Johan, Kristina, Ellen and I went to visit the Vasa Museum. It is a testament to royal hubris. The king of Sweden ordered the building of a new flagship. He wanted it bigger and scarier than anything that had come before. Against the advice of his builders, he made it taller and taller. When launched, […]
Our first stop on the Johan and Kristina city tour was the city hall. It was built in the early 1900’s and was quite refreshing as it was not gothic, romanesque, or baroque. The lines are clean and project nobility and stability. As it is where the banquets for Nobel prizes are held, it was […]
We returned from our Hamlet adventure to Casper and Gasia’s place for a delicious dinner, cooked by Grasia. The next day we had Casper to ourselves to see Copenhagen. We headed downtown where we grabbed a canal tour. We were able to see many of the standard touristic sites (i.e. the “forever disappointing” little mermaid). […]
For our first full day in Copenhagen, Casper decided to take us all, (Grasia, her mother and brother, Ellen, and me), to Hamlet’s castle in Kronborg. We hopped on a train and headed north. The castle is located at the narrowest part of the channel between Denmark and Sweden. This so that the king could […]
One of the great joys of travel is running into a “relative separated at birth.” We aren’t sure if Lisa is Ellen’s daughter or sister from a previous life, but ever since running into her looking for the same restaurant in Evora, Portugal, there has been a connection. This connection was strengthened when she and […]
We started our Sunday heading out to one of Lisa and Ben’s favorite pubs for a very British Sunday lunch. I had the roast beef with mash, vegetables, and Yorkshire pudding. We then headed off to tour Audley End House, a large early 17th-century country house outside Saffron Walden, Essex, England. It was once a […]
Lisa and Ben suggested we head out to Ely to check out the cathedral. Now we’ve seen quite a few churches this trip, and weren’t sure that this would be entirely necessary, however, etiquette dictated our obeisance. Are we ever glad we did. This bad boy goes up against Strasbourg for greatness. Particularly cool, is […]
Title Picture: Dirk Driving Kiki Away on the Back of his Bicycle We loved Amsterdam, and Dirk, and Kiki, but it is quite an expensive place to stay. Dirk suggested we go to Haarlem, and we’re glad he did. Once a thriving sea port, Haarlem was founded in the 1200’s. It is filled with old buildings. […]
So Dirk, our consummate tour guide/host, decided to take us home. That is to say, his familial home. But we were not to go directly. Rather we went via the Hoge Veluwe National Park. Who would have thought that there would be national parks in the Netherlands? Well, there are. And one of the nice things, […]
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 […]
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