Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Parting Shots from our Vacation

This is our Godsister, Marion with her Grandchild, Tim. Marion is the bird lady of Amsterdam.
This picture was taken right NEXT to a window with a "practicing" lady of the evening. It is frowned upon to take pictures of these ladies, but this hallway located nearby was good enough.


Now you can say "Mustard" in several languages!





Beautiful Beautiful

"i amsterdam" is the Theme of the City. Here's Anna posing by her "A"
The architecture is so interesting. Very skinny houses, very close together.
We took a canal cruise which was fascinating. The boats on the side are permanently docked and people live in them as well.


The Brown family (minus one, plus one) demonstrates that even though Raindrops kept falling on our head, we still were smiling!





Family Shots

Despite the rain, we truly enjoyed just being together. The four of us (N, D, Dennis and Marion) spent a great hour talking under this cozy umbrella. Anna toured the Museum of Diamonds. No, she didn't get any souveniors! Man, he's got Big...Feet !


Dinner, in the cold and rain, at a wonderful sidewalk cafe.


I saw an older couple trying to get a photograph with one of them in it and as I often do on vacation, I offered to take their photo if they took ours. They wanted nothing to do with giving me their camera, but the lady graciously offered to take ours. Don't we look relaxed?



The weather was not good, unless you're a duck (cold and rainy). But we carried on and had a great time.

And still more vacation photos

Tacky, yes. Fun...definately. Leave it to the Italians to capture the moment.Flooven,a harbor town. Just like Hans Christian Andersen described it.

Marken: Swans, Weeping Willows, and a sense of peace.
And as long as we're featuring stereotypical tourist shots, this one is for my son!






We got to see Holland for the first time! It is a magnificent country. AND I learned the difference between Holland and The Netherlands (correct me if I am wrong, JC). Holland is a specific territory within the Netherlands. Amsterdam is located in this area. The Netherlands is the name for the entire country. Whatever it's called, we loved it.

More Vacation Shots

How would you like your french fries? Here's a list of ways to eat them by country. Maybe you could try something new today...
We enjoyed going into the Fun House. Who says Old People can't have fun (ah, Marion would like you to know that SHE is NOT Old)

These are HUGE cookies, made with special messages. I know the one on the left says "I Love You". Google German translations for the rest.






I LOVE Fairs! And what a treat to attend the Aachen Fair with Marion, our German Godsister. It made up for missing the MN State Fair (again).But I must admit, the beer in Germany was MUCH better!

And now I'll bore you with my vacation photos

Inside the Cathedral in Maastricht, Netherlands Canal view of Maastricht

The Cathedral in Aachen, Germany

Okay so this isn't Europe, but it was taken on the last morning before we left Lake Lida.





We enjoyed a week with our German family; relaxing in Aachen, travelling to Amsterdam, having Dennis meet up with us (how cool is it that he just flew over from Dublin for the day?!) Here are a series of snapshots that don't even begin to tell the great time we had.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Lovin Amsterdam

Over 200 pictures later and I'm just loving this place! I aquired a new telephoto lens (thanks to our German Godsister) and so I'm the snappyhappy tourist. Unfortunately I'm not the techno savvy tourist so you'll have to go to Google and see your own images.
We're safe, happy and off to explore more!
Weather is awful (rain)
Wish you were here!
Love, Nadine