Last day in Amsterdam

We squeezed in four museums for our last day in town. We started our day at the Anne Frank house. This was the place where Anne Frank and her family hid for two years during the Nazi occupation. We were able to walk through the place and examine pages of the diary. It's a must see.

We also went to a place called Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder which is a catholic church that was hidden in the attic of a private citizens home. Catholic churches were converted to Protestant in the late 1600s by the order of their new king, so catholics had to have their services in secret. This building survived mostly as it was configured so it was cool to see. The church occupied the top two floors of this house and even had all the features of a regular church like the confession room, pipe organ and area for the priest to live.

On our way to our next stop we walked by the edge of the red light district, it was still too early for the ladies to be working. Since the ladies were not in the windows you could see to the back area where the business was conducted.  Too bad we didn’t get a family selfie here…

Anyhow our final stops were the Royal Palace, and the Amsterdam museum. Both were just OK, not to sound too snobby but after you see the chateau and royal palaces in France and England, the rest of the worlds royal palaces don’t compare.

Four Museums in One Day!

You would think with all the walking yesterday we would take it easier today. We actually recorded fewer steps as we decided to get an unlimited public transportation pass for the rest of our stay. The idea of walking 2.5 miles just to get to our first stop didn’t seem appealing so we jumped on the tram. We should have done this the day before and bought a three day ticket, oh well.

Our first stop was the Dutch National Maritime museum. The museum is located in a 360 year old building on the harbor. Moored was a replica of a 17th century sailing ship used for trade to the West Indies which we were able to explore. Also on display but dry docked was the 200 year old original royal row boat used for official functions on all the waterways surrounding the country. They also had a collection of maps from the 1600s on display.  Also included in the admission was an aerial 360 degree VR tour of Amsterdam during the 17th century. I was a little woozy afterwards.

Afterwards we stopped at the Dutch resistance museum. It details the life of the Dutch during German occupation and how a the Dutch resistance group helped the allies and their citizens during this time.  My favorite part was in the back, which was actually their childrens area. They documented the lives of 4 children during that time, a regular Dutch citizen, child from a Jewish family, a child of a prominent Dutch resistance person and a family sympathetic to the Nazis and a member of their Hitler youth.  You could see how their lives were impacted before, during and after the war based on their backgrounds.

We also went to Microbia which is a museum dedicated to microbes. The museum reviews all the different microbes with real samples you can view under a microscope.  It was very educational and made me wonder if I should be using any of the handrails on the staircases.

Finally our last stop was the Rembrandt home and museum. This was Rembrandts actual home where he painted, taught painting and sold paintings till he lost the home to foreclosure later in life.  It was a big house so I guess his paintings were not worth as much back then.

Christmas Day in Amsterdam

The reason we are ending our German Christmas market tour in Amsterdam is that shops and museums are open on the 24th and 25th. In Germany the holidays start on the 24th so we would have had two days sitting around if we stayed in Germany.

Today we went to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedeljlk (museum of modern art) and the Rijksmuseum which is their national museum.  It wasn’t so busy at 10am but a few hours later the museums were crowded. We picked these three as they were in the same area of Amsterdam. We also had the bonus of the Amsterdam Christmas market between the museums. Their food was different with burritos, herring sandwiches, fried fish and of course sausages.

It ended up being a 18k step day. We were exhausted but still stopped at the grocery store on the way home to figure out what to make for Christmas dinner.  Our airbnb has the nicest kitchen of any place we have stayed so it's nice to cook after being out all day.

Amsterdam arrival

We drove into Amsterdam around noon and discovered that the town is challenging to drive through. It’s not the traffic, it’s all the trams, bikes and pedestrians as there are dedicated bike lanes of every major street, and the trams are in the road as well. The folks in Seattle who were adding the bike lanes should have looked at how Amsterdam implemented theirs. It’s not an ugly confusing mess like it is in Seattle.

I used Airbnb and found a house on the edge of the center core around the corner from a tram stop. It looked like it was in a pedestrian only street but our GPS took us down the little alley and we were able to park near the house. The owners were there and greeted us warmly. The only thing that could make our place better would be a location few blocks closer to the center core. Otherwise we are in a recently renovated row house with a huge kitchen and amenities for a chef including an green egg charcoal cooker. Just like home! After our tour the super nice owners left for their Christmas holiday and I went to return the rental car.

