Atherton Family Notes

Ken’s idea of a vacation is to get up at 5am, be on the road by 6am, and see as much as you can the first day. My idea is a bit different considering I have to feed a baby in the wee hours of the night. I did get lucky because Ken could not drag his butt out of bed at 5. We awoke an hour later than scheduled and were on the road by 7am. We still arrived in Köln by lunch time. True to our nature, we found lunch at McDonald’s (what a BIG surprise). We headed out to explore the city and were taken back by the amount of cold wind making it’s way through the city center. The girls found an empty fountain to play in and had a blast (no pun intended). After a bit of play the girls and I headed back to the hotel for a nap. While we were getting out beauty sleep Ken set off to explore the church and the city.

One of the first sights I saw upon arriving at our hotel was a “Chicago Steak House” right next door. They advertised steak served with baked potato and Caesar salad. MMMMM…. Could it be true? We beelined our way there for dinner. It didn’t take much to convince Ken to go. The kids were remarkably well behaved and we very much enjoyed our dinner that was true to it’s name: “A wonderful taste of home.”  Soon after our dinner was served a couple came by and sat at the table next to us. We began a conversation with them and learned they were from Colorado and on a 3 week tour of Europe. I could have stayed there in dream land with my good steak and English conversation for several days but reality in the form of three kids told me it was time to move on. So we said our well wishes and good-byes and made our way back to the hotel.

The kids were tucked into bed and about an hour and half later I think they went to sleep. I say “I think” because they could have been out partying for all I know. My head hit the pillow and I was out. End of day 1 and the start of 11 days of exhaustion.

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The people of Cologne have made a conscious effort to preserve the historical heritage of the city. What that means to us, as tourists, is that the skyline of the old city has been well preserved, and also that many historical structures, some dating back to Roman times, can still be seen.

On the other hand, Cologne is still a big city, and in some ways feels like any major metropolis with all the hustle and bustle one can stand. In that sense, Cologne wasn’t one of Sandi’s favorite cities, but I still found it fascinating.

The skyline of central Cologne. You can see in the distance that some skyscrapers have been built, but they are kept far from the city center. The biggest such buildings are built in the opposite direction from where this panorama was made. from left to right, the three major building pictured are the “Neue Rathaus”, Gross St. Martin, and the Cathedral. The bridge over the Rhein leads to the main train station just behind the Cathedral.

A satellite map of the same area, at a 1 pixel = 1 square meter scale. The details are a little unclear. The tower of the Rathaus is just above the letter “h” in “Rathaus”, and the tower of Gross St. Martin is just above the “M” in “Martin”.

It’s clear that most of the area in the photograph is decidedly modern. It’s easier to undertake such renewal projects if the previous buildings are destroyed by bombs.

Our hotel is located south of the Cathedral. If you look immediately south of the cathedral, you can see a big sqaure building (the Roman-German Museum). Just south of that are two more smaller buildings. Our hotel is right across the street from there.

This is the remains of a portal through the city wall built by the Romans in the fourth century. This wall, if it still existed, would pass through the north side of the cathedral. In fact, the cathedral is casting the shadow that runs through most of the picture. I believe the portal itself has been reconstructed, but using stones from the original wall.

This is the steakhouse where we ate dinner the first night. It sits directly across the square from the Cathedral. Normally, I would make fun of people that seek out food from back home while on vacation, instead of trying the local cuisine, but in this case I felt it was justified for us. We’ve been eating the local cuisine for a long time. Eating at this restaurant was like taking a mini-vacation home to Indiana. Juicy steaks, baked potatoes, and Cesar salad. Yummm! It was the first time we had food like this in almost a year.

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Sunday in Germany is pretty much non-existent. Usually the only things open are tourist shops with over-priced crap (and we have bought our fair share of it). We decided this was a good day to head to the local zoo and give the kids a bit of fun. Since it was pretty cold today, we bundled them up and caught the train (really a trolley painted like a train) from the cathedral to the zoo.

The zoo was quite an amazing site. There were apartments that backed up to the animals. They could sit on their balconies and watch the animals. What a wild thought (and I am sure, a wild smell) to have all that action in your backyard. The animals were the same as every zoo.

