# of cities visited – 12
# of countries visited – 10
# of plane flights – 9
# of train rides – 6
# of boat rides – 6
# of total miles traveled – 9, 551
#of languages encountered – 8
# of steps climbed – 5,000+ (that could be conservative)
# of miles walked – 30+ (that could be conservative too!)
# of pounds lost – 0 (thank you Belgian waffles and gelato!)
# of dollars spent paying to pee – approx. $25.00
# of monetary currencies used – 4
# of times ripped off – 1 definite, possibly more
# of cathedrals visited – 35+
# of catacombs, crypts, or creepy underground places visited - 3
# of times we were clueless - too many to count
# of baby squid eaten – 11
# of TVs with no English-speaking channels – 2 (the rest only had CNN)
# of times bad weather affected our plans – 0 (thank You, Lord!)
# of suitcases lost – 1
# of suitcases found – 1
# of sick dogs back home needing surgery – 1
# of times Jerry kept us up with his snoring – (better question, # of times Jerry didn’t keep us up with his snoring
# of daughters needing counseling because they couldn’t come – 2
# of fortunate sons who did come – 1
# of wonderful memories – too many to count
TOTAL COST OF THE TRIP TO EUROPE: PRICELESS!!!
Thank you, Lord, for making this trip possible. Thank You for watching over us and keeping us safe in all that we did. Thank You for Your wonderful creation, and for inspiring men and women throughout the ages to build things that brought You honor and glory. We are thankful for this time we spent together and pray that all we did was honoring to You.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Venice……known for more than Venetian blinds!
With over 140 canals, 400 bridges, and 450 gondolas, Venice can be a really confusing place to find your way around in! I didn’t realize it before, but the city of Venice is made up of many islands. Centuries ago, in an effort to flee Barbarians, Venetians left dry land and floated out to a chain of uninhabitable islands. Though survival was difficult, they persisted, and are responsible for building one of the most unusual and beautiful cities in the world. There are NO roads in Venice – zero! Transportation is done by walking or by boat – period. We saw construction boats, police, boats, ambulance boats, laundry boats, water taxis, and water buses called vaporetto.
We weaved through wide and narrow streets and made our way to the San Marco Plaza which is the heart of Venice. St. Mark’s Cathedral is located here, one of the world’s greatest and most ornate churches. The inside was completely covered in gold plating and the altar (we couldn’t get near it) is set with hundreds of emeralds, sapphires, rubies, garnets, and pearls. It was just a bit understated for my liking!!!! : ) One of the main industries for Venice, past and present, is hand-blown glass. There are hundreds of little shops with gorgeous glass pieces offering affordable jewelry to $65,000 chandeliers. We took a vaporetto to the neighboring island of Murano where the actual furnaces are located and watched a demonstration of glass-blowing. It’s truly amazing how something so beautiful is made with such crude tools and common materials. Of course, you can’t be in Venice without a gondola ride, so at dusk on our second day, we boarded a beautiful, black gondola and cruised through a number of quiet canals. Our guide, a 5th generation gondolier, sang to us, though he didn’t think he had a very good voice. He showed us where Casanova had lived and shared quite a bit of interesting Venetian history. One more check off my Bucket List!
On the 2nd day, we took a side trip to Casarsa, a little town northeast of Venice. Missionary friends from our church, Tom and Maureen, serve there. Tom met us at the station and showed us around the area. We were able to see the school where he serves, as well as their apartment and “stomping grounds”. To top off our day, he took us to a home-made gelato shop, where we all agreed, served the BEST, MOST SCRUMPTUOUS gelato we’d ever tasted!
We all loved Venice, but the one big drawback was that so did thousands of other tourists!! It was very crowded! A little extra patience was required, but all in all, we loved it, crowds and all!
One more short stop in Dublin, and then we’re Quakertown-bound………..We are ready to be back home.
