly group of fellow travelers. Had a great evening walking around town causing trouble. We were in search of Belgian waffles but did not find anywhere that night.
The next morning we got up way to early, relative to how late we went to bed, and took a train to Gant, Belgium (15 mins). Walked around town a bit as we waited for the Tour de France festivities to get started. People started lining up on the barriers around noon so we followed suit. Stood in the EXACT same spot for five hours straight. Not a whole lot of fun, especially when the monsoon decided to attack the city. We survived the floods and a new problem became evident. Space was becoming hard to come by. And people got very creative. There were cops everywhere but they could not stop people from climbing on street signs, street lights, roof tops and every tree available. Amazing; by far the biggest crowd we have ever seen. The day was filled with parades until the bikers got close. The racers were quite the spectacle as they sprinted to the finish line. The two racers from Belgium came in first and second and the crowd went balistic. Many racers came by use with nasty road rash and some even holding ribs while their teamates pushed them across the finish line. Apparently there was a nasty wreck just before they got to us. Can't imagine getting up the 20 days in a row to do the same thing over again. Aubree particularly enjoyed Gant because she splurged on "her" belgian chocolates. So far she has only eaten one of the 15 as she is savoring the flavor.
Jumped a train to Amsterdam. Arrived in town midday and headed directly to the laundry. Things were definately past due. After we got that under control we met up with a friend we had met in Brussels and hit the town. We spent about six hours walking around town going to various restaurants and bars to taste the tastes. Had a great time. This town is absolute madness. Multiply the stories you have heard by about 100 million.
Today we took a quick train ride to nearby Haarlem. Quick side story: Hazen borrowed a book from a hostel in Switzerland for something to read on our hikes. It was an excellent book called the "Hiding Place" written by Corrie Ten Boom. The Ten Boom family was a Christian family in Haarlem that helped countless people escape Nazi persicution. Corrie was the head of the Dutch underground and promoted passive tactics. They were eventually betrayed and sent to concentration camps where her father and sister were murdered. Side story Over. When we found out we would be in Amsterdam we decided to visit her house. We were able to enter and it is much like it was during Nazi Occupation. It is now run by a non-profit devout Christian organization. All in all it was an inspirational visit.
We just got done with a walking tour of Amsterdam. Unfortunately it was not as good as the Berlin tour but it was still very interesting. We think we saw some participants from the Amazing Race running through town with a cameraman and sound guy following close behind. Tomorrow we are on our way to the lovely, Denmark. We will probably stay in Puttgarden, Germany at the ferry port to Denmark. Will then head to Copenhagen for a couple nights before heading to Sweden. We are really excited about the Scadinavian part of our trip as we will be meeting with multiple parts of Aubree's family. Guess that is it for now. We sure hope all is going well back home. Have to admit that we have been jealous of the weather temps we have been hearing about. Might be a bit of karma from all of the bragging we did at the beginning of our trip about the sunny beaches and such. Well, take care and hope to hear from you all soon.









1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just beautiful, Hazen and Aubree!!
To behold such sites that we all dream of and want to visit, is a blessing from God. Thank you for sending us a taste of our dreams. Take care and I can't wait 'til the next blog.