Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with a traditional dinner. I can't find full turkeys here, so we had turkey breast and I spent a small fortune on a box of Stove Top stuffing and a can of cranberry sauce from the American store. We were also lucky enough to have 2 cans of Libby's pumpkin that were given to us by some friends who were moving back to the US.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Sint and Piet and Paul

We found out that Saturday, the day after we arrived home, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piets were arriving in Antwerp. Sinterklaas is Belgium's santa. He typically arrives in town in mid November and delivers small gifts almost everyday until his birthday, December 5th. Christmas is then celebrated as only a religious holiday. This is very new to us and we are learning more about it everyday.

Sinterklaas' boat pulled in to Antwerp just a few blocks from out apartment. He was greeted by hundreds of kids. Sints helper are known as Zwarte Piets. The story is that the Piets are ones that go down the chimey to deliver the gifts and as a result, they are covered in soot. This is why all of the Sint's Piets are made up in blackface. I will be the first to say that it is a little bizarre in more ways than one.

Sinterklaas and one of his Piets.

This past weekend we got an email from Paul, one half of our Dutch Bike Repair Team. He was going to be in Antwerp for the weekend and asked if we wanted to get together. We ended up meeting him for dinner. We couldn't quite figure out what he was doing in town. All of Paul's answers were a little strange like, to buy dried miso soup and seaweed spread or to see the gypsy musician at the Vogelmarkt. When Paul stepped away for a minute, Craig asked me if I thought he was going to try and kill us. He was a little weird, but I didn't think that was on his agenda. Craig then asked me if I thought Paul was going to ask to sleep at our apartment. I didn't think that was his plan either. The night was a little strange and I don't think we will be getting together with him again, that is unless we need emergency assistance with our bikes.

European Road Trip: Vienna, Hallstatt and Salzburg Day 9 - 14

I can't quite explain it, but it was a nice feeling driving out of the Czech Republic and into Austria.


Our first top in Austria was Vienna. Vienna is a very nice city, but we were a little run down and getting tired of sightseeing by the time we got there. We took our time wandering around the city and stopped to see the Hapburg's Royal Apartments and their tombs.



Driving from Vienna, we made a stop in Melk, a small town on the Danube river. Melk is known for their amazing Abbey. I think they had the most gold encrusted church I have ever seen.



We followed the Danube River towards our next stop. The views were amazing. While we are driving, Colin said "This looks just like Germany". We couldn't believe that he remembered. We were staying the night in Hallstatt, a very small town on a lake surrounded by mountains. Many hotels are closed in November and reopen in December for the Christmas markets. It is very common for people to rent rooms in their house, which is what Craig had arranged. We had no idea what to expect and were a little scared, but the apartment we stayed in was amazing. It was 3 bedroom, right on the lake and it was a nice change from being in a hotel room for so many nights before. The town was so quiet that all you could hear was the water.









Before leaving Hallstatt the next day, we walked the town and visited the Catholic Church and it's Bone Chapel. There is such limited space in Hallstatt that people were only buried for 12 years. Their bones were then dug up and the space was used for someone else. All of the bones were housed in the bone chapel, this was done up until the 60's. The chapel has the bones of about 600 people.


We weren't happy to leave Hallstatt, but drove the next day to Salzburg. Salzburg is best know as the birthplace of Mozart and the home of the von Trapp family from The Sound of Music. It is a small city nestled between the mountains. We stayed in a womens dorm that rents out to travelers when the dorms are empty. On part of the grounds was a cemetary where Mozart's wife is buried. We took a tram that scaled the side of one of the mountains to see the Hohensalzburg Fortress that overlooked the town. Salzburg had the prettiest river through the center of town. The water was turquoise and you could see right to the bottom.

We had not made reservations for a place to stay over the weekend, so we decided to pack it in and drive home on Friday after 14 days on the road. It took us 9.5 hours to drive from Salzburg to Antwerp. On the way, we drove right by Teck, the mountain that my grandmom grew up under in Germany. We have a picture of it having in our house and it was great to see it in person.

Overall, the kids were pretty good on the trip. Every time they we changed hotels, they loved seeing the new beds they would be sleeping in. It is hard to keep them quiet in the rooms, so I think every hotel was glad to see us go. Back in Antwerp, our downstairs neighbor asked if we had a good 2 week vacation that we never told him we were going on. That least we are happy to be home, even if others aren't.

European Road Trip: Dresden and Prague Day 5 - 8

We left Berlin and drove to Dresden, Germany, which served as a midway point to Prague. Once arriving in Dresden, we spent the afternoon seeing the historical city center. It was really cold and wet and made it difficult to enjoy what we were seeing. Craig was on the look out for commies who might still be lingering around. We suspect that the owner of our hotel may have been one.

The next morning we drove to Prague which was only about 2.5 hours from Dresden. We crossed the border into the Czech Republic on top of a mountain that was covered with snow. I am not sure how high up we were, but we were driving through the clouds. We stopped at the first convienence store to pick up a sticker for the car to allow us to legally drive in Prague. We realized a day later that the attendant charged more than the sticker cost. Ripping off tourists is very common in Prague. They are still not using the Euro, so it is very easy to get confused.

Our hotel was in the best location right at the base of the Charles Bridge. We wasted no time and walked the bridge and head into the Old Town Square to see the Tyn Church and the Astronomical Clock. Prague is probably the most beautiful city we have seen. It was one of the few places that was spared by WWII.

The Czech Republic would be following in Berlin's footsteps by celebrating the fall of communism shortly after we visited. There were displays all over the city describing the events leading up to November 17, 1989.

We had lined up a personal tour guide for Friday to show us parts of the city. She took us through the Little Quarter and on the tram up to Prague Castle.

We spent our last day in Prague seeing some of the things we missed the first 2 days. We really loved Prague and would recommend it to anyone.

Unfortunately this pictured turned out grainy and dark, but the Charles Bridge looks amazing.

European Road Trip: Hannover and Berlin Day 1-4

We are back from our road trip! We covered a lot of territory: drove through 5 countries, covered 1749 miles and saw 3 European capitals!

We left Saturday morning and drove about 4 hours to Hannover, Germany. We only planned to spend the afternoon and night there since it was a midway point between Antwerp and Berlin. It was really cold, but we liked Hannover and were surprised by its charming city center.

We drove to Berlin the next morning. It was cold again and I was glad I had packed our winter jackets along with the hats, gloves and scarves. We wasted no time and made our way down to see the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. The perimeter of the wall is marked throughtout the city by a double cobblestone line. It is hard to believe that the beautiful Brandenburg Gate was in the no mans land and was not able to be enjoyed for so long. The last time Craig was in Berlin was in the summer of 1989, just months before the wall came down.

We made our way down Unter den Linden and to Checkpoint Charlie but turned back because Chloe went into full tantrum mode. She really lived up to her nickname - the Monster - that Colin has given her.

The next day we made a successful attempt at seeing Checkpoint Charlie and the Museum there. Later in the afternoon we went to see the Wilhelm Kaiser Memorial Church and walked to the main shopping street, Kurfurstendamm.

Tuesday we took the subway to the Wall Documentation Center and saw one of the few remaining sections of the wall still to stand. The subway station we got off on was previously a "ghost station" on the East side. Most of the sections left of the wall are chipped down to the rebar.

We were really lucky to have been in Berlin just a few days before the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. It was neat to see the live news coverage going on while we were there. Being there made us realize how much the fall of communism has impacted Europe and how we have benefited from it today.