Just to warn you, there are A LOT of pictures here. We took 298 pictures on our trip but these are only a few of the good ones in each city to show you what we did on our trip. It started out on Monday afternoon, in the Lubbock airport, where Devin taught me how to play chess. We stopped in Memphis for a couple of hours and then landed in Amsterdam on Tuesday morning.
This picture is in Amsterdam, right in front of the church where Rembrandt is buried. That blue thing is a bike and that green thing is a bathroom.
Devin taking a break.
It really is a monument to homosexuals. I should start by saying that Amsterdam reminded me a lot of Portland (the smell of pot only added to that comparison).
Devin using the bathroom.
EVERYONE rides bikes in Amsterdam. And the city is so dang cute!
Yep, Anne Frank hid in this very house during WWII. It was pretty powerful to be on the streets where so many terrible things happened 70 years ago.
On Wednesday morning, we stopped at a little market and got stroopwaffels. They make the waffle and then spread hot caramel-like stuff in the middle of it. It's warm and delicious and makes you really thirsty!
Waiting at a bus stop. "Cute jacket" you say... well it got lost/stolen on our last day in Amsterdam... the only casualty from the trip, unless you count the blisters on top of blisters on our feet from walking so much.
These little cars are so small. They are even allowed to drive on the bike paths. We once saw 4 people piled into one of these babies!
Amsterdam has canals all over it. They are so, so beautiful. Can you see the swan in this one?
The flower market. Yep, those are tulips!
Delft Blau (or Blue). We went to a little show room (we went to quite a few show rooms) and this stuff is crazy expensive. But it's really beautiful stuff.
Amsterdam was freezing cold. This day it was raining on and off and was quite windy. I had wanted to come home with an Amsterdam sweatshirt and this was the perfect day to purchase it!
Glen, they had a concert with Philip Glass. Aren't you bummed you didn't come?
In a city hall building, right next to the concert hall.
This bottle of water cost $9! I was pretty thirsty for the rest of the trip! We usually just got food at little cafes or the grocery store, but this was a nice Chinese/Indonesian restaurant that we went to. Also, it is NOT customary to leave a tip.
On Thursday, we drove down to Brussels, Belgium. It was my favorite city of the trip, probably because it was most like what I imagined Europe to be like. Devin's brother, Jared, has a good friend, Alex, who lives here and he graciously took us through the city. He, Alex, knew so many facts about the whole city, either because he studied it on his own or because he took lots of field trips during middle and high school! Either way, I'm so glad that he was there to show us around!
This is from the World Expo. It was held in Brussels a long time ago, but like the Eiffel Tower, it still stands. Did you know that they still do World Expos every year? (Alex told us that.)
In Brussels.
We went into a lot of churches. I was so glad that I took an architecture class at BYU. And was more surprised that I remembered many of the things I learned. Gothic was always my favorite style and this church was a perfect example.
Beautiful stained glass.
Belgian chocolate. It's everywhere, but this was a really yummy and affordable place.
Godiva (which started out in Belgium) and Neuhaus (pronounced "new-house") are 2 other really yummy kinds. Alex told us a story about the purpose behind the Godiva logo. You can't see it here but it's a picture of a naked woman on a horse. The story is that the naked lady was the wife of some king or duke or something like that. She asked him to lower the taxes and he refused. She asked and asked and asked and he finally said that he would lower the taxes if she would ride through the city naked. He knew this was not something she would do which is why he proposed it. Well the wife went to every door in the city and told them that if they would close their shutters on a certain day, then their taxes would be decreased. So on that day, she pulled off her clothes and mounted her horse and rode as fast as she could through the city. The city's taxes were lowered from that day on. And I guess they make amazing chocolate!
This is from a really posh chocolate place. I had a piece from here and it's quite bitter. This box costs 24,50 euros.
I had a raspberry torte from this place (it's 3rd from the left). It's definitely on my list for foods that I want on my deathbed.
Hot chocolate!
Yum!
This is Janneke Pis. You will see her relative in just a minute.
Have you ever heard of "Delirium Tremens"? I think it's named after this place, "Delirium Tremens". Alex told us that this place has over 200 or 2000 (I don't remember which) kinds of beer. Delirium Tremens is what they call some alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
In the city center of Brussels.