Our rental for the week was a Volvo V60 wagon with the turbo diesel and 6-speed manual transmission. It was a fine car for the driver but a bit snug for the three boys and our luggage in back. I thought I was paying for a larger car but instead I was paying the extra for a “premium “ car. At least the boys didn’t complain about the space. After my experience in Scotland a few summers ago I paid extra for the full insurance even though I knew that my credit card would cover any damages. I didn’t want to deal with the nit picking rental return inspection.  The Europcar rental place in the city wasn’t as picky as the Edinburgh office so I could have saved the money. Oh well.

The drop off was about a mile away so I just walked back to the house and then went to the grocery store that was a few blocks away.  The grocery store was open late on the 24th so we were able get everything for our Xmas eve dinner and breakfast the next day. Unfortunately beef must not be a European thing so I ended up doing a pork roast outside on the egg. Roast ended up overcooked as I didn’t find the meat thermometer till it was too late.

Paderborn

We made a special stop to visit our old AuPair Petra. #4 was less than a year old when she lived with us. We visited with her and her partner Sébastien during our last tour of Germany two summers ago but it was nice to see them again in their new house and talk soccer with S who is a GK coach for the youth development program for Dortmund.

Every German town seems to have a Christmas market and Paderborn is no exception. It was bigger than Trier's but smaller than Nurnberg. It was busy but not overcrowded so it was nice to walk around together and have a Petra translate the different items for sale. They had one of my favorite food items we experienced at the Christmas market: fire cooked pork steak. It made for an excellent sandwich!

Nurnberg

It was a quick drive from Stuttgart to Nurnberg. We arrived around lunchtime and went to our hotel in the center of the old town. There was a city lot next to the hotel but with tiny parking spots. I’m surprised that cars don’t have door dings like they do at home.  Anyhow our rooms were not ready so we went to the market for food. It seems that the markets all have the same cuisine, so we had the half meter bratwurst again, pork steak sandwich again and a pretzel. I can’t believe that it would be possible to be tired of sausages!

Afterwards we headed out to the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände. Aka Documentation Center Nazi Party Grounds. This is a museum that’s placed in one of the buildings and grounds where the Nazi party held their giant rallies that you see in the period films. The museum details the history of the party, how it came to power, the use of propaganda and their brutal methods for growing and maintaining their power.   The museum ends with the Nurnberg trials.  I’m glad we visited the museum but I feel that they could have done a better job of presenting the materials as it was all presented on an audio guide vs having captions next to the various artifacts to read.

Afterwards we went back to our hotel and back to the market to shop and eat.  I’m not sure if Nurnberg lives up to their reputation of being the best Christmas market in Germany. It was nice but the market in Stuttgart was way bigger with a better choice of food.

Stuttgart

There was still snow on the ground during our drive from Trier. Fortunately it hadn’t snowed in a while and the roads were clear as my rental doesn’t have snow tires and Snow tires are required for all cars in Germany.  I picked a hotel in the middle of downtown in their pedestrian walking area. It made parking a challenge but it was better for exploring the Christmas market. However the citizens of Stuttgart stay up late and the area in front of our hotel was noisy till 1am! Since we were hungry we headed over and ate our way through the market. We had the half meter long bratwurst, spatzle with cheese, pork steak sandwich, cherry filled bun with vanilla sauce,

The next day we visited Lena, Marcel and their brand new baby. It was nice to catch up with them, we saw them during our last visit to Stuttgart. Afterwards we went back to the Stuttgart market as there was another huge section of vendors we missed. I think the family was tired eating sausages so we had dinner at a local swabian restaurant where the boys tried new things like venison goulash, goose, and the other local specialties like the Maultaschen, which is similar to a huge meat filled ravioli. We also bought #2 his first beer, I guess we will need to come back in two years when #4 is of age to keep up with the tradition.

Trier

Trier was our first stop in our German Christmas market tour. Trier is located on the west side of the country bordering Luxembourg. Its history can be traced to the Roman times with structures still in place.  We stayed in a nice Ibis chain hotel that was right in the middle of town that we could walk.

