Sister Europe Trip- May 4, 2009- TIME TO HEAD HOME

Well it had been a fun-filled 9 days of memories and laughs, but it was time to head home. We got up early to go get one more crepe- imagine that- before leaving our European world. Well we walked all over and couldn’t find a place, so we settled for a pastry at a local store and met back up with our apt guy. We checked out with him, I gave him a European kiss- smooch, smooch, and thanked him for such a wonderful place to stay. We headed to the Metro to go to the airport. I was excited about seeing Kelson and Jason and more than ready to be in my own bed. I think Jason was ready for me to come home too by that time  We went through security and DA me forgot to pack my wine in my suitcase, instead of my carry on, so of course they took it. She tried to take my chocolate candy too- as a joke. I was kind of scared for a moment. Ha-ha. So we got on our flight- which wasn’t NO WHERE near as nice as the one coming into Amsterdam (since we didn’t have my godmother to give us additional treats/snacks- and the plane was a different one, so no touch screen movies- just the ones on the overhead. Boo! So I managed to sleep some on the flight home. Keri got a pic of me snoozing. The blindfold they hand out makes it much easier to sleep. The “Negative Nelly” couple was sitting behind us, so that sucked, but Keri and I pretty much ignored them. After 9 hours, we had finally arrived in Atlanta and had to go through customs. Since the “swine flu” epidemic was going on some people were wearing masks. We made it through just fine and now it was time to wait for our flights home. I did notice, upon returning to the states, about how overweight Americans are. I don’t think I saw ONE fat European- crazy huh. Maybe we should have more sidewalks for bicycling around town and metro stations. It wasn’t that they didn’t have good food; they just have to exercise to get around. I think it’s a concept we need to consider.
My flight had been delayed- so Keri and I left around the same time out of Atlanta. We had one last snack together, gave big hugs and kisses, and I thanked her again and we were on our way home. My flight was supposed to get in around 7:15pm, but didn’t arrive till a little after 10pm. Due to weather. I was so ready to be home and my cell phone was dead. I borrowed the guy sitting next to me’s phone to let them know we were delayed in the air. I knew Jason and Kelson were waiting on me at the airport, so he went to Wal-Mart to kill some time before my flight arrival. We finally landed and my checked bagged arrived, I ran outside to see Kelson and Jason. I gave Jason a big ole hug and kiss, and then opened the door and Kelson looked up and smiled- and I immediately teared up and gave her a big ole kiss. I couldn’t believe how big she was. She said “Hi Mommy”- then pointed to show me that she was watching Wonder Pets. I was so happy to be home. Even Eers was excited. What a great time and I learned so much. The hardest part of it was getting used to the time zone back home again- I was tired for 4 days! I couldn’t wait to show them all the souvenirs I had bought, but it would have to wait till the morning. I was sooooo tired and ready for bed.

Things I learned:
Euros > dollars
International fee charges SUCK
Skype is the way to go for communicating back home
Learn the Metro system firsthand
Order the water “still” or else you get tonic water
Know the basic words of that country’s language
Pack LIGHTLY :)
As long as you leave your kids in good hands, there are no worries
Always have a map of where you want to tour/sightsee
Bring good walking shoes
Americans are WAY overcautious and MUCH fatter than Europeans
Don’t put your wine in your carry on luggage
The Chi Hair Straightener doesn’t work in European outlets- it requires too much voltage
I could never live in a cube house
It is possible to be without your cell phone for 9 days
American chicks are much prettier than European ones
European food is AWESOME
A 9 hour flight isn’t nearly as bad as it seems
Always take a bike tour if you have the chance
Take lots of pictures so you can capture all the fun times and actually remember what you did (especially when you do a lot in a short amount of time)
Try new things- even if it’s not the norm for you
Give yourself plenty of time to do everything you want to do while visiting
Have a sister as great as mine who will experience something like this with you and pay for a majority of the trip :)

Thank you again to my wonderful sister. This was truly a memorable and wonderful experience that I never would have had the chance to do have you not invited me. I learned there is a whole other world out there and I would love to keep exploring the rest of the world. I’m truly blessed to be so close to my sister and share the love and friendship that we do. We had some great conversations and learned a lot about each other. I wouldn’t change a thing about our trip. Thanks again! I love you!

