Amsterdam

Actual Dates December 6-8

We had our first "adult" trip since being in Europe and we chose Amsterdam.  We met up there with our friends Debbie and Luke who are living in London.

This was our first time flying within Europe so the differences from the states was amazing.  When we entered security we scanned our boarding passes we walked right through, NO ID check of any sort.  Now security part was normal with the detectors and the machines but no one ever asked for an ID or looked at our boarding passes.  We figured well, when we get to the plane to board they will check there, NOPE!!! We scanned our passes again and walked right on the plane.  Weirdest thing ever.

Also finally found out why we do not get stamps in our passport book for all of our travels:/ Germany has an agreement within the European Union that allows us to travel with open borders, easy but nothing to show in our passports!!!!!  Another interesting thing was our flight was only one hour and we were served breakfast, WHAT??? 

We arrived in Amsterdam at 8am and it was DARK still:(. There was a bad storm the day before on the North Sea so although the temps were around 40 the winds were awful.  It was FReezing!!

We checked out the Schiphol Airport a bit, it's new and was very nice so we wanted to see what was there.  We had a few hours to kill before the London folks arrived.  We quickly hopped our train and headed to our B&B in the city.  We stayed on the canal at a place called Margot's B&B.  It was very quaint.  Our room was literally in her home, so much so that Luke accidentally walked in her room, right next to his, in the middle of the night, thinking it was a bathroom. Haha!!! Her place was very laid back and worked out perfectly for our trip.  The location was perfect as was her breakfast.  And his was our view from our room

This was us outside the train station

Very pretty architecture!!

Once we checked in we decided to head to the Van Gogh Museum.  I really wanted to see this but we wound up in a few shops then in a bar

Then having a snack:)))) they are known for their fries with all different choices of sauces.  We tried sweet chili and peanut sauce!!! Delish 

A Dutch beer!!!  We hopped in and out of several little bars while waiting.  We had some local Dutch brews and some whiskey to help chase away my cold that I woke up with the day before:/

Holland is of course known for wooden shoes, check out this bike

Haha!!!! There are more bikes in Amsterdam than anywhere else!!! Seriously, they are literally everywhere there are even barges with 3 and 4 story bike racks to store people's bikes, it's crazy.

Once 1pm hit, Debbie and Luke arrived and we went to lunch, Italian food and then literally spent the rest of the day checking out the local bars and brews and anything else they offered.

Saturday after our delicious breakfast we visited their daily market and their Christmas market, which was nothing compared to our German markets.  We then visited more local establishments 

We also went by the cat refugee boat where they house poor homeless kitties

Saturday evening we did the Heinekin experience.  This place was huge.  There is like a little club at the end where you get your free beer and there is also a 4D ride where you get bottled and brewed:) neat experience

After our Heinekin tour we did our Festival of Lights night cruise, not much of a Festival of Lights cruise but it was ok.  We wished we would have gone ahead and done this during the day instead, could have seen more 

Funniest part of the whole night.  Coffee shops sell weed but no coffee or alcohol and cafés are bars.  Billy and Luke decided to smoke a Cuban cigar in the one cafe where you could smoke and drink.  The bartender told them to put out the cigar, you can only smoke weed in there???? Are you really serious 

Very interesting city.

Every night we walked through the red light district.  Prostitution is legal and they actually receive benefits from the govt.  this area takes up much of the city.  It's so weird to see girls in windows and they are in a room with a bed.  You knock on the door, pay 50euros and you are in.  They close the curtains and the rest is history:/ YUK!!!  There are 375 windows in the Red Light District.

We saw men knocking on the doors and going in and coming out, weird way of life for me.

On Sunday we had our yummy breakfast again and then headed out sight seeing.  We went to see the oldest home in Amsterdam

Built in 1425.  The first homes in Amsterdam were built of wood.  A fire devastated the city and there are only 2 remaining.  This is the older of the two.

Homes in Amsterdam, well the front of the homes in Amsterdam are very narrow.  The narrowest home is there also.  They were built this way because they are taxed on the amount of property that faced the road.  Crazyyyy!

