Alive and Well in Europe

So all is well in Europe - S has come and gone - taking the boy to Yo Gabba Gabba today. And, I have made it to Vienna. It has been unseasonably COLD the whole tour so far, and looks like it'll stay that way until we get home. Of course, at home it's beautiful and I'm missing the tulips! My mom sent me some photos of them at least. And, she has been so good to send photos of my boy every day. We have gotten to FaceTime most days as well, which has been oh so nice. I am a bit worried that will not continue into next week for two reasons. One - my mom leaves and S goes back to work, so there will be less flexibility to FaceTime when I am free; and two - my schedule gets jam packed for the next several days, traveling and playing each day as we go. Long days and short nights...so we shall see. 

I lost all the photos I took at Concertgebouw and also at a beautiful church near our hotel. Blast! Grr. But, these were taken with the small camera, which has now left and gone to Dallas with S. A look at some of Amsterdam follows:

That is an Amsterdam police car. I took it for LM.

That is a shopping mall.

At the time I snapped it, I thought it was the palace.

Shopping mall, palace. Whatever.

He we are with what I THINK was the actual palace behind us.

But maybe not. 

And this is us inside the dutch version of Harrod's - de Bijenkorf

The Oude Kerk - the old church

Down on the edge of the famous red light district is the Oude Kerk. We walked down to see this historic place, and it's only open April-October. Oh well...

Just near the oude kerk - a "coffee shop" where they sell pot.

The Nieuwe Kerk

We also went by the Nieuwe Kerk - it's no longer a church - it's an exhibition space, and the current exhibition is "The American Indian" - aha. No thanks. Not what I'm interested in seeing while in Europe. No offense to the American Indian meant...

Along the way we saw the Dam plaza, of course.

And beautiful canals.

Westerkerk

So, we headed over to the Westerkerk - still a church. But, closed on a Sunday afternoon. Wah-wah. Three churches, no actual entry. A few days later, I did go to the above mentioned church near the hotel. It was absolutely beautiful, and the light was wonderful when I was there. I wish I had photos. But no use dwelling on that!

The cheese shop in the side of the church was open for business!

S helped us get to and fro on the tram system. 

He was a great guide. Albeit, a cold one.

While we were at a runout concert outside of Amsterdam, S had some adventures of his own. I'll share those photos another day, as well as some photos I took at a very interesting art museum. When I have good wifi and some time again...stay tuned.

See you soon.

Missing My Boy Already

So we are off to Europe now and I'm missing this sweet boy already. I know he'll have tons of fun with his Nana and his Nonna and Papaw. But I will miss him all the same!

Luckily, I have lots of photos of him.

That'll help.

See you soon.

Hamburg

The final post from the quick trip to Europe is here. After this, back to regularly scheduled programming. Ha. Here are the photos:

Laeiszhalle, Hamburg

Laeiszhalle interior

A canal near our hotel.

The back of the hotel, a Sofitel

S's view. 

The St. Nicholas memorial

This church was once the tallest building in Europe in the late 19th century for a period of two to three years. It's the ruins of a Lutheran church, damaged during raids on the city by Allied forces in World War II. Hamburg was bombed like crazy throughout the war, as it was a strategic port and manufacturing city for the German forces. But, for three days in 1943, it was bombed pretty much into oblivion. 42,000 people died, some of them who were in bomb shelters, because the bombing was so thick it created a fire tornado that sucked all the oxygen out of the city, including those underground spaces. There are virtually no "old" buildings left in Hamburg, because these were all destroyed during the war. This ruin stands as a memorial to those who died. There are other memorials throughout the city. Google it or check Wikipedia for more information. Here are some more photos:

This church was rebuilt, but in a different location, closer to where people were living after the war instead of in the city center.

These were growing outside the memorial. S took a photo.

I took the camera back, though.

You can actually go up in the tower and down into the crypt. 

We didn't do either part, as we were just wandering by.

This was our rental car.

In order to get the visit in Hannover on the schedule, it was best for us to drive the last portion of the advance. We drove from Munich to Frankfurt, then from Frankfurt to Hannover and then to Hamburg, when we returned the car. The car we had was a BMW 5 series wagon. It did just fine on the Autobahn, where I let S drive - we hit around 130 MPH. The Porches were still passing us. It was amazing the features this car had - we have old cars - the new ones have quite a few nice developments. Ha.

There are a series of interior "lakes" or bays on the way to the larger navigable water port, along a river to the North Sea, which is still a center of commerce.

The second day we were there, it was overcast but not rainy.

Interior of a huge mall near the lake.

Hamburg city hall.

This building is also very historic - one of the older buildings in town, reconstructed in the late 19th century. It is where the German forces surrendered Hamburg to the British in 1945. 

That's about all we got in while we were there. Then we headed out for home, and are glad to be back in the US of A. It was a long, fast trip, but fruitful. 

See you soon.

Munich

So, while we travel for hours to get back to our home, here are the photos we took in Munich. First, I have to tell you though, that we had a great time in Munich because of my friends on Facebook. I didn't look anything up for the city, because we only had about two hours of free time. I posted something on Facebook asking friends what to see, and their suggestions made for a lovely bit of free time seeing the highlights of this great city. I have to say I enjoyed the city very much. Here you go:

The "free stuff" on the train.

We thought this was sort of random. When we boarded the train from Vienna to Munich, we were issued some orange juice and a Kit Kat. Random, yes, but we took it! This reminds me of our flight to Vienna as well - an 8pm flight from Amsterdam to Vienna - the "snack" they wanted to hand out to each passenger was a chicken sandwich! We passed - again, seemed a bit random.

It was a four hour train ride. 

When we arrived, we caught a cab with the crankiest guy in Munich.

And we went to sleep!

A department store decked out for spring.

The old church in Munich, undergoing renovation.

A bronze city model, church front and center. 

The glockenspiel!

A real highlight, and oh so German, the glockenspiel plays three times a day. We caught it at lunch, eating at the Marineplatz for this purpose. I took video, but it's too long to upload...

The royal couple

The clock.

The tip-top!

The cuckoo.

One knight wins.

The dancers.

A beer at the Hofbrauhaus, the most famous Munich Beer Garden.

Check out the guys in traditional garb...lederhosen included.

There are some tables reserved for the regulars - Stammtisches

The stein vault - for the regulars.

Where the Bavarian band plays. They were on break.

The fresh food/flower/meat, etc market.

With a beer garden in the middle.

I took this for my dad - Dad, look at all the cheese!!!

Finally, dinner at another beer garden - Hacker Pschorr

Beautiful city, so glad we got to experience it for a little bit. Please pray for our safe travel back today. We look forward to being home. Ahhhh...

See you soon.