Sister Europe Trip- May 3, 2009- PARIS: LAST DAY

We got up rather early since we knew we had lots to do before leaving for the states tomorrow, so we got up and I called Jason (knowing it was 5:30am back home- but it was Sat and I thought I would see if the CAVE party was still jumping, and you would never believe it, but it was-lol)  So I talked to Jason for 15 minutes or so before heading to the Eiffel Tower Tour. He was so happy to hear my voice and glad that I called. It was weird that he was about to go to bed and I was about to head out for the day. I told him to give Kelson kisses from me and that I would see them Monday night. I couldn’t believe that it was almost time to leave already. So Keri and I got into our “walking/tourists” shoes and stepped to it. We wanted to go to the top (since she wasn’t able to last time her and Keith were there). BUT not before stopping to get a crepe- Keri grabbed us a chocolate banana one while I stood in line- it was even better than the apple one. There were several people asking for money (I guess they know that’s where tourists hang out) and I saw guards carrying guns- kind of scary. The Eiffel Tower is really huge when you get up close. There were LOTS of steps there too. We got some cute pics from the very top overlooking Paris. It was very cold and windy. We got our fill and were ready for the next adventure. I’d been craving some French Onion soup for a while, so we stopped by a shop to get some- along with some more food. We were burning calories faster than we could take them in. I wasn’t too worried about eating bad since we were walking so much. We got a pic of our bill because we ordered the cheese sampler (we loved their cheese) and it was labeled as “grande ass formages”- haha! We thought that was pretty funny. Another thing- in Europe they don’t normally tip, so that was a weird concept to pick up since we are so used to tipping. Surprisingly, the service was still very good. At the upper scale restaurants, they do expect tips though so sometimes it’s hard to tell. Well it was time to get going... but we had to use the bathroom before we left. This restaurant charged to lock the door on the bathroom stall- weird huh? So Keri and I just held the door ourselves to save some money.
We walked by the SPACE NEEDLE THINGY (cannot remember the name of it), then headed towards the biggest/more expensive shops- we didn’t do much shopping- by this time- we were pretty worn out from the WHOLE vacation. We did find a Disney store, so I bought Kelson a Paris Disney globe- I forgot they had a Disney in Paris. We headed down to see what other shops we could find and ended up switching shoes and sat in a book store for an hour or so trying to find some cute kid “French” books. Before we left we saw the Arc de Triomphe. It was huge too. Well the day was almost over, so we went to the local grocery store (no Wal-Mart ) and got some chocolate to bring home and found that wine that we drank at the fancy restaurant. We went back to the apt, organized our luggage, and made some soup that we had bought and ate our leftover sandwiches from lunch. It was funny that we didn’t go out to eat but we were so exhausted we just wanted to hang out and watch TV. We had a big day ahead of us.PARIS- LAST DAY

Sister Europe Trip- May 2, 2009- PARIS: WE BE TOURING

My sister and I were pumped about getting up early to grab a crepe (had an apple one-yum) and a cappuccino before hitting the “Paris flea market”. I had never even heard about it being known for something like that, but it was on Keri’s list of things to do and the tourist book recommended it. We found some really great souvenirs and did some bargaining too. The “European” look was scarves, jeans tucked into hooker boots, and designer jackets. Keri and I both found a pair of boots for less than 20 Euro that we both really liked and were actually comfortable. They had a really nice leather jacket that I wanted, but I just couldn’t see spending that kind of money on a jacket- Around 200 Euros. We did lots of clothes shopping for our kids and got a few “European” style outfits for ourselves. It was a lot of fun hanging/shopping with Keri. They have some a fun and unique style over there. Keri is VERY into antiques so we went through a few buildings full, but most of the stuff was WAY overpriced (as much as some of our cars), so we just browsed through. They had some really cool stuff. We were getting pretty hungry so we went and split a pizza- again- delicious- the Europeans sure know how to cook. We did a little more shopping- I even bought a carry on piece of luggage so I would have enough room to bring my stuff home in. I knew it was towards the end of the trip so there wasn’t too much more lugging around the luggage and I had to get it home somehow.
We went back to the room to put all our bags away. While we were resting & catching up on facebook, Keri found a way to get the TV to English speaking channels- I was so happy to hear some shows in English. After catching up on things, we headed to Notre Dame- although we had already seen it; we wanted to see it at night. It was gorgeous. We got some fellow Americans to get a picture of us in front of it. We walked up and down the streets and found a few back roads that had some yummy food, ice cream- gelato (I didn’t find it THAT great, but it was good)- and more shops. They had a few bar/restaurants that look like they were hopping. One place had bras hanging from the ceiling fans. That’s my kind of place, but we were too busy to stop  They had a karaoke bar- which reminds me-all Europeans LOVE American music- that’s all we heard and a cool piano bar. Keri got in line for another crepe- but this time a breakfast crepe and I had a gyro- that was DELISH and covered in mayo- too much mayo, but it was still good. French love their mayonnaise. We went and checked out Notre Dame again- but this time at night- it was gorgeous. Def worth it to go see it at night. Well we had more sightseeing to do, so we headed on the Metro toward Moulin Rouge- we didn’t attend the show, but we got a picture of us in front of building and walked down the streets. There were peep shows, sex shops, and topless bars EVERYWHERE on this street. As we were walking along, there was a sex museum and in the window was a chair that had a circulating tongue on it. Ha-ha! You can’t help but laugh at that one. Our next stop was the Sacre Coeur. This was the LONGEST walk EVER from where we were to get to it. There were lots of hills and steps. I kept getting frustrated- by this time I was exhausted and didn’t care to see it anymore, but Keri pushed me  After what seemed like a marathon, we got there, and got some beautiful pics. The view of Paris was very cool and you could see most of the places we had been from that church. We had a long way back to the apt, so we headed back. On our way back down, we saw a VERY drunk guy and his buddy attempting to walk him down a “rocky balboa flight of stairs”- it was hilarious. I never imagined he would make it without tumbling over. Keri and I made it back safely and hit the pillows right away. I wanted to talk to Kelson and Jason, but our Internet at home wasn’t working so no Skyping  Plus the 6 hour time difference really threw things off. We were staying so busy that it was hard to find time to communicate with our families back home.
PARIS- Day 2

