This past week, we took two trips. The first half of the week, Dennis had meetings down along the French Riviera. We left on Saturday so that we could have a couple of days to see the sights in and around Monaco and Nice. We flew from Eindhoven to Marsaille where we rented a car and then drove out to Monaco. With Lisa's help we had booked a room at the Marriot that is just over the border from Monaco so we drove in and were going to try to find the hotel and drop our things off before going out for the evening to see the sights. We couldn't find the hotel and ended up on the big touristy area of Monaco so we spent the evening walking around town and seeing the sights.
The famous Monte Carlo Casino with the sky ball.
Some of the luxury cars outside of the Casino - not a VW, Peugot or Mercedes among them.
The sunrise view from our Marriot hotel room just outside of Monaco.
On Sunday morning, we got up at drove into Nice for church. The church there was really beautiful and in a perfect location. It was fun to attend a large ward and see the diversity that they had.
LDS Church in Nice, France
We spent the afternoon walking along the beach boardwalk and taking the little tourist train around to see all the sights. That evening we drove down the coast to a small city just over the boarder into Italy. We saw some amazing scenery - between the blue of the Mediterranean and the houses and large villas built on the sides of steep mountains and the many long tunnels, it made for an interesting drive.
One of the statues in Nice situated in a beautiful park across from the boardwalk.
The boardwalk, beach and city of Nice.
One of the Bays along the coast line. It was really beautiful. Two big cruise ships are anchored in the bay
A quiet street and church in the town of Ventimiglia, Italy.
Monday, we checked out of our hotel and drove to Toulon were we spent the next several days. Dennis left me at the hotel while he went up to his meetings. Although his meetings were up in the hills a half-an-hour drive from Toulon, he thought I would enjoy being down near the beach and a town more. It was so sweet of him. I took a nap and then went out and explored the beaches and the town - probably walked 4-5 miles.
The beach and park in Toulon.
I ate lunch at a harbor cafe and had this beautiful view to look at.
The next day, I took the little tourist train around to the main sites in town and did some shopping. I bought a really cute little coat which was an experience in and of itself. The shop girls didn't speak any English and I didn't speak any French but we finally managed to find the perfect coat that was the right size.
The coat
When Dennis got back from work, we walked back into the town and explored some more and had dinner at a harbor restaurant.
The Tower Royale at sunset in Toulon
Wednesday morning we headed back to the airport and arrived just as they were making the final boarding call for our flight. We arrived back in Eindhoven, drove the hour home, spent a couple of hours unpacking and reloading our suitcase and then headed back to the airport.
We flew into Rome and got to our hotel at 11 PM. The next morning, Dennis had a business call to make and after that, we headed into town. We took a tour of town on the double-decker bus to get the lay of the land. Then we walked and walked and walked. It wasn't ever very boring - there are more ruins and old buildings around the center part of town than the Romans know what to do with. We had heard a lot about the pick pocketers but didn't have any problems.
The Colosseum
On Friday, we spent the day in Vatican City with a very knowledgeable and interesting tour guide. I learned more about the Catholic church than I had ever known before and more than I wanted to know about the early popes bad behavior. It made me extremely grateful to our founding fathers who realized the importance of separating church and state. I was intrigued by the mosaic floor of the Vatican but I won't put up most of the pictures that I took. They reminded me of some really great quilt block patterns.
A Ceiling
One of the paintings on the walls
Several of the floors - Marble mosaics
Vespers in St. Peters Basillica
Saturday we went to the Borghese Museum which has some of the finest Rubens paintings and Banini statues. We went to the astronomy exhibit in the Vatican museum where I learned more about Galileo and other great Italian astronomers and their instruments and discoveries. We spent the rest of the day just seeing all the rest of the sights that we wanted to see.
Trevi Fountain - such a beautiful place and very popular.
The Pantheon
Sunday morning, we went back to the airport and flew home. It was so nice to be home. That evening Dennis and I were talking and we came to find out that we took this trip to Rome because we thought the other person wanted to. I had said I wanted to go to Italy but I had never really ever wanted to go the Rome but I thought that Dennis really wanted to go to Rome so I went along to make him happy. He thought that when I said I wanted to go to Italy that naturally meant Rome so he planned the whole trip for me even though he had a lot of things going on at work and it wasn't really a convenient time for him. So - we got a trip to Rome that neither of us particularly wanted but thought we were making the other person happy. After the initial frustration of the discovery we were finally able to chuckle about it. Ahh, the joys of love and marriage. All in all, it wasn't that much of a hardship or sacrifice at least on my part. We may not look really happy in this picture but this was about the 7th try to take a picture of ourselves in this beautiful location. We actually had a lot of laughs trying to get a decent picture.
