Martigny & Vernayaz

Day 8

We slept in a little later than usual and didn’t have time for breakfast so we had trail mix and fruit leather for breakfast on the train. We went from Chamonix to Vernayaz to see the Trient Gorges. We had read about them on the internet and the little walkways and paths looked like fun. We got there and realized we were in Switzerland so needed francs instead of Euros. Ugh! We walked for what was probably a mile round trip to find an ATM to get some cash. When we finally got to the flower shop that sells the tickets for the gorge we discovered that it didn’t open until May 15^th (today is the 10^th) because of falling rocks. We were disappointed but the cute lady there told us of a train we could take to a different point of the gorge and walk around on trails and stuff. We decided to first go to Martingy as planned so back on the train we went.

In Martigny they have a St. Bernard museum that was really interesting telling of the history of the St. Bernard dog. We got to pet a really sweet St. Bernard and I was amazed that the whole time there we didn’t hear a dog bark once. They were so cute and well taken care of and if I could have I would’ve snuck one into my luggage to bring home.

We had lunch in the café there that cost a small fortune. The food was decent but way over-priced which I read is common in Switzerland. After that we walked next door to some old Roman amphitheater ruins. The boys ran around like wild hooligans and we snapped a few pictures, and saw some cute little lizards.

It was back to the trains then and over to the city of Salvan to see the upper Trient Gorge. School had just released so the train was full of loud teenagers for a few stops. We took a little path that led down through a darling little neighborhood and beyond to see the gorges. There were tons of stairs and pathways and beautiful views. It was starting to get cool the higher we got and the later in the day. 

We got back to our condo in Chamonix around 7 p.m. and the boys wanted to swim so they went while I worked on laundry. May I just say that hand washing everything really sucks? Because it does! When they got back at 8 Brad and I walked over to the small grocery store to get some food for dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast but they had already closed so we stopped at Ick-Donalds again. Blech! The only thing McDonalds is good for is an ice cold fountain Coke which I can’t even get here! We ate quickly and came back for showers and blogging. I’m looking forward to going to sleep- this week is catching up to me!

Triberg & the day of many trains

Day 7

Monday we woke up, had a decent breakfast at the hotel and checked out. Can’t say I was sad to leave that hotel! We drove to the city of Triberg in Germany to visit a German Clock Museum. We saw a ton of cuckoo clocks and even bought one for our home (thankfully for us they are shipping it to our home so we don’t have to haul it around). After that we decided we had to try the famous Black Forest chocolate cake while in the Black Forest so we stopped at a café and had a slice. It was pretty good but the chocolate cake part didn’t have enough chocolate flavor for me. The cherries were sour and yummy though!

This is the one we got!

We then walked up to see the Triberger waterfall which was just across the street from the café. We didn’t have time to hike all the way to the top so we just wandered around and came across a play ground and ropes course and played for awhile.

After that we were on a time crunch and had a train to catch. We drove to Freiburg and spent a good 30 minutes trying to find the place to return the rental car. I swear there were no signs but we finally found it in a parking garage at the train station- makes sense. By then we were super close on the time our train was going to leave and if we missed that train we would’ve had to wait a couple hours and extend the number of trains and buses we had to take. The boys and I went ahead to the platform we were supposed to be on while Brad was still working on the rental car return. The departure time came and went and still no train. It was such a huge blessing because had it been on time we would have missed it. Brad was finally able to catch up with us and within a few minutes the train arrived. We have Eurail passes so we get to sit in 1^st class all the time where they bring little snacks and offer food and drinks for purchase. The downside to all this is that we were going to a small town in France and it required six, yes SIX trains to get there. We went from Freiburg, Germany to Basel, Switzerland to Bern, Switzerland to Lausanne, Switzerland to Martigny, Switzerland to Vallorcine, France to Chamonix, France.  Fortunately our condo is right across the street from the train station so we were able to settle in quickly. We hadn’t eaten much because of all the train transfers so we set out on foot to find food in Chamonix and found a McDonalds. Quick dinner, Facetime with Grandma  & Grandpa and bed was in order.

I gotta tell you about the faith of a young boy. Once we finally got on the train we thought we were going to miss Tyler says “that right there was the hand of God” and it made my mama heart about explode with pride that he saw the blessing that was right in front of us!