Sister Europe Trip- May 1, 2009- PARIS: CITY OF LOVE

We all woke up on time and got dressed to head to the train station. Another big day ahead of us and lots of walking ;) I had a heck of a time getting my entire luggage down those “cube house” stairs. Keri even captured a GORGEOUS picture of me lugging all my stuff down the stairs- haha. We made the train station and said our goodbyes to Keith- he was heading back to FL and Keri and I were making our way to Paris. My sweet brother in law took my carry on home with him to pass on to my father- who was coming back to AL the day before I was, so I could purchase more things while in Paris. So anyways, Keri and I were on our way to Paris. I was pretty exhausted on this train ride- it was 3.5 hrs long. I did get a little nap, but not much since we had to share the train cart with several people. Keri and I looked at some of the pics from our trip to pass the time and I read a little more of my book. Keri went and got us some croissants and OJ from the food cart- it was just ok. Anyways, we were on our way. When we arrived at the Paris station, we had to figure out the metro system. HOLY COW- that is sooooo confusing. Thank goodness Keri had good directions and had done this before. The names of the metro stations were so confusing and I had no clue how to read them. While we were purchasing tickets there were a few women asking for money (they seemed to be of Israeli nationality). There was even a guy playing music on his boom box on the Metro who danced then asked for money. Keri just told me to act like you don’t speak English and turn away. They had some beggars in Amsterdam too, but I couldn’t resist the ones with dogs, so I would give them 20 cents or so and then give their dogs the rest of my food. Lol. I’m a sucker. Keri told me that they give their dogs drugs so they look sad and sleepy- that’s so pitiful.
Anyways, so we followed the map- sent to us from our apt guy- who didn’t speak hardly any English ;) – but we managed to find our way to the apt. We even arrive 30 min or so early. Since we didn’t have a phone, we tried to e-mail our apt contact, but he didn’t respond. After waiting 20 min or so, I finally asked a gentleman if we could borrow his cell phone to call this guy to make sure he was on his way. Luckily, he was a VERY nice French man and didn’t mind at all- he even talked to the guy in French for us so communication was crystal clear. He told us that he was on his way and would be there within 5 min. We “Merci’ed him and continued to wait  Within a few min he had arrived. He was a very nice man and between Keri’s two years of French and our catching up from our Learning French in your car CD we managed to communicate quite well. I was pretty impressed with how well Keri did and remembered. They had wireless internet (so that was a big plus) and free long distance  Keri opted to rent an apt over a hotel room for the 3nights since they pretty much cost the same as a hotel and it was bigger. She did GREAT and we really enjoyed the location of our apt and the size. By this time I was really ready to watch some “ENGLISH SPEAKING” TV. Sadly, the majority of the TV in Paris was in French too. Which is ok- I mean it is their language. We managed to get on Skype and talk to our families before heading out. So anyways, we decided to go check out Paris. Everything seemed to be closed (we weren’t sure why until someone pointed out that May 1st is their Memorial Day Holiday). So we went and grabbed a real French bread sandwich and had a great conversation with some exchange students. They informed us of the great things to see while we were there and spoke perfect English, so that helped us out a lot. I was very excited to use some of the French that I had learned through Lucy and her family and through the CD Keri purchased for me. I knew the important words: Thank you, How much?, Bathroom, Excuse me, What time is it, and a few more. Being in Paris definitely made me want to learn more French.
After eating, it was time for sightseeing.
First we went to the Louvre- I couldn’t believe how freaking massive that thing is. Its soooo much bigger than you can imagine. The décor and carvings were unbelievable. The statues were gorgeous. We didn’t even go inside- I’m not much into art, so I didn’t really care to go inside. We were told that if you tried to go look at everything inside the museum you would be there for a whole day. No thanks. This is where I first got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower- there it was and all its glory- I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing it in person. Next we walked towards Notre Dame- the line was VERY long, but moved rather fast. We were going to take the tower tour, but it was closed for the day- of course. Anyways, so we did go inside the church and it was breathtaking. There were having communion and confession going on. We got several pictures while we were inside. Again the details and carvings were just beautiful. The stain glass windows were breathtaking. They said the best time to go is at sunset and we were pretty close to that time. Since were not catholic we didn’t partake in the communion or confession, but they did have a candle lighting processional that you could partake in for 2 Euros. It was told to take your sins away. I went to light my candle off another one and burned myself and said “Fudge” (but not Fudge)- Keri actually got a pic of me saying this in the church. It hurt. AWFUL, huh? So I got back in line and got another candle to take away that sin I just committed- haha. Second time around everything went fine. Lol. I’m sure God was either telling me something or laughing at me. After that tour, we were pretty tired, so we decided to go back to the apt to get showers and head to dinner. Keri made reservations for us at a very fancy restaurant that overlooked the Eiffel Tower. It was some of the BEST food I’ve ever had and the one was delish. We had a cheese sampler platter, a bottle of wine- that tasted like honey and apple juice- (I heard Keri found some of this wine in FL). The brand was Manzanilla (a sweet white wine). Then we both had the steamed veggies with king prawns. Delish. The food, service, and atmosphere were so nice. The Eiffel Tower would blink all over every 15 min or so. The view from our table was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe we were actually sitting there having dinner in front of the Eiffel Tower. The dinner was a little pricey, but Keri and I wanted to splurge one night while we were there and since it was just the two of us, it was very peaceful and we had some good conversations. After all, it was Paris  We talked about planning an international trip each year- but bringing the husbands along. We are hoping the Springsource will have another international conference next year. To end the night, we toasted to my 30th birthday and I thanked my WONDERFUL sister for planning this memorable trip for the two of us.PARIS- FIRST DAY

