Amsterdam

Amsterdam has many things that it is known for - the canals, bicycles throughout the city, the Red Light District, Gouda cheese, tulips, the Anne Frank House, dutch pancakes.....and more....Scott & I booked a short weekend getaway to see the city famous for all of those things in person and I can say I was amazed by its beauty and charm. I had seen photos from Scott's work previous trips there, but I had never been myself. His photos I had seen before did not do the city justice!

The city is a series of magnificent sights - one canal after another, each lined with unique tall row various colored and shaped row houses and then bicycles packed into spaces lining the railings along each canal. Street after street, the sights are the same but different at the same time. We spent quite a bit of time on foot just wandering around the city and enjoyed every minute of it! 

A few things to note about this trip of ours - first, we had camera issues. It seems to be an unfortunate common theme on our trips lately. I took some great photos on our camera, only to find out they were not on our digital "disk" so I cannot download them for you to see. So, here are the photos I did take after we bought a new disk....

A canal/street of homes in the city. 

The main means of transportation around the city - a bicycle. 

In front of a house or shop somewhere along the way - nothing of significance, just a stop somewhere to take a photo! 

One of the stops of the weekend was the flower market. It was the start of the tulip season so I had just to see the bunches of flowers in person! Besides the many fresh cut flowers at the market, there were thousands of bulbs for sale. 

The stalls of the flower market backing up onto the canal....

The flower bulbs for sale. So many varieties! 

My favorite shot. The Tulips at the flower market. They were all gorgeous! 

Scott in front of a canal on a walk around town in the evening post dinner.

We took a canal boat tour of the city to see the city by boat....

The two of us on the boat tour.

One of the many canals along the way.

House boats docked along the canals. There were some beautiful house boats and then there were some very shabby ones! 

A house boat along the canal. There are over 2,500 house boats in Amsterdam along the canals. 

Our trip could not have been complete without tasting some traditional dutch foods, so a stop at the best pancake restaurant in town was a must. We visited the Pancake Bakery around the corner from the Anne Frank House which was recommended by a former Amsterdam resident and it did not disappoint! 

Scott ordered an omelette (what was he thinking at a pancake house?!?!?), I ordered a gouda cheese & apple pancake, and then we shared a lemon & sugar pancake for dessert. YUMM!

The vat of "syrup" (molasses) on each table with a wooden spoon.

Scott in front of a funny looking row house near the pancake house. 

After full bellies, we took a stroll around the area and found a delft shop full of the famous and beautiful Holland ceramic pottery.

The pottery display in the window....too bad it was quite expensive otherwise I would have stocked up on more of it! 

Cassie in front of a canal near the Pancake house. It was cold and rainy that day, hence the silly hat and mittens that were purchased while there in order to warm. 

A highlight and a must-see in Amsterdam is a tour of the Anne Frank House. Most everyone knows the now-famous story of this girl called Anne Frank who was one of the millions of victims of the persecution of the Jews during World War II. She & her family lived in Germany when in 1933, Hitler came to power and installed an anti-Jewish regime there. For their own safety, her family fled to the Netherlands. However, in May of 1940 the German army occupied the Netherlands and repressive measures against Jews followed there as well. The Frank family hoped to escape such measures by going into hiding at this house in Amsterdam, which is now a museum.

The front of the Anne Frank House from across the canal (green doors). The area in which the Frank family hid was at the back of the house, and not seen here - referred to as the "annex."

The queue of people waiting to purchase tickets to go into the Anne Frank House. Thankfully we read about such a line and we purchased tickets in advance on line. If you are going, it is a GREAT time saver to do so!

The front of the Anne Frank House. Inside photos were not allowed. There is no furniture inside the house now, as when the hiding place was betrayed and the people inside of it were arrested, everything was removed from the secret annex. When the house opened in 1960 as a museum, Anne's Father, Otto Frank, said he wanted the rooms to remain unfurnished.