And the famous Manneken Pis. He's only about 2 feet high, maybe. Why is he so popular? That's Devin's brother, Jared, in the picture with us.
While they were digging up the ground in front of the opera house (to make a parking lot, I think), they found some Roman ruins. Good thing they didn't smash them!
Woah Devin, slow down... just jokin'! That's kilometers so we weren't speeding at all... oh maybe a little!
On Friday, we went to Brugge. It's also in Belgium. The streets were very quiet in the morning, when we first arrived. But by the time the afternoon rolled around, it was a little too chaotic for my taste. Swans in the water.
Daffodils are weeds. They grow everywhere like in the middle of your front lawn. But it sure was beautiful!
Cobble streets.
Belgian waffle. I had looked forward to this for a long time and it was seriously disappointing. I like the ones that we make at home a lot better.
Brugge is known for it's canals and bridges. It's the Amsterdam of Belgium... but doesn't smell like pot!
Devin was excited about going into the church where they have a vial of Christ's blood. But, it was closing for lunch when we got there. Sorry Devin!
In Brugge's city center.
On Friday, we drove back to the Netherlands. In a little city near the Hague, was a littler city called Madurodam. It's ironic that the buildings are all teeny but the shoes are huge!
I had to prop it up on the fence, it was too heavy!
The detail on the buildings is really amazing!
Devin blowing the windmill.
Picking tulips.
Hanging out with the moose.
On Devin's mission, he posed like this in front of the actual castle... except he wasn't on his knees like he is now.
Can you see me?
Wouldn't it be frightening to see a big bald man picking up your car?!
Look out!
This is our little car that we drove around the country. It took a little getting used to (manual instead of automatic) but Devin did a great job keeping us safe on the streets!
On Saturday, Devin and Jared presented at the conference in Noordwijkerhout (which was the whole reason for going on the trip... kinda!). Just outside of this cute little city are all the tulip fields. The garden, Keukenhof, was really expensive (and packed with people) so we rented bikes and biked through the tulip fields. Devin was so nice and let us get a tandem bike, even though it shouted "TOURISTS".
There were a few tulips blooming.
And more daffodil weeds.
Daffodils in the fields behind us. This is kind of a booty shot.
Not tulips, more daffodils.
We biked out to the ocean. It's the North Sea (I think) and it was chilly!
They were harvesting the tulips.
Yellow= daffodils. Purple= hyacinth (I told Jared it was stock, but I was mistaken... they look a lot alike from the road, on a bike.)
Red= tulips
A windmill!
On Saturday evening, we went back to Amsterdam. You could fit maybe 2 or 3 of those cars in a parking space.
Another tribute to Devin's mission. But this is the real castle. It was built in 1280 something. The guy who lived here got imprisoned in his own castle in 1294. I bet he was wishing that he would have made the dungeons a little nicer!
We weren't able to get the iconic windmill picture sooner so the first thing we did on Sunday morning in Amsterdam was take a picture with a windmill. I was imagining that there would be windmills running rampant through the streets but I was wrong. This one, however, was only a couple minutes from our hotel and in the middle of a little neighborhood.
The trees were trimmed down like this all over the country. Apparently they grow to be really beautiful but it just looks a little weird right now.
Walking through Amsterdam on Sunday morning was really peaceful.
We stopped and got friets. It's pretty much just double fried french fries but oh so much better! I like it the best with mayo and peanut sauce. Devin likes it with mayo and curry ketchup.
We have a poster of this church in our house. It was a picture taken in 1901. The church looks exactly the same (just in color this time) but the surrounding city is quite different. Just behind this church is the red light district. It was... memorable.
I have Dutch ancestors whose last name was... you guessed it, De Jong. I was happy to find this sign!
In the airport, we had to go through those new x-ray scanners. I went through with a green "OK" but Devin had to get patted down!
The trip home only took 2 hours (really 10 but with the time changes, it looked like 2). We were so happy to see our little Eli and give him his presents from the trip! Klompen!
And a soccer outfit!
Eli and Devin are twins!
We had a wonderful time but are so grateful to be home! We are especially grateful to Mike and Katelyn (and Daylin and Everett) for letting Eli stay with them for a week! They are the greatest friends in the world and we owe them BIG time!!! Someday, I think Daylin and Eli will be friends again (apparently 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year olds sometimes have a hard time sharing toys)!