We weaved through wide and narrow streets and made our way to the San Marco Plaza which is the heart of Venice. St. Mark’s Cathedral is located here, one of the world’s greatest and most ornate churches. The inside was completely covered in gold plating and the altar (we couldn’t get near it) is set with hundreds of emeralds, sapphires, rubies, garnets, and pearls. It was just a bit understated for my liking!!!! : ) One of the main industries for Venice, past and present, is hand-blown glass. There are hundreds of little shops with gorgeous glass pieces offering affordable jewelry to $65,000 chandeliers. We took a vaporetto to the neighboring island of Murano where the actual furnaces are located and watched a demonstration of glass-blowing. It’s truly amazing how something so beautiful is made with such crude tools and common materials. Of course, you can’t be in Venice without a gondola ride, so at dusk on our second day, we boarded a beautiful, black gondola and cruised through a number of quiet canals. Our guide, a 5th generation gondolier, sang to us, though he didn’t think he had a very good voice. He showed us where Casanova had lived and shared quite a bit of interesting Venetian history. One more check off my Bucket List!
On the 2nd day, we took a side trip to Casarsa, a little town northeast of Venice. Missionary friends from our church, Tom and Maureen, serve there. Tom met us at the station and showed us around the area. We were able to see the school where he serves, as well as their apartment and “stomping grounds”. To top off our day, he took us to a home-made gelato shop, where we all agreed, served the BEST, MOST SCRUMPTUOUS gelato we’d ever tasted!
We all loved Venice, but the one big drawback was that so did thousands of other tourists!! It was very crowded! A little extra patience was required, but all in all, we loved it, crowds and all!
One more short stop in Dublin, and then we’re Quakertown-bound………..We are ready to be back home.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Vienna…..Mozart, the Danube, and Weiner Schnitzel!
Our choice of transportation to Vienna was a completely unique one – a boat ride down the Danube River. It took a little longer than a train ride, but was so relaxing and we experienced going through two river locks, which was very interesting to watch. We arrived in Vienna around 4:00 and immediately set out to explore the city. We strolled down the Karntnerstrasse, a pedestrian street filled with shops and bistros. It didn’t take long to realize that we were standing in the midst of a beautiful city! We saw the Spanish Imperial Riding School, which included the stables and the performance area. Every single building we walked by was picture-worthy, with exquisite, elegant details carved into every brick and stone. We had heard there was a “movie in the park” at one of the famous town squares and thought we might check it out. Once again, our expectation was completely exceeded by a mile! The city had set up a very large (40’ x 50’) screen right in front of one of the most beautiful buildings in Vienna. Spectacular spires and a huge clock rose above the screen, and if you took your eyes off the screen and gazed above it, the night view was simply breathtaking! To top it off, not only was there a HUGE screen, but to Jerry’s delight there were HUGE speakers to boot. And it wasn’t a movie we were viewing, but the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra performing Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. We honestly felt like we were in a symphony hall! Unfortunately, Vienna was one of our shortest stays, so we got up bright and early to pack in all that we could. We began by walking to the humungous outdoor market, nibbling a variety of breakfast treats along the way. I knew it was going to be a good day because the first bathroom we stopped at didn’t ask us to pay to pee! We strolled by lovely gardens, the museum district, the Opera House, Parliament, and numerous other REALLY LARGE statues and buildings. It seems our Austrian friends could build nothing on a small scale! We kept an eye open for any structure found in the “Sound of Music” movie, but alas, found none. (Jerry says he thinks it was all filmed somewhere in the mountains of West Virginia anyhow). We climbed 343 steps inside a continuous spiral staircase to the top of St. Stephen’s Cathedral and I’m thinking, “Who needs the Buns of Steel video when you’ve got cathedral spirals to ascend?” We decided that it wouldn’t be a complete experience in Vienna unless we took in a genuine, bonafide, guaranteed, warranteed classical performance somewhere. We had endless options to choose from. We opted for a concert which show-cased a variety of the Viennese arts. A chamber orchestra played some well-known sections composed by Mozart and Strauss, and some of the songs were accompanied by ballet, or opera singers. What made the experience even more memorable is that we were watching this all from the theatre in the Auersburg Palace where, at the age of 6, Mozart performed for the queen for the very first time. We enjoyed a much cooler walk back to the U-Bahn (subway), and spent the remainder of the evening packing for our next stop – Venice!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Budapest……..a City Recovered and Flourishing!