The one thing that impressed the kids the most was the HUGE playground, which was of course, filled with DIRT. That is one thing I will never miss about Germany. The Germans insist on building playgrounds on mounds of sand and dirt for the kids to dig in and the parents to see good outfits headed for the trash. We let them play a good long time. What was really funny was the kids complained just moments before that they were soooo tired! Strange how energy comes back when you place fun in their path. When the kids shoes could not possibly hold any more sand and their face and hands looked as if they were painted in dirt, we headed to the fish. Ahhh… warmth! It felt good to get out of the cold wind. The kids really did enjoy the fish the most and we spent a good amount of time there as well.

Right next to the zoo was a Seilbahn (or skylift as we English-speakers call it) that ran over the river, highway, and the city park. We piled all 5 of us and one unyielding stroller into the very small compartment and set out across the sky. You could see very far over the city and the kids were mixed with excitement and fear. Of course, this is also my biggest nightmare come true. Far up in the sky, in a shaky old tin can, hovering over a river. The ride ended at the city park in which we turned the kids loose again (there is that energy coming back again). Because of the cold and time we did not stay long and hopped on the seilbahn to head back.

The day was pretty much done and because of no naps the kids were too. Needless to say, they went to bed very easily that night.

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I guess as a consolation to having to work on Saturday and some Sundays, many businesses and tourist attractions in Germany take Monday off. So we found that the chocolate museum that we planned to go to was closed.

All that was left to do was to walk around and shop. Ordinarily, this would bring me great pleasure but the fact that we had to drag 3 kids around in the cold was no fun. I was able to go explore the town by myself while Ken stayed with the kids during their nap.

Afterwards, we decided to pile in the car and go for a drive. Ken lucked out and found a Getränkmarkt (drink store) pretty quickly so he headed in to load up on beer. We heard that a town called Bergheim was supposed to be quaint and set our sights on it. It was almost 6:30 by the time we parked and did not expect to find anything open (German store hours you know!) We were surprised to find at least one open, however. Lucky for me, it was a china store who advertised a company (Hutchenreuther) who makes the crystal eggs I have begun to collect! I walked in and asked very quickly if they had any of these eggs, and they told me “no”.

As I turned to go, my eye caught hold of a jewel of a find. There on display was one crystal egg. I asked to see it and discovered it was an egg from 1994. I wondered what the price would be. Now the eggs that I have bought so far have risen in price sharply the older they get. I purchased a 1996 for about 45 Euro. I expected to hear an outrageous number when I asked how much, but the salesperson said, “25 Euro.”
When that came out of her mouth, I about fell over with excitement!

Ken says he has seen 1994 eggs selling for about 100 Euro. That just made my week!

Tuesday morning we tried the chocolate museum. The smell that greeted you at the door was enough to make your mouth water. We were able to see cocoa trees, beans, and pulp. We learned how they grow, how they are harvested, dried, and stored. We then went on to see how the cocoa beans are shelled and crushed. There were machines everywhere and you could watch the life cycle from bean to milk chocolate bunny (or heart, or soccer ball, or even corn cobs! ). We taste tested a bit to make sure the quality was being kept up.

Of course, on the way out we had to stop off in the gift shop and get our fill of chocolate to take home.

Then, we were off to Holland. It only took about 4 hours to get there from Köln. That landed us in Aalsmeer, Holland for dinner. I will give you one guess as to where we ate dinner that night! Old faithful, “we are saved!”, McDonald’s was right off the highway.

We found a grocery store for a few drinks and munchies then actually made it to our hotel.

Already, we can tell that life in Holland is a bit different. If it were not for the windmills everywhere and the cute houses with thatched roofs I could have believed I was driving through parts of Indiana.

Even the Dutch language seems like they took German and English words and smacked them together to make the Dutch language. Having a background in both we can almost make our way around the towns and stores.

Thank goodness most of the Dutch do speak very good English (it’s almost a second mother tongue) and we are happy to take them up on using it.

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The major attraction of Aalsmeer, a small town of only 22,000 people, is their 5 day a week flower auction, which is the largest in the world. The auction happens at 7:30 AM and millions of flowers travel through their doors at every session. The entire operation covers 75 hectares and is quite a sight to see.

The auction room. The “clock” on the wall shows the current item up for bids, and the circle around the outside shows the current price. It counts down until all the flowers are sold. If you bid too early, you will pay too much, but if you don’t bid quick enough, all of the flowers will be sold to other people.

