It has been a little while since we last took an extended vacation and boy was it needed. It is just so easy to get into a mundane rut that never really gives a lot of satisfaction. Much like I recharge my spiritual batteries every week at church, I find it is also needed in other aspects of life. Work is work, and although I like me job, I need to recharge my 'daily grind' batteries.
We had talked about going to Amsterdam for several months but the price of hotels never seemed to be a great deal and therefore just kept putting it off. We finally decided this was going to be the week, partly because it just needed to get done and partly because we were going to an annual Wine Festival at Bernkastel-Kues which is located in that general direction anyway.
Last year we were invited to go to Bernkastel-Kues by our friends the Jasters and enjoyed it so much have decided to make it an annual event. Last year we probably had about 10 families from the ward ("ward"= our local congregation) there in our little section along the bank of the Mosel river. This year we decided to keep the tradition alive by 'unofficially' making sure that all of the new families in the ward were aware of this little gem. We sent out the info and planned caravans to make sure everybody had at least some knowledge of this event. We met at our usual meeting place for anything that happens in the ward 'The Netto' in Spesbach. It is just a grocery store that is pretty centrally located in our ward and we tend to take up half of their parking lot anytime we gather for scouts, caravans or any other ward function that might need a meeting place. We drove an hour to Bernkastel-Kues, arriving at 3:00pm. This is an excellent time because, although it is busy, you have beaten most of the crowd and can still find excellent parking. We happened upon this wonderful parking spot last year and again found it this year. We got out, loaded ourselves down with blankets, chairs, cooler with food, Eddie and his carrier and off we went joining the throngs of people. This year it was quite warm, into the 80s, which you might think is rather pleasant, but the summer this year has been cool and therefore we are not acclimatized very well to this kind of weather. We found a nice shady area, it sat back off of the river bank but still had a perfect line of site to the fireworks display. We laid out our blankets, making sure to touch everybody's blankets together, much like a patchwork quilt. You see, this ensure that the Germans don't squeeze in between the blankets, because if they see green it is fair game. The parade of church members kept coming and coming. I don't know officially how many people we had from the ward but it was a lot. I could only guess that there were 30 families there. The adults left first and went into the little village for the festival part. We had two main objectives, mushrooms and grape juice, not necessarily in that order. They have the best grape juice right from the vineyards in that town. The word for the non-alcoholic grape juice is 'Traubensaft'. There is white and red grape juice, they range in price from 2.50-5 euro for a bottle. We ended up buying 4 bottles. We also found a stand that sold fried mushrooms in an excellent garlic sauce and decided we needed some more of that this year. Our walk through the village took us past three different bands playing their traditional German music, with the crowd entranced and entertained. We headed back to the river banks and found the kids there ready for their turn. I gave my children money and off they went in the other direction to the amusement park area, This little area could keep up with any of the carnivals back home. They had every ride that spun, twisted, whirled etc. and my kids loved every minute of it. We all planted ourselves on the banks of the river just as the fireworks show started. It is arguably one of the best firework shows that you will ever see, in my honest opinion, especially for just a tiny village putting it on. The barge shoots fireworks from the Mosel river and the castle shoots fireworks, representing a battle.
We quickly exited after the show because it was going to be a long drive to Amsterdam. The drive itself was pretty easy for the first two hours. Then we could see lightning off on the horizon, just a foreboding of things to come. The Netherlands are also working on their highways, which I think is a European thing in general, you can't travel more than 50 Km without having road construction somewhere along the way. In the Netherlands they simply just closed down the Autobahn and detoured you several Kilometers out of the way. Then the storms hit. It was dark, windy and rainy, not a great combination to be driving in a foreign country. The wind blew the rain straight down, front behind and sideways...I think I even felt it under the car. We made it to our apartment. I was able to find a relatively inexpensive apartment, there was no pictures of this place, no reviews and it was quite far from Amsterdam but the price was right. All I knew about the place was that it was an old converted Cheese farm. Awesome! Let the adventure begin. We drove through pastures, canals, cattle crossing, fields with sheep, cows and lakes with Swans. We had advised the owner that we would be coming very late at night and so she decided to leave the keys to the front door in the door so when we arrived we could just go right in and sleep. When would that ever happen in America? We opened up our door and lo and behold it was like the Shangri-la of apartments. It was this ultra-modern two story loft style apartment. Very cool! We rolled the dice and won. Since we didn't get to bed until 3:00am we slept in a little later than we normally do on vacation. I looked for our landlord to let her know we arrived and to pay her the money but she was no where to be found, and nobody around there seemed to know where she was. So we left for the day, not really having a concrete plan but ready for an adventure.
