Amsterdam

catching the train into the city....

Amsterdam was a lot of fun... Whole different flavor then London.... with lots of young people, bikes (everywhere), beautiful houses, coffee shops that aren't really coffee shops but pot shops, cafe's where you can get coffee and food, bridges, canals, a wonderful flower market and the Famous Red Light District...

From our hotel, we drove the car to a park and ride outside Amsterdam and took a train into the city.. You don't want to drive in Amsterdam...! For just 8 euro, you can park your car for the day and get 5 round trip tickets.. We thought that was a great deal..

We did a lot of walking, thought we would tour the city on bikes but the streets are crazy with some cars but not many, lots and lots of people and a ton of bikes.. There is so much to watch and see that we decided to just play it safe and walk...

We found the Hard Rock Cafe for Steve and ate lunch.. After lunch we did more walking, found the Red Light District, did more walking and then decided to take a canal ride. It felt great to get off my feet and just sit and enjoy the ride.. Our Captain did a nice job showing us the famous sights alone the canal. You learn so much more about the city when you take a tour...

I'm so far behind in our adventures that I'm not going to write a lot about Amsterdam and will just let my pictures tell our story....

We were in Amsterdam on April 16th 2011

First thing I saw from the Central Station..

Central Station built in 1889...

any kind of cheese you want....

Rebecca and I found a couple wonderful scarfs

to bring home....

not a real coffee shop....

Beautiful canals...

Steve and his Hard Rock Cafe.....

never know what you might find in
a flower market......

I enjoyed all the amazing buildings and their
unique style...

awesome flower market...

I've never seen so many bikes...

The Famous Red Light District. We went during the late afternoon,so as not to spoil the innocence of Sarah... after all she is only 10 years old... I'm sure in the evenings this place gets pretty crazy.

This is where we got on the canal ride.

The next four picture's were taken while on the boat..

After a long and exciting day in Amsterdam, we catch the train back to the park and ride where are car was...

Why is it the car drive home always seems to be so much longer then you want it to be?????

We had a lot of fun in Amsterdam...

Time for me to go to bed...

xxxooo

Keukenhof Holland

Wow... I loved Holland..

We started out Friday morning around 7:30am on April 15. Steve, Rebecca and Sarah came by to pick us up. We loaded up all our bags, cameras and goodies to eat along the way. The drive there was gorgeous. The country side in the spring time is breath taking, with lots of flowering trees, fields and fields of some kind of crop that has small bright yellow flowers and green, green, green everywhere. For as much brown as Arizona has, Europe has green.

The road trip took about 6 hours. When we arrived at our hotel, our rooms weren't ready so we had to wait a little before heading to Keukenhof. The hotel was very nice, clean and the service was good. The location of the hotel worked out very well for us. It was kind of in the middle between Amsterdam and Keukenhof. The name of the hotel is Hotel Chariot. I would recommend it to anyone.

Once we put our things in our rooms we left for the tulip fields. It was easy to find with the GPS so it didn't take but about 25 minutes to get there. We had purchased our tickets on line ahead of time, so that saved us standing in line. It's pretty nice to be able to just walk right up and go in.

Keukenhof is a very large park. It's beautiful and all that, but very different then the Tulip Festival around Notheren Washington. There were lots of tulips, green grass, tons of people, other spring flowers and these wonderful old trees that canopied some of the walk ways. It really is a wonderful place to see. The weather was great for us. Not hot, not cold. Couldn't of asked for a better day.

We sat and ate lunch in the cafe in the park, the food was just okay. Nothing looked like anything I'd ever had before so I wasn't to interested. I've tried lots of new foods while living here, but I want it to look like it's going to taste good. Oh well...

The park has a small area with barn animals in it for the kids, a couple gift shops, a couple shops where you can buy really good treats and an area for the kids to play. There is also two very large I'll call them green houses that are full of flowers. One is almost all tulips, the other is almost all orchids. The Germans really get into their orchids. Just about every German house has a few orchids in the window sill. I think I have four in our home.. I just love them...

After walking around the park we vertured over to where you could see some of the tulip fields. Alone the way was a very nice windmill and a display of wooden Dutch shoes. Of coarse you have to see wooden shoes in Holland! I was surprised that we didn't see more windmills. I would of liked to have gotten some pictures of different ones.

We must of left Keukenhof around 7:00pm because they were getting ready to close. The nice thing about staying later is then you can take pictures with out all the people in them. Five hours at the park was enough time to see everything and enjoy the views.

After leaving the park we went back to the hotel and ate dinner at a restraurant across the street. I wasn't very hungry and couldn't find anything on the menu I wanted so I ordered soup and ate some off Mason's plate. Everyone enjoyed the food and we all left full and happy.

We made our plans for the morning, said our good-nights to everyone and Mason and I headed to our room. Amsterdam here we come......

Sweet Dreams...

