our little trip...see you next fall...

How 'bout some pictures?

thats what i thought~

I'll refrain from a lot of chitty chatness.. and get right to it. hope you enjoy!
mouse over the pics if the caption looks too short.. some of them might not fit!!

Paris

we made it to Paris! Erroll very skillfully navigated us through the wretched traffic to our hotel... (DON'T LAUGH.. the Hilton, Paris. ...wait for iiiiit..) which we got on priceline.. for a STEAL.. and then we went for a nighttime walk to Notre Dame. lovely! tomorrow.. we are having more fun and more good times.

we miss you all.. look for pictures!

sneaux.

FIRSTLY... there will be scads and piles and veritable mounds of pics.. but not on this post. but soon, so check back!!


We left Enschede at 4:30am last wednesday, and after a scenic drive through a section of Germany, we went to Strasbourg, France, the town that popularized the modern idea of the decorated Christmas tree! And is the seat for the Parliament of the European Union. It was a very old and picturesque town. The Cathedral du Notre Dame there has the oldest stained glass windows in Christianity. It was beautiful. There were inscriptions from and areas of the church from 400 A.D. i was really overwhelmed that people spent so much money, labor, and time to build a monument to God. ( i know, i'm ignoring all the corruption and taxing the poor to starve them to build a church history.. and choosing to see the cathedral in its purest form.)

Then, onwards to Chamonix. Chamonix held the first ever Winter Olympics, and is in the valley of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain peak in Europe. the town is cute, the people are very French, and so are the fries. :) Its cloudy today.. but you feel so small when the sun is shining on the pointy tips of these huge mountains. the pictures can't possibly do them justice. but.. being the photo fiend that i am.. i attempted it anyways. keep your eyes peeled..

Saturday, we went to Aosta, Italy through a 6 mile tunnel that cuts through a skinny part of the Alps to join France and Italy. Aosta has been called "The Rome of the Alps" and its because it was a hotly contested border town that had a large Roman garrison back in the day. and i do mean back in the day. like.. 23 A.D. and such. There were ruins of an amphitheater, several castles, lots of beautiful churches, an old watch wall, watchtowers, a footbridge (one of the oldest in the world), and they were currently excavating what they just found, and believe to be a learning center/library/debating hall. wow! it was awesome to see all that history. Another claim to fame for Aosta, is that it was home to St. Anselme, the first Apologetic (a person who puts theology and doctrine into practical practice and words to explain and argue for the existence of God) of the early church. There were lots of 'via de la st. anselme' and statues of him. It was a gorgeous town and it was also maybe the coldest wind i have ever felt!

Sunday, we went to the Mer Du Glace, the glacier in the Alps. and that was amazing as well... to see all that frozen ice and see how it has been carving up the mountains. and.. I need to revise and earlier statement i made.. the wind was colder on the glacier than in Aosta. pardon me. it was ridiculously cold! and stupidly expensive as well. $4 for a styrofoam cup of coffee. yikes. but you are so cold, you would pay even more than that.

Today, we are snowed in a bit, so its soup and fire in the fire place.

Tomorrow, we head to Paris! let me know if you need anything :)

miss you all!!

Dag!
Aurevoir!
Arrivederci!
Bye!


it sneauxed (har har har) 10 inches last night, and there should be more tonight. wow.

Rijs Tafel

ok.. thats RICE TABLE... and wow. we jsut had that for dinner. its Chinese, and its supposedly for 2 people.. and it fed all 4 of us and there was.. about almost HALF left over. its, fried rice (nasi), lo mein (bami), some pork on a stick (sate -pr:sa-tay) 2 chicken and vegetable dishes, some fried egg dish, a steak dish, a vegetable dish, some pork meatballs, and a vegetable salad dish. wow. amazing taste, my mom would flip out, she loves Chinese food. I think they call it a rice table, becuase its.. a table-full of rice, and that ain't no joke.

Tomorrow, we go again to the market, and to the grocery store, then to Den Haag to get Josh and Cara, then, wednesday..... to FRANCE (frankrijk) ! I'll post some pics tomorrow, then hopefully.. some more from our road trip to france.

miss you all!
groetjes! (greetings to you)

as promised.. a picture post.

partly poker, partly people, partly party-ing, and partly perspectives...but a picture post nonetheless. there.. lovely alliteration if i do say so myself. i think i'm going to have to figure a way to slip the word 'alliteration' into every post. because i'm a nerd.

ok.. enjoy these pics.. they should have captions.. if not and you wanna know something, just ask! roll your mouse over the pic to see the caption.

These pics cover.. a couple days around the house, some of the neice and nephew (Linda and Tygo), some of the town weekly market, some poker, and some of a birthday/graduation party that we went to.

tot ziens~
(see you soon)

i know i promised pictures

i will post pics i will!! i have some party pics and some kid pics and some.. well i forgot. anyways.. keep checkin back!

today we stayed home and didn't really do much.. it was pretty cold. tonight we are playing RIVETING with erroll's parents. they invented the game after all!

tommorow is 'Markt Dag' (Market Day) and we are going to browse and see what we can see. i'll try to add that to my giant pic posting that i keep promising. (hmm a promised pic post... nice alliteration! i think i like doing that)

tot schrifs~
(write soon!)

earaches.

so today my ear was really hurting. like my neck and head too.. it was weirdly sensitive.. like i had been slapped really hard and my skin was all tender.how annoying!! i'm never sick at home.. we're on a european vacation for 10 weeks, and i'm all ill. arrrrrgh. i'll be better soon.

tomorrow is our anniversary.. wow three years.. seems like longer.. and shorter.. all at the same time. i'm so happy to be married to erroll. he is exactly what i needed/wanted. God is so smart :)

I have some pics of the last couple days to post.. get ready :)

love, us

garden centers...rain ...and us

So we went to a couple of stores.. they call them 'garden centers'... but its not at all the home depot image i'm sure your american-ish brain has conjured up. its more like.. Michaels times a fancy Garden Ridge times Urban Outfitters home.

and wait for the celebrity sighting.. of indiana jones.

Its a quiet saturday in holland...but tomorrow.. we are going to a graduation from police school/birthday party for a friend of erroll's that i have gotten to be friends with too. so... look for pics of that :)