Day 13 - Bammin' in Amsterdamin

The next stop was Amsterdam where Tina and I did a tour which ended up going through the Ann Frank Museum which is housed in the building she and her family hid out in during WW II.  It was a bit too strenuous of a tour for the parents to take so we went it alone.  We started out by visiting a windmill which are historically preserved structures in Amsterdam.  The bull sitting out in a field by the windmill served as a good security force.

 

Downtown Amsterdam is full of a whole series of canals with "house boats" lining most of them.  These are not typical "house boats".

And then we were at the Ann Frank house.  Unfortunately they don't allow any pictures inside the house, so we were limited to a picture at the front entrance to the house from the main street.  It was a sobering visit to remember what the Frank family went through and that Ann died in a prison camp just a month before liberation believing all of her family had died when her father in fact had survived and spent months looking for her after the war.

Day 12 - The Kiel Canal

We'd never heard of the Kiel Canal, but it's an engineering marvel given that it was started in 1887 and took 9000 workers to finish it by 1895.  It cuts off a significant amount of dangerous waterway from having to go around the treacherous entry to the Baltic Sea and makes for a much safer and shorter passage.  You can see in the map Stockholm, where we first started out trip, and Rostock, which was our last stop prior to the canal.

Looking back on the canal.

Looking Back at the Canal

The Germans, along with most countries along the Baltic sea are big believers in wind power.

Wind Power

And then we were into the locks, watching the back gate close behing us.

The Marina at the End of the Cana

The Closing Lock

And then we were out ... saying goodbye to the Baltic Sea and into the North Sea. 

Goodbye to the Baltic Sea

We Interrupt This Vacation Posting ...

So I'm still trying to make time to finish the vacation posts, but too many people have been asking me for an update on the house.  Soooooooo ... vacation posts will be temporarily delayed.

A couple of weeks after we got back we finally got our tiles and pavers laid on the pool area.  Tina picked out all the colors and we were both super happy about the end result.

Tiles and Pavers Installed

At the same time they went ahead and graded the yard again ... or at least the parts that don't still have coquina rocks on them.  At least it's starting to look like a bit of a yard again.

A "Kind Of"A Yard Again

And then finally, on the infamous Friday the 13th of September 2013, the pool itself was finished, filled with water, and finally started looking like a real pool.

A Filled Up Pool

It's ONLY been 13 months since we started the project, and we still have a lot of work to do, but I think Tina's somewhat overreacting to how long everythings taking.

A Happy Wife

And of course I reserved the right to be the first person to take a swim ... and it felt mighty mighty good!

The First Swim

So with a promise that I'll try to finish the vacation pics soon, so long for now.

Day 11 - Joy a Many in Rostock Germany

Rostock is a city in the very northern part of Germany on the (... ... ... wait for it ... ... ... this is going to be a shocker ... ... ...) the Baltic Sea!  My parents decided to take a tour to Berlin, which included a 4 hour bus ride there and a 4 hour bus ride back  Tina and I were wayyyyyy too lazy for that.  We were originally a little bit sad to find out that no stores are open in Germany on Sunday.  However, churches, restaurants, and festivals keep on going.  (More on the latter in just a moment.)

Once again, the architecture and the mixture of new and old is just amazing.   The sense of history we have in America is just nothing compared to the rest of the world.

So even being there on a Sunday, we were fortunate enough to be there on the weekend of the Hanse Sail Festival.  This "small" town of 200,000 people attracted upwards of 2 million people to this festival for the weekend we were there.  And it's no wonder why.  It was a typical Germany festival of rides and food and beer ... and beer and food ... and beer and beer ... ... ... Did I mention beer?  Anyway, Tina and I had a great time walking through the festival and enjoying the festivities, including the mens singing group that we saw when we first started walking through.

But ... shocker ... shocker ... I always find myself attracted to the kids of a city as much as the local sights.  That was no different in Rostock.

And then this little cutey.  There was a bit of a fight while we were watching because the little boy in front wanted to walk the dog.  However, this girl was insistent that she was better at it.  Having raised 4 girls, the little boy didn't have a chance.

Day 10 - Awaken in Copenhagen

We decided Copenhagen offered a good walking experience so we didn't sign up for any tours.  Besides which my business partners step-son, Justin, lives there and we wanted to go by the shop he works at and visit for a while.  To say the least it was a great walking town.  I ended up taking way too many pics and liking more than I should probably post, but such is the case.

The port we docked at was right next to the Gefion Fountain.  The fountain depicts the mother, Gefion, who was told by the King of Sweden that she could have all the land that she could plow overnight.  So she turned her sons into bulls and proceeded to plow a whole lot of land overnight.  Awwww ... those were the days when mothers knew how to raise their sons.

Gefion Fountain

As it seems with most big cities in Europe, the architecture is impressive.  We also ran into a faceless street performer who was truly amazing, albeit he didn't allow pictures after he got going.

After a bit more of a walk than we originally anticipated, we made it to Justin's shop and had a good visit with him.

After a stop for lunch, on Justin's recommendation we ended up at the Botanical Gardens.  Tina and I have always been big on visiting gardens, greenhouses, nursery's and things of that sort, but the Botanical Gardens at the University of Copenhagen was just stunning.  This is where I went totally crazy with pics, but trust me ... I deleted far more than I'm posting here.  Here's a sampling of the outside garden areas.

So after an hour or so of walking the outside areas, we finally made it to the greenhouses.

Of course our animal friends also caught my eyes.

But I had the prettiest animal in the whole park walking with me along the way.

Throughout the day also, Copenhagen was a great place to people watch.  And nobody seemed to mind me catching pictures of them.

And this last picture (I promise) of a little girl helping her father fish.  Wayyyyyy too cute!