After we settled into our rooms we walked directly to the Christmas market which was in the town square. It was super crowded with people eating and drinking and having a good time. There were lots of artisan craft vendors but I was distracted by the food vendors. The smell of grilling sausages was intoxicating. We had bratwurst, pork steak sandwich, fries, a saute mushrooms dish and a sweet steamed cheery filled bun smothered in a sauce. There was also flatbreads, potato pancakes, and other sweet treats that we missed.

We explored more of the city the next time morning. We went to Porta Nigra which was the towns main gate from the Roman times. Afterwards we stopped at the original cathedral of Trier. Exhausted, we walked back to the hotel, checked out and headed to Stuttgart

Eurostar

We got up, made breakfast, cleaned up and left to get back on the underground. We needed to get to the St Pancras station to take the Eurostar. This is the train that goes from London to continental Europe with stops in Brussels and Paris.  Riding the Eurostar is like air travel with the customs and security checks. Good thing I read the tickets and saw the 30 minute check in requirements.  The train was at capacity and travels fast as the GPS on my phone showed we were cruising at 185 mph.

We made it to the other side of the English Channel in about an hour then sped along the rolling hills of the Normandy region of France. Made me wish we had another few days so that we could have stopped and spent some time here. 

We picked up our rental car in Brussels and it took over an hour to get out of town. Lots of traffic and construction. Trier ended up being 3.5 hours away, at least the boys were able to nap during the drive early.

London Quick Stop

Even though we are only staying one night we ended up in a 3bd apartment right next to Leicester and Trafalgar squares.  Our only plan for London was the go to a musical so I wanted a place in this area (20 or so theaters in this neighborhood) and also off the Piccadilly line so that it would be a non stop tube trip from Heathrow. Unfortunately most places were pretty pricey except for this apartment we rented that had great reviews. I should have noticed that all the reviews gushed only about the location. Its not bad for the price just kinda worn.

After getting into the apartment we went to the half price ticket office around the corner to find a musical to attend. I think theatre business caters to the tourists as there is so many to choose from. We also stopped by the local grocery store to get lunch to take back to the apartment. You can’t beat Tescos 3£ sandwich/chips/pop bundle and of course we needed food for tomorrows breakfast.

We were pretty tired back at the apartment so to prevent anyone from taking a nap and making it harder to time adjust we went back out.  We stopped at the National Gallery, people watched at Trafalgar Square and checked out the Christmas market and shops in Leicester Square.   Did you know there is a huge shop that just sells M&M candy in every color and swag?

Our wandering eventually took us to the New London Theater where we watched School of Rock. It was fun show with amazing child musicians. Even with the high energy performance I still had to poke the boys a few times to wake them during the performance.

Christmas in Europe

We are on our way back to Europe!  During the summer C had mentioned that she would like to see the Christmas markets that are hosted in most towns in Germany. I’m not one to turn down an opportunity to go back to Europe so I got busy looking for cheap tickets. I found a screaming deal to London but that wasn’t supposed to be our destination.  At least getting to London will get us closer to our destination.  It will be a quick overnight and then onto the Eurostar train under the channel to the mainland

Cheap flights usually means a compromise. In this case we only had 75 minutes to transfer planes in Newark. The weather cooperated and we arrived on time but now waiting for our fight to leave for London.  We have been sitting in the plane still at the gate for 30 minutes. Pilot said the mechanics need to make a minor fix. Kinda worry some as the power in the cabin keeps cutting out.

Here is a photo as we left home for the trip to the airport . K is working on his trip scowl.

Arches

Growing up in the Midwest whenever someone mentioned arches, I always thought they were referring to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  I have driven by it numerous times but I've been to the top only once.  It's not that exciting to go to the top so we just stopped for a quick photo.

Now when people I know talk about the arches, they are referring to the Arches National Park just north of Moab Utah. During our three hour visit, we walked out to the Windows, the Double arches and the balanced rock.   The formations were amazing! 

Corvettes in Kentucky

Did you know that Corvettes are assembled at a plant in Bowling Green Kentucky? If not you probably didn't know that the Corvette museum is across the street from the assembly plant.