Sister Europe Trip- April 30, 2009- QUEEN'S DAY IN AMSTERDAM & ROTTERDAM CUBE HOUSE PARTY

Queen’s Day in Amsterdam was said to be like our Mardi Gras. They celebrate their Queen’s Bday each year on April 30th. People everywhere, drinking, partying, and half naked. So since I’d never experienced Mardi Gras before I knew I would be in for a real experience. We weren’t going to be staying through this night, so we went that morning to walk through the streets, but not before Keri and I stopped to get ANOTHER waffle. There were TONS of people in the streets. They estimate around 3-5 million people come each year. They have little garage sales in the park (where kids are entertaining for Euros/change) so we went to see what that was all about. They had tons of shops and people just selling their crap. But Keri and I managed to find some very cute clothes for our kids. It was pretty hectic getting around, but we managed to do ok. There were lots of partiers and people wearing the “orange” attire, so we fit right in. We were planning on heading to Rotterdam, after checking out of the hotel in Amsterdam. It was a lot of fun getting to experience the whole “Queens Day” thing. I HATE that we missed the party that night, but I’m sure it would have been crazy. Most of them already had the buzz on and it was only 12 in the afternoon. Anyways, we had to go back to the hotel and had to get all our bags/suitcases and head to the train station. It was HELL going through all those people with our luggage. We had to stop a few times cause Keith and I were having some malfunctions with our luggage. The streets were very dirty- as people were dropping their trash EVERWHERE- so we were hitting cans, etc... along the way to the train station. We finally made it there and got our tickets to Rotterdam. The train ride was pretty cool. I was more exhausted than anything, so I grabbed my book and read more of the “Twilight” series. The train ride was only an hour or so. When we got off the train, more walking, but not too far. Aryen (I kept calling him are you in or out?) haha! Not sure how to spell his name. He lives in Rotterdam and invited us all over to his CUBE house. It was the craziest thing. I could NEVER live in something so confined and small, but this is what they are used to and it was unique. We had a HELL of a time getting all of our stuff up and down those stairs. I pretty much convinced myself then that I was never bringing a suitcase to Europe- only a backpack. Anyways, once we got settled in. Aryen and his girlfriend made some delicious food and drinks for all of us. We took a tour of his place- and I slept in the “crows nest” portion of the house. It was actually rather breezy, but again, confined. We played loaded questions with a group of people till 1:30am or so in the morning. It was a lot of fun and I got to learn a little bit more about Keri, Keith, and their friends. We hit the sack- Keri, Keith, and I had to catch a train at 6:45am the next morning. Whew- what a fun and exciting day. I was pretty worn out, but no stopping us now. Tomorrow- it was a 3 hr train ride for Keri and I to PARIS  QUEENS DAY/ROTTERDAM

Sister Europe Trip- April 29, 2009- ANOTHER DAY OF FUN IN AMSTERDAM

Today was another day of fun. Keri and I went to eat breakfast. Keri had ANOTHER waffle- after having French toast the night before for dinner- but this time I had a bratwurst- it was really big and delish, but not nearly as yummy as my husbands (haha- that sounds really bad).