I have always loved history and am fascinated by the story of how a country/culture has evolved over the years. I knew very little about Hungary, but after being in its capital city, Budapest, for a few days, I have a new and genuine appreciation for what this country has gone through and how it has survived the atrocities of war. It was taken over by the Nazis in the early 1940’s and survived that cruelty, only to be “saved” by the Russians, and then forced into their communist way of life. Hungarians were treated just as brutally, if not worse, under Russian rule. The city was severely bombed and many of its beautiful buildings destroyed, but despite years of hardship, it has risen again to become a cultural European icon.
We began our exploration of Budapest by walking over one of the many bridges that crosses the Danube River. We took the funnicular (an incline) up a big hill to the Castle District and saw the Buda Palace, which has NOTHING to do with Buddha by the way. From that vantage point, we had a perfect view of the entire city. We explored the underground labyrinths that snaked underneath the castle and saw the Mattthias Cathedral, which was almost completely destroyed by Nazi bombings. We enjoyed a traditional Hungarian meal for dinner, and after dinner (and I don’t know where we got the energy from), we decided to hike around 500+ steps up to the highest point of Budapest called the Citadel. All I can say is that the view of the city at nighttime is SPECTACULAR! The second day we visited the “House of Terror”, now a museum but once a large building in Budapest that was the party headquarters for the Hungarian Nazis, and then for the notorious communist AVO terror organization. Budapest is built upon underground thermal springs, so the city boasts of numerous public “Turkish Baths”. We had done A LOT of walking, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon of soaking in the Szechenyi Bath pools. We thought we would be in something similar to a hot tub – HA!!! The facility is enormous and there were 15 – 18 different pools of varying sizes and temperatures, including a swimming pool in case you wanted to cool down. It was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before, and we felt so relaxed after spending a couple of hours soaking and playing with all the different kinds of water jets, as well as a circular “whirl pool” pool which carried you round and round with no effort on your part. Next stop…….Vienna, Austria!
We began our exploration of Budapest by walking over one of the many bridges that crosses the Danube River. We took the funnicular (an incline) up a big hill to the Castle District and saw the Buda Palace, which has NOTHING to do with Buddha by the way. From that vantage point, we had a perfect view of the entire city. We explored the underground labyrinths that snaked underneath the castle and saw the Mattthias Cathedral, which was almost completely destroyed by Nazi bombings. We enjoyed a traditional Hungarian meal for dinner, and after dinner (and I don’t know where we got the energy from), we decided to hike around 500+ steps up to the highest point of Budapest called the Citadel. All I can say is that the view of the city at nighttime is SPECTACULAR! The second day we visited the “House of Terror”, now a museum but once a large building in Budapest that was the party headquarters for the Hungarian Nazis, and then for the notorious communist AVO terror organization. Budapest is built upon underground thermal springs, so the city boasts of numerous public “Turkish Baths”. We had done A LOT of walking, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon of soaking in the Szechenyi Bath pools. We thought we would be in something similar to a hot tub – HA!!! The facility is enormous and there were 15 – 18 different pools of varying sizes and temperatures, including a swimming pool in case you wanted to cool down. It was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before, and we felt so relaxed after spending a couple of hours soaking and playing with all the different kinds of water jets, as well as a circular “whirl pool” pool which carried you round and round with no effort on your part. Next stop…….Vienna, Austria!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Prague…….a number of “firsts” for the Bigenhos!
QUESTION OF THE DAY: What famous Christmas carol uses the name of a former King of the Czech Republic?