As Bowling Green was on our way back east we did a quick pit stop to visit the museum. We have been to lots of car museums such as the Mercedes Benz and Porsche museums in Stuttgart and earlier on this trip the Henry Ford museum. Well I hate to say it but the Corvette museum was not very good. It did have nice cars on display but it didn't feel like I was getting a history lesson of the car when walking through. It felt more like a commercial that we walked through.

The best part of the museum was the area dedicated to the incident from a few years ago when a section of museum floor collapsed into a unknown cave and took many priceless Corvettes with it.  The display had lots of geological area history (Kentucky  has lots of caves). And the cars too damaged to restore were on display.

Go West, young man! (and visit the caves)

It was finally time to start out journey back to the other side of the country. Our original plan was to go south to Monticello and see Thomas Jeffersons place and down to Memphis to visit Graceland. Unfortunately we spent too much time going East so we needed to shorten our itinerary on the way back.

Our first stop was at the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.  Mammoth Caves is the largest cave system in the world. To see the cave you have to make reservations for one of the many tours provided by the park service. The short and less strenuous tours were already booked by the time we were looking at the different tours. We ended up on the  Drips and Domes tour which was a 2 hour tour with lots of climbing and wedging through tight spaces. It was a great experience, a nice contrast to all the museums from the days before.

Last day in DC

It was getting harder to go out and explore the city by our last day due to the 95+ temperatures. To properly see everything in DC,  I recommend a minimum of 5 days, and hopefully when it's not so hot!

For our last day we went to the Museum of American history. Lots of cool items on display including the original flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the war of 1812 and was the inspiration for our national anthem. My favorite was the display of Julia Childs original kitchen.

There were lots of other interesting exhibits as we were there almost the entire day. We only left as we realized that the Hope diamond wasn't at this museum but at the museum of Natural history.  Fortunately that museum was next door so we rushed over before it closed.

Its hot in DC!

We started our morning with plans to visit the Smithsonian's Museum of American Art, the Portrait Gallery (which are combined into the same building) and then the National Archives.  We parked over by the Museum only to find out it wasn't open for a few more hours.  So we walked a few blocks down to the National Archives which normally would not be a big deal, except that it was already 90 degrees in the morning so it was a hot walk.

The main attraction in the National Archives are the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  They were on display together in a very dark room, controlled by lots of guards.  They tried to keep the people visiting this very large dark room in smallish groups so that we could view the documents without too much crowding.  It was amazing to see the original paperwork, though the Declaration was hard to read as the ink had seriously faded.  Definitely no picture taking allowed, and no touching of the glass as well!

The American Art museum had lots of photographs, art and portraits.  I think the presidential portraits section was closed.  I don't think the boys were that impressed especially since they have experience with the Louve.

Despite the super hot weather, we went to Arlington National Cemetery. We were probably thinking it would be shaded... Nope. It was a long hot walk to the tomb of the unknown soldier. We watched the changing of the guard, and we're in awe of the guards and their discipline in the full 98 degree heat.

Spaceships and Planes!

The Air and Space Museum is the favorite of the Smithsonian museums. It seems that any flying item of significance is on display. Spirit of St Louis, Chuck Yeager’s X1, John Glenn’s Friendship 7 and the Wright Brothers original Flyer. The Apollo 11 command module is normally on display but not during our visit. We spent over half of our day admiring all the displays before driving out to the Udvar-Hazy annex by Dulles Airport. The annex has even more flying machines like the space shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay,and the Dash-80. We stayed till they booted us out at 5:30.

Shortcut via Canada

After Dearborn, we decided to stop at the Niagara Falls for the night.  We crossed into Canada from Detroit which was pretty quick compared to our normal crossings in Washington state.  Driving though Ontario was uneventful but with lots of traffic heading our direction.  We arrived after 10p and we found out that the Falls would be lit until midnight.  We walked down to the Falls in the rain took a few photos (which didn't come out as it was dark and raining) and walked back.

The next morning we went back down to the Falls after breakfast.  It was already crowded.  We admired the scenery, took our obligatory photos and left for Washington DC.  We crossed back to the USA via the bridge just downstream of the Falls which had a nice view (and no line at the border crossing).