We arrived at 8am and were lead up to a catwalk above all the action. We could see right down on the tops of the flower carts and trucks that were hauling flowers to the auction rooms and then to the buyer’s lot. From the buyer’s lot the flowers were taken to nearby semis or airplanes to be delivered all over the world.

A view into the flower warehouse.

It was amazing to see how fast the carts move the flowers around and you have to admire their organization. How do they keep from getting orders mixed up! Keep in mind, there must have been hundreds of thousands of carts filled three and four levels high with flowers.

The experience left me with two big questions: Where do all those flowers grow and do people really buy that many flowers?

Continuing on the flower theme , we then started towards Keukenhof, a very large garden area that is landscaped with more than 7 million bulbs. The guidebooks show that many colors and varieties of tulips are used.

CeCe and Rissa taking their turn in one of the giant shoes that are available for photo ops all over Holland.

Unfortunately, It was pretty cold and most of the tulips had not opened yet but there were a few other flowers in bloom. The kids found a water fountain and despite the cold they still wanted to play in it. Ken and I pulled them away and into an exhibition hall that was filled with many varieties of Gerber daisies. This is one of my favorite flowers so I was overjoyed.

Later, we found another exhibition hall filled with more varieties of tulips in bloom than I could count. There were some that stood 3 feet tall, some with several colors on the petals, and some with blooms as big as my hand.

We took a break and dressed the girls in the beautiful dresses my mother made for them. We situated the kids in front of the tulips and clicked away on the camera. When I turned around I discovered a crowd had gathered. People we did not know were taking pictures of our kids, and one man even pulled out his video camera. I am beginning to think one day we will find our kids picture posted somewhere without even the rights to the royalties. One lady asked if the kids were wearing Laura Ashley. I wish I was quick enough to reply that they came from “Cotton Creations” which is a private label out of America.

One of about 500 pictures taken of our girls at this spot. (and we’re only responsible for about 10 of those pictures!)

Keukenhof has a windmill from 1892 that stands on its grounds and I wanted to get a family picture in front of it. However, we discovered when we went back outside was that it had begun to snow lightly! We quickly took a couple pictures of the windmill then ran back to the car for warmth.

At this point we are very close to the ocean and decided to take a drive up the coast to Haarlem. The kids had fallen asleep so Ken and I sneaked out of the car to take a quick peek at the beach and grab some delicious fried fish from a vendor that dared to set up shop in the cold.

Not much happened in Haarlem as it was raining and I refused to get the kids out in it. Ken walked the city a little just to see if there was something worth getting out to see. He reported that the downtown was cute, but surrounded by tons of construction, making the path difficult. Besides, it was late enough that the church and many of the stores had closed, so we just headed back to the hotel.

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We just thought we would take a moment to send a picture of the girls your way. Our hotel has internet and we are taking advantage of it.  We still have a few more days of fun in Holland then we head to Belgium. We will be home on Tuesday and will check in then!

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This was our big day in Amsterdam. A long list of things to see and all day devoted to them. We found a good centrally located parking garage fairly easily and began our fun. Our what I thought would be fun. We went straight for the Van Gogh museum first. After all, you can’t come all the way to Holland and not see the native artist’s work. I have to admit I am not a huge fan of his art. Before our visit I read up on Mr. Van Gogh and he was quoted as saying something along the lines of “I want to paint as many paintings in my lifetime as I can.” I believe this. Several of his works look the same and he has around 50 self portraits. This is my opinion though, Ken will tell you a different story and rather enjoyed looking at the paintings. He and Carissa studied several of the paintings and discussed the techniques.

The first thing we did upon entering the museum was to get postcards of the paintings. This is a trick we learned in Italy that works well with our kids. We buy postcards of things we will see and then the girls use them as their “maps” to figure out where we are going. It seems to keep them quiet and interested long enough for us to make a quick run through a museum. We let Carissa pick out her card, which was “Van Gogh’s Bedroom” and purchased “Sunflowers” for Celia. Within 5 minutes, Celia had eaten her card and Carissa’s painting was about the fourth painting we saw. I thought for sure that we were in trouble. Thankfully, the museum was small and it took less than an hour to get through it all. This brought us to lunchtime.