We took a short, hour airplane ride early Sunday morning and arrived in Prague around 9:30. By the way, flights are CHEAP in Europe, usually cheaper than the train, unless you go over the luggage weight limit. That’s when they nail you and make up for the thrifty air fares. Our plan is to redistribute weight between all three of our suitcases and carry-on luggage evenly, so we won’t be charged any extra for baggage. In fact, Jerry and I packed so lightly, that our carry-on luggage was almost empty when we left, just in case we needed more room to reallocate items between us as we traveled.
Prague can be summed up in one word – GORGEOUS! I have never been in a more beautiful city. The architecture is a collection of Baroque, Gothic, Renaissance, and modern. You can’t turn a corner without viewing another spectacular structure and they are all so different. The highlight was Prague Castle. It sits high atop a hill, overlooking Prague and the River Vltava that bisects the city. We were able to explore it, along with the St. Vitus Cathedral located within the castle walls. There are numerous bridges crossing the river, the most beautiful being the 600 year old Charles Bridge.
We planned for three days here in Prague, so our second day we decided to leave the city and took a bus ride to the Terezin Concentration Camp, located about 25 miles north of the city. Jerry and I laughed when we heard what the bus driver was listening to – classic American rock-n-roll. It just goes to show that you are never really THAT far from home! The camp was initially built as a Hungarian imperial fortress in the 1700’s, but was turned into a Jewish ghetto and then a concentration camp in 1941. Although it was only used as a transit camp, more than half of the 140,000 men, women, and children who passed through its gates ended up transferring to Auschwitz or Treblinka in Poland, the majority of them losing their lives to the gas chambers. Most of the rest of the Terezin population died as well, due to diseases, starvation, or cruel treatment. It was a sobering trip, and after viewing the inhumane conditions in which the prisoners lived, I vowed to never again complain about my home, hunger pangs, or being too cold or too hot.
Our third day we took another trip out to the countryside to explore the second most popular destination in the Czech Republic – Karlstejn Castle. Charles the IV built this medieval castle from 1348 to 1357 to safe-guard the crown jewels and provide a “summer shack” for his family. It is a spectacular Disney-like castle, perched on a hill, surrounded by lush forests and vineyards. It’s hard to describe how beautiful it is…….think Cinderella’s castle from the 14th century! Our trip home should have been uneventful, but we found some unexpected entertainment from using the restroom. (Now give me a minute to explain here……) Picture our train: it was rickety, old, and graffiti-laden, looking like it had transported passengers since World War II. We hadn’t had a chance to use the restroom at the station before our train arrived, so Jerry checked out the bathroom on the train. He came back and announced that it was the first bathroom he’d ever used with a view. Thinking he meant that there was a nice window or something to look outside the train, I found that the “view” he was talking about was a totally different one. The interesting thing about the bathroom on our train was that you didn’t need to flush it……..gravity took care of it completely all on its own. Upon looking down into the toilet, we could view the train tracks passing underneath us. Definitely a first for the Bigenhos!! Next stop, Budapest and Hungarian goulash!
ANSWER: King Wenceslas
We took a short, hour airplane ride early Sunday morning and arrived in Prague around 9:30. By the way, flights are CHEAP in Europe, usually cheaper than the train, unless you go over the luggage weight limit. That’s when they nail you and make up for the thrifty air fares. Our plan is to redistribute weight between all three of our suitcases and carry-on luggage evenly, so we won’t be charged any extra for baggage. In fact, Jerry and I packed so lightly, that our carry-on luggage was almost empty when we left, just in case we needed more room to reallocate items between us as we traveled.
Prague can be summed up in one word – GORGEOUS! I have never been in a more beautiful city. The architecture is a collection of Baroque, Gothic, Renaissance, and modern. You can’t turn a corner without viewing another spectacular structure and they are all so different. The highlight was Prague Castle. It sits high atop a hill, overlooking Prague and the River Vltava that bisects the city. We were able to explore it, along with the St. Vitus Cathedral located within the castle walls. There are numerous bridges crossing the river, the most beautiful being the 600 year old Charles Bridge.
