The Netherlands

We took a train trip to the Netherlands to visit friends from Friday to Sunday. We delayed our trip a few days because of cost. Train tickets are significantly cheaper if booked a few days in advance. Luckily, our friends didn't mind the last minute change in plans. The train ride was about 6 hours total from Wrist to Hamburg, Hamburg to Dortmund then from Dortmund to Aachen. Aachen is in Germany, but near the boarder to the Netherlands. . The train ride was especially beautiful because of the frost. In some areas, everything was white and the trees looked cristalized. The children kept asking if it was snow. Then, the sun came out. We hadn't seen the sun in days. The contrast of blue skies and the frost was also breathtaking. Our train passed through Münster. This is the city I lived in for a year in college. I caught small glimpses of some familiar places . I tried pointing them out to the children. I'm sure they were thrilled.

Our friends picked us up at the train station and drove us about 20 Min. to their home in Holland. Kevin, one of my oldest and dearest friends, is stationed there while serving our country in the Air Force. I have known him since high school. His wife Jennifer is also a special friend and she has the gift of hospitality. We always enjoy our time with them and their two boys. We were so looking forward to seeing them. We spent most of our time relaxing and visiting (and eating). It was fun to see how they, as Americans, live in Holland. We enjoyed the mixed American and European cultures. (Notice the picture of the square toilette.) They live in a typical Dutch (not Deutsch) neighborhood (as opposed to a U.S. base), but have some of the extra conveniences Americans expect. For example, they have an American size refrigerator, washer and dryer etc. Europeans have these appliances as well, but they are much smaller. They also have access to the mulitary base that provides U.S. servieces. We went on base to the grocery store. It had American products and they pay in U.S. dollar. This was fun for us. They have products not available in regular European stores. We went from eating croissants from the local backery to giving the kids Teddygrahams.

On Sunday, we drove back to Aachen. We shopped at the local Christmas market and viewed the Dome in Aachen. The church is gorgeous. It has fabulous stained glass windows and an incredible mosaic tile floor. Kevin had us at the train station with four minutes to spare. We sadly said our goodbyes and rushed to our platform to catch our train back to northern Germany. It was a great weekend and will be a highlight of our vacation.