One of the big touristy sites in Amsterdam was the Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum. I had seen lots of pics of this place in magazines, so I really wanted to go get some pictures made and go on the tour. The brochure made it sound like it was historical figures only, but when we walked by and saw Jennifer Lopez in the window- I knew they would have more than that. Anyways, so we went and got in line (which wasn’t too bad) and when we first walked in there was an Obama wax figure- my sister and I giggled cause this was the only figure you had to pay to get your picture with. BTW- Europeans love American’s now that we have Obama as our president. Weird, huh? So anyways, the first part of the tour was some of the Amsterdam history- using models, etc.. then out of nowhere there was a haunted house within the tour. I was freaking scared to death. One because I knew in American they couldn’t touch you, but could they in Europe? You couldn’t tell what was real and what was a wax figure. Keri and I were first in line and we couldn’t see a thing. I screamed the whole time and tried to keep my eyes closed. There were some VERY disturbing scenes throughout the tour. The girl behind me grabbed my hand and we all walked through together. They were scaring the piss out of us. It was awful- I wasn’t prepared for a haunted house. Lol. Finally we made it through and there were several kids crying at the end – which I don’t blame them at all. Geesh- that was so scary- for real. So we finally got to the celebrity/historical figures. The coast was clear. Keri and I didn’t just want to take pics with the figures, so we made some funny faces, acted out like they were checking us out, etc... Again- things are never boring and dull with us. We had a great time getting pictures of each other..
After touring the museum we decided to do a little shopping around- ok, A LOT of shopping around. I got some souvenirs for the family and since the shops close so early, we didn’t have much time. I got Kelson lots of cool European outfits. Time went by so fast. We went back to the room to check on Keith and Skype with the kids It was time for dinner and we had a big group of us, so we went to another AWESOME restaurant- no idea of the name- but it was delicious. I had a few glasses of wine and a few rum/diet cokes with Keri, so she decided to eat a WHOLE spacecake as her dessert and then we went walking. We stopped at a little bar down the street from our hotel and hung out with the Springsource people. Their conference was over, so they could finally relax. We had a good time mingling, having a few drinks, one of the NASTIEST shots I’ve ever had in my life (no idea what was in it, but I basically spit it back out). We were told that being Queens Day’s Eve (Bday of Amsterdam’s Queen) that it would be a big party night and we were to wear orange, so we were ready to party). Well sadly, there was some sort of car accident so they were in mourning, so there wasn’t a big party that night. I first thought it was the Amsterdamians playing a trick on the tourists to make us all wear orange and stand in the streets- haha. Pretty funny, huh? But apparently we were just in the wrong part of the town and there were parties going on, we just didn’t see them. We had a good time on our own and made a party. Well Keri, Keith, and I did. Everyone else was pretty tired from the convention. So we had a few drinks, coffeeshop stops, and then Keri, Keith, and I decided to go take some pics at the Dam Square. Keith and I portrayed American Eagle models and Keri was our photographer- there were some hilarious shots of us. Later on that night, we were all pretty high-lifted, so we went to the bedroom and made a hilarious video (Howard the duck). Of course it was my idea- it usually is. We watched some funny shows on TV too. Keith was getting a little “excited” and tried to convince me that after 3pm you have to go downstairs to order room service (in other words: he wanted to get it on with my sister). EEEEWWWW- haha. I told him to get over it and go in the bathroom. This is hardly big enough for one person, but come on it was 3 in the morning.
ANOTHER FUN DAY IN AMSTERDAM

Sister Europe Trip- April 28, 2009- RIDING THROUGH THE COUNTRY-GONNA EAT A LOT OF CHEESES

The next day, Keri, Jill, and I took a country bike tour of Amsterdam with Mike’s Bike Tour. Our tour guide, Petra, was hilarious! She was very entertaining and informative at the same time. She showed up at the tour saying that she’d just had a joint for breakfast and was ready to go. She seemed like what I would consider to be a typical Amsterdamian (yes, I know that's not a real world). The bike tour started out riding through the city on our way to the country. We stopped on the “skinny bridge” over the Amsteel river, which is a bridge where a protest was staged in the early 70s. The women of Amsterdam were upset that there are lots of places for men to pee (like the “urinals” mentioned in the last post... even if it is just a cylinder that runs off into the canal), but not many places for women, so they staged a protest where they all assembled on the skinny bridge, lifted their skirts or dresses, and peed all at the same time. The protest didn’t help though. They just ended up with soggy shoes. From this bridge, we also got a look at some very old buildings that have started to lean because the ground below them is sinking. Petra told us that the law is that if you can’t fix your leaning building; you must sell it to someone who can. Interesting. One more interesting thing is that "Amstel" beer was named such because it was made from the Amstel river... the same river that people used to empty their "waste" into before the city had a sewage system. Yum. It was great learning so much history about Amsterdam. I was very surprised at how well English Petra spoke. She told us that she learned most of her English through watching TV.
The tour quickly left the city and headed into the country. Our first stop was at a real-life windmill that doubled as a house. The Holland windmills are mainly used to pump the water back in to the canals. The windmill that we stopped to see had been destroyed at one point (as were most of the windmills in the area, until the people of Amsterdam realized that they could make money off of them when tourists came to see them), but they rebuilt it because it had commonly been painted by Rembrandt. We had fun taking pictures of this windmill and coming up with silly poses (although I'm sure they've all been done many times before).

