home (bitter)sweet home

Who knew it would be that obvious that we are home since it's been almost 2 weeks since I've posted anything at all?

We arrived home last week and have been adjusting well (except for the dog, she was sick for about 4 days but is doing a little better now). The trip home was uneventful and we were happy to get home.

It was a little tougher leaving than I thought it would be, we really did have a great time over there and would have loved to stay for a few more weeks...or months. I had almost a week off before returning to work, so that helped us adjust to being back, get some stuff done around the house and catch up on sleep before stepping back into the real world.

Taylor has been in 2 art classes all week (9AM - 4PM daily) and has been loving it. Today is her last day and I can't wait to see some of the art projects she completed. She had a class working with mixed media in the mornings and then did a pottery class in the afternoon. We won't get any of the pottery pieces for a few weeks (they have to bake them), but I can't wait. She is really into her art and has been doing a lot of drawing as well. We are so proud.

She goes to another fine arts camp next week so she is a busy girl. Summer is going to go fast if she stays this busy. She is excited about it though, it's another chance to be creative.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, time to go home and get it started...

louvre

Who knew you couldn't see the entire Louvre in one day?

It's our second day here in Paris and it has been absolutely amazing. We decided to go to the Louvre today and it was the thing we have been looking forward to the entire trip. We walked a few blocks and then picked up the metro to get there (trying to save as much energy as possible to walk around the museum). When we hit the main street by our hotel, we saw the outdoor market - and it was huge, selling everything from fresh produce to purses, to fish and meat. We loved it! It was wonderful and as we walked through we picked up some fresh strawberries and pastries for breakfast.

The Louvre was breathtaking - from the moment we first walked in and saw the inverted pyramid to the time we walked out - words cannot describe that place. I've been in some museums in my life - and really enjoy them a lot - but I wasn't ready for this one...holy smokes. Makes me want to check out the Smithsonian and see how they compare...

We knew it was going to be huge, but ummmm...let's just say the DaVinci Code movie doesn't do a great job of showing how enormous that place really is. Here is a quick movie to show why we didn't get the chance to see everything today - this entire building is the Louvre Museum.

We took so many pictures it was ridiculous, and there is no way I could possibly post them all. We spent roughly 7+ hours there today and really just took our time and tried to let it wash over us.

Based on a recommendation from a friend, we made reservations for dinner at the Chez Paul restaurant not far from the hotel. The food was amazing and it was definitely the French experience of dinner - sitting outside, watching people go by, enjoying an appetizer recommended by the waitress - good times. We took our time at dinner and enjoyed every bit of it. We were still able to get back to the hotel by 9:45PM or so and then got ready for bed and are crashing...in fact, I'm the chump not sleeping yet. Trying to rap this up quickly.

After 2 days here, it's clear I should have extended the trip to be here longer. We have really enjoyed being here and are feeling more comfortable now that we have been around a little - oh well, guess that's something I'll know for next time. For now, we leave Paris at 1PM tomorrow on the high speed train to Brussels. We stay there tomorrow night and then fly home Tuesday. I told J and Tay it was like the end of summer camp - I'm excited to be going home, but sad to leave at the same time. It will be nice to be home - and I'm sure all of the people watching the house are looking forward to us relieving them. The one thing we have missed the most is our dog - and believe me, we will be picking her up as early as we can.

Ok, it's midnight and we have plans for the morning...time to get some rest.

paris

Who knew Paris would be even more breathtaking in person than I ever thought it could be?

Yesterday we were in 4 countries in one day - started in Germany, drove through the Netherlands, and dropped the car off in Belgium. We then hopped the metro from one end of Brussels to the other to catch the high speed train to Paris. Once in Paris, we then hopped their version of the metro to the hotel (and used a map to find the hotel from the metro stop). It was an interesting challenge for sure, but we made it...and then crashed. We spent the first few hours in Paris camped in our room taking naps and just relaxing.

After a short period of recovery and getting some food, we ventured out into the Paris night. Our goal was to walk to one of the red bus tour stops so we could 'see all of Paris' in a few hours. Our though on this one was that since we only have a few days, we needed to see all of the tourist places as fast as we can so we could spend the rest of the time enjoying the city.

The tour was great and we were able to see so many amazing things. Here are a few quick pictures of some of the main attractions everyone would recognize. I'll post some of my other favorites later.

We are tired for sure, but are up and headed out to find some breakfast, and then go to the Louvre. This is the part of the trip we have been looking forward to the most. I think our tanks are running close to empty right now, but we will get to sleep in when we get home I guess.

J and I in front of the Arc

The tower...yeah, it's pretty big

Notre Dame - guess it's not just a school in Indiana after all

friday already?!?!?!

Who knew leaving some place you've only 'lived in' for 10 days could be so hard?

Well, today is our last day in Cologne and leaving will be bittersweet. In some ways, we are excited to go to Paris (who wouldn't right?) - and in other ways, we are a little bummed out to be leaving Cologne. We feel settled - we know where things are, we have a routine - and leaving means we start the adventure into the unknown all over again. The good thing is that we definitely knew it would come to an end, so we have been doing our best to enjoy every minute of the trip. We also know there is no way we could have seen everything here in 10 days so we are ok with having seen so much already...and just hope we can come back some day to see more!

Since we will be in a new hotel - and I won't be at work next week - I'm not sure if I will be able to update the blog until we get home. We will do our best, but I can't promise anything.

Things have been going well - we did the tower climb at the Dom yesterday - holy smokes, we were not ready for that. It is a spiral staircase up the to top of one of the tower - I took a ton of pictures and will have to post them at a later time (since I don't have the camera with me at work). It was totally worth it for sure and the view from up there was simply breathtaking. Again, can't emphasize how tough the climb was and how small the stairs were...phew...good times. We also spent quite a bit of time walking around the inside of the Dom as well, and just marvelling at how absolutely wonderful it is. Again, lots of pictures but they will have to wait.

We were able to have dinner with some friends last night which was a nice treat. There is another Ford family over here so Taylor even had a friend to hang out with. We had a great time for sure and really enjoyed ourselves.

Going forward - Paris this weekend, Brussels on Monday, and fly home Tuesday...

I'm sure we will have a lot of stories when we get back...can't believe it's been 2 weeks already.

Tay and I at the zoo.

Tay and a street performer...they were pretty cool...

Cool animal at the zoo...

zoo pics...

Love this sign...

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...