(I wrote the first part of this several weeks ago and couldn't decide whether or not to post it. I finally decided to post it , even though it is boring. I hope it will be a bit of a review of our time here.)
We have our plane tickets bought for our return home. We will be arriving the evening on Dec. 11th. For weeks now I've thought that when we finally have the plane tickets, I would be so excited to share the news with everyone. But for some reason, I've been feeling a little reticent at telling people. I guess that's because now it finally seems real and while I'm excited to get back to Providence and be with family and friends, I also am feeling sad that this experience is coming to an end. It has been so good for me in so many ways. It was not always easy or fun but now I can say that I'm glad I had the opportunity and I have learned a lot.
I have met some wonderful people. Some of my dear friends are other American women who are here in much the same situation as I am only on a much longer basis. Several, have children who attended the same school Alyna did. So that added another link to our bond. The friends from the ward have taught me a lot. They are amazing in their dedication to the gospel even when it isn't the popular thing to do and they have to sacrifice a lot. Many of the strong members do several key things each Sunday in able to make the ward run smoothly. I hope I can remember and learn from their example and not mumble when I have several assignments to do for church in a day.
I remember how hard everything seemed when we first got here, probably because it was. We came with what we could fit in our suitcases and it was almost 3 months before our shipment arrived. I don't think I ever started setting up a house with so liittle. We immedieately went shopping at Ikea and Makro (a little like Sams Club). We bought bedding, towels, dishes, pots and pans and some of the necessities for setting up the kitchen and being able to prepare simple meals and such. I remember one of the frustrating things in those first few weeks was having nothing but the outside garbage can to throw things away in - no grocery bags, boxes or other such things to use. (Here you buy large grocery bags every time you forget to take your to the store with you. ) It took a month or so to have the house set up so that we could function efficciently. It was a happy day when we got a clothes dryer. We found out that when the air is rather humid, clothes don't dry very quickly.
Another challenge in the beginning was money. In order to open a bank account here, you have to have a citizenship permit card. It took several months to work through all that paperwork and finally get bank account opened. They don't use checks here so we couldn't even start getting a paycheck for almost 4 months. We survived by using our US credit cards and getting cash from an ATM. It was really a big change from how we functioned at home.
We have had the opportunity to explore many new places throughout Holland as well as some other areas of Europe. I love so many things about Holland: the green fields and pastures , the many lakes and rivers, the trees in rows along the roads and in the freeway cloverleafs, roundabouts, bike lanes, the friendly people, and all the different equipment they have for maintaining the roads, bike paths and green space. It is nice to be in a nice quiet part of the world and still be able to get to amazing places in a relatively short time period - Paris is 6 hours drive, London is an 8 hour drive (plus some ferry time), Black Forest area of Germany - 5 hours... So many castles, palaces, museums, windmills, and water ways to see. It has been wonderful!
Now: After working with moving companies for a month or so, we finally have one selected and decided the type of move we will make. We had offers in from two different companies. We had each give us two bids - one for moving just our personal belongings with no furniture, the second for moving almost all our belongings including large items such as furniture, bike, etc. Until we decided which bid we were going to accept, I couldn't really make many plans on what things we needed to get rid of and what things we would be able to take. With that decision made now we can get on with the plans for heading home.
The calendar is filling up quickly and before we know it, we will be home celebrating the holidays with our family. It will help leaving here to have some fun things to look forward to at home.
Several weekends ago, Dennis needed to meet with law student in Leiden. It just happened to be Leiden's big annual celebration commemorating their independence from Spain so there was a lot going on in town that day. We had a nice "business" lunch and then walked around through the town. There was every kind of imaginable carnival game and ride, food stalls, vendors, all kinds of music, and lots of beer. The streets were so packed with people that a lot of times all we could do was shuffle along and try to weave our way through the crowds of drinking people standing around listening to different entertainers. It was all a little much and not really my kind of thing so I was so glad when we were able to leave the crowds and get back on the train to ride out to our car.
Leiden City crest.
A break in the crowd allowed me to take a picture of Dennis near the vendor selling cotton candy. (Especially for Alyna.)
This week, I got the car one day and I went in search of fabric stores that were around the area where Dennis works. When I say around, that is used very loosely - I should say within 40 minutes in every direction. It took me into cities and countrysides that I haven't seen before. I had fun not only finding the fabric stores - which were challenging to find as they were tucked into little shops in out of the way locations - but also in checking out the other stores and shops along the way. I visited Deventer, Zutphen, Doetinchem, and Huissen.