Valentines Day... (a little late but not forgotten)

I know, I know. Valentines Day was forever ago. But I have to share how Mason and I share Valentines Day.. Last year we started a new tradition for each other.. I bake two heart shaped cakes and frost them, and Mason and I decorate them together. He decorate's one to give to me, and I decorate one to give to him... We do this together and it's not bad. It's an inexpensive way, it's spending time together and they taste good. It lets you use your imagination and be as creative as you want. These are our Valentines to each other for this year..

Mason is much more creative then I. I'm more traditional. So, can you guess which one Mason did? It only takes a couple hours, we laugh and just enjoy the moment.

I told him next year when we do this, we are going to bring out a bottle of wine, turn on the music and light the candles. Should be even more fun... Enough about Valentines Day..

Next weekend we are going to Holland with Steve, Rebecca and Sarah. In Keukenhof we will find tulip's, tulip's and more tulip's. The fields are one of the worlds most photographed place's. I can't wait!!! We will see lots of other spring flowers besides tulip's.

It's about a 5 hour drive from here, so not bad.. We are going to leave on this friday, spend two nights there and come home on Sunday. Amsterdam is only and hour from there, so we plan on visiting there as well.. I want to see the Famous Red Light District. Should be interesting! The Ann Frank House is there as well. Don't know if we will go there or not. I hope to tour the city on bikes and also take a canal ride. From what I've read about Amsterdam, it's very flat and most people get around on bikes. You know I'll tell you all about it when we get back.

This weekend Mason and I haven't really done much.. We ran some errands yesterday and today we have just hung out at the house.

Steve, Rebecca and Sarah just got back from an 8 day cruise to Greece so we are going over there tonight to hear all about their adventure. I'm sure they had a wonderful time. We helped out by taking care of Steve's cat and Sarah's hamster while they were gone.

Sweet dreams...... xxxoo

London...Monday Afternoon

It's lunch time and we were all very hungry.. When leaving the Abbey, we asked if there were any good places to eat close by. The Albert was recommened, so off we went. It was only a few blocks away. Before we knew it and a few pictures later, we were there.

Mason, Steve and I enjoyed our lunch but I can't say that Rebecca and Sarah did. The Albert serves alcohol and because of Sarah's age, they had us sit in a back room, so we didn't really get to enjoy the flavor of the restaurant. Oh well....

We finished our much needed lunch and off to the Tower of London we went. We saw it the night before, but wanted to see it in the day time. As we walked to the tube station, we went by Big Ben, West Minister Abbey and The House of Parliament for the last time. We took more pictures of the beautiful statues and architecture along the way, and said our goodby's to downtown London.

My legs were a little sore from the day before. All those stairs in the tube stations.. WOW!

It would of been fun to have known how many we went up and down. All I can tell you is, it was a hole lot of stairs.

We didn't go inside the Tower of London. It cost 18 pounds per person which is like $25.00, so we just rested our tired bones and took more pictures. I'm sure it would of been a great tour. Through it's years it been a fortress, palace, home of the Crown Jewels and national treasures, arsenal, mint, prison, observatory, zoo and tourist attraction. It's over 900 years old. The two men standing guard are called Beefeaters.

The Tower of London is right next to the Thames river, and that is where you will find the Tower Bridge. Both places were prettier to see at night with all the lights, but I'm glad we went back during the day. The bridge was built in 1894. It was built in the Gothic style to blend in with the near by Tower of London.

Our London time was coming to a close. One more trip back to Harrods for more wonderful chocolates, one more tube station and a 45 minute train ride back to the airport.

We flew on Ryanair. They have great specials on their flights. There's no fluff when you fly with them, but you can't beat the price.

We landed in Frankfurt-Hahn airport and had an hour and a half car ride home. The drive home was uneventful with no ice or snow on the roads. It must of been just after 11:00pm when Steve dropped us off at our door step.. Mason didn't have to work the next day but I did. I had made arrangements with work to come in late so I could sleep in a bit. I knew I'd be beat by the time we got home.

Our three day trip to London was fabulous.. I can't tell you how much I loved London. If you haven't been, I hope that you will go someday..

(because it took me so long to blog everything I wanted to about London, I'm a little behind on some other stuff to tell you about)

but for now I'll say goodnight.

London... Monday Morning

Valentines Day.. What a way to spend it. In London sight seeing.. doesn't get any better then that.

We all met down stairs in the lobby of the hotel around 7:00am. Today was the day Rebecca was to take her test. The key word there... WAS...

We got her to the place she needed to be and we stood there with her until they opened the doors for all the test takers to go in. After dropping her off and wishing her good luck, we walked down to McDonalds for a quick bite to eat before another day of adventures.

The sun was out this morning with lots of blue sky, but it was cold outside and having something warm to eat sounded pretty darn good.. We took our time and planned out our day... Just as we were getting ready to leave and hop on the tube, Rebecca calls and said she wasn't able to take the test. We had been in McDonalds for about an hour when she called. She was ready for us to come back and get her... She didn't have the proper ID to take the test.. Darn disappointing for her. She took it well and joined us for our second and last day in London.

I wanted to see Westminster Abbey from the inside. So, back on the tubes we went. It's great because you can buy a day pass for the tubes and you can go anywhere and ride it as much as you want on that pass. The pass was about 8 euros per person, so not too bad.

