Fort Bourtange was another “saw it on Pinterest” bucket list find for the Netherlands. This star fort on the German border was built to control the only road from the city of Groningen into Germany, but it’s now one of the most charming places we have visited. I’ve read a few blogs about the fort overflowing …
How does one randomly end up in Eulenbis, Germany? Well, you have an amazing friend, lets call her A, from Colorado who is willing to let you and your crazy family come stay at her house. (Let this be a warning that if you invite us, we are likely to accept the invitation.) Eulenbis is about …
Our German Christmas fun just kept going! We made a stop into Trier, Germany for a morning of fun before driving back to the Netherlands. Trier is Germany’s oldest city. Roman ruins dot the city and we wanted to check them out. We parked a block from Porta Nigra. This city gate dates to A.D. …
We typically get an earlier start than most of Europe. Thinking we needed a stop before arriving at the Heidelberg Christmas Markets we drove to a nearby town to check out a castle ruin. The castle is seated on top of a vineyard. The Internet wrongly informed us we would be hiking through the vineyard …
Nuremberg has the reputation of hosting one of the best Christmas Markets in Germany and for that matter, in the whole world. We thought Nuremberg would be the perfect place for our first real Christmas Market experience. The market is in the city center, inside the old city walls, and is incredibly easy to find. We …
Dolmen are monolithic tombs, typically made from large megaliths supporting a capstone that was covered with dirt to make a chamber. Over time the earth has worn away leaving just the rock formation. Here in the Netherlands they dot the northeastern landscape. We started our hunt at the Hunebedcentrum Museum. The museum is part of the …
When we got ready to move we knew Dutch houses weren’t exactly known for their storage so we skimped on packing Christmas decorations. I condensed down to one box that would move with us. When we unpacked the one box my eldest proclaimed the house lacked Christmas spirit. So we did some crafting. We made …
I found a great pedal bike for H on marktplaats that needed to be picked up in Gouda. If we were going to make the 20-min drive to pick up the bike I thought we should pop into the city center and see what we could find. In full disclosure, I’ve made some amazing friends who help …
It is rainy season here in Holland. Rain means we spend more time than I would like inside the house! Paper Goods Projects arrived just in time to try to tame our inside boredom [60 crafts, 112 pages]. The projects are simple and patterns are provided. I let the kids flip through the book to decide on …
We’ve had a run of bad lucky lately around here. In the course of a month we have endured the breaking of an iPhone, a computer, a car, a train and a baby. I’m really hoping we are done. Here though is a run-down of how we weathered the storm and the lessons to be learned …