Just to warn you, there are A LOT of pictures here. We took 298 pictures on our trip but these are only a few of the good ones in each city to show you what we did on our trip. It started out on Monday afternoon, in the Lubbock airport, where Devin taught me how to play chess. We stopped in Memphis for a couple of hours and then landed in Amsterdam on Tuesday morning.
This picture is in Amsterdam, right in front of the church where Rembrandt is buried. That blue thing is a bike and that green thing is a bathroom.
Devin taking a break.
It really is a monument to homosexuals. I should start by saying that Amsterdam reminded me a lot of Portland (the smell of pot only added to that comparison).
Devin using the bathroom.
EVERYONE rides bikes in Amsterdam. And the city is so dang cute!
Yep, Anne Frank hid in this very house during WWII. It was pretty powerful to be on the streets where so many terrible things happened 70 years ago.
On Wednesday morning, we stopped at a little market and got stroopwaffels. They make the waffle and then spread hot caramel-like stuff in the middle of it. It's warm and delicious and makes you really thirsty!
Waiting at a bus stop. "Cute jacket" you say... well it got lost/stolen on our last day in Amsterdam... the only casualty from the trip, unless you count the blisters on top of blisters on our feet from walking so much.
These little cars are so small. They are even allowed to drive on the bike paths. We once saw 4 people piled into one of these babies!
Amsterdam has canals all over it. They are so, so beautiful. Can you see the swan in this one?
The flower market. Yep, those are tulips!
Delft Blau (or Blue). We went to a little show room (we went to quite a few show rooms) and this stuff is crazy expensive. But it's really beautiful stuff.
Amsterdam was freezing cold. This day it was raining on and off and was quite windy. I had wanted to come home with an Amsterdam sweatshirt and this was the perfect day to purchase it!
Glen, they had a concert with Philip Glass. Aren't you bummed you didn't come?
In a city hall building, right next to the concert hall.
This bottle of water cost $9! I was pretty thirsty for the rest of the trip! We usually just got food at little cafes or the grocery store, but this was a nice Chinese/Indonesian restaurant that we went to. Also, it is NOT customary to leave a tip.
On Thursday, we drove down to Brussels, Belgium. It was my favorite city of the trip, probably because it was most like what I imagined Europe to be like. Devin's brother, Jared, has a good friend, Alex, who lives here and he graciously took us through the city. He, Alex, knew so many facts about the whole city, either because he studied it on his own or because he took lots of field trips during middle and high school! Either way, I'm so glad that he was there to show us around!
This is from the World Expo. It was held in Brussels a long time ago, but like the Eiffel Tower, it still stands. Did you know that they still do World Expos every year? (Alex told us that.)
In Brussels.
We went into a lot of churches. I was so glad that I took an architecture class at BYU. And was more surprised that I remembered many of the things I learned. Gothic was always my favorite style and this church was a perfect example.
Beautiful stained glass.
Belgian chocolate. It's everywhere, but this was a really yummy and affordable place.
Godiva (which started out in Belgium) and Neuhaus (pronounced "new-house") are 2 other really yummy kinds. Alex told us a story about the purpose behind the Godiva logo. You can't see it here but it's a picture of a naked woman on a horse. The story is that the naked lady was the wife of some king or duke or something like that. She asked him to lower the taxes and he refused. She asked and asked and asked and he finally said that he would lower the taxes if she would ride through the city naked. He knew this was not something she would do which is why he proposed it. Well the wife went to every door in the city and told them that if they would close their shutters on a certain day, then their taxes would be decreased. So on that day, she pulled off her clothes and mounted her horse and rode as fast as she could through the city. The city's taxes were lowered from that day on. And I guess they make amazing chocolate!
This is from a really posh chocolate place. I had a piece from here and it's quite bitter. This box costs 24,50 euros.
I had a raspberry torte from this place (it's 3rd from the left). It's definitely on my list for foods that I want on my deathbed.
Hot chocolate!
Yum!
This is Janneke Pis. You will see her relative in just a minute.
Have you ever heard of "Delirium Tremens"? I think it's named after this place, "Delirium Tremens". Alex told us that this place has over 200 or 2000 (I don't remember which) kinds of beer. Delirium Tremens is what they call some alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
In the city center of Brussels.
