The Hague, Leiden, & Scheveningen in the Netherlands

Ethan's basketball team had their final NECIS tournament in March in The Hague, Netherlands. He rode the rock star bus again with the teams, and stayed for 3 nights with his team in a hotel! Scott, Griff & I stayed nearby in Leiden. Ethan had the best experience doing this and they even had a dance one night with all the other schools! His team was outmatched in most of the games, mostly because of being such a young team, but they won a couple of games and came in 6th place out of 8 teams. Overall we had a really good weekend and found some cool stuff to do, but there were some very frustrating aspects of this area. First of all, we had the hardest time finding restaurants near our hotel and near the schools where the tournaments were held. These were not places in the middle of nowhere either, these were heavily populated areas without a restaurant in sight. Also, we found driving especially difficult - signs were not as good as we're accustomed to and road ways just weren't that logical. Oh well, hopefully the boys see that even though travel isn't always easy, it's almost always worth the effort.

Ethan's team warming up - he's in the black shirt going under the net

Madurodam

Besides staying in a hotel for 3 nights, this was definitely the highlight of the trip for G. He loves building mini-cities and creating drama within them (usually a battle or a fire) and this place was full of exacting models set up outside, replicating famous places in the Netherlands 25 times smaller than real life.

Had to pose in the big shoes first!

Did we go to a concert?

Yeah, a mini concert! This was Scott's favorite display.

Were the bulb fields in bloom?

Just the mini bulb fields! ;-)

We also checked out a good natural history museum, Naturalis, but I included this picture because it shows our school spirit shirts. Go ISD!

One afternoon I took off on my own for a couple of hours and went into the main city of The Hague to the Mauritshuis museum. As much as I love sharing museums with the boys, it was a real treat to go here by myself and enjoy at my own pace. This was a great little intimate museum featuring mostly 17th century Flemish "Golden Age" paintings.

I saw 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' by Vermeer - really as engaging & beautiful as I'd hoped it'd be! (postcard scan)

Also, 'Anatomy Lesson/Dr Tulp' by Rembrandt (postcard scan)

City shots

On our last night we went to the seaside resort town of Scheveningen, on the North Sea, where we finally found a good meal! It was freezing outside, but still cool to be at the beach.
Kurhaus hotel

The pier

Berlin in February

We went to Berlin in February during a school break. The drive there was almost 6 hours, but then closer to 7 on the way back because of a closed stretch of the autobahn (yes, there really are long stretches of the freeway where there is no speed limit - Germany is the last European country to still have this). Before we went into the city we spent one day and night at Tropical Islands, an domed indoor water park. In the middle of a frigid Feb day it was great to walk on a sandy beach and have the sun (through the windows of the dome) on your face. It wasn't a crazy water park with tons of slides and water guns and water falling on you everywhere, which I really enjoyed! There were a few water slides, but it was more about the sand beach and lagoon-like swimming areas which I found much more relaxing than kids running and screaming everywhere. The boys really liked it, especially as it got dark outside because it got dark inside as well and the pools were lit up in all different colors. We didn't take pictures here because I just didn't want to worry about keeping track of the camera or keeping it dry. Here's the website like in case you're curious about what it was like:

http://www.tropical-islands.de/en/visitors.html

After a night nearby we headed into the city for two days & two nights. Berlin, especially this time of year, is not one of the most beautiful cities we've been to, but it's a place where you could really feel history - not just the "old city" "great museum" kind of history we experience in a lot of German places, but the history of WWII and the era of the Berlin Wall. I have pictures below of most of the places we visited except for the Checkpoint Charlie museum which showed many of the crazy ways people tried to get over, under, through and past the Wall

It was hard for us to follow because there was a lot of snow on the ground, but throughout the city you'll see a cobblestone path like this that traces the location of the former Berlin Wall.

Pergamon Museum

One of the most impressive museums I've ever been! Impressive due to sheer scale of what's presented. Ancient structures were dismantled at their site and re-built here (of course, that has caused some controversy, especially with the Turkish government).

The Pergamon Altar, from 160 BC, taken from a Greek town which lies in today's Turkish border.

A cool detail photographed by Ethan

I love floor mosaics, I find them so impressive

The Market Gate of Miletus, 120 AD - see the people at the bottom - these structures were massive!

The Ishtar Gate from Babylon, 6th century BC - it was hard to get good pictures because of it's scale, but at the far right you can see the size and how it was made of individual tiles.

Interior of an Assyrian Palace, 12th century BC

Detail of battle armor - this was only about 12 inches tall.

A figure in mourning

Berlin Cathedral

We didn't get inside of the Cathedral because of limited time, but I thought it's exterior was beautiful.

Exterior of a museum across from the Cathedral

Outdoor statues across from the Cathedral - picture taken by Ethan. I love the interesting angles he can get in photos!

Reichstag

This is the German parliament's official building. It's free to tour the interior and it's supposed to be very cool up in the glass dome, unfortunately the day we were there it was shut down because of worries about heavy snow sitting on the dome.

"The German People"

Brandenburg Gate area

The Gate is so big it's hard to get good pictures.

Detail of the top

The American Embassy, steps away from the Gate

The Hotel Adlon, just down from the Gate, was the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby off the balcony!

The Gate was obscured on this side by a temporary stage that was set up, but you can see the statue on top. Lots of strange photo-ops in this square.

Griffin still isn't convinced that the guy standing up straight was someone in costume (which he was) he insists he's a statue.

Other Sights

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - notice the broken, jagged top of this church that was bombed out during WWII. It was decided that it should remain standing as a memorial to the war's destruction, with a new, modern church built beside it in the 1960's.

Jewish Museum - there are actually two buildings, this new construction, and a traditional structure to the left which are connected by an underground tunnel. The lines you see in the building are evident inside, and they are supposed to represent the voids left in Jewish culture lost during the Holocaust. It's a full history of the Jewish people, not just Holocaust era. There were two distinct sections, one colorful, interactive section of exhibits and another that was more about evoking feelings in the viewer. This second section was very interesting in that some parts of the architecture made you feel, for instance, disorientation or overwhelming silence to help you understand how Jews felt during certain points in history.

The Neue Wache, a tomb for German unknown soldiers and unknown concentration camp victims. The statue is covered by three walls and a roof, but the roof above the statue is open to allow in the elements - snow on this day. A very peaceful and moving spot on a busy street in the city.

Pictures of Our House

I want to catch up on several trips we've taken in the past 2 months, but in the meantime, my Mom recently visited which meant that our house was perfectly neat and clean for about a day! During that brief window I took pictures of most rooms in the house, though I forgot the basement, which is a finished walk-out with a family/TV room, bathroom and laundry/storage room, so not very exciting anyway. The house has 4 floors: basement; main floor; 2nd floor with kids' bedrooms, bath & guest room; and 3rd floor with master bed & bath. We posted video from the boys' rooms a few months back so I didn't include pictures here. Also in that video post was the boys' bathroom, and all of the baths look very similar, same tile and fixtures. We actually really love our house! I had braced myself for something old and small and cramped, but what we have here is actually newer, more modern, and more spacious than what we have in Michigan.

Entrance door

Living room

Living room/computer area/dining room

From end of living room, looking into kitchen at left & entrance hall to the right. Open staircase up and down to the right.

Left side of kitchen

Right side of kitchen

Guest room

Guest room

Master bedroom

Master bedroom