Baden-Baden

Day 6

The fancy hotel breakfast was way too expensive for us at 15 Euros per person so we decided to grab something at the train station. We ended up getting McDonalds and since it was Mother’s Day they were handing out roses to all women. It was nice and I enjoyed my rose throughout the rest of the day. Here we took a train to Baden-Baden in Germany. This time our rental car was a Skota Rapid. It was nice but didn’t have the fancy GPS like the first car so we had to rely on Google Maps. We visited Altes Schloss first which are castle ruins. It was nice to walk around and had great views of the Black Forest. My silly boys watched Jurassic Park on the plane and somehow the Black Forest was turned into a make believe T-Rex cage. We made jokes about that the whole time and it was fun. 

From there we went to the Merkur Funicular which was super cool. We took this funicular straight up a mountain where there was a meadow, café and little playground for kids. We ate at the café where Trevor had sausage and fries, Tyler had his first soft German pretzel and Brad and I shared two meals which consisted of two sausages, fries, and a salad and “homemade cheesenoodles” which was a delectable homemade macaroni and cheese. We also got an Apple Streusel with vanilla ice cream to share. After eating we let the boys play for awhile to burn some energy. They had this very tall and curvy slide that was a pretty rough ride (according to the boys) and would likely never have been allowed in the U.S. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, which is great since we expected rain. Hopefully this weather stays!

We checked into our hotel which was a Holiday Inn Express and had the tiniest room for four people I’ve ever seen! We left the boys there while Brad and I went to a spa to celebrate Mother’s Day. It is a traditional Roman bath and was quite and interested experience. We feel blessed to have such wonderful kids who we can trust to stay out of trouble. They watched a movie and were both asleep when we got back. It was a long day and I was feeling it. What was my Mother’s Day gift? Swollen cankles to rival any pregnant woman, and a cold. I’m tired, stuffy and miserable but determined to have a good time.

Belgium

Day 5

On Saturday we checked out of our hotel and drove from Alkmaar to Delft (in The Netherlands) to visit the Royal Delft factory. If you don’t know what this is you will likely recognize it when you see it. It’s porcelain that is painted to be white with brilliant blue pattern. It was interesting to see the way they make them and everything remains hand-made.

From there we drove to Bruges, Belgium to visit the lace-making factory. It was incredibly cool to see these ladies making lace by hand with several bobbins at a time. They moved so fast! It’s a lost art and I was glad we got to see it happen. Bruges is a beautiful city and we walked around looking at the buildings and architecture. We came across a gorgeous old church, Burg square and the Basilica of Holy Blood. We attempted to go to the Choco Story museum but got there 15 minutes after closing time. I was bummed out and don’t understand why most things in Europe close at 5 p.m. You would think the tourism industry is so big they would want to stay open! By this time we were hungry (and I may have been hangry) so we stopped for pizza and got one margherita and one spicy pepperoni. It was very good and the crust was perfect! Unfortunately pizza is not friendly with Brad’s diabetes and he was up a lot during the night trying to control his blood sugar.

After Bruges we went to Belgium. It felt like a very crowded and dirty town to me. We finally found a place to park, which was difficult everywhere we went, and walked over to the Mannekan Pis. I’m not sure what the purpose of this little peeing statue is but it was fun to see. Sometimes they dress him in costumes that are brought as gift by visiting dignitaries. We wanted to go to that museum and see his outfits as well but it was late and we were tired. A couple blocks away is Grand Place which truly is grand. I sat down and marveled at the architecture and history. The sun was starting to set and it lit up the sky.

We stayed at a very nice hotel in Brussels called the Hotel Thon Stephanie. It was quite fancy but the bed was like sleeping on the rock hard floor! We were all exhausted and just wanted to sleep but it wasn’t a good night for any of us. Too bad because we had an early start the next morning!

They're so adorable! We often find them sleeping like this.

Zaanse Schans

Day 4

We slept in until 7:30, got ready and had a quick breakfast at the hotel. The food is not bad, but also not what we are used to. Breads, meats, cheeses, corn flakes or museli, yogurt, some fruit and juices.

Before we could head out for the day we had to make a couple of stops: first to a store called Hema where we bought Tyler a pair of long pants and me some sun glasses since those are the two things I forgot. We then went on the hunt to buy allergy medicine for Trevor and it was a hassle! They don't sell medicine in regular stores here, you have to go to an apothecary. We found one but they can't sell me children's liquid allergy medicine without a prescription. Now, you can legally smoke marijuana in the Netherlands but heaven forbid you buy a children's liquid for hayfever! I ended up buying the tablets and Trevor will have to learn to swallow them.