A lot of the homes have settled so much they are actually leaning

Look at the top of the building with the white border, you can see the gap where it is leaning.

The most amazing thing we did on this adventure was visit the Anne Frank house.  Well, it was the annex that they hid from Hitler in.  I read the Anne Frank Diary when I was in middle school and I remembered a little but WoW.  THere is nothing like the experience of actually walking through this house where they hid:(. The markings from her and her sister's growth was still on the walls where her father marked it in pencil.  She glued pictures to the wall and they were still there as well.  This house has been very well preserved and it really makes you feel how scared they must have been.  Since visiting we bought a book exclusive to the house and I have been reading it with the boys on a nightly basis.  It is such a hard to imagine tradegy.  The world can be such a cruel place.  I am so glad we were able to visit this.  The other interesting fact was that her father was the only survivor and he lived until he was 91, he died in 1980, which makes it even more touching that he was still alive in my lifetime after experiencing this terror.

Before catching our flight back home we had a traditional Dutch Pancake dinner.  Mine had spinach, ham and cheese. Very yummy.  It kind of resembled a crepe but a little thicker!! 

This was a really fun trip with great friends.  I definitely recommend doing this trip with friends, it wouldn't have been as fun if we would have gone alone!!!

Random Pics

Best photo we could get of the Red Light District.  Photos are of course not allowed.

Mom's visit/Thanksgiving

Actual Dates of this event: November 17-November 29

I am starting this blog all over again:( apparently this new blog doesn't pick up where you leave off if you close the app, the old one did.  Sigh

So after 6 months of living here mom finally arrived for her first visit.  My mom used to live in Furth, Germany because my dad was stationed in Nurnberg.  She has not been back since she left 43 years ago.  There were a few things she wanted to re visit, such as Nurnberg, her old apartment building, Rothenburg, and Garmisch.  We had been to all those places except Nurnberg so we were excited to see something different.  One thing about living in Germany, every village is like a trip, they are all unique and offer something different.

The day mom landed we served her, upon request, the German sausages and brotchen.  Delish!! We have this part down to a science.  The breads here are the best.  It was an ok day outside, cold and a bit cloudy but not awful so after lunch we headed to Rubble Hill.  I have spoke of this in other blogs, it is the highest point in Stuttgart and is a hill made from the building debris from the war.  Very sad when you think about it but a must see in Stuttgart.  We hiked up Rubble Hill and enjoyed the views, even though a bit cloudy

We then took her to the base for some Starbucks and so she could see the boys' school and what the PX was like compared to when she was here.  Very very different!!

There was a Saints game on that night, I think against the 49ers so mom and Billy stayed up to watch. This was like a 40 hour day for her. Of course I slept, I can no longer do that, not with kids.

The next day (Monday) the kids were at school and Billy at work so we headed to Rothenburg.  We packed our yummy sandwiches and had a great day.  We shopped, I got my first German smoker and we had a nice traditional German dinner, goulash suppe of course.  Then we went on our tour with the night watchman, this is the best tour ever and I wish everyone could do it.  Unfortunately for my winter visitors it is not daily in the winter:(

 My smoker, the wine one.

The next day we hung around here and she was able to eat lunch with Blake at school.

I have a picture but cannot find at the moment:/?

On Wednesday we took the train into Stuttgart.  We went to the market and had Chinese food for lunch, not very common here.  We shopped and visited the beginnings of the Stuttgart Christmas market where Mom was able to try her first gluhvein, hot mulled sweet wine, served at all the winter markets.  May not sound appealing but it's actually pretty good.

That night we attended Blake's Boyscout bowl a thon.  This took place at the bowling alley on Base where we spend a lot of time.  Everyone loves hanging out here, the pizza is really good and the atmosphere is great.  We had a great time that night.

The next day was the big trip to Nurnberg and Furth.  We were actually able to find her old apartment.  It looks quite different, it was red brick with cobble stone streets.  Interesting because on the edges of the pavement you can still see the cobblestone.

This is so neat to me because never in a million years would I have ever thought me or my kids would ever be standing in the place my parents lived so long ago in Germany.

