Very appropriate post to give thanks on Veteran's Day

When Trent and I were in the Netherlands last month, we visited the cutest town called "Valkenburg" (Valkenburg is in South Holland). This town was charming and very historic- it was the last hold of the Nazi's in WW II.

The town which was built in Roman times was built in local marlstone- which was mined in an underground quarrying.

The mining of the stone had left a series of caves - the Gemeentegrot (Municipal Cave), which was used as a bomb shelter during the Second World War; the Fluweelen Caves; and the Panorama Cave, with an exhibition illustrating the origins and development of man.

Trent and I got to tour the caves- which was dark and very cold inside. During the the end of WWII the last city that the Nazi's held was Valkenburg- so when the US soldiers came to push the Nazi's out, the citizens took to the caves to hide.

They stayed in there for a week or so and when they came out the war was over and the US soldiers were there. Some of the soldiers went in to the caves and a local man gave them tours and painted their silhouettes in the caves and let them sign on the walls.

It was pretty cool to come to that spot on the tour and see the names on the walls- Bob from Texas, Sam from California. And know that those American soldiers freed Holland/Europe from the Nazi's, it was a really proud moment for us to see and gave us serious goose bumps.

I really appreciated on this trip from not only a fun vaca, but to see the history. We studied the war from a book at school- and stories my grandma told us when she lived through the war in Holland, but to actually see the cities and walk the streets where the history actually took place was very humbling to us both and we are super grateful that we were able to take this trip and very grateful to the soldiers who fought for this beautiful country.

Here are some of my favorite pics in this beautiful town- which is probably my favorite city in Holland. The Castle in the pics was built in Roman times and is now partially standing. Touring the ruined castle was pretty awesome, and also there was a zip line, and alpine slides running down the mountain- so we totally did that- it was pretty awesome.

And we even ate in a little cafe inside the caves with purple lights- totally awesome! And some random marching bands came through the city, very picturesque and amazing. This was my favorite day on the trip.

Oh and all the pics were from my iphone---