We got in line for the tour which moved very fast. They check all your bags, take your money and tell you no pictures inside. Oh, the one thing that wasn't fun that day was, we were all carrying our luggage. Mason and I had brought backpacks for the weekend, so ours weren't to bad to carry.. They did get heavy after awhile but what can you do..

We took the audio tour that tells you what you are looking at while roaming around inside. I didn't know that inside the Abbey are the tombs of past Kings, Queens, poets, politicians and chuchmen. I thought it was just a very large beautiful church. But, it's much more then that. I spent quite awhile in the area where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married, along with many other royal weddings including the up and coming one for Prince William and Kate.

I've watched royal weddings and funerals on T.V, but it's an incredible feeling to be there, walking down the same aisles and touching the beautiful wood railings that monks from pasted years held onto to pray. I still can't believe I was there! It can be a very spiritual place to visit if you sit back and take it all in.

When I watch the next royal wedding on T.V, I won't only know how beautiful it is inside, but will be able to feel some kind of presents of being there.

The ceilings, walls and floors are incredible. I wish we could of taken pictures so I could have shared them with you. Everywhere you looked there was beauty. I didn't realize it at first until Mason said.. "no wonder you love it so much, it's very shabby chic". He was right. There is lots of shades of white, golds, textures, patterns, candles and beautiful windows for someone like me, who loves shabby chic, to drool over. I couldn't get enough.







Next stop... Lunch at The Albert
but first, time for me to say good-night.

London... Later Sunday

Follow the yellow brick road. In this city you follow the many street signs that lead you to fasinating sights just waiting for you to enjoy...

Next stop, Buckingham Palace. We left Westminster Abbey hopped on another tube and 10 minutes later I was taking pictures at Buckingham Palace. Amazing !

One thing I wanted to see while in London was the changing of the guards.. But, we missed it...
This time of year they do it every other day and we got there to late on Sunday...

Buckingham Palace is beautiful.. They were doing a lot of construction work on the grounds right in front, but it was still awesome to see. There are large gardens around the Palace that I'm sure in the spring and summer would be beautful to see.

Two guards stood out front and every now and then they would march about 100 feet, do this cool little spin step, turn around and march 100 feet back to their spot to stand again. The weapons they carried looked serious. Don't think I'd want to mess with them.


Buckingham Palace


In front of Buckingham Palace

We walked through the gardens on our way to yet another tube station. Next stop, Trafalgar Square. We walked through Trafalgar Square last night but I wanted to see it in the day time. It's a large square with beautiful fountains, large statues of famous war hero's and just a lot of history. There are buildings surrounding the entire square with wonderful architectural detailing.


Trafalgae Square


Trafalgar Square

By now we are all very hungry. Steve who is a Hard Rock Cafe fan wanted to find the one in London. So we asked. The British people were all very kind and helpful when ever we needed directions. Wouldn't you know it, the Hard Rock Cafe was just a few blocks from Buckingham Palace. So, back on the tube to where we just were.. Oh well, we didn't mind.

London's Hard Rock Cafe is awesome. It didn't disappoint Steve at all.. It's decorated with all the guitars, posters and other stuff to keep you entertained. We had a very nice young lady wait on us and my hamburger was most excellent.. Everyone enjoyed there dinner. It was loud and crazy but fun. Nice to feel a little America at times.



Night had once again fallen upon the city and as we left the Hard Rock Cafe we still had a couple more sights to see. First stop, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. More walking and more tubes. (I have to say that Sarah who is only 10 years old was amazing all day long. She never complained about any thing. You wouldn't know she is only 10.)

Few minutes later and we were there. It's beautiful at night all lit up. I'm glad we went, but we will return here tomorrow to see it in the day light. There were others there, walking around enjoying the evening as well.


Tower of London


Tower Bridge

After leaving The Tower of London and The Tower Bridge we hopped on another tube back to the Westminster Abbey area. Sarah had wanted to ride the Eye of London which is a very large Ferris Wheel. During the day the lines are exceptionally long and some days you have to buy your tickets in advance.

Sarah really wanted to ride at night. The line was short with only about a 10 minute wait. By now it is almost 8:30 pm. Mason and I weren't sure about riding it, so Steve went to buy tickets for him and Sarah. When he came back he said, "let's go". Mason and I looked at each other and then at him. He had bought tickets for us as well.. What a surprise that was... I'm afraid of heights so I wasn't to sure about the ride. But seeing London at night from high up was worth the risk.

The ride lasted half and hour and you only go around once. It moves very, very slow. There were about twelve of us in the car we were on. It was raining some but that didn't spoil our excitement. We all really enjoyed the ride.. There were a few moments I felt a little sick, only when we were at the top and I was close to the edge of the car. Just a little queasy. That was the highlight of the day... seeing London from 400 and some feet above ground with all its lights.


Eye of London




After the ride we walked around a little more, then headed towards the tube that would take our tired bodies back to the hotel. We were exhausted to say the least.


Do we look tired?

Tomorrow was another day full of more adventures... and stories....
... nighty-night....