While in Nurnberg we also visited the Nurnberg Trials Museum.  Words cannot say how neat this was.  You are given headphones and each section has a number, so you go around to the different areas you are most interested in and listen to that piece of history.  I think the neatest part of this was the courtroom.  This is he actual courtroom where the trials were held.  Known as Courtroom 600.  This courtroom is still open today for criminal trials but thankfully the day we were there nothing was going on so we were able to go in and sit while we listened to excerpts from the trials.  What a great history lesson this was.

After this we went for a nice German dinner of schnitzel and goulash suppe and Kurbis Kreme suppe.  My favorite!

On Friday we woke up, packed the car and our sandwiches and headed to Garmisch, the Bavarian Alps, for the weekend.  We had been there in the summer but this would be a whole new experience.  Originally we were hoping the kids could take ski lessons and then were informed the slopes would not open til the following week.  A few days before going I saw a post saying they were going to open while we were there, but NO.  That was disappointing until about 1pm Saturday when it began snowing and never stopped.  It was so beautiful.  We took mom to the Gorge we fell in love with over the summer, she started it but chose to turn back But we did have a nice lunch on the walk.

That night we had dinner at an authentic Slap dancing restaurant, very entertaining and delicious .

After dinner we went to the lodge, across the street from our apartment and us 3 girls sat by the fire with hot chocolate and played on our iPads while the little boys went to the arcade and the big boy visited the little casino.

The next morning we went to a beautiful brunch.  It was not only delicious and relaxing but beautiful to look outside and see all of the snow.  After brunch we headed to a mountain where Billy and the kids could go sledding, Billy says this was the highlight of the trip:)

 

Our view during brunch

 

A typical Bavarian home

This was our apartment.  Along with the following pics

He apartment was perfect and very German.  Only down fall was no wifi:(((

Bella has a pink waterproof coat with a flannel plaid inside:) she was so adorable

Back home in Stuttgart on Monday we took mom to the Ritter Sport Chocolate Facory to pick up some yummy treats for her friends back home

On Tuesday we cooked ALL day making all the Thanksgiving specialties, we hosted Thanksgiving at our home for a few friends in the area.  Tuesday night we realized at other than doners, mom had not eaten in our town.  We tried to take her to the popular Brauhaus near our house but it was overly crowded.  We wound up at this super quaint little German restaurant that was very good and had a charming atmosphere minus the American music in the background:)

Wednesday was moms last ReAL day to do anything since we were having people over on Thursday so Wednesday morning we boarded the train for the town of Esslingen.  This is an adorable medieval German village about 25 minutes away.  We enjoyed their Christmas market where we had gluhvein, sausage on brotchen, homemade waffles and crepes.  Oh, and my favorite here.....sauerkraut with spatzle(noodles) and bacon.

This was my first true Christmas market and I have to say I love them.  It takes away the commercial aspect of the holidays and brings out the festiveness.  The holidays seem to be much more laid back here.  Don't get me wrong people goto malls but not like in the states.  They give smaller and less commercialized gifts here.  I LoVE this!!!!! And tonight, December 5, Kris Kringle comes and puts candy in the kiddies shoes that they leave outside their door:) very traditional

After this wonderful daytime Christmas market we grabbed Billy NAND the kids and headed to the Christmas market in our town.  Ours was a much smaller one and is only open for that weekend, the villages try to help each other and not create so much competition.

On thanksgiving we had friends over and celebrated.  It was a nice day with great food, we were glad to have mom here with us.  The holidays will be good but very different this year with no family, the only bummer about being so far away.  

On Friday morning after dropping mom at the airport we came home and slept all day.  It was a fantastic trip and we can't wait to do it again.

Rachel and Donna, brace yourselves it is COLD!!!!!

Tomorrow Billy and I head to Amsterdam with our friends Debbie and Luke who are living in London.  We are celebrating Billy's birthday, his last year in his 30's:/

Sorry for all the details but I wanted mom to be able to look back on this and not forget things.

Have a great weekend!!!!!!!