Our next stop was a factory where they make both cheese (gouda, to be exact) and wooden shoes. We got to take some fun pictures with an extra large pair of shoes too out front of the cheese/shoe factory. I purchase a Heineken- I know I don’t drink beer- but come on you have to blend in. The cheese was wonderful, and the shoe-making process was pretty cool. I was surprised that they don’t make the shoes by hand, but the “copy machine” that they used was really neat. Between Jill, Keri, and I we spent over 100Euro in their shop  Keri and I both got some wooden shoes for our baby(s) and I bought some cheese to bring home to Jason for cooking.
On the rest of the tour, we also saw a Picasso sculpture that stays outdoors (it’s one of only 2 in existence, the other is in Chicago), the Hilton where Yoko and John Lennon stayed and wrote all over the walls (this room was never “cleaned up” and rents for about $3000 euro/night), rode through Vondel park (where I discovered the name “A’dam West” on a street sign. So it actually stood for Amsterdam West, but I thought it was funny and pointed it out to the other riders and Petra. She laughed and said that she had never noticed that before. I was glad that I left a lasting impression. Lol. I wasn’t sure if she even knew who Adam West was, but she knew. She was a very bright woman). Anyways, so we went through the fields of tulips. Many of them weren’t in bloom yet, but it was still pretty. The tour was 4 hours long, but we never really got tired… just a bit cold since it was around 40 or 50-something degrees and raining for part of the tour. It was great, and I’d highly recommend it! I was VERY happy that we decided to do the tour and I would definitely do it again someplace else. I even added Petra, our tour guide, on facebook after I got back home.
After showering and recovering from the freezing cold, we grabbed Keith, Ben, and Nina to head out for a tour of the Anne Frank House. It was crazy to be in the house where all of that actually took place. I don’t remember seeing the movie, although we may have and I wasn’t paying attention ;) I definitely want to watch it now since I’ve experienced the house in where they hid for over 2 years. It was a pretty neat experience. Nanny is the one who told me that I needed to take the tour and I was glad that I did.
We were all starving so we found a nice restaurant for dinner. While Keri/Keith and Jill/Ben were having a conversation and I was reading over my Anne Frank book, I came up with an idea on who I feel turned the Frank family in. My current working theory is that the secretary did it because she was in love with Otto (Anne’s father) and wanted him for herself. After the concentration camps were over, he was the only one of the Frank family still alive and mysteriously went and lived with his old secretary- uh huh. I may have a little more work to do to prove that theory though. I did purchase the museum tour book for Nanny so I’m going to do some more research and dig a little deeper. Ha-ha. Anyways, back to our delicious dinner- Apparently white asparagus is really in season right now, because we discovered that it was everywhere. Keith and I split an asparagus soup, and both had a traditional Dutch meal. Amsterdam has the best food. I’m so glad I don’t live there because I would be so broke and fat. Keith and I seemed to have the same ideas for food, so we shared our meals- which lead the waiter to think we were together. Lol.
Keri, Keith and I hit the casino before calling it a night. Everything was electronic so I didn’t really trust it much, but the minimums were really low (like 20 euro cents) so I saw down and tried my luck at the electronic roulette wheel for a while. We all did ok, but eventually Keith and my luck ran out, so we moved on to blackjack while Keri stayed at the table. As soon as Keith and I started doing well, they were closing. Keri ended up doubling her money with that strategy. So pretty much Keith and I lost the money that Keri found. Lol! We had a good time- although Electronic gambling is NO WHERE near as fun as the real thing
RIDING THROUGH AMSTERDAM COUNTRY