We planned for three days here in Prague, so our second day we decided to leave the city and took a bus ride to the Terezin Concentration Camp, located about 25 miles north of the city. Jerry and I laughed when we heard what the bus driver was listening to – classic American rock-n-roll. It just goes to show that you are never really THAT far from home! The camp was initially built as a Hungarian imperial fortress in the 1700’s, but was turned into a Jewish ghetto and then a concentration camp in 1941. Although it was only used as a transit camp, more than half of the 140,000 men, women, and children who passed through its gates ended up transferring to Auschwitz or Treblinka in Poland, the majority of them losing their lives to the gas chambers. Most of the rest of the Terezin population died as well, due to diseases, starvation, or cruel treatment. It was a sobering trip, and after viewing the inhumane conditions in which the prisoners lived, I vowed to never again complain about my home, hunger pangs, or being too cold or too hot.
Our third day we took another trip out to the countryside to explore the second most popular destination in the Czech Republic – Karlstejn Castle. Charles the IV built this medieval castle from 1348 to 1357 to safe-guard the crown jewels and provide a “summer shack” for his family. It is a spectacular Disney-like castle, perched on a hill, surrounded by lush forests and vineyards. It’s hard to describe how beautiful it is…….think Cinderella’s castle from the 14th century! Our trip home should have been uneventful, but we found some unexpected entertainment from using the restroom. (Now give me a minute to explain here……) Picture our train: it was rickety, old, and graffiti-laden, looking like it had transported passengers since World War II. We hadn’t had a chance to use the restroom at the station before our train arrived, so Jerry checked out the bathroom on the train. He came back and announced that it was the first bathroom he’d ever used with a view. Thinking he meant that there was a nice window or something to look outside the train, I found that the “view” he was talking about was a totally different one. The interesting thing about the bathroom on our train was that you didn’t need to flush it……..gravity took care of it completely all on its own. Upon looking down into the toilet, we could view the train tracks passing underneath us. Definitely a first for the Bigenhos!! Next stop, Budapest and Hungarian goulash!
ANSWER: King Wenceslas
Monday, July 27, 2009
Copenhagen – Welcome to Scandinavia!!
QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is a busbie?
A. A hair cut, similar to an American “buzz cut”.
B. The Danish equivalent of an American quarter (25 cents)
C. The Danish national bird
D. A hat worn by the Danish National guards
We flew out of Amsterdam and arrived in Copenhagen around 11:00 PM. Thankfully, a nice Danish man helped us get out of the airport and onto the right train headed for our hotel. We checked in and fell into bed around 1:00 AM. Though we really wanted to sleep in, we were up bright and early, as we had a lot of ground to cover. We headed out to the royal Amalienborg Palace to view the changing of the Danish guard. With much pomp and circumstance, and bearskin busbies, they wowed us with their synchronized marching and dead-pan expressions. From there we viewed Frederikskirke, or the Marble Church, a huge copper-domed cathedral. We saw a bronze statue of the “Little Mermaid” located along the Baltic Sea and didn’t realize that the story of Disney’s Little Mermaid was an original Hans Christian Andersen story long before it ever hit the big screen. We enjoyed a leisure boat ride through the canals and out into the Baltic Sea. We climbed the Round Tower, a public observatory that is reached by hiking up a brick-laden spiral ramp, then opening up to a gorgeous panoramic view of Copenhagen. The second day we took a short train ride to Malmo, Sweden, crossing over a small stretch of Baltic Sea and visited the Malmo Hus Castle. It is a Renaissance strong-hold, dating back to the 15th century and today, holds five different museums, as well as the royal castle where the Swedish nobility once lived. Since I shop at IKEA, I was so proud of myself that I recognized some Swedish words!! Didn’t help much though, so we ate at Burger King for lunch where we knew what we were ordering. We did finally experience some traditional Danish cuisine for dinner, finding a reasonably –priced restaurant which served a Danish all-you-can-eat buffet. The culminating experience for us was witnessing the opening ceremonies for the World Out Games (Gay Olympics) being held in Copenhagen that week. There was an extravagant parade, similar to the opening parade for the Olympics we’re all familiar with, and almost 100 countries were represented. It was a major world event and was interesting and eye-opening to observe it. Next stop……..Prague.
