3 countries in one day

Who knew time could go faster the longer you are in a location?

Turns out we have less than one week left - next week at this time we will (should?) be at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC waiting for our connecting flight to Detroit. Crazy how fast time goes - I remember looking at the calendar and thinking, "Wow, we still have 10 days left."

Things are going well, although today I did a day trip to Belgium - which means I started in Germany, drove through a little section of the Netherlands, and arrived in Belgium. It was only about 2 hours each way - so not too bad. It had been almost a week since I drove the car (since the train is my preferred way of getting to work) and it was nice to be behind the wheel. Our GPS system (Tom Tom is it's name) helped me navigate the roads here and get to my destination without any trouble at all (which was a total relief).

Here is a picture of my special Father's Day gift Tay picked out for me. For those that know me, I can be a bit of a pen snob and so this chocolate pen and pencil set was perfect!

Here is a picture of the train station I walk to daily to catch my ride to and from work...it's a bit busy in the afternoon, but not too bad in the morning...guess not many people want to be up as early as I am in the morning no matter what country I'm in...

There is a famous bridge here in Cologne as well (it's on every reference to the city along with the Dom Cathedral) so we decided to take a walk to see it tonight after dinner. On the Hohenzollern bridge there are pad locks couples have been placing there to symbolize their love. It was fun to read many of the names and inscribed dates. Apparently, this trend started in Rome and has spread all over the world. The idea is to get a pad lock and put names on it - then you lock them to the bridge and throw the key into the river to symbolize ever lasting love (or something sappy like that). It is very romantic. Since pictures are worth 1000 words, maybe these will help explain what I'm talking about.

View from the bridge

On the bridge looking back towards the Dom...you can see the locks lined up on the fence to the right.

Closer look at some of the locks.

Here are some pictures of the places we have had dinner. These are along the Rhine river - as you can see, there are many, many restaurants to choose from - one right after the other. They are more than happy to help you find a seat or answer any questions you may have. It has been fun walking past all of them and reading the menu to determine where we would like to eat each night - and yes, the menu is in German so we have to do a little bit of guess work. Once we choose a location and sit down, they usually have a menu in English for our final selections.

Here are some other pictures we took tonight during our walk - it's nice here because the sun is up early and doesn't go down until very late. The weather has been great the last two days so we have enjoyed eating outside. Still definitely having a blast over here.

I finally completed our last hotel reservation for next week last night - which means other than a few connecting trains here and there, we have all of our arrangements complete...now all we have to do is stick to the schedule...sigh.

Good night, it's 11:30PM and even though the day is still young back home, it has come to a close here.

never get tired of this view

Who knew the zoo could be fun no matter what country you are in?

Today we decided to do something 'fun.' J and I were loving all of the historical stuff, but I think at some point it becomes white noise to an 11 year old. Don't get me wrong, Tay is being fantastic and still says "oooooh" and "ahhhhh" when we see stuff. We decided we needed to do something else - so we found this cool aquarium she wanted to go to...problem is we figured out it was 4 hours away...bummer. So, we opted for the zoo instead - and it was fantastic.

We took the train to get there - a fun experience in itself - and when we arrived, we noticed it had an aquarium. Perfect! It was great and the aquarium exceeded our expectations as did the zoo. It was a blast.

Yesterday was the Roman-German Museum - and talk about impressive. To be able to see some aritifacts from long ago, were actually from time periods we knew, and from people we had heard about - truly something we will never forget.

I'm sure looking forward to going to work tomorrow...all this hanging out and having fun is getting a little old. There are still a lot of things we would like to see while we are here, but after a few days here in Cologne (or Koln as us residents call it), we are starting to feel at home. We have 5 more days here and then off to Paris...can't wait. One thing we are trying to be conscious of is to enjoy every moment, and take in every second since it will all be over way to quick. I can't believe it's already been a week.

Funny how time can change things. I remember what it was like getting off the plane and trying to find the rental car...and then the hotel...way different than now. We still have many things to learn, and mess things up from time to time, but we sure feel much better about getting around at this point (which is quite a relief).

Here are some pictures from the weekend...let's start with food...

Snacks - Cookies were great - chocolate bananas were interesting (but good), crackers were ok and fruit bits were wonderful

Snacks round 2 - this was all sweets (but I threw an apple in there so you knew it wasn't all sugar). The Lion bar was similar to 1000 grand...