Lunch in a big city with kids, while trying to avoid McDonald’s, is pretty tough. So unless you want to spend a lot of money and develop a headache, a sit down restaurant is out of the question. We discovered quick runs to the grocery store for ham, bread, and cheese work well. I found whole roasted chickens for sale and thought that sounded great before thinking it through. There we were sitting out on the park bench, picking messy chicken from the bone with our fingers. Ken was the only smart one and got a hot sandwich. It took a lot of napkins and baby wipes to clean up the girls and me.

We slowly made our way to the Ann Frank house. I had plans to shop my way there but there really were no stores. Amsterdam is a very big city and it seemed most of the buildings were housing or office. Things were very far away from each other and the walking was wearing the kids and me out.

We took a turn that would take us by a market place but it was closing up for the day. The path from there to the Ann Frank house ran right through the red light district. I was trying to avoid this area, even though we had no idea where it was. There we were walking along looking at the map to figure out the next direction to turn, when all of a sudden we see half-naked women standing behind windows. Describing them as “half naked” is actually exaggerating quite a bit. It was only 3 in the afternoon and they were there set up for business. It was the strangest feeling and I had no idea where to look. If I looked up, natural instincts made me look in shop windows that contained these women advertising their bodies for sale. Yet, keeping my eyes on the pavement in front of me felt so odd as well. I finally decided that paying very close attention to Carissa, who insisted on walking very slowly through the streets, was a good idea. I wondered if she knew what was going on and also I wondered what these women thought of us walking these streets with our kids. We saw men coming from alleyways and knew what they had been up to. Some even waited until they were in the alley to zip up their pants as if to show off where they had been. We went through the area at what I think was the shortest route, and if it had not been for Carissa walking so slow it would have been very quick.

The Ann Frank house was not as I had expected. The entire house was stripped clean of all furnishings and was basically nothing but white walls. It was hard for me to distinguish the area that they lived in from the rest of the office. It was all a maze of rooms with plaques on the walls that contained entries from her diary. I guess I expected to see the house furnished in some resemblance of what it once was. The passages from her diary were very moving and thought provoking. I am embarrassed to admit I have not read the book but now hope to read it soon.

At this point in the day we were exhausted. We found a good Italian restaurant and sat down for noodles and pizza, then made our way to the car. I think I could have done without ever visiting Amsterdam, I am just not a big city girl! The big cities have the look and feel of cities in America. They have lost their charm without the buildings set crammed together and the cobblestone walks. I do not feel like I am in Europe anymore. On the other hand, if I had not gone to Amsterdam, I am sure I would have always wondered about it.

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This was the end of our stay in Holland, now off to Belgium. Bruges was really thrown in at the last minute after seeing a documentary on beer. It was all about Belgium beer and how it is was made. I joked with Ken about being so close to all that beer and not going to try it. When looking up what else was in Belgium, we discovered handmade lace and a Michaelangelo art piece. I was convinced we needed to add 2 more days to the vacation. Ken did not object. The thought of 800 different beers was clouding his mind.

We packed up the car with only about an inch left to see out the rear window. It took a couple of hours to arrive to Bruges. Once we were in the city wall, I knew I was in love. The city had canals at every turn, bridges with picturesque scenes behind them, buildings with charming fronts, outdoor cafes right on the squares, and shopping galore.

The canals in Bruges, Belgium.

First things first, we checked into our hotel which was really more like a bed and breakfast. It was situated inside a huge old house with dark wood and blue interior, a grand staircase curving up the inside of the foyer, and it was even complete with very squeaky floors. My mind just was reeling with all the charm I was seeing.

We unloaded quickly and hit the town. One of the first things we wanted to accomplish was a visit the Heilige Blut Cathedral. We had heard that this church had a piece of shroud that had some of Jesus’s blood on it. When we finally found the church we discovered a sign that announced the showing of the shroud at that very time. We lucked out! The churches normally keep things like this away from the public and so we had to go in to check it out. The inside of the church was very beautiful and I was impressed. The walls were frescoed the trim was done in a dark wood. Ken and Carissa went up to the alter first while I stayed behind with Celia and Sadie. I watched as Carissa’s hand was taken by the attendant and placed on the glass tube containing the cloth. When they returned, Ken insisted I go to see it as well. I made my way up with Sadie strapped to me in the carrier. Celia decided to follow us. As I was looking at the elaborate gold and glass tube trying to make heads or tales of what I was seeing, the man took Sadie’s hand and touched it to the tube. A little blessing for her. It was definitely an interesting experience.