ANSWER: A busbie is a tall, bearskin hat worn by the Royal Palace Guards.
A. A hair cut, similar to an American “buzz cut”.
B. The Danish equivalent of an American quarter (25 cents)
C. The Danish national bird
D. A hat worn by the Danish National guards
We flew out of Amsterdam and arrived in Copenhagen around 11:00 PM. Thankfully, a nice Danish man helped us get out of the airport and onto the right train headed for our hotel. We checked in and fell into bed around 1:00 AM. Though we really wanted to sleep in, we were up bright and early, as we had a lot of ground to cover. We headed out to the royal Amalienborg Palace to view the changing of the Danish guard. With much pomp and circumstance, and bearskin busbies, they wowed us with their synchronized marching and dead-pan expressions. From there we viewed Frederikskirke, or the Marble Church, a huge copper-domed cathedral. We saw a bronze statue of the “Little Mermaid” located along the Baltic Sea and didn’t realize that the story of Disney’s Little Mermaid was an original Hans Christian Andersen story long before it ever hit the big screen. We enjoyed a leisure boat ride through the canals and out into the Baltic Sea. We climbed the Round Tower, a public observatory that is reached by hiking up a brick-laden spiral ramp, then opening up to a gorgeous panoramic view of Copenhagen. The second day we took a short train ride to Malmo, Sweden, crossing over a small stretch of Baltic Sea and visited the Malmo Hus Castle. It is a Renaissance strong-hold, dating back to the 15th century and today, holds five different museums, as well as the royal castle where the Swedish nobility once lived. Since I shop at IKEA, I was so proud of myself that I recognized some Swedish words!! Didn’t help much though, so we ate at Burger King for lunch where we knew what we were ordering. We did finally experience some traditional Danish cuisine for dinner, finding a reasonably –priced restaurant which served a Danish all-you-can-eat buffet. The culminating experience for us was witnessing the opening ceremonies for the World Out Games (Gay Olympics) being held in Copenhagen that week. There was an extravagant parade, similar to the opening parade for the Olympics we’re all familiar with, and almost 100 countries were represented. It was a major world event and was interesting and eye-opening to observe it. Next stop……..Prague.
ANSWER: A busbie is a tall, bearskin hat worn by the Royal Palace Guards.
The Netherlands………Land of Contrasts.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is “wilde plussen”?
A. A Dutch men’s cologne
B. A type of wild berries only found in the Netherlands
C. The process by which males relieve themselves anywhere they feel like it
D. A rare Holland wild flower
Our next stop began with a train ride from Brussels to Rotterdam. We were very excited about this portion of our trip because we were being met at the train station by a Diana, a former Houghton College graduate living in the Netherlands now. Diana married a “Dutchie”, Arjan, and they had promised to show us around the area and treat us to a sampling of real Dutch cooking. They didn’t disappoint. We began with a trip to “Kinderdijk”, an area about 10 miles outside of Rotterdam. It is a region filled with canals and many original 18th century windmills. As a young girl I remembered reading the book, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, and after gazing upon this impressive Dutch scenery, it was even more beautiful than I’d imagined it would be. Diana took us to some other interesting sights in Rotterdam such as St. Laurenskerk, a beautiful cathedral, and Kubus woning, an interesting apartment complex downtown created out of rectangular cubes. We also took a short train ride to Dordrecht, a quaint, little seaport village. We all witnessed a miracle too……Jerry tried, ate, then asked for a second helping of mussels, a summer-time Dutch delicacy. He HATES sea food, however, Arjan changed his mind on this one. We drew the line at eating raw herring though…we both agreed we would try it, but after Arjan opened the package and the strong fishy smell wafted out, we just couldn’t do it. It was such a gift to spend time with our friends in Rotterdam and we learned a lot from them about Dutch culture and the “Nederlander” way of life. From there, we headed out by train to Amsterdam on our own where we were to meet up with Ben. He was finishing his last day of school, and before he arrived, Jerry and I spent the day wandering around Amsterdam, checking out all the sights. We took a canal boat ride and it was lovely. Most of the homes there are built right on the canals, no small feat of engineering. We visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank house. Seeing the room where Anne hid was both amazing and sobering, and we both felt instantly thankful for all the many blessings in our life. We were also introduced to the “stroop waffle”, a yummy Dutch treat, and spent the rest of the day looking for places to buy them. We ended our Amsterdam visit by taking a walk through the “Red Light District”, which we were assured was very safe and crawling with tourists, who like us, were curious as to what this infamous area looked like. It was crowded with tourists, and we did feel safe, but it definitely is an “anything goes” section of town, much like all of Europe. We met Ben at the train station, and the three of us headed out on the next leg of our journey……Copenhagen, Denmark.