When we go out for dinner and order water, we always get a fancy bottle to share - this was the latest version...and yes, they are all a bit costly...not like drinking tap water in the states. It is quite fun though...

Taylor's tortellini - she was a little bummed because it wasn't quite what she was hoping for...she still ate a bit of it though. This restaurant was fun...they didn't speak much english and the menu was not in english either...maybe that's why the tortellini was a little off (lost in translation). The tortellini, as well as J's lasagna and my pizza (I ordered the 'inferno' - it was good) are all from Pinocchio's...

Hotel Room Pictures:

Yes, the towel rack does heat the towels...what? Doesn't everyone have one of those?

Ok, so here are some pictures of one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. This is the view I could never get tired of I referenced in the title. These pictures are of a cathedral here in Cologne (and it's about a block and a half away from us) called the Dom. These don't even begin to do it justice and most likely I will devote another blog entry to it because it is so amazing. These are some of the outside pictures - you can start to get an idea of how absolutely incredible this is by looking at the tiny people near it in the pictures. This alone would have made the trip worth it.

I have many more pictures - zoo, Roman-German museum, etc...but as it is after midnight once again and I'm calling it quits.

Happy Father's Day to all of you fathers out there! Sorry we missed seeing or talking to some of you today. Just know we are still thinking about each of you even though we may not be in the same time zone.

cologne

Who knew a simple walk could take you back thousands of years?

Turns out Cologne is an extremely old city with deep history - it was a colony of the Roman Empire in 39BC and there are quite a few Roman walls, buildings, etc here. Absolutely amazing to be able to see something from that time period and think of all the people that have been there, touched that wall, etc. It was also heavily hit with air raids during World War II and there are some areas where you can see the affects. It was rebuilt, and is quite a beautiful city with some of the most amazing churches ever - just wait until I post some of those pictures. We are definitely in awe of this place.

We were able to take a long walk last night and see quite a bit of the city. Another guy I know from Ford had been here for 2 weeks and was showing us around. It was definitely helpful to have some one here that knew where to go. We had a nice dinner near the Rhine river and also stopped for Italian ice cream on the way home. Day 2 in Cologne was definitely less stressful and more fun than day 1.

I am also using the train to get to work (since my driving experience here wasn't all that fun) and that is working out extremely well - takes about 30 minutes and only one exchange. We are definitely looking forward to the weekend for sure - I'm pretty wiped out.

The one downside of being here is that I missed game 6 and 7 of the NBA finals. I actually set my alarm to get up at 5AM to watch the end of the game...but none of the stations we have were playing it anyway. Oh well.

Ok, back to work for me. Germany is playing in the World Cup today so this place is going to be shut down by 1PM when it starts - hoping it's an early day for me.

On a side note, being here during a World Cup year has really got me excited about soccer (yes, it's football over here) now. Their excitement for the game is wonderful and kind of easy to get caught up in since it's literally all around. All of the restaurants, stores, most of the people, are all into the games. It's been fun and I'm doing my best to understand this sport.

one 'n' or two?

Who knew you could confuse many different people just by spelling your name with only one 'n'?

Apparently in Germany, most people use two of the letter 'n' on the end of their last name - so they were all confused with us only having one of them. They have still been accepting of us though and we are officially back home in the motherland - yes we are currently in Germany. We made the move this afternoon after checking out of our hotel in Eindhoven, Netherlands and visiting a museum. The drive was about 2 hours and was pretty uneventful until we got off the highway...then it got interesting. Long story short, we made it and checked in and are getting ready for sleep.

Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven

Long story long, well, let's just say I started to go the wrong way on a one way (quick use of reverse fixed that) and then for the last few streets we were driving on (per GPS direction) it basically seemed like we were driving on a sidewalk. It was like the movies where there is barely room for one car to go down the road between the cars parked on both sides...and the bikers flying by...and the pedestrians...yes, good times. For those of you that have visited, you know what I'm talking about. I haven't really had any issues driving over here, but today definitely tested that for sure. I'm thinking about public transportation this week to get to work. We'll see how that goes.

