Hanging out in Holland

(Sorry I am a bit late on finally adding more pics...but allof you who are checking this love me and know that my life has been crazy busy with guests and traveling...not that I am complaining...)

So after Amsterdam, Erin and Denise and I jumped on a 2 hour train to go see Dwight and Letty Grismore. We all worked at Echo Ranch Bible Camp in Alaska together. Letty is Dutch and Dwight is from Ohio! They gave us the full experience!

Since we were in Holland...we had to see a windmill up close. Here I am with David (10) and Ruben (8), Dwight and Letty's 2 boys.

The wonderful Grismore family: Dwight, Letty, Ruben, and David. Dwight works for Campus Life on the NATO military base in southern Holland.

The 3 traveling buddies...Bonnie, Denise and Erin.

Then we all piled up in the Grismore mini van...here are all of the kids in the back seat!!! Yes we did use every seat in their van!

We got to see the highest point in the Netherlands. Which is not as high as you would think...but it was on top of a huge hill.

Here I am at the highest point...it looks like I had to make quite the climb with the pavement in the background. I am glad that we did drive up the hill. Dwight bikes up it!!! Crazy Man!

Check it out...I am in 2 places at once. My right foot is in the Netherlands and my left foot is in Belgium. Never been to Belgium before.

This is point is called "Drielandenpunt" which means Three Country Point. Here the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium meet. If I tried to go to the point where Germany, Switzerland, and France meet, I would be underwater as it is in the center of the Rhein River.

David is laying in 3 countries at once...pretty impressive!

Here I am eating a Belgium Waffle in Belgium...very cool...this is all of my Belgium experience.

Anne Frank, Corrie ten Boom, & Amsterdam

 Erin and Denise and I went to Amsterdam on the way to visit Dwight and Letty Grismore who live in the southern part of the Netherlands.  I really enjoyed Amsterdam.  Almost everyone spoke English...which is a bonus when that is your language and there are water canals everywhere.  I also liked the quaint tall buildings.

 As soon as we arrived at the airport at 8am, we figured how to get to the Anne Frank House.  We were not able to take pictures inside, but it was a very interesting tour.  She had many deep thoughts as a young girl living in hiding for over 2 years.

 Here I am with Erin and the Anne Frank stature.  Erin though she would have been easier to hid since she is so small you could just put her in your pocket....

 This is the Anne Frank House that I am in front of.  I am across the street and the canal from the house.

Amsterdam is made up of as many canals as streets.  Most of the buildings are narrow and tall because people were taxed on how much sidewalk space their building took up, but not how tall the building was....so they built up and not across.

We then jumped on the trail to Haarlem to visit the Corrie ten Boom House.

 Here we are in front of the door to Corrie ten Boom's house. There is a watch shop next door that her father use to own and Corrie was the first woman in the world to be certified to make and fix watches.

 The plaque remembering the Ten Boom family.  This family helped many of the 10% of the Jewish people that survived the Nazi regime.  Hilter's goal was for 100% of the Jewish people in the Netherlands to be destroyed.  He almost reached his goal, 90% of the Jews of Holland did not survive.

 Corrie's house was left like it was set up when she was alive.  Family pictures are on the wall and we were able to take pictures and see and feel the house.

 This is the door to the hiding place.  It was in Corrie's bedroom and disguised as a linen closet.  I was able to climb in there.  Six people, 2 women and 4 men survived in there for 47 hours without heat in Febuary and with their waste bucket that was knocked over the first day.

 The doorway to the hiding place with blankets in towel in place.  After the door was shut with the 6 people inside, Corrie put towels in front of the doors.  The Nazi soldiers ripped up the carpet and fount a bunch of ration cards in the floor boards along the stairs, but they did not find the people in hiding.

 Here I am with Denise and Erin inside the hiding place.  The wall was made out of brick and so sturdy that the Nazi soldiers did not know that it was a fake wall.

 Here are some picturees of Corrie after she survived the concentration camp, she traveled to over 60 countries telling others about Jesus.

 Here are some of the ration cards that they used to get food and supplies for the people in hiding.

 This is a Jewish star and a sign telling people Jews were not allowed in certain places.

Here is the tour guide showing us the back of needle work Corrie did.  Corrie would show people how the back was all jumbled and confused, but the front made a beautiful crown. This is what the Lord does with our lives.  To us things do not look clear, but the Lord sees the big picture and it makes something beautiful.

We then took a canal cruise through Amsterdam.  It was very interesting. Then we got back on the train for 2 hours to go see Dwight and Letty Grismore.

A Day in France

 Denise Pritt and Erin Clegg, friends of mine from Echo Ranch Bible Camp in Juneau, Alaska, came to visit me from April 6-14.  They flew into Basel, Switzerland after visiting a friend in Barcelona, Spain.  The first thing I did was take them to downtown Basel to see the Rhein River.

 This vacation was a busy one...the next day we drove for about an hour and a half to Colmar, France.  This area of France is known as wine country and is very quaint.  Here Denise and Erin are in the city center.

The main thing we did was go to the Bartholdi Museum.  He is the French man who made the Statue of Liberty.  Colmar even has a "Statue of Liberty" in a traffic circle.  It was fun to see his sculptures.

 I loved this huge horse head!

These are some of the models he worked on before making the Statue of Liberty.

This is the size of the Statue of Liberty's ear.  I am whispering secrets into her ear.

Then we drove to a castle called Hoch Koenigsbourg...which was a challenging finding with my GPS.  (By the way thanks mom for the GPS...I use it often!!)  But we did find it.  It is on top of a HUGE hill or a small mountain...however you want to look at it.

Inside the castle is this cool winding staircase.  Denise and Erin enjoyed seeing the mid-evil kitchen and the furniture and apartments where people lived back in the 1600s.

Erin found this really cool window within the door.

Here are some knights standing at attention.  This is in the weapons room.  These suits of armor are actually very small.  These guys were NOT huge men...in fact they rather small in height and stature.

Here is the castle with the beautiful French countryside in the background.  I took this picture out of the tallest tower.  As Erin said quite often..."Everything the sun touches is your kingdom."  (Quote from the Lion Queen.)

Denise uses her brute strength to move this cannon.  I am not sure how her shot would be with a cannon....

Here I am with the tallest tower behind me at the end of a lovely day.

Castle in Basel

 Last Tuesday, April 6th I went to where my friend was house sitting in Basel.  Just beyond that house there was this cool castle...so CB, Stephanie and I set out to check it out.

 CB and I are loving the sunshine!!  Might as well hike up to some castle ruins.

 Isn't this a nice picture.  I was leaning between this fence to take it...and suddenly there was a shock...I though CB or Stephanie threw something at me....I actually touch the fence that was electric and I got a shock!

Who would have thought it could be so dangerous!

 All the pretty horses. They were on the horse farm on the walk to the castle...

 From the top of the castle you can see the city of Basel, Switzerland on one side.

 Stephanie is enjoying the cityscape view.

 On the other side of the castle you see this lovely farmland.  It was a very interesting perspective that I can not capture in photographs.

 Stephanie found this really cool tunnel. It was extremely short...my head almost touched the ceiling and I am 5 foot 4 inches!

 The window was lovely!  I enjoyed the view through the wall that was about a foot thick.  Below I am enjoying the beautiful view.

Stephanie is such a goofball.  CB is in the background taking beautiful pictures.

Here I am with the Rhein River in the background.  What a lovely day for a walk.