ANSWER: C
“Wilde plussen” is a real problem in the Netherlands. Our friends Arjan and Diana explained that many men just don’t feel the need to find a bath room (probably since you have to pay for them), and will look for a corner or wall to relieve themselves. YUCK!!!!!
A. A Dutch men’s cologne
B. A type of wild berries only found in the Netherlands
C. The process by which males relieve themselves anywhere they feel like it
D. A rare Holland wild flower
Our next stop began with a train ride from Brussels to Rotterdam. We were very excited about this portion of our trip because we were being met at the train station by a Diana, a former Houghton College graduate living in the Netherlands now. Diana married a “Dutchie”, Arjan, and they had promised to show us around the area and treat us to a sampling of real Dutch cooking. They didn’t disappoint. We began with a trip to “Kinderdijk”, an area about 10 miles outside of Rotterdam. It is a region filled with canals and many original 18th century windmills. As a young girl I remembered reading the book, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, and after gazing upon this impressive Dutch scenery, it was even more beautiful than I’d imagined it would be. Diana took us to some other interesting sights in Rotterdam such as St. Laurenskerk, a beautiful cathedral, and Kubus woning, an interesting apartment complex downtown created out of rectangular cubes. We also took a short train ride to Dordrecht, a quaint, little seaport village. We all witnessed a miracle too……Jerry tried, ate, then asked for a second helping of mussels, a summer-time Dutch delicacy. He HATES sea food, however, Arjan changed his mind on this one. We drew the line at eating raw herring though…we both agreed we would try it, but after Arjan opened the package and the strong fishy smell wafted out, we just couldn’t do it. It was such a gift to spend time with our friends in Rotterdam and we learned a lot from them about Dutch culture and the “Nederlander” way of life. From there, we headed out by train to Amsterdam on our own where we were to meet up with Ben. He was finishing his last day of school, and before he arrived, Jerry and I spent the day wandering around Amsterdam, checking out all the sights. We took a canal boat ride and it was lovely. Most of the homes there are built right on the canals, no small feat of engineering. We visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank house. Seeing the room where Anne hid was both amazing and sobering, and we both felt instantly thankful for all the many blessings in our life. We were also introduced to the “stroop waffle”, a yummy Dutch treat, and spent the rest of the day looking for places to buy them. We ended our Amsterdam visit by taking a walk through the “Red Light District”, which we were assured was very safe and crawling with tourists, who like us, were curious as to what this infamous area looked like. It was crowded with tourists, and we did feel safe, but it definitely is an “anything goes” section of town, much like all of Europe. We met Ben at the train station, and the three of us headed out on the next leg of our journey……Copenhagen, Denmark.
ANSWER: C
“Wilde plussen” is a real problem in the Netherlands. Our friends Arjan and Diana explained that many men just don’t feel the need to find a bath room (probably since you have to pay for them), and will look for a corner or wall to relieve themselves. YUCK!!!!!
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