The museum was fun - nothing too crazy, but some interesting pieces none the less. We found an out of the way place for lunch and it was fun to get to meet some other local people - and they were very nice to us and accomodating. Cologne has been ok so far - the hotel is amazing (we are staying in the Hilton). The down side is that we had settled into Eindhoven and were comfortable and enjoying ourselves...now we are starting all over and this seems a bit daunting. I'm sure we will be fine, and since we will be here for quite a while, I'm sure we will settle in here as well.

Tomorrow starts another new day at work for me - meeting new people, new buildings, new access issues - all things I'm looking forward to again. I'm pretty pumped the fam is with me, otherwise this trip wouldn't be half as fun.

Last night was our last one in the Netherlands - and we found another great restaurant called Pane Cook. This restaurant had pannekoken - the dutch pancake. It was simply wonderful. The hostess was very nice and basically read the entire menu to us since it was not in English. She then recommended the favorite flavor of apple, cinnamon, and powdered sugar - it was simply delightful. We loved every minute of it and also enjoyed walking around Centrum (the city center). All in all, not a bad last night.



Oh yeah, on one of our adventures today, we passed an IKEA - funny to see it over here even though I know it started on this side of the pond.

PS - we got an e-mail from the dog kennel. Trinity has a new best friend and they are enjoying playing together. It was good to hear she was doing well - although I'm not sure they would have told us if she was having some problems. We still miss her, but always nice to hear a good report

Ok, I'm wiped and headed to sleepy town. Until next time...

View from our current room.

Where I'm headed right now...zzzzzz...

change of plans...already

Who knew you could follow up a completely crazy night with one that was exactly what we needed?

So last night, we decided to venture out to get some dinner - and since we were really tired, and feeling as though we already used up all of our energy to find the hotel, check in, etc - we decided to do something we promised we wouldn't...we went to McDonald's. We didn't want to do it since we can get that at home all the time, but we were so tired and confused we just wanted to grab some nuggets and get home.

Turns out McD's is in the city centre - and after doing a few laps trying to find parking I realized that even when we did find parking, we didn't have any change to pay for it. We wound up driving around and getting back into a residential area and were definitely off the path. We decided to park and walked 2.5 km to get to McD's - and when we got there, it was a whole different problem. Turns out the Netherlands is in the World Cup (Holland) - and they had a game last night that I think the entire town watched - and it got out right as we arrived. So not only were we flustered wondering if we could find our car again, or if it would be towed, now we were hanging out with about 100 of our closest, rowdiest friends in McDonald's. It was completely nuts and believe me, there were no lines - it was one big massive group pushing to the registers placing orders. We finally got there, ordered food and got it 'to go' for sure. We then walked 2.5 km back to our car (yes we found it - and it wasn't towed or ticketed). When we ate back at the hotel I think it was the best chicken nugget meal I've ever had because we truly worked for it.

This morning was fun driving 40 mins to Lommel, Belgium where I was working for the day. It was a good trip and GPS didn't fail me. It was a long day at work, but good to meet many of the people I've been talking to on the phone. I got back to the hotel around 5:30pm, which was a long day for J and Tay to be here. They were ready to go when I got here so we walked down the street to the supermarket and picked up some fruit, bottles of water, and other snacks. After dropping them off at the hotel, we ventured out again to get some dinner. While doing multiple laps yesterday, we saw a restaurant we wanted to check out. We parked, walked, and found our restaurant - it was a beautiful night so we sat outside. Following in true European tradition, we decided to take our time at dinner - and wound up being there for about 2 hours just taking our time and enjoying the amazing food (J and I got steak and Tay got a really great chicken salad). We enjoyed watching the people walking by, sitting around us, etc. It was a very relaxing night and was just what we needed. We even ordered dessert - it was called chocolate, chocolate, chocolate - chocolate cake, ice cream, and gelato - sooooooo good.

Overall, I think it was a good second day - I'm more comfortable behind the wheel and navigating round abouts, and we know the area better. We are looking forward to day 3 here for sure.

The plan change is that originally I was planning on being here for the entire 2 weeks - but today I found out they really need me in Cologne, Germany. So, we are checking out Wednesday morning and moving camp to Cologne for the rest of the time. It will be a good change and we will get to see Germany - something not on the original plan. All in all, I think it will be a good move.

Anyway, enough for tonight - I was able to load a few pictures tonight. Good night for now.