The fountain in Deventer centrum.
I find it interesting when buildings are built right up against other buildings . In this instance the buildings jutting out from the central building are at least complimentary in design.
Part of the old original city wall that has been fortified.
The clouds were really quite interesting and beautiful although this picture does not do them justice. The sky gradually darkened and we had a huge rain storm later in the afternoon. I belive that this was taken somewhere between the villages of Vorden and Velswijk.
Today was another rainy and cold day so I spent the day sewing. I had a skirt I wanted to shorten and decorate a bit and I have some great fabric that I had bought to make some skirts so I had plenty of stuff to work on (besides the three quilts that I have at various stages of completion.) Yesterday, as I sewed (one of the quilts), I re-listened to all the general conference talks and the day went so quickly. So today I decided to listen to the Mormon Channel. What a wonderful service for church members. It is such a blessing to be able to listen to BYU devotionals, CES firesides, Womens Conference addresses and faith promoting stories. One of the things I thought was a great idea was a synopsis of the Ensign magazine for a particular month with the feature article and the visiting teaching message and then a few other short articles.
The feature segments that intrigued me today were the ones called "All things Creative." The first one I heard was a group of writers - which got me thinking of blogging. The second one was a mother with three severly disabled children and how she had to be creative in her home. The last was a woman who was an artist being interviewed by a man who was an architect. All were able to use their talents in different ways to do something they loved and to be creative. So here are some of the things I've thought about throughout the day:
I'm not at a very good writer but am grateful that I can write enough to put thoughts, ideas and some feelings on paper. I do have some children who are wonderful writers and I hope they will do a lot more writing in the years to come. Dennis is also a good writer and has edited my writing for many years. He has talked of wanting to write a childrens book and hopefully someday he will.
As far as art goes, I can't draw or paint at all. Well, I guess that is not quite true. I paint walls just fine and I have even gotten creative upon occasion. I enjoy sponge painting, rag rolling and trying different techniques. Now that I've had a year to look at a lot of art, I might get a little braver. Some of the things that are called art in some museums, I think I might could do something just as interesting, maybe even pleasing. I know I enjoy looking at art and learning a little about art and artists. I feel enriched by the many great classic works of art I've been able to see the past couple of years.
I think being a mother and homemaker takes a great deal of creativity (and inspiration, dedication, and determination.) I think back on all the creative methods we've used to get kids to go to bed, do chores, practice the piano, memorize scriptures, tackle big work projects, etc. Cute posters, games, competitions, rewards, punishments, and parental tantrums all had their time and place. It was always an interesting and rewarding challenge to come up with the proper thing that would prompt the desired behavior. We had a lot of fun in some of our "work" days and I am so glad my children have learned how they can make even hard and unpleasant jobs be fun or at least pleasantly bearable. They are even better than I am at motivating each other and making a task fun. (I'm thinking of garage clean-out jobs, fence painting, yard work and gardening with great memories of some pretty clever games and activities.)
Using creativity to make a house look homey as well as functional was something I've always enjoyed. Whether it was sewing, building or painting, I always enjoyed finding ways to be creative at home. Some of the time my projects turned out very helpful and useful and have served their purpose for many years. Other times, I would get done and after all the time and effort, I would look at the finish product and wonder why I didn't just go buy the darned thing all ready made. It usually gives me such a sense of pride and accomplishment when I figure out how I want something to look and then have it turn out as nicely as I had hoped. The last couple of years, I've done a lot more quilting and really enjoy that creative process. I am beginning to understand color a little better but still am very conservative when it comes to putting colors together. I like quilts that make up quickly so I can move on to the next one. I have so many I want to make and so many things to try and do that I will never be short of fabric or projects. We have a running joke in our family that when times get hard, we may go hungry but we will never go cold.
One of the things I know can be a creative skill is cooking. I apprecaite people who are very creative and good at cooking and I can be creative when I need to but cooking just isn't something I want to spend the time or energy into developing a skill in outside of providing nutritious and nice tasting meals. I can't think of many things more frustrating than to spend several hours preparing a meal, to have it eaten in 15 minutes and then spend another hour cleaning up the kitchen. No thank you. I'll just appreciate the talents of others!
