Benelux



5-9 April, 2012

Chris and I decided to road trip it over Easter again this year.  We headed a little farther north this time.  Thursday afternoon we packed the car and drove to Luxembourg to spend the night.  Since it took several hours longer than expected due construction and holiday traffic we weren't able to see much of the city. 

The next morning we made a quick stop at the Waterloo battle grounds before heading on to Brugge, Belgium.

As Abba would say, "My my! At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender."  He was beaten by the English General Wellington.  The lion monument and hill overlook the main battlefields where Napoleon's forces were defeated. 


We finished out the day with a stop in Brugge/Bruges.  It was so cold, but we had mostly clear skies. 

The Belfry on the Markt

View of the Market Square (Markt).  We had a great walk around the city and found a couple of good boutiques for Belgian chocolate.   We thought that The Chocolate Line and Neuhaus were the best.  I think Belgium gives Switzerland a run for their money in terms of having spectacular chocolate. 

City Hall

Cute canal and houses on our morning walk.  All the people are looking at the dogs in the window who bark at people passing by. 

We had to stop by the Friet Museum.  When in Rome, right?  We had also heard that the museum also had the best fries in town.  I was not disappointed. 
That night we had a great dinner of mussels and more fries. 

We finished off the night with hot chocolate.  And....

A Belgian Waffle!  Oh so tasty.



We got up early again (I thought this was a vacation) and drove to the Keukenhof which is right outside of Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

The Keukenhof is a park open only in the spring to show off the beautiful flowers namely tulips. 
It was a little early for tulips in the fields surrounding the park and the park itself, but the daffodils and the amaryllis were in full bloom. 

They have to have every single type of tulip planted in a huge pavilion. 

It just goes on forever! 

The flowers were just starting to bloom

You can't tell but the windmill was spinning super fast.  It was so windy!

We were both getting pretty cold so we set off to Amsterdam

I was a little nervous when we checked into our hotel and there were two sets of ear plugs on the night stand with a note that said, "For our guests who are sensitive to noise." What?  So I chose a hotel with a great location that was close to everything that we'd want to see and do, but also one that was in Rembrandt Square (Rembrandtplein) which has a reputation for some late night parties and clubbing.  And yes, I must be getting old because I had to use them!

After getting settled we walked to the flower market along the canal and then continued our walk around the city. 

Amsterdam has to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.  Even in the bitter cold and drizzle it is hard not to be amazed at the interesting architecture, beautiful canals, intriguing history and the friendly people. 

In "Die Kaaskelder" or cheese cellar. 

We would have loved to have rented bikes, but because of the weather (wet and cold) we decided against it.  We just enjoyed walking around and exploring the city.  Later that night we toured the Anne Frank House. 


 We continued our walk around town and ended up in the red-light district. 

There were loads of tourists having a good time. 

The cannabis coffee shop and night club next to our hotel.  You could smell Amsterdam's finest every time you walked out the door!

The next morning we took a boat ride on the Grachtengordel (canals) and got to see the city from a different perspective. There were lots of pretty house boats. 

 Afterwards we took a tram to the Van Gogh Museum and learned about his life, style of painting, and the techniques they use to restore the art work. 

I thought the wooden shoes were just a big tourist souvenir, but then I noticed a couple of locals wearing (not the painted, colorful junk) real wooden clogs! 

We also visited the Rembrandt House and ate traditional Dutch pea soup and Poffertjes (Dutch pancakes). 
Monday we woke up early and headed back to the flower market to buy some beautiful tulips.  I think I bought around 120!  I don't know if I'm just getting sentimental because our European experience is coming to an end, but this was one of my favorite trips so far.  The cities were beautiful, the people were great and the food was fantastic.

Uetliberg Schmootliberg

31 March 2012
Our time here in Switzerland is quickly drawing to a close and I feel like we have only skimmed the surface of what there is to do around the Zurich area.  On a beautiful Saturday we headed up to a hill on the west side of the lake called Uetliberg.  Chopper, Chris and I traveled by train to the top and had a wonderful hike back down...

View from the top. 

Chopper loves to be off leash in the woods. 

Probably not edible...

The Swiss take great care in the management of their forests.  I'm sure this will all be cut into a perfect size for firewood and stacked nicely somewhere.

La Petite Venis

14-15 Feb 2012, 3 March 2012
Updating!

Chris had to work in Brescia over Valentines so I headed down to Italy with him on the train.  We stayed at a beautiful hotel set in the middle of vineyards and close to the lake.  This was our view from our window.  Valentine's night we went to the hotel's restaraunt for dinner.  The Italian's know how to do Valentines!  They had decorated one of the ballrooms in all white.  We had a lovely 6 course meal and we were continuously serenaded by a wonderful Italian gentleman.  The night was great! The next day we headed to Milan and did some shopping then hopped on a train back to Zurich.

 A couple weekends ago when we had a free Saturday we decided to take a day trip to Colmar France.