Sister Europe Trip- April 27, 2009- HANGING IN AMSTERDAM

Keith actually had work to do while we were in Amsterdam, so Keri planned to spend some time on our own. We had great plans for early days filled with sight-seeing, but between the time change and not having kids to wake us up early, we didn’t get up quite as early as we’d hoped most days. Our first full day in Amsterdarm didn’t begin until after noon. We wanted to catch one of Keith’s talks that day, so between our late start and having to be back at the hotel for Keith’s session by 4, we didn’t venture too far. It didn’t take but that first day to get used to the time difference. Thank goodness. I think it’s because we took that really long nap the first day.
We hit the fair again, this time for some waffles (which became Keri’s favorite food of the whole trip…she mentioned that they weren’t quite as good as real Belgian waffles from Belgium, but they were close… especially with powdered sugar and fresh strawberries!), then we just walked around the city looking for the Anne Frank House and ducking in to many of the little shops. Surprisingly, most shops and attractions close by 6pm, so after Keith’s talk we stuck around for the big SpringSource mingle mixer, and got to hang out with a few of Keri and Keith’s friends.
After the fun-filled mixer where we helped ourselves to a couple of bottles of wine, Jill, Colin & Nina, Keri, Keith, and I headed out to see the crazy part of Amsterdam- the Red Light District. Being a Monday night, it was pretty slow, but fun to see with everyone else. It reminded me of a CRAZY night at the cave- but not having movie like boxes and red lights around us. Lol. While walking through the Red Light District (which we aren't allowed to take pictures of out of "respect" for the um... girls in the windows), we noticed these large, tall cylinders on the street. We came to find out later that they were urinals, only there was no where for the pee to go. So basically, guys just peed on the wall and it ran out into the street. Yummy.
Anyways, we hung around the Red Light District for a little while checking out the shops, before we stopped for some MORE coffee and Keri and Jill got some “spacecake”. It was getting late so Colin & Nina headed back to their hotel, but the rest of us hit the fair for some munchies and to check out the Ferris wheel. That thing was HUGE, and the view from up there was beautiful. We got some really funny pics from up there too. One of the pictures it looks like Keith belongs in the “Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum”- he doesn’t even look real. After the Ferris wheel ride it was time to hit the sack- Keri had an adventurous bike tour for us to take in the morning- I have to admit I wasn’t excited about this at first 1) hadn’t rode a bike in YEARS and 2) I know how much she likes to walk/journey so I knew it would be lots of riding around and I would be exhausted. We got hungry again, so we ordered room service. I didn’t think about it, but when the guy walked in with the food and saw two chicks in the bed with a guy in his boxers you could tell what he was thinking. I’m surprised he didn’t try to give Keith a high-five. Lol!
HANGING IN AMSTERDAM