I like the challenge of creating beauty in my yard and garden with flowers, trees and shrubs. I've been known to be a little extreme over the years when it comes to flower pots but they are so fun because they are quick and easy experiments. Each one is a exercise in the use of color and texture and size; dreaming of what it could look like and become. Some of my plantings haven't been very interesting or done exactly as I had hoped they would and others have brought me so much joy to look at. Flowers are one of God's great gifts of beauty and it brings me such great joy to be surrounded by them.
I really appreciate how creative Dennis is. He is amazing when it comes to solving problems and thinking outside the box. Sometimes it frustrates me during the process because I really like the safety of the inside of the box. Many people have come to him for many of his different types of problem solving abilities - from technical, to legal, to logistical.
Since we've spent this year in Europe, I've had a chance to look at a lot of different architectural styles. There are so many buildings here that I don't think we will ever see in Utah. They fascinate me. Some are just so interesting and different in their use of line and style. Some are just so odd that it makes me wonder what would possess someone to design or build such a thing. And some are so breathtakingly amazing. I will probably not ever be able to tell the difference of the different building designs or styles but I know I can appreciate what I think looks good and interesting whether it is of a classical style or a very modern design. I think I can now appreciate some of the genius on Frank Lloyd Wright even though I really don't like his style.
I hope I still have many more years that I can be creative and I can enjoy and appreciate the creative talents of others. It's a wonderful world we live in with so many opportunities to explore different talents and develope the ability to to bring joy to ourselves and others.
I love Presidents Uchtdorf's talk about creativity:
"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. You dont need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty."
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. You dont need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.
This week has once again been busy with seeing many great things and hostessing family and friends. On Monday morning, I drove to Germany to pick Dennis up from the airport. He dropped me off at home and I spent the day cleaning, grocery shopping and preparing for the week.
That evening, Harry van de Sande (whom Dennis had known on his mission and I had met when he visited us in Bountiful) brought Elder Chlarson, Tric and Ashleigh to our home. We had a nice evening of visiting.
(Ashleigh took this beautiful picture with the garden and the fall leaves.)
On Tuesday, Chlarson's and I rode the bus into Nijmegen. It was their first time on the bus here and so it was a nice time. Elder Kenny C. had served in the area on his mission so in some ways he knew a little more about the little alleys and little obscure places than I did but we saw all the main sights, did a little shopping and ate dinner on the river bank. It was a beautiful sunny day so it was perfect. In the early evening, we took a bike ride to Valburg to see the countryside and windmill and then rode into Elst to see our little dorp and visit the grocery store. Dennis brought us home a rijstoffel for dinner so they were able to taste Indonesian food.
On Wednesday, they finished packing and we loaded everything in the car and headed out on another adventure. After dropping Dennis off at work, we drove to Apeldoorn to visit the Palace Het Loo. We had a wonderful morning seeing the palace, learning a little history and then exploring the gardens. It was once again, nice weather so it was fun to be outside. We went to a little cafeteria for friets and croquettes for lunch and then I drove them to their hotel that is near the airport Schiphol. Traffic was quite backed up on the drive home so I didn't get Dennis picked up from work until almost 7:30. Thursday, Dennis dropped me off at Vermillion's first thing in the morning and we headed for Haarlem. We spent most of the morning sitting in traffic on the highway. We eventually were able to pass one of the worst accident scenes I've seen since coming here. We made it to Haarlem at 11:30 and found the Corrie ten Boom huis just in time for a tour in English. It was a very good tour and the tour guide was a very sweet old lady. She was a wonderful story teller so it made for a nice experience. We ate lunch in the Grote Market and then toured the Frans Hall museum. It had quite a few of his works but also a lot of others of those who where fellow painters from Haarlem. It is a big museum and besides great works of art there were beautiful pieces of furniture and delft ware. I really enjoyed it and have loved the opportunities I've had to see so many great works of art.
Standing in the Grote Market in front of St. Bavo KerkThe beautiful organ pipes
Today, I had a hair appointment and did some grocery shopping. I should be cleaning the house and getting ready for Tom and Sandi and family but I'm taking a break for a bit to do this.
This has certainly been a week to remember. I rarely have weeks with such a variety of activities and people of do things with. It started off with Dennis and our trip to Zeeland last Saturday. (Mentioned in the previous blog.) On Sunday we went to Breda to visit Charles MacLean and his wife who Dennis had known while on his mission here. Monday morning was Dennis flight from Dusseldorf to SLC so we were up and on the road early. I dropped him off and I came back in time to meet with one of the people coming to look and give us a bid for moving us back to the states. After that, I met Armanda at the church and we drove to Germany to the Methorsts for lunch and a little shopping.
