May 29, 2015 Croatia
First stop today, Klis fortress, an ancient place more than 2,000 years old that became a medieval fortress, and then a royal castle for many Croatian kings, and finally a large fortress during the Ottoman wars. Looks like Catherine will be keeping up her quota of about a million stairs a day.
The group then drove to Trogir, a historic town and harbor on the Adriatic Coast.
They had lunch there and then went to the airport to catch the "Easy Jet" to Amsterdam.
Easy jet had some boarding problems and they all got to hang around outside waiting to board, while the airline looked for volunteers to stay behind. But the plane took off at last.
And landed safely in Amsterdam.
Catherine checked into the backstage hotel. Normal looking on the outside...
Wild on the inside!
Dinner was a burger with a few differences. Better quality meat, but only served with mayo. I asked if there was ketchup for the fries? Yes, if you paid extra and "fry sauce" was really just mayo.
It was still daylight when they walked through the red light district. Catherine said it was interesting. She saw a prostitute in a window looking depressed. Sad.
The evening finished with a canal cruise. She saw the world's narrowest house. Only 2.5 meters wide.
A beautiful sunset
and Amsterdam in general. The cruise had a recorded narration of a couple with an English accent. They narrated VERY slowly and shared plenty of bad jokes. Here are some examples:
"This used to be a meat market. It is now a different type of meat market, not unlike the red light district of today."
"Legend has it that this bridge is called skinny because two sisters who were skinny lived on either side and built the bridge to visit each other. Another legend says that it's called skinny because it's so narrow. "
"This is a very popular spot for wedding pictures. We took our pictures on our wedding day. Remember how it was so windy your veil fell into the water? "Oh, Don't bring that up, Ron."
"The Jews call this first city because it was the first free city since Jerusalem."
"It's certainly the fist city for us."
"And we would know. We've lived here for over 60 years."
May 30, 2015 AMSTERDAM
I love days when we get to Skype. I MUST visit Amsterdam. She says every third shop is a cheese shop and they are generous with samples!
But the day started with mini Dutch pancakes from the best shop in Holland. Loyally, she says that they are "almost as good as Daddy's" Also fruit..
And hot chocolate served with a whole plate of whipped cream on the side.
Here's some advertisement
Around the town they visited the flea market, where Catherine got real Birkenstock sandals. Scattered around were these statues of rabbits that were painted in different ways, just like horse statues are painted here in Ogden.
This bunny seems to be having an identity crisis. Bunny or duck or maybe even pikachu?
I'm not clear as to whether she saw a dollhouse museum, shop, or children's museum, but she found this object for me to put in my dollhouse someday.
It's a miniature silver, gutted pig. What more could any enthusiast want?
They got to visit the Van Gogh museum and also the Rijksmuseum, both of which she found interesting, and the floating flower market. But being my daughter, and knowing me well, knew that these would be the pictures I like best.
Just look at all that cheese!!! She sampled all kinds of flavors including pesto and asparagus cheese.
The rest of the group did plenty of sampling too, so everyone was glad when Catherine actually bought some.
And to wash down all the goodies, there is juicy water.
Or, if you like coffee, there are some very good brews.
Also a strong contender for favorite Amsterdam feature, are giant vats of Nutella.
After talking to Catherine today, Amsterdam has shot to the top of my "Must see" list of places.
After a group dinner, there was a mass exodus to H&M to buy leggings (most of the group is female) to stay warm in church tomorrow.
May 31, 2015 AMSTERDAM
Catherine liked church in Dutch. She speaks some German, and so could understand a great deal of the service, and there were lots of foreigners and so people were singing in English, Dutch and Spanish all at the same time.
After church, she met up with her friend, Cynthia, from her Disneyworld days, and went with her to the royal zoo.
She also found the cheese museum, which was tiny, but any museum devoted to cheese is a step in the right direction I think. Check out: cheesemuseumamsterdam.com
Other Holland delights
The day included a visit to the Anne Frank museum.
And some spiffy umbrellas along the way.
June 1, 2015 AMSTERDAM and BELGIUM
This morning they went on the Kinerdijk bike tour, past all sorts of scenic windmills. She wasn't quite prepared for a TEN MILE bike tour, but that's what travel's all about.
She got to rest on the bus on the way to Brussels. A Mercedes bus no less. Traveling with us is going to be a sad come down when the time comes.
Her current hotel isn't nearly as good as the last one.
Funny smell and the shower has a glass door that leads into the hallway. She seized a moment when her roommate was out to use the shower.
No bidet. Which is fine, since I don't think any of us know how to use one.
But at least Belgium takes good care of its trees.
AND the original Godiva store
June 2, 2015 BRUSSELS
Well, the hotel may be iffy, but it has great draperies. Here she is, "fetchingly draped against the wall."
Today sounded like some very highbrow touring. They went to the parlimentairum, a museum about the eu, but you need an audio guide and they weren't prepared for a group as large as Catherine's (about 30 people), so no one learned much.
Then they took the bus to Ghent and saw the Ghent altar piece,
and listened to the bells go off in a watchtower.
Next stop was less sophisticated. The Gentse Gruut Brewery. As it was a BYU group, they were offered sodas.
They had a little free time and then took the bus toward the Somme battle fields. Checked into the Ariane Hotel and caught the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate. This is a simple but lovely sounding ceremony. It takes place daily in honor of those who fell defending the city of Ypres. The regular schedule goes like this:
7:00 people gather
7:30 traffic is stopped
7:55 Buglers arrive
8:00 Bugle call followed by one minute of silence then the Buglers play Reveille.
