Sunday, December 30, 2007

Holland: The Hague


The Hague has long held a famous place in history. More recently a number of famous trials have taken place there, at the Binnehof.








People in Holland love to play at the North Sea. We enjoyed a brisk December morning in Schevenening, near the Hague. The pier with restaurants and stores, looking down upon the sea was an exciting place to walk.





We are so happy to be able to travel in Europe at this time. What a great place to be!





Saturday, December 29, 2007

Holland: Rotterdam... Amazing Port City


The architecture of modern buildings all over Holland is celebrated. It is quite unusual and full of stark lines.







Rotterdam has miles and miles of ports. It is one of the largest in the world. We saw huge containers put on ships and repair bays to repair cruise ships and cargo ships.





As you look over the horizon of Rotterdam, you see cranes everywhere along the harbor for loading ships.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

White "no snow" Christmas


Christmas morning we awoke to a very heavy frost, making everything a white wonderland. We walked through the woods behind our house enjoying the scene.





These photos seem black and white till you see the ruddy road and Bob's red coat.




This whiteness is not snow, but ice crystals from a heavy frost. It even sticks to the symbol on our old Mercedes station wagon.








A lot of homes in Germany have 1-3 Santas that hang from a rope outside a window. For some reason I get a kick out of this and added them to the ledge outside our son's room.





Saturday, December 15, 2007

Bastogne: Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge

This is the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge that took place in WWII in Belgium. Re-enactors come from all over Europe to celebrate the American victory. They dig foxholes and set up camp for the weekend. We learned a lot to be proud of on this day.






This young solider currently stationed at Bastogne is one of the re-enactors. He showed us around a bit.












A beautiful monument to the American soldiers lost in battle is next to the Museum on the edge of town.