Tuesday was Princjesdag, which I've already written a little about. We took the train - my first time - to The Hauge. The fun things about the train was that we had the fortune to sit by some darling young girls who were traveling to their various universities. They were really fun to talk to (maybe because they all spoke such good English) and I was impressed with what they were doing with their lives. Once we got to The Hauge, we had to find our way to the restaurant since all the streets were blocked off. The police officers that we talked to were very helpful and I thought it amazing that they were all so happy and friendly. All in all, it was a long day but very fun.
Wednesday, I went and picked up Marge. She is the mom of Alyna's best friend from the school here. They are native Dutch but speak good English. We went to Milliger Theetuin. It is a two kilometer walk through "nature" to a very nice little tea house. The Dutch really like things to be "natural" and so walking out among the trees and along the river is very special. The tea house was like being dropped into an exotic paradise. It was very peaceful and beautiful. It was a nice, relaxing day. After dropping Marge off, I did a little grocery shopping and then stopped by Vermillions to say hi. I got there at about 4:30 and they invited me to stay to dinner and institute so it was after 10 PM by the time I finally got home. It was fun to be with the YA's of the ward and discuss the scriptures.
Thursday, I was off early and went to pick up Armanda. We drove into Amsterdam and went to the Hermitage Museum. It is a newly opened museum with all kinds of fancy clothes, accessories, portraits, etc. from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It was fun to look at the clothes and discuss the fabrics, style, and workmanship of each gown or uniform with Armanda. I wish I had just a little more of that talent. Afterward, we strolled through the booths along the Waterlooplein and found some fun little trinkets. We sat by the canal for a while and did some people watching and then headed back to Armanda's. I spent the night there and the next morning we got up and worked on some of our sewing projects, we always seem to have several going at the same time. Today was skirts and bags. We went shopping to a fabric store about 20 minutes from her house. It is always so fun to do any sewing or crafty things with Armanda because she is so talented and has all the right supplies. We had a nice day. In the afternoon, I had to head home and get ready for a Young Women Activity. We had our girls and the girls and leaders from Nijmegen come to my home for an activity about photography. Lydia planned a very good activity and we learned a lot and had fun. It was nice to get to know the leaders and girls from the other ward.
Saturday morning, I was out the door early, again! I picked up Lydia and Mickey and Doug and we drove to Ede to see the 65th Anniversary of the Allied troups arrival in the Arnhem area. There were suppose to be about a 1000 parachutists and 120 veterans from the UK participating in the even. It was a beautiful day and there were interesting things to see all day. When we arrived there were para-sailers gliding around and entertaining the crowds. Then all the military vehicles paraded by. There were bagpipers, bands, a two cannon salute, laying of flowers on the marker that commemorated the site, military troops from the US, UK, and Poland, and a lot of different airplanes and parachutists. I thought it was interesting that some of the parachutists were German - how's that for forgiving. It was amazing to see the thousands of people who came to watch and participate in the event. The drop zone was huge and it was ringed by thousands of people.
All in all it was a very fun and interesting week. I was happy to be able to take a nap today and try to gear up for another busy week. Dennis flies in early in the morning so I'll be out the door before the sun is up :).
This past week, we took two trips. The first half of the week, Dennis had meetings down along the French Riviera. We left on Saturday so that we could have a couple of days to see the sights in and around Monaco and Nice. We flew from Eindhoven to Marsaille where we rented a car and then drove out to Monaco. With Lisa's help we had booked a room at the Marriot that is just over the border from Monaco so we drove in and were going to try to find the hotel and drop our things off before going out for the evening to see the sights. We couldn't find the hotel and ended up on the big touristy area of Monaco so we spent the evening walking around town and seeing the sights.
The famous Monte Carlo Casino with the sky ball. 
Some of the luxury cars outside of the Casino - not a VW, Peugot or Mercedes among them. 
The sunrise view from our Marriot hotel room just outside of Monaco. 
LDS Church in Nice, France
One of the statues in Nice situated in a beautiful park across from the boardwalk. 
The boardwalk, beach and city of Nice.
A quiet street and church in the town of Ventimiglia, Italy.
The beach and park in Toulon. 
I ate lunch at a harbor cafe and had this beautiful view to look at. 
The coat
The Tower Royale at sunset in Toulon
The Colosseum
A Ceiling
One of the paintings on the walls
Several of the floors - Marble mosaics
Vespers in St. Peters Basillica
Trevi Fountain - such a beautiful place and very popular. 
We may not look really happy in this picture but this was about the 7th try to take a picture of ourselves in this beautiful location. We actually had a lot of laughs trying to get a decent picture.
