Four Countries In Four Days

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Germany to be with our friends the Alleys, Broughs and, what was their name again, oh yea, the Farnsworths.  I told our kids that we’d be visiting four new countries that they could add to their list of places they’ve been.  Alex ( Mr. Geography himself) was particularly excited. 

The title of this post is misleading because if you count the UK, then we were actually in five different countries in four days.  No matter, I like the way it balances now.   Of course you know England is on an island, so we first had to cross the English Channel.

Instead, we have one of these with slightly more scratches and a beautiful new dent on the passenger side door (more on that another day).

Ferry or train?  Hmmm.  Years ago that would be an easy choice, but now one can just hop on a train (vehicle and all) and drop down underneath the channel for a transit time of 35 minutes.  That, compared to a 3-hour minimum ferry ride, was the way to go for us.  Here we arrive at the Eurotunnel port of entrance.

Translation:  “France, that way.”

Driving d0wn the ramp to the docking place.  Double decker cars for all cars less than 1.85 meters tall (we barely made it).  I was curious as to how they were going to load cars onto a train (and do it quickly too).  I was impressed.

We had to go on the bottom.  :(

when I tried to describe this to someone I said “imagine if you could drive your car inside a subway carriage.  Besides being just short enough, we also barely fit width ways.  Had to pull the mirrors in just to be on the safe side as we passed the lavatories – tight squeeze, you know (no pun intended).

Mmmm, crepes IN BELGIUM!!  We stopped in Gent on the way and tried some local fare.  Buckwheat pancakes, to be precise, but not the type of pancakes you are used to.  Actually, halfway between a crepe and a pancake would be a better description, with cheese, mushrooms, frankfurters and/or whatever else you fancy wrapped inside.

Old city.  Old church.  While it is interesting to see old buildings, I think it would be more enriching had we actually done some homework on the place beforehand.  As it is, we can at least appreciate it for it’s artistic quality.

And it’s gutters.

More of the same “beautiful-building-but-we-don’t-know-anything-about-it”.

You’d have to actually be there to really appreciate the beauty of this city.

In case you couldn’t decipher the message in Dutch or French, they threw in the last line to help.

I loved the big stained glass windows on this church.

And that is our first experience in Belgium!! (We didn’t stop in France – just drove straight through).

We also didn’t stop in the Netherlands on the way to our friends’ house in Gemany, though we did return later for some tourist stuff.  Our friends live in Germany very near the border with the Netherlands.  Just behind their quaint German neighborhood is this 170 year-old windmill.

 

We thought that was cool, but then later we went to this park!!  Yup, that’s for real.  It’s like this thing only you can ride on it (if you can get on it in the first place).  There’s two of them perpendicular to each other.  The only way for the second person to get on is to have another person help pull the seat down.  And I thought Japanese playground equipment was litigious.  I escaped unscathed, but I can’t say the same for Merrill’s, um, ego or for that matter, Dave’s legs when he came crashing down to the ground after Merrill bailed unexpectedly. 

 

We talk about visiting different countries, but the whole point of the trip was to see our friends.  And it was fantastic to be with them again. 

Not sure what Mark’s thinking here.

Happy wives = happy guys.

Our visit to the Netherlands.  Seven adults and fourteen children all under the age of 12.  “Ben je gek?”  Ja.

Crowded sidewalk.

Canal.

Goat.

Japanese restaurant.

Deer on Liz’s head.

The “Christmas Market” was inside a huge limestone cave.

This was one of the few “Christmas” vendors in there.  Most vendors had nothing to do with Christmas, per se, other than you could buy something from them as a gift, like a belt or some nail polish.  We bought several ornaments from here that we like very much.

And at the end of cave extravaganza, we attempted a group photo.

And then all went out for dinner at Subway.

Where else could we all fit without a reservation?

There’s more, but I need to take a break right now.  I’m hungry.

Robert