And the famous Manneken Pis. He's only about 2 feet high, maybe. Why is he so popular? That's Devin's brother, Jared, in the picture with us.
While they were digging up the ground in front of the opera house (to make a parking lot, I think), they found some Roman ruins. Good thing they didn't smash them!
Woah Devin, slow down... just jokin'! That's kilometers so we weren't speeding at all... oh maybe a little!
On Friday, we went to Brugge. It's also in Belgium. The streets were very quiet in the morning, when we first arrived. But by the time the afternoon rolled around, it was a little too chaotic for my taste. Swans in the water.
Daffodils are weeds. They grow everywhere like in the middle of your front lawn. But it sure was beautiful!
Cobble streets.
Belgian waffle. I had looked forward to this for a long time and it was seriously disappointing. I like the ones that we make at home a lot better.
Brugge is known for it's canals and bridges. It's the Amsterdam of Belgium... but doesn't smell like pot!
Devin was excited about going into the church where they have a vial of Christ's blood. But, it was closing for lunch when we got there. Sorry Devin!
In Brugge's city center.
On Friday, we drove back to the Netherlands. In a little city near the Hague, was a littler city called Madurodam. It's ironic that the buildings are all teeny but the shoes are huge!
I had to prop it up on the fence, it was too heavy!
The detail on the buildings is really amazing!
Devin blowing the windmill.
Picking tulips.
Hanging out with the moose.
On Devin's mission, he posed like this in front of the actual castle... except he wasn't on his knees like he is now.
Can you see me?
Wouldn't it be frightening to see a big bald man picking up your car?!
Look out!
This is our little car that we drove around the country. It took a little getting used to (manual instead of automatic) but Devin did a great job keeping us safe on the streets!
On Saturday, Devin and Jared presented at the conference in Noordwijkerhout (which was the whole reason for going on the trip... kinda!). Just outside of this cute little city are all the tulip fields. The garden, Keukenhof, was really expensive (and packed with people) so we rented bikes and biked through the tulip fields. Devin was so nice and let us get a tandem bike, even though it shouted "TOURISTS".
There were a few tulips blooming.
And more daffodil weeds.
Daffodils in the fields behind us. This is kind of a booty shot.
Not tulips, more daffodils.
We biked out to the ocean. It's the North Sea (I think) and it was chilly!
They were harvesting the tulips.
Yellow= daffodils. Purple= hyacinth (I told Jared it was stock, but I was mistaken... they look a lot alike from the road, on a bike.)
Red= tulips
A windmill!
On Saturday evening, we went back to Amsterdam. You could fit maybe 2 or 3 of those cars in a parking space.
Another tribute to Devin's mission. But this is the real castle. It was built in 1280 something. The guy who lived here got imprisoned in his own castle in 1294. I bet he was wishing that he would have made the dungeons a little nicer!
We weren't able to get the iconic windmill picture sooner so the first thing we did on Sunday morning in Amsterdam was take a picture with a windmill. I was imagining that there would be windmills running rampant through the streets but I was wrong. This one, however, was only a couple minutes from our hotel and in the middle of a little neighborhood.
The trees were trimmed down like this all over the country. Apparently they grow to be really beautiful but it just looks a little weird right now.
Walking through Amsterdam on Sunday morning was really peaceful.
We stopped and got friets. It's pretty much just double fried french fries but oh so much better! I like it the best with mayo and peanut sauce. Devin likes it with mayo and curry ketchup.
We have a poster of this church in our house. It was a picture taken in 1901. The church looks exactly the same (just in color this time) but the surrounding city is quite different. Just behind this church is the red light district. It was... memorable.
I have Dutch ancestors whose last name was... you guessed it, De Jong. I was happy to find this sign!
In the airport, we had to go through those new x-ray scanners. I went through with a green "OK" but Devin had to get patted down!
The trip home only took 2 hours (really 10 but with the time changes, it looked like 2). We were so happy to see our little Eli and give him his presents from the trip! Klompen!
And a soccer outfit!
Eli and Devin are twins!
We had a wonderful time but are so grateful to be home! We are especially grateful to Mike and Katelyn (and Daylin and Everett) for letting Eli stay with them for a week! They are the greatest friends in the world and we owe them BIG time!!! Someday, I think Daylin and Eli will be friends again (apparently 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year olds sometimes have a hard time sharing toys)!
