Day 1: arrive in Amsterdam, meet with Eric "hooker" Hoeksema, see the sights and then go to Rotterdam and stay with my cousins Matt and Cara.
Day 2: Bike to Delft, visit churches and museum, bike home
Day 3 : Bike to the Hague, visit great museums, Bike home.
Day 4: Bike to Gouda, See cheese market and taste test, Bike to the Kinderdijk, Bike home(~55km)
Day 5: Take the train to Arnhem, visit national park, WWII operation Market Garden Museum, Celebrate Brenda birthday
Day 6: Bike around Rotterdam and visit market, see the Carnival festival, Dinner on the harbor.
Day 7: Bike to Delft for church but all are closed (who would have thought), Lunch and the leave for Paris, dinner in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Day 8: Visit the Louve, Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph, and a bunch of other stuff.
Day 9: Versailles and other sites around Paris
Day 10: train to Brussels and spend the day there, take the train back to Rotterdam and go to Matt and Cara's apartment (they are gone on vacation).
Day 11: Train and Biking to Katswijk, arrive at friends vacation home and go to the beach.
Day 12: Bike to Harlem and see Ten Boom House and church. Bike against a 25mph headwind 18 miles home.
Day 13: bike and take a train back to Rotterdam and visit market for lunch. Relax at home.
Day 14: Bike to Delft and go to the New Church (built around 1400's), Pannekoken for lunch (awesome), and them bike home and pack
Day 15: Fly Home
All in all a good trip.
Amsterdam (very cold and very rainy).
The "new" Church in Delft. Over 400 steps to the top of the tower.
Here is the view some of the way up the tower.
The Torture Museum in The Hague.
Beautiful Brenda with the happy cows Holland has to offer. No fences and green grass...what more would a cow want.
Stroopwaffel is the greatest invention and it needs to catch on in the U.S. Matt and Brenda are enjoying it.
Brenda and Cara are sowing their muscles to the people watching.
Brenda and I at the Kinderdijk. 17 windmills in about 2 miles made for some great views.
Brenda getting ready for her birthday cake.
Awesome European standards of a porta-urinal. I really enjoyed this pee.
Brenda, me, Matt, and Cara in front of their apartment.
Brenda and I in front of the Gate to Delft. The city used to have gates all the way around and this was one of the only ways in and out.
We saw "rocky" while waiting in line at the Eiffel tower. He is very old.
The tower at night on the first day in Paris.
This is what I plan on doing to an elk during my hunting trip (Sept. 22-Oct. 1). Grab it by the horns and jab a knife in its neck...so manly.
The bored gargoyle on top of Notre Dame.
This guy in the flowered shirt we saw the day before and his stench was horrid. this day we actually smelt him before seeing him. He was not allowed close to the paintings for fear that the paint would peel off...really.
Belgian waffles in Belgium.
Brenda drinking "fountain" water.
Great signage all over. Here is a great example.
Brenda leaving the "hiding place". Great ministry tour and a must see.
Home sweet home.
Some of the Stroop we brought home (we ate the container of ice cream our last night there and man was it good).
Notice the sweet mullet.10 things you can do to greatly increase your chance of not looking like a tourist in Europe.
1. get a ridiculous 80's mullet
2. wear capri pants on a man
3. get a fanny pack
4. carry a man purse/european handbag (not cool)
5. wear pointy uncomfortable shoes
6. have bad stinking BO
7. grow hairy pits (on a woman)
8. wear scarves just for the heck of it.
9. start smoking at age 12 in public
10. Wear bright neon colored polo shirts with odd designs.
9 comments:
Wow, I talked to Brenda the other night on the phone, and her trip review was not nearly as concise...but we did get to hear about the frightening gargoyle and the trip to church and the blazing hot train ride. I was reading Us magazine yesterday at the gym and there was a picture of Rocky and his family getting off the plane somewhere in Europe on the 22nd of July. That urinal thing makes me want to vomit. Does it smell as bad as a portapotty? Your picture of the Eiffel tower at night is amazing. Brenda laughed out loud when I asked if it resembled the light show at Falls Park. It was great to hear your rendition of the trip. I hope we can see all your pictures sometime.
nice post-i love the picture of the guy with the mullet :)
Fantastic summary of your trip. I'm so glad you guys were able to take this trip and from the sounds of it take so much in. I too can't wait to see all your pics sometime. Public urinal...ewww. The Eiffel tower looked amazing and I would LOVE to have one of those gigantic stroop waffles. Did you know I've actually made stroop waffles the past two Christmases? I'll send you some this year:)
John, Matt is so proud of your urinal post. And I loved the ice cream, stroop, stroopwaffle pics! Mmm, wish we were there. The top ten list was AWESOME and accurate! Can't wait to see the final winner "christmas photo"...which fab picture will it be?! Hope the transition home has been smooth!
Well, from your blog and Brenda's facebook, it sure looks like you both had an incredible time in Holland/France.
Great, great pictures! And as always, your captions add so much more.
One question: Aftern experiencing the "porta-urinal", ia it sometihng you would like to see brought to the states?
Okay, one more question: Will you be having a statue of you made after your elk hunt this coming fall. I'm sure that Brenda would love it.
Incredible. I'm dying to see the mother country.
There is a sweet cafe here in Chicago that serves real Pannekoken and it's incredible...they make this one with havarti and pineapple...drooooolllll.
Great picture of the Euro-mullet! We tried and tried to get a good picture of one! They're everywhere...it's like a combination mullet and mohawk! Yikes.
I'm dying to pee in one of those. At least you could look down and make sure you're concentrating instead of smiling for the camera. Good manners.
The motherland looks beautiful. I didn't notice any pictures of you partaking in any sort of medicinal smoking. I've got to go back and look at the pics again because I'm sure there's one of you and Brenda trying to "fit in" with the local culture.
John+mullet+dead elk+wearing the dead elk's antlers = cool.
Come by some weekend in Sept, come see JR, and tell Lynds and I about your trip. Oh yeah, I'll have an adult beverage for you buddy.
Hey John, I just looked at my calendar and realized that we missed your birthday on Monday. I hope you had a great day and that Brenda treated you to all sorts of goodness! :)
Post a Comment