View from our hotel room

Parking - yes, that Mercedes is our rental car

Our new FAVORITE restaurant - Ravensdonck Het Eetcafe

One of the streets we walked tonight

our adventure

Who knew a short 8 hour flight could land you in completely different country?

For those tracking us, we made it safe and sound and have checked into the hotel (about 5 hours ago). Now that I have that out of the way...

We are currently in the Netherlands by way of Detroit to Chicago to Brussels, Belgium. Yeah, I know, we're kinda freaking out about it also. Plane left Detroit at 10:10AM and we arrived at 9:20AM in Brussels...the next day. Good times. Ford sent me to Lommel, Beligium for 2 weeks to do some training and I dragged J and Tay with me. We will be in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and also France during our 2.5 week visit.

Flights were actually very uneventful - Detroit to Chicago was no problem - we were able sit together and since the flight was barely over an hour it felt as if we were landing as soon as we took off. We had a 7 hour layover in Chicago - no problem right? We love the city. Problem was that when we landed, it was pouring rain. Not the best time to be walking around the city. So, we got some lunch and then hung out at the airport - playing uno, reading, etc. As tired as we were, we didn't sleep because we knew we needed to be tired to sleep on the plane.

We sure were excited when it was close enough to boarding time to go and stand at the gate. While we were standing there, one of the flight attendants (Mr. Gonzalez) came by and started talking to Taylor (this is important later). It took a while, but we finally boarded. We were able to sit together again which was nice. J and Tay had a good conversation with the woman sitting next to Tay, and it turns out the man next to me is from Lommel (the city I will be working in this week). It was a nice flight - we were served drinks, dinner, drinks, and breakfast. We were all able to get some sleep after dinner which was great. Since it was such a long flight, we were given pillow, blankets and had movies playing. Not bad. Plane left at 6PM Saturday and we arrived 9:20AM Sunday...gotta love the 7 hour time difference from Chicago.

The interesting part of the flight is that Mr. Gonzalez decided to take care of Taylor and named her his 'special buddy' (and announced this to any of the flight attendants walking by). What this meant for Taylor was while we were waiting to take off, he brought her a banana and bag of chips to tide her over. Then, she got wings from one of the other flight attendants. Then, he brought her ice cream after dinner. She also got the first class breakfast ahead of everyone else in economy - fresh fruit and a croissant. He definitely took care of her and made her feel special. It was a nice treat.

We then figured out how to get the rental car, navigate the roads from Brussels, Belgium to Eindhoven, Netherlands (thank goodness for the GPS in the car), and found the hotel. We checked in, tried to find some lunch (everything is closed including the restaurant in the hotel - it is Sunday after all). After getting some food at the Shell gas station, we watched a movie (which means I took a nap while a movie was playing) and have been hanging out. We are about to venture out and try to find dinner before retiring for the night.

I have a few other pictures and will try to load them later - having some technical difficulty at the moment...

I'll be keeping this updated with status of our trip...

nothing to see here

Who knew you could write one post to announce multiple things?

First, new template...I like it - it shows the date for each entry which is something I've been missing. We'll see how long this one lasts.

Second, I am now the father of a seventh grader - pending her report card saying she passed all of her six grade classes. Yes, Taylor's last day of sixth grade was today...can't believe it. Just another subtle reminder of how old I truly am.

Third, we are officially leaving on a sort of vacation tomorrow. Work is sending me off to do some training so I am taking Jaimie and Taylor with me. I will post more on that as the work/vacation away from home progresses.

That's all for now...yes, it's after 11PM and we are still working to get everything done so we are ready for the flight in the morning. Ever notice no matter how much planning you do, there is always way more to do the night before? Maybe it's just me.

Until next time...

clepto

Who knew officer Friday teamed up with Johnny Carson could be kind of funny?

glasses

Who knew glasses could make you look weird?

Verdict is still out on how I feel about my 'new look.'

award ceremony

Who knew you could use something like an awards ceremony for your kid to get out of a few hours of work? I do now...

Last week they had the year end awards ceremony at Taylor's school. It was fun and here are some pictures of the event. Laura and Jake even came to support Tay - impressive. Taylor won the El Bizzaro award (for art) and was also recognized for being on the honor roll each quarter. It was a fun ceremony and I'm glad I was able to be there.