A view from the Anne Frank House, looking across the canal. 

We saw this type of bike a few times throughout the city. I thought it was quite useful. One man riding a similar bike had a small toddler child sitting in the basket, along with a baby seat carrier with an infant inside of it! Others had just groceries, bunches of flowers or just extra things riding in the front basket. It surely seemed like a handy bucket to have on the front of one's bike. 

Some of the stranger things about the city.....

Public male restrooms in the middle of the street. I know, very gross and strange so that's exactly why I had to post a photo of it! We actually saw a man use one in the middle of the street one night as we walked around after dinner. Strange indeed!

The District. The one with red lights.....

The Red light district - without showing too much of the nonsense that is displayed there...

After we returned home from our trip, I put a bunch of freshly cut flowers in my new delftware vase to remind me of our great trip to Amsterdam! 

My Parents Visit Our side of the Pond

My parents came for a visit to see our new house and "our" side of the pond the other weekend. It was all to short of a visit but of course great to have them here! Not only was it good to see them and show them around, they also brought a suitcase FULL of American goodies that we had requested so we are currently fully stocked on our American products that we cannot get over here. 

After a day of getting over jet-lag and wandering around our little town, we took my parents to see the Cotswolds on Saturday. We visited a few towns in the area, saw flowers starting to peek out of the ground, and and stopped for an English toasted sandwich along the way too.

A quaint little garden with daffodils and crocuses in bloom. I just loved that the English phone booth was in the background too! 

In Burton-on-The-Water with my parents on Saturday. 

Strolling through another picturesque Costwold town....

Scott in front of the Royalist Hotel - The oldest Inn in England. 

Sunday, we ventured towards a town called Woodstock, near Oxford, to visit Blenheim Palace. Blenheim Palace is a magnificent estate and is also most famously the birthplace of Winston Churchill and is the current home of the Duke of Malborough. 

The main front of the palace.

"Sonny" Scott with Melody & Rick at the entrance to Blenheim Palace. 

Cassie, Scott, and Melody in front of pillars of the palace after our tour inside. 

The back gardens of the palace - with the stunning ponds and well manicured hedges and lawn.

Outside in the gardens where it was a bit of a windy day!

One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting baby Maddy who was born just a few days before my parents arrived. Baby Maddy is the second child of our friends Lauri & Jason who moved here from Chicago at the same time as we did. We all live within a few blocks of each other and since Jason & Scott work together, we have become good friends with them. We were SO excited to meet their new addition! My parents were excited to be able to meet Maddy too, since they hear us talk about our friends Lauri and Jason often. 

Cassie with Maddy, just a few days old. 

My mom, Melody, with Maddy, who was awake and as quiet as can be! Such a sweet baby. 

Madrid

A few weeks ago, right after our move into the new house, we took a short break and traveled to Madrid for a long weekend. Scott had a business meeting there, so we left a few days early to spend some time enjoying the city sights and eating lots of tapas. 

Upon our arrival, we started exploring the city by foot. One of our first sights was this lovely building that we now know is the Palacio de Comunicaciones. 

We then headed towards the Puerto del Sol which was a major centre for restaurants, shopping, transportation, and generally a lot of people. 

Puerto del sol is one of Madrid's most important squares. It is a central meeting point for young people and it is the place where people stop to go off to Plaza Mayor and Old Madrid.

As we wandered around the area, we stumbled upon the "MUSEUM OF HAM" (in Spanish of course). The sights inside were full of ham hocks hanging from the ceiling....

The ham and cheese selections hanging all around.

The menu was a photo ordering system. Perfect to point and order without having to attempt to speak spanish (which neither of us do very well!). 

Everyone just stands up at the counter and eats their meals there. It was packed at lunch time!

Our plate of Iberico ham and Manchego cheese with a side of bread. Delicious!

Scott in front of the two rows of statues in Retiro Park. (I think).

In front of one of the many decorated cows throughout the city....

