Day 2 with an iphone

So, the journey continues to Delft.

The city dates from the 13th century and the architecture was stunning!

One question that I always had about the dutch was answered in this little town; Have you ever wondered why in the Olympics or as seen recently in the World Cup that the Netherlands teams wear Orange? It never made sense to be because the flag colors are red/white/blue. The answer was found in the Nieiwe Kerk on the Tomb of William;

The association of the House of Orange with Delft began when William of Orange(Willem van Oranje), nicknamed William the Silent (Willem de Zwijger), took up residence in 1572. William was the leader at the time in the struggle against the Spanish, the Eighty Years' War.

Delft was one of the leading cities of Holland and was equipped with the necessary city walls to serve as a headquarters. When William was shot to death in 1584 by Balthazar Gerards in the hall of the Prinsenhof, the family's traditional burial place in Bredawas in the hands of the Spanish. Therefore, he was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), starting a tradition for the House of Orange that has continued to the present day.

Nieuwe Kerk de Delft

This particular day in Delft was rainy, but we were determined to not let the gloomy weather get us down. We bought cheap umbrella's and carried on. I was the tour guide since had been been to Holland before, and I proceeded to tell Trent that you can go up the 30 story tower of the New Church. Although I have never gone in it, because the I am seriously afraid of heights and also extremely claustrophobic.

Trent got seriously excited at the news and begged me to go with him, the next thing you know we are buying our tickets.

Let me tell you now that I realized about 10 stories up just how out-of-shape I really am. I am huffing and puffing, occasionally swearing and begging for a way down. Not only are the stairs thin, rundown and steep, but the stair well winds up in a circle and is very very narrow. Not exactly the best situation for a wimpy dork like me. Trent was trying to coach me on, "hurry the elderly couple behind us is gaining speed, don't let them pass us!" With the occasional push on my rear we finally made it to the top.

The view was pretty amazing and yes, it was totally worth it.

Now, that we made it to the top- we still had to come down. So skillfully and very carefully I finally made it down safe and sound.

Later that day- we found a parking ticket on the window, unfortunately the parking tickets are pretty spendy, we are expecting our $100 bill to come in the mail any day now. Nice

Probably the coolest looking candy vendor I have ever seen.

Last stop Scheveningen {Don't even try to pronounce it} There is evidence of the name Scheveningen being used during World War II to identify German spies: They would pronounce the initial "Sch" differently from Dutch native speakers.

It was pretty windy while we were here, so we didn't get to stay long- this would be a beautiful place to come in the summer. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular for water sports such as windsurfing and kiteboarding. We heard there is a nudist section to the north.......

My genealogy runs through this city, many relatives lived here once. Although we didn't see any family on this trip, I thought about my ancestry the entire time.

Stay tuned for day 3- Brugge, Belgium

6 day journey with an iphone

Trent and I are back home and getting re-settled after the whirlwind of our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. I decided to leave my bulk of a camera at home, so here is our journey documented with my little iphone, and I couldn't be more happy with the outcome!

FYI- We joked that we will make a slide show of our trip to show our family, and bore them with our adventures, but the pics turned out so cool that we will bore you all with our trip pics, it might take a fews days worth of posts...so stay with me and enjoy!

The journey started in first class, which is an experience on its own...especially on an 11 hr flight. The food was amazing and the only time in our lives when we watched 4 movies in a row. (we were both too excited to sleep on the airplane).

Day 1 first stop- Zaanse Schans

One of the highlights in this town is that we got to tour a real working windmill. We walked in paid our 2 euros and waited for the tour, but the tour never started. So we asked the lady and she says, "Oh just go in and walk around". We were a little surprised because we basically had freedom to go where ever, climb and touch whatever with no ropes or boundries. So, we climbed up steep ladders- opened doors and walked out on rickety balcony's and ducked under the arms of the windmill.

It was raining outside this day so we hung out a bit longer in the windmill and enjoyed the view.

Inside the working windmill- This was a flour processing windmill

The town of Zaanse

Wooden shoe museum in Zaanse

Day 1- Haarlem, Holland

Corrie Ten Boom house-

Did you read the book, "The Hidding Place". Well, if you did then you know all about this place. This is the house the the author Corrie lived in during world war II. She was the only woman head of the resistance- (the dutch underground that helped jewish families and men in hiding from the Nazi's).

It was an amazing tour- the guide sat us down in the parlor of the 500 yr old house and told us the whole story of "The Hidding Place" and then we got to see the room that had the false wall where the jews hid. Trent and I both love history and especially history that involved my own family. My grandparents lived through the war in Holland and so seeing this house really hit home for me and made the stories even more alive. Outside the buildings you can still see bullet holes from where Nazi's lined up jews and shot them in the streets.......

Our favorite drink is called Cassis- I wish they had it here, it is a black current flavor and is the best soda ever........and I had at least 2-3 a day.

Check out the cute little cart with the kids in it. Kinda a wagon with huge wheels

Our awesome tiny rental car- All the cars are super tiny, and this was a far stretch from the SUV that we drive.

Amazing bakeries and cheese!!

I can officially say...

...that I am backpacking through Europe! I've always wanted to say that! Doesn't it sound so awesome?

Technically our backpacks are also roller bags- but they do have straps to carry on your back so I say it counts as "back packing through Europe", it sounds so much cooler.

Hubby and I are heading off to the land of my heritage- Holland and to the city of chocolate- Brugge, Belgium. Doesn't the city of chocolate sound amazing? Hubby might have to roll me out of that town.........(ahem)

We have the trip mapped out down to where we want to eat in each city (from Indonesian food to poffertjes) and how we will get everywhere, on train and hopefully bicycle.

Don't believe that we are just going for fun- although I am sure it will be fun. We are going there for work too- We have some meetings with stores in Holland and there is a trade show over the boarder in Germany.

During our time away, we have enlisted the help of grandparents and have an A team and a B team taking shifts to help get the kids to and fro. Please pray for them- they will need it..... Ruby just "gave up her binky's to the binky fairy" 2 days ago and is still struggling with the departure. HA HA

Oh and this trip wouldn't be possible if it wern't for my awesome baby bro (who works for Delta) and scored us these First Class tickets! Yeah- baby we travel in style and give credit where credit is due.

Tot ziens!! (good bye)