Sister Europe Trip- April 25-26, 2009- Journey to Amsterdam

I’m gonna attempt to try and remember every detail from my Europe trip with my sister, but since I didn’t write it down, its all running together, so bear with me. My sister and I really had some fun, memorable, and hilarious talks/moments together on this trip. We haven’t had anytime to ourselves since we were prob in our mid-teens. So this was def a needed trip for us sisters. Thanks again to our parents/in-laws/ and my hubby for allowing us this time to share with each other and experience this whole new place together.
Last year for my 29th birthday, Keri sent me a very sweet note with a passport holder telling me that she was taking me to Europe for my 30th bday. We immediately started looking for trip ideas- we were thinking about a cruise or just a few days in a couple of difference places in Europe. When Keri found out that Keith’s company’s European conference was going to be in Amsterdam, she thought that would be a perfect location to begin our trip. Since we weren’t totally comfortable with traveling alone the whole time, this would give us a chance to see Amsterdam for CHEAP and see Keith in action.
I have to say that packing for this trip was one of the funniest things. A couple weeks before leaving on my trip I started to wonder on what all I would need to bring. I asked lots of questions and got some great feedback from friends and especially my sister. She pretty much gave me a list of what you need and don’t bring anything more than that. I knew that she had already been to Europe before, but we are also very different when it comes to “packing” light. So I got my ONE medium suitcase out to pack and needless to say was able to get everything that I needed in that suitcase. Jason came into the bedroom and asked where my other bags were and I told him that was it and he laughed out loud and said BS, you brought more than that to the Guntersville gig a month ago. Lol! I guess I do tend to over pack a little ;) So anyways, I pretty much brought what I was GOING to wear, not that I THOUGHT I may wear. I think not having to pack for Kelson made things a little easier. Overall I have to say that I did rather well with what I brought. Keri and I even shared our clothes while we were there. I still don’t see how she packed such a small bag for a month in Europe. Anyways, so I packed my bags- and did have a carry-on, but it wasn’t too big either. Just had necessities- book, blanket, pillow, etc....
I gave Kelson a BIG hug & kiss goodbye and Jason took me the airport- I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle being away from Kelson for sooo long- the longest I’d been away from her was 2 days, so 9 days was going to seem like a lifetime. With Jason I was kind of used to being away from of all the traveling he did with Heartland. I was stressing to Keri about being able to keep in touch with the family- since my Verizon phone didn’t have global capabilities- so she suggested I hooked up Skype on my home computer so Jason and Kelson could keep up with me. Not being able to text when I wanted to really sucked, but I managed to live 9 days without my cell phone. Thank GOD we had Keri’s laptop with us. We keep everyone updated on our trip using Facebook and Skype- it was great.
Well my flight from HSV to Atlanta was fast and painless. Keri and Keith came and met me at my gate so we could go meet Kyle at baggage claim. It was great seeing them again- it had been since Christmas. Kyle and Renee live in Atlanta, so he had some time to come hang out with us until we left for 9 hour flight to Amsterdam. We all went and grabbed a bite to eat and had some interesting conversations- we normally do. Lol. Keri saw a funny mural on the wall so we went and took some pics with it just for giggles.
A day with us is never boring. After we had gone through security and heading towards our gate, the guards started yelling- “freeze- everyone stop now”- so all of us did and it freaked us out. Then some of the guards started running and the lead guard asked if each entrance was secured and they replied with a YES from each station. So after a minute or so the lead guard thanked us all for partaking in their drill. Whew- we caught our breath and laughed. We weren’t sure what to think after that little stunt.
My mom’s BFF (and my godmother), “Aunty Paula”, was the lead flight attendant on our flight, so we got the total hook up.Unfortunately, first class filled up at the last second so we didn’t get upgraded, but we got every other perk you could possibly have without being in first class… including ice cream sundaes, extra biscoff cookies, and getting to actually sit in the captain’s seat! Keri and I were even invited to come and get pics in the cockpit. It looked VERY confusing up there. The plane itself was awesome! Each chair had it’s own TV with touch screen capability. They had on-demand movies and TV shows (Keri and I watched Slumdog Millionaire (been wanting to see that) and I also watched Yes Man, Keri watched Benjamin Button, and Keith watched Frost/Nixon), games (we played trivia, poker, and some tetris-logic type game), music, and you could track exactly where the plane was graphically. Even on this overnight 9 hour flight, we hardly slept- well except for Keith. I really thought this plane ride was going to take FOREVER, but all in all it went by rather fast. I didn’t sleep at all- I think I was too excited. Keri and I did lots of talking too. Keri and I had originally been sitting by a SUPER hot Amsterdamian guy ;) but since Keith was all alone, we convinced a lady to switch seats with us so we could all sit together. I was trying to be slick and get a picture of him, but he caught on and was turning away. Haha!
Our flight left Atlanta at 5pm on Saturday and arrived at 8am on Sunday in Amsterdam (due to the 6 hour time change). We met up with Keith’s co-workers, Jeremy and Jen, at the airport, then found our way to the hotel via train and foot as fast as we could. None of us really slept so we were ready for our beds by the time we got to the hotel. The walk from the train station to the hotel was madness- I then knew why Keri told me to pack lightly. Unfortunately, when we arrived at our hotel, they told us that check-in wasn’t until 3pm, so we all set up camp on their couches in the lobby. After a little sweet talking and some help from the conference coordinators, we managed to get into our rooms around 11:30am. I was sharing a room with Keri and Keith- to keep down on costs- so we had requested a room with 2 queen size beds. When we opened the door to our room, there was one king-sized bed (which was actually 2 twin-beds, but there was no way to separate them anyway). We were so exhausted that we decided we’d deal with that later, and it didn’t take 5 minutes for us to all crawl under the covers (with Keri in the middle), close the curtains, and fall asleep! We didn’t wake up until about 7pm. That was one of the most comfortable beds I’d ever slept in. We stayed there for four nights and didn’t bother to change rooms- haha. I wasn’t sure what to think of this place- the bike riders and drivers were very impatient and I always seemed to be in the way, but after a couple of days I felt like I fit right in and wasn’t scared to jump out.
Many of Keith’s colleagues from out of the country arrived on Sunday so a large group of us went out for dinner at an Indonesian restaurant that night.
I wanted a traditional Dutch meal, but we found that there really wasn’t such a thing. The guidebook told us that because of Amsterdam’s location, they’re actually known for importing food from other places so they don’t really have a food that they call their own. So… Indonesian it was! The food at the Indonesian restaurant was amazing! Keith and I split a sampler entrée that consisted of about 10 different items, and they loved every bit of it too. Kelly even got a “lemon squeezer” souvenir to take home (I swear the waiter told me to take it home when I was raving about it, but he didn’t really speak good English so I have my doubts). Ha-ha. We had the best wine too. I swear EUROPE has the best food and wine EVER! If it wasn’t for all the walking, I’d be 300lbs. Plus many of the Europeans don’t drive- they either walk or ride their bikes. I noticed how much FATTER Americans are when I returned back home- lol. One of the funny things was you had to order your water “still”- otherwise they would bring you tonic water. YUCK. So in one of the pics I’m holding “still”... Kelson loves to play the song “Hold Still” on yo gabba gabba, so I took that picture for her. Jason didn’t get it until I explained the water situation to him. We even managed to capture a picture of chicken curry sauce that had spilled into a Mickey Mouse shape- I found that one too.
After dinner, everyone else was still tired so they headed to their rooms to prepare for the next day, but we hit the fair that was going on in Dam Square right in front of our hotel. We didn’t go on the rides, but we checked them out and partook in a huge bag of cotton candy. And no, cotton candy doesn’t taste the same as it does in America. It’s not quite as sweet and a little bit more cottony. :) I really liked it. We were still pretty tired from the flight and now full from dinner, so we decided to call it a night, but not before stopping by a coffeeshop  Before going to bed, Keri “Skyped” with mom and the kids- and of course mom couldn’t help but hearing me laugh in the background- lol. It was only 6pm or so back in FL, so they were all awake and we were already in bed. It was nuts.
And this… is only the beginning…
Journey to Amsterdam