All of our exploring on foot made us ready for an afternoon snack. Luckily, we stumbled upon this famous Chocolate churro shop where we enjoyed a treat.

I had the churros con chocolate - YUMMY! You eat the chocolate sauce almost like a pudding and then you can also dip the churros into the chocolate sauce (equally as delicious). 

That evening, we went in search of tapas for dinner. We ended up having our own little tapas "bar crawl" as we went from one restaurant to another to try each place's speciality's. 

Plaza Mayor at night. It was busy with people enjoying an evening walk and those who were out eating and drinking in the restaurants near by. Plaza Mayor is the central plaza in Madrid and is rectangular in shape. It is surrounded by three story residential buildings that have a total of 237 balconies facing the plaza! 

Our favorite stop for tapas that evening was our visit to the Meson de Champinon. (House of Mushrooms I believe). 

The mushrooms we had there were definitely the house speciality! MMMM...they were just so delicious with the garlic, butter, and a bit of spanish sausage in the middle. 

Sunday morning we spent our morning wandering around at the famous El Rastro Flea Market. El Rastro is a street market of medieval origin where one can find practically anything. It was quite a busy market and all of the main and side streets were packed with shoppers. Everything and ANYTHING was for sale at this market - fine leather shoes to tights to gas masks, trinkets, someone's junk and more....quite an experience!

A view of the crowds on one of the main market streets.

Spanish fans for sale.

Many leather goods were available. Scott got a new briefcase (finally) since his was taken in our robbery. 

I really wonder how many people do their nylon shopping at a flea market?

My spanish is not good but we both stared at this sign when we saw it - Does it mean your fantasy tights????? A bit silly.

Scott in the midst of the market crowd.

Gas Masks anyone?

One of the many artists who was selling her paintings at the market. Pretty paintings. 

After a wander around the market and a bite to eat, we headed to take a cable car ("el Teleferico") to get a bird's eye view of Madrid. The cable cars were originally built as part of an amusement park in Madrid but now tourists can just ride them to see the city sights. 

Getting ready to get into the car.

A view from the top of the Royal Palace in the distance and the river manzanares below.

In the Cable Car well above the city! Once we finished this ride, we ended up in the amusement park so we didn't stay - we just went back to the cable car entrance and rode the car back into the city.

On Monday, I was a solo tourist for the day as Scott began his work meetings. I decided to tour the Palacio Real, which is still the official residence for the Spanish Royal Family. 

The view of the palace as I was walking towards it. 

Just a small side of it - it was so beautiful and huge!

Inside the palace, no photos are allowed to be taken. I toured the residence section including banqueting rooms, throne rooms, etc. which was lavish and impressive. It is the second most grand palace behind Versille. I also toured the Royal Pharmacy and then finally the Royal Armoury section. This photo is from the armoury section....it was amazing to see how much metal these royals and soldiers used to wear. I was in amazement as to how they would actually move with so much weight on them all of the time!

Self portrait in the square of the palace - just so you know I was there! :) 

Back Up and Running....

Finally! We are back up and running with the internet, phone, AND cable in our new house! Hallelujah. It took only over three weeks to get everything installed, but at least that time is now behind us and it is amazing how stagnant it felt not having the Internet to use for a while....I guess we have REALLY become dependant upon the web - and namely GOOGLE. 

The best part about having all of our services transferred from our old house, to our new house, was the letter I received from our service provider, SKY. 

It read:

Dear Mr. XXX,

Thank you for choosing SKY again as you move homes. We understand you have re-ordered your broadband internet connection to be transferred and we expect that this service installation will be complete by the close of day on Tuesday, March 10, 2009. To check the status of your order and its progress, please log on to : www.sky.com/service and enter code XXXX. 

Sincerely,

SKY Customer service

If we do not have the internet in our house, how can we check the status of our order??? 

I love great customer service experiences such as these.

(SARCASM)