At this point we had accomplished what we wanted to do for the day so we hit the shops and walked the city. Every other store was filled with lace and table linens and I had a grand time checking them all out. We shopped so long that everything started running together and looked the same. We found a cute restaurant on the square and sat down for dinner. The girls shared plain spaghetti and Ken and I sampled some of the local cuisine. We ate outside in the beautiful weather in peace as the girls played with the sidewalk chalk that I so cleverly thought to bring. This is what I will miss the most from Europe.

The square where we ate dinner.

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Most of the vacation we have spent fending for ourselves at breakfast time. The hotel in Holland served a breakfast buffet but at a lofty price of $15.95 per person. Adding that up over 5 days, we chose the cheaper route of buying quick and easy items from the grocery store. This hotel in Bruges however, served breakfast and what a breakfast it was! We were seated at a small table and asked if we cared for coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. I ordered the coffee that came served in a beautiful brass and gold coffee pitcher. The next thing we knew a plate of several types of cheeses and meats were brought to our table. Ken and I looked at each other in shear astonishment. The amount of goodies and food laid out before us could have fed most of the troops stationed in Iraq. I felt like I had to keep eating even after I was full, just to make a dent in it all. The owner also came by offering kinder eggs to our children. Our kids have come to love these chocolate eggs with toy surprises inside and beg for them every chance they get. There were also crackers and cookies packaged and ready for us to take as an afternoon snack. We were full and ready to hit the wonderful town.

Our first stop was the Church of Our Lady which housed the only Michelangelo piece to leave Italy in his lifetime. On my quest to see as much of his art as possible, I was overcome with excitement. When we arrived at the church and came to the masterpiece I was a bit disappointed. It was behind glass, (which I really can understand now days) several feet away, and overpowered by the alter built around it. The reason I am so enthralled with his work is because the detail is amazing. One can see every vein, dimple and curve as if you were looking at a living human being. Yet, this church had chosen to put Michelangelo’s “Madonna and child” so far away that no one could even appreciate it. Even the “Pieta” at the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome allowed you to get very close to the statue. It was also behind glass but all the details were very easy to see. Ken purchased a book from the church about the piece of art and I am very glad to have it. It shows the statue up close to where the details are visible. The church itself was under much construction and extremely disheveled. Needless to say, we did not stay too long.  

“Madonna and Child”

We found the “Lake of Love” next and had fun feeding the swans, ducks, and even the baby ducklings. It was a very beautiful spot and also a popular one it seemed. There were three wedding couples taking pictures in the area. Carissa, who is in love with weddings and wedding dresses, was in awe of it all. There were items that Ken and I both wanted to do that were better done without the kids. We chose to take turns going out during their naptime instead of dealing with them on these outings. Ken ran out in search of more beer while I got the kids down.

When he returned I set out for the lace factory. I wish I had brought the camera and the video camera. I watched as a dozen women sat around weaving threads in and out, over and under, in all directions making beautiful pieces of lace. One older woman sat in the corner working so fast it made my head spin. It was obvious she had been at this a long time. In fact, I found it fun to sit and watch people’s reactions as they came around to her. I spend a good amount of time watching the ladies. I had thought this would be a fun hobby to pick up but after my visit with them, I realized there is no way to learn this on my own. They do offer schooling that you can attend in the summer months and I wondered for a moment how Ken would react to me asking to attend it. I had heard that the lace was very expensive and told myself that I was going to pay the price and buy some. I searched through the cabinets of lace that ranged in price from 15-300 Euro depending on the size and detail of the work. I knew I could never consider the more extravagant pieces but I did find several of the smaller ones that I liked. I purchased a couple for myself and several as gifts to take home. I made sure to pick out a very special piece for my grandmother, whom I thought would really appreciate the art with her love of sewing and quilting.  

Celia in the nearby gazebo  

Carissa in the nearby gazebo.

After returning to the hotel, we all went back out on the town. We walked around for a bit, shopped, and ended up taking a boat canal trip. The tour was very interesting and the scenery was beautiful. I thought for sure that we would regret this trip after pulling them back from the edge for the 10th time. However, the girls did surprisingly well sitting very still. We disembarked and went to shop, shop, and shop some more. I say this again because I want you to understand how much shopping there was! When we exhausted ourselves (ok, the stores all closed up and we had to stop) we found dinner at a Pizza Hut. Amazing how many American restaurants have crept their way into the rest of the world. It was a slight bit different sitting outside on the cobblestone streets. We relaxed, ate, and let the girls play with the chalk again. This is the way to vacation.  