 Saint Martin's Church. 

 We had a wonderful Alsatian lunch at a brasserie right outside of the church. 

 Most of the old town was spared bombings during the wars. 

 I love the tile roof.

 yum!

 Looking for a good patisserie.

 Colmar is also called "Little Venice" because of the canals from the Lauch river flowing through the old town. 

 Cute and fun little city in the Alsace region.

King of the Mountains

26-30 December 2011
Chris had a week off of work between Christmas and New Years so we went to Chamonix, FR which is one of his favorite places.

We took the dog because I was feeling bad she hasn't been on a trip with us in a while.  We stayed outside of the city in Les Houches at Les Campanules which was a surprisingly inexpensive, but great hotel with incredible views of Mont Blanc.

After a walk with the dog Chris and I headed to the city center which is mostly pedestrian streets lined with good eats and great shopping. 

The next day we headed to the slopes!

The following day was so clear and the perfect opportunity to take the highest cable car in the world to the top of Aiguille du Midi.  The first section of the trip starts in Chamonix and ends at Plan de l'Aiguille at 2317m (7602 ft).  Next was another cable car.  This section is the longest single span cableway in the world with a change in elevation of 1471m (4826 ft).  And it scared me to death!

But the view from the top is amazing!

Piton Nord where you can take another cable way to Italy (Helbronner Point/Torino).

Once up there I immediately felt dizzy and nauseous.  I don't think it was just the elevation change, but also the terrifyingly fantastic trip up the mountain. 

After a couple of minutes sitting down and composing myself I was fine.  Just a little weak in the knees!  If you think I'm kidding there was a young lady that passed out on the way down who was next to me.  The operator did mention that it happens regularly. 
 

And this is why a lot of people come up.  It is the start for skiing the Vallee Blanche.  12.5 miles of skiing on a glacier.  Next time for sure! 

Start of Vallee Blanche.  Experienced guides and climbing gear highly recommended.  While I was there a rescue helicopter flew by. 

They say the most dangerous part is actually getting to the start site on the Arete.  Skiers die here each and every year.  It is a 45 degree pitch on both sides.  One leading straight to Chamonix. 

Chamonix Valley

Mont Blanc which is another 986m (3235 ft) higher. 



After coming back down to planet earth, we got aboard a cute old cog-wheeled train and headed to the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice).

People were just getting back from hiking on the glacier.  I don't know if they knew they were 20ft away from a giant crevasse? 

800 steps down and 800 steps up!  At the bottom was an ice cave. 

Mer de Glace covered in snow, la Verte and les Grandes Jorasses in the background. 

Standing in front of Le Dru at Montenvers. 

Back safe and sound at the train station.

We had another day of skiing planned the next day and headed hopefully up the gondola into the thickest fog I've ever seen (including Logan, UT).  We never came out of the fog and it was miserable conditions especially being on a mountain we didn't know real well.  Needless to say, we ended a little early. 

That night we drove about 2 hours to the city of Grenoble where we had planned to meet up with our friends' daughter for dinner.  Soeur Kate Sullivan is currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

It was so fun seeing her.  We left for Switzerland around the same time she left for France. So we had our fingers crossed we could meet up sometime while we were there. 

That area of France was expecting a huge snowstorm the following morning so we decided not to chance it and get up as early as we could.  When we made it out to the car there was already a good 7 inches of the fresh stuff!  Fun drive home...

Swissmas

18-25 December 2011
Although we missed our families this year we really enjoyed our European Christmas and all the festivities associated with it.  Here is a little taste of what we did:

The week before Christmas we headed downtown to see "The Singing Tree".  This was the Children's Yodel Choir from St. Gallen.  We made a video for our families and it features a couple of clips of them singing.  You can see it here. 

We enjoyed several wonderful walks along the river.  Day or night it is always beautiful!

 On the 23rd we headed to the mountains to take advantage of the good weather and great skiing conditions.  We headed to our closest ski hill at Flumserberg.  We were a little concerned when our gondola headed into the clouds, but at the top of the ski lift was beautiful blue skies and sun!

 Chris at the top of one of the lifts.

 All the fog was gone by lunch time.

 This guy rode up with us in the gondola.

So as the German tradition goes we lit real candles on the tree on Christmas Eve.  Then Chris made wonderful crepes for dinner.  There was only one scary moment when I almost knocked the tree over while still fully lit. 

Tradition also states that you open your presents on Christmas Eve (or so Chris says).  This book was from my parents. 

 Christmas Day we attended church and came home to start cooking.  We invited several friends over to celebrate with us and had so much food it was a little ridiculous.  Luckily every body brought their appetites. 

 My favorite part of the meal was dessert since I didn't have to make it!  Thanks Sprungli!

Our fun guests (from top clockwise): Ekene Okeke, Jeffery, Elder Allen, Nathan and Meg Barnhart and myself.