Those of you who knew Derek ten years ago, when he was an AFS student living with us, may be wondering about my use of the name “Dirk.” Well, in the Netherlands, “Dirk” is pronounced almost like “Derek” is in the US. Dirk took pity on us, and just went with Derek, even though he […]
Author: Steve
Van Gogh’d
The Netherlands is justifiably proud of its heritage of painters, from centuries ago up to today. We had to be selective. With Dirk’s help, we knocked it out of the park. Of all the artists of whom they are proud, Van Gogh is the rockstar around here. We went to three museums with significant Van […]
All Bikes Have Bells
Derek has been a superb host in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a biking kind of town. Reports suggest that there are between two and three bikes per person in Amsterdam. There are bike lanes and routes everywhere. There are bicycle parking lots that hold thousands of bikes. And all of the bikes have bells. Tourists or […]
Berlin Rhymes
Cover Photo: Ellen posing in front of a “Trabi” or Trabant, an East German vehicle. Ellen’s Thoughts: Who Knew! Not at all what I expected! Then I am not sure what I expected.We went on a walking tour and the guide was fantastic! He was 28 years old, doing graduate school in Sociology after deciding […]
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
We decided to visit the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was set up shortly after Hitler was named Chancellor to hold political prisoners. It evolved into the concentration camp research and SS training center. After the Russians liberated it, they used it to hold their prisoners. Finally it was turned into a monument. Rather than […]
Strasbourg
We trained from Avignon to Strasbourg through beautiful farms, vineyards, forests, and villages. The iconic red poppies are blooming all over the place. Our lodging was only about a long three blocks away, so we walked. It was an apartment/hotel, meaning that rooms were efficiencies. In this case, very efficient, as our second bed had […]
Strasbourg Cathedral
I’m not one to tout cathedrals, but we both found the Strasbourg Cathedral wonderful. And not just because it was free of charge to enter, although that helped. Unfortunately, the famous clock with the apostles was under repairs so we couldn’t see it. Here is a bit from wikipedia: Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of […]
Avignon
It’s been a while, (37 years at least), since I’ve been to Avignon. All I really remembered was that I liked it, and that there were signs on the ramparts that pointed to where the different types of wine are produced. We decided we needed a layover day to catch up on emails, posts, bookings, planning, […]
Lyon
We saw Jack and Janie in Montreal when Blakey and Julia were graduating from McGill some 8 years ago. Before that, I hadn’t seen Jack since we traveled after I worked at L’Hotel de la Plage in the summer of 1979. We didn’t really know what to expect, but looked forward to seeing each other. […]
Porto
It seemed strange as we were looking for lodging how booked up everything in Porto was. We now understand. This was the weekend of the Porto leg of the Rally de Portugal, an auto race that takes place on public roads and streets (blocked to the public during the races of course). The 1.85 km […]