Then, we hit the road. We had planned to attend two open-air museums today (Zaanse Schans and Zuiderzee) but only made it to one. Everything just takes longer than you think it will. Zaanse Schans has a couple working windmills and those were fun to see. We went inside the spice mill, the paint mill and the saw mill. The saw mill was my favorite! It was so cool to see how they cut the wood and how it would speed up and slow down based on the wind. We also went to a cheese-making museum and a wooden shoe museum. I got me a pair of wooden clogs! We had lunch there and got traditional dutch pancakes. I had ham and cheese, Brad had bacon and cheese, Tyler had apple cinnamon and Trevor had a plain one with whipped cream. The weather was absolutely perfect, around 80* with clear skies and a slight breeze.

Windmills

Wood shoe-making demonstration

My cute little family

Paint Mill

Saw Mill

Cheese-making

Houses on the water

Dutch Pancakes

We just got back to our hotel room and apparently there is a large festival of some sort happening in the square next to us. There had been loud music and now drums for the past half hour. There was a night run/walk throughout this city so they were playing to the masses on the square. I think it ended around midnight; I put in my ear plugs and went to sleep.

Amsterdam

Day 3

We woke up fairly early, had breakfast at our hotel and headed out for the day.

First, we went to Keukenhof Gardens which is a huge piece of land covered in over 7 million tulips. There is a windmill, children's play area and lots of displays. We walked around and looked at the flowers and took a whisper boat cruise around the canals to see the fields of tulips. We spent several hours there but probably only saw 1/3 of the gardens. Keukenhof is only open 2 months of the year during tulip season where they grow the various kinds of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths removing the diseases or mutated bulbs and then prepping the bulbs for sale. I purchased a beautiful collection of bulbs that will be sent to my home in the Fall when it is time to plant them. What a wonderful reminder I will have to get a taste of Holland delivered right to my door in October. Now, every time they bloom I will remember the fantastic time we had at Keukenhoff. I really loved the beauty of the gardens (and it smelled great too).

Rows and rows of Tulips

After a quick lunch cafeteria-style at the gardens we headed to Amsterdam. We were planning to go to the Olympisch Station Park & Ride but when we got there it was full. We headed over to another P&R and was able to get a spot. Our destination was the Anne Frank House and after some directions from a local and a quick bus ride we got there only to find a huge line to get in. The city square was packed with people, there was loud music playing, people dancing and hanging out, food trucks, etc. We wondered what was going on to make this place so busy on a Thursday afternoon! Come to find out, May 5th is a major holiday in Europe celebrating the end of WWII. We waited in line for the Anne Frank house and luckily it only took 1.5 hours and there was some fantastic people watching happening while we were in line. We weren't able to take any pictures in the Anne Frank house but it was a really great experience. I've been reading the book and it helped me understand it. What a remarkable young lady she was! There is a part in the book where the helpers are able to get a bunch of strawberries for Anne and the others in hiding and it was such a treat for them. While we were waiting in line the staff of the Anne Frank house brought out fresh strawberries to us and they were the sweetest, best strawberries I've ever had.

We walked a couple of blocks to a pancake house that we wanted to try for dinner but they had closed. We then just walked around until we found a place to eat. It was fancier than I had originally planned but the food was stellar. I had a parmesan-crusted salmon with green beans and a spinach risoto, Brad had cod with potatoes and cauliflower, the boys had chicken nuggets and fries. We were in a major rush after that because we had tickets for an 8 p.m. canal cruise and let's just say there was some running involved. We had to catch a bus to get to the meeting point for the cruise and didn't want to miss it. The canal cruise was lovely. We got to see a lot of architecture and history. By the time it ended we were cold and tired and ready to get back to the hotel for bed! Luckily we got to sleep in a little the next morning.

This was my favorite, seeing these little houses on the river. Some were even in old boats. Very cool!

These are called the "Dancing Houses". If you look closely you can see that they are tipping but the historical society will not allow the owners to straighten them out. 

Central Station

I've never seen so many bikes in one place in my life!

Amsterdam is an interesting place. There were people everywhere, public urinals, pot on every corner and bicycles everywhere. Driving in the Netherlands is ridiculously crazy: everyone drives super fast and the bicyclists don't seem to notice cars at all. It's been a little scary but Brad has been a great driver.

You buy your marijuana in a "Coffee Shop" and your coffee in a "Cafe"

Public urinals. The thought still creeps me out!