On the first day we left with a metro destination in hand and a cell phone with a map and we hoped we made it. We made it to the Metro stop closest to us...a 15 minutes journey in our van. I tried to buy tickets at the unmanned kiosk, but it didn't like my debit card. There was an information tower that you could use to call somebody for help, which is what I decided my best option was. I explained my situation to the nice man in my most needy voice. He told me to go to a certain stop, which was a hub, and there I could purchase tickets with cash. I asked him what if one of the security personnel ask to see our tickets? He said "just have them call me". With this bit of re-assurance we boarded the metro, nobody else was on it. Over the next couple of stops a few people joined us on our journey...and then it happened. Security showed up, entered the doors right in front of us. I made eye contact and gave him my best "I got a ticket" face that I could. He and two other security officers went and stood by a door not too far away from us. I sat there waiting for the inevitable to happen, but nothing. He got off a few stops later, and after 20 stops from our starting point we also got off. We purchased tickets and grabbed a bite to eat. We decided to go all the way into the city, to the main metro station so we could change metros. Wouldn't you know it, they closed down a section of the metro so we were forced to disembark and followed the crowd outside. Where it became apparent we needed to catch a bus in order to get to our next stop. So we got first hand experience on how the Dutch bus system worked, for the record, it is not much different from America's system. We waited in a long line and eventually got on and to our destination. We walked to a central square in Amsterdam that contained the Koninklijk Paleis. From here we walked over to Anne Frank's house. It was a little walk but nothing the Shumate clan can't handle. We crossed several canals and admired their beauty. We saw thousands of cyclists going every direction and it almost made you dizzy from all the commotion on the street. Along the way we passed several "Coffee shops"...these are not traditional coffee shops, these are Marijuana shops and as you would walk by you would get a nice big whiff of it's unmistakeable smell. We made it to Anne Frank's house and this was one of my main reasons for going to this city. I remember reading this story in school and again thinking this was so foreign, so far, so different. To have this opportunity? I couldn't pass it up. We bought tickets and I stayed outside with Ed while everybody else went it. Soon it was my turn and I was in awe of everything I saw. It actually wasn't spectacular in the strictest sense of the word but if you adjusted your perception just a bit it was awe-inducing. To think this room was were Anne Frank wrote her deepest feelings and desires, and to see the cutouts, pictures etc still glued to the wall where she put them. Just amazing. To walk through the swinging bookcase, knowing beyond this partition she spent many formidable months just being. Wow. From here here kept walking along the canals and just taking it all in. We decided to head back, this time to get to our metro we were told to take the tram to our stop. So we did, and felt just like a local, once you figure out how to get around...Europe in general, it is all pretty easy.
The next day we decided the main attraction was going to be the Van Gogh museum. We got there just as it started to rain, and again, I was stuck with Eddie. So Ed and I waited out the rain under the roof of the entrance of the Van Gogh museum, I am sure they didn't want me loitering around there, but they never said anything. I needed to use the restroom pretty badly and because I had Ed it limited my ability to use the facilities. I knew McDonalds would provide the relief I was looking for so I plugged it into my GPS and away we started. As we were approaching our destination I encountered a red-light district. Amsterdam has three of them, not really situated in the heart of any tourist destination so it is fairly easy to avoid these places. But it just so happened as I was getting ready to cross one of the many canals I noticed a bunch of red awnings all the way up the side of this building, and the next, and the next. Then I noticed all of the windows, wide open, with what looked like people standing in them. As I got closer I realized what I was seeing, the selling of women. I quickly crossed the street making sure that I kept my eyes straight ahead. That was my one and only time encountering the red-light district in Amsterdam. Once getting back to the Van Gogh museum we swapped Eddie out and it was my turn. I have really started to like art and Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists. I enjoyed my time in there, couldn't believe how many paintings they had of his. The most astonishing thing was my realization that he only painted for 10 years...amazing! We left Amsterdam and made our way back to our apartment.
We drove our van to The Hague...I love that name, anytime you can put 'The' in front of a city I think it is cool. The LDS temple is near the Hague so we stopped and saw the temple. Really interesting little temple, the immediate grounds of the temple were well manicured but that area led out to a front lawn that really wasn't kept up very well and the perimeter was not surrounded by a fence like they normally are. I am not sure if this is a city ordinance or not but it was just different. There was a little bridge that crossed a small man-made canal to enter the temple...how very appropriate for Amsterdam. From there we drove to Rotterdam to see a cluster of 19 windmills, called Kinderdijk. You could park your car and walk along the path of the windmills, which would have been great if we had time. It was late in the day and we decided that a bunch of pictures taken looking at the windmills from a distance would have to suffice. It was very surreal to see the windmills of Holland. Oh and in case you were wondering we did buy several small wooden shoes...technically they were made of ceramic, but they reminded us of wooden shoes. What a great, quick trip.
Some funny things with money happened to us. I always wear a waistband with a pouch tucked into my pants, with my shirt pulled over it, to prevent any pickpockets. This has always worked, but sometimes it is hard to get the money in/out of it. As I got money out to pay for something I became frantic because only half of the money that I knew I had was not in my pouch. I looked all over, everybody checked their pockets. I took off the waistband and checked it thoroughly. Sharma said wouldn't it be funny if it was in your pants...Yes, Ha Ha, we all laughed. After another few minutes of searching I checked inside my pants around the waist, there was my money tucked neatly in between my pants and my underwear. Man, good thing I keep my pants tight enough or I would have been littering money all over the streets of Amsterdam. But since I was feeling in a giving mood I eventually did lose some money. I got 200 Euro out at an ATM with McKay and somewhere along the way it dropped out...so I can't give an endorsement for the Dutch being too honest, but I can speak to my own stupidity. And in case you were wondering I have never been pick pocketed here in Europe, a well known problem... I can lose my money on my own...thank you very much. That bothered me the rest of the trip, as my family can attest to.
As an aside, we found the people of The Netherlands to be very nice and cordial, and they spoke English really well, which was a nice departure from being in Germany.
Info Transportation to city: drove from Germany Transportation in city: Metro 10.50 Euro/person, two days Lodging: Appartementen Huis ter Lucht, 3 nights/200Euro, 5 people Sites: Van Gogh museum 14 Euro/adult, under 17 free; Anne Frank's house-9 Euro/adult, 10-17 4.50 Euro, under 10-free; Kinderdijk windmills (Rotterdam)