Carissa making the world prettier with her flowers.

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This was our day to travel home, the end of vacation. We estimated that it would take 8 hours to drive home and leaving at 10 am would give us time to make several small stops. Our nice drive home ended up being a 15 hour nightmare.

We got an early start at about 9am after our wonderful big breakfast. The first thing we tried to do was go back to the lace factory with the camera to get some footage. I was informed that the ladies only demonstrate the lace making in the afternoon so the last 45 minutes of us driving around to find it was a waste.

We drove on, stopping every now and then for gas, snacks for the kids, and to feed Sadie. We arrived in Luxembourg around 3 in the afternoon and decided to get out to check the town out. Immediately, we found the view breathtaking. There was a large bridge that went across the deep valley filled with evergreens. The town was just as beautiful with expensive shops and fancy cars everywhere. One could tell this was a rich man’s town. We did some exploring to find our token shot glass and painting of the town. Ken explored the local church and we even discovered a Chi-Chi’s. Maybe one of these days I will come across an O’Charley’s and be in heaven. By this time, the kids were extremely tired because we had cut their nap short and let’s face it, they had been walking around place after place for 10 days. They did not get into the excitement that Ken and I had for successfully visiting 9 countries in 1 year. All they knew was they were being dragged around to look at things they did not care about, and were constantly told to stop playing in the dirt. This was not Disney Land and that is where they wanted to be.

Bridge in Luxembourg.

We decided to call it a day and head for the car. On the way back I came across a sign that caught my attention. It displayed Campell’s soup as “today’s special”. I asked Ken what he made of it. Were they a restaurant serving this soup? Was it something entirely different than I thought it was? We chose to check it out and walked down the alley to find it. My jaw dropped at the sight in the store window. We had by chance, come across an American grocery store! It was small but it provided BIG excitement to me to see all those good labels from home. There was everything you could think of from Stove Top Stuffing, cake mixes, frosting, Crisco, chocolate chips, and even POPTARTS!! During my pregnancy with Sadie I longed for, dreamed of, craved…. Poptarts! Here they were calling my name. Everything in the store was very pricey. They had to add the cost of shipping into the product and they knew silly Americans like me would pay those prices for a taste of home. Now, Ken was giving me the look of death as I drooled over all the products, picking them up, caressing their boxes, dreaming of taking them home with me. In the end I just could not convince myself to pay those darn prices. I could not however, pass up those Poptarts. I shelled out 10 Euro for a 12 pack.

Ken must have know now was the time to drop the bomb. He wanted to look for a grocery store to buy beer from Luxembourg. We drove around for hours searching. We both had almost lost our patience when finally we discovered one. Ken ran in to grab his beer and some items for dinner while I did the usual of staying with the sleeping kids in the car. When we hit the road again our plan was to stop off in Trier, Germany. Ken had heard this town contained some interesting monuments and churches. We were so close that we took the time to stop and look around. The town was charming. It is a college town and I had the impression of it being big and full of ugly buildings. Just the contrary. There were wonderful fountains, quaint shopping areas, and some older buildings that looked amazingly good for their age. The kids and I stayed in the square looking and playing while Ken ran all over the town taking pictures. Carissa found a friend (an older man that seemed to love kids) and struck up a conversation with him and his friend. When Ken returned we walked on a bit and an elderly lady grabbed Celia and would not let her go. She hugged on her and smiled with delight at those curls in her hair. She offered her little dog for Celia and Carissa to pet. The people in this town were very nice. I mentioned to Ken that this is a town that deserved a longer visit. We have hopes to return one weekend and really see what it has to offer.

Downtown Trier.

At that moment though, it was 9pm and we still had several hours left to drive. In fact, we did not reach our door step until 1 am. We left everything in the car and put the girls to bed in their clothes so we would not wake them. I even slept with Sadie in my arms that night because her bed was buried under a mountain of souvenirs. In all, Ken brought home 101 different beers from 4 different countries and several shot glasses. I added a few more paintings to my collection, some lace for projects when I return home, and even pick up gifts to take home.

We are home recovering from vacation and trying to get all the work after the “fun” done. Carissa and I are now counting the days (78) until our trip back home to Indiana.

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