Little Difference #7

I've always made really long car trips. Always. I can't even begin to count the numerous hours of my life that have been spent driving somewhere.


When I was little my family traveled to Iowa at least two times a year to visit family...fourteen or fifteen hours in the car. 
We spent every spring break skiing in Colorado, a seven hour drive. 
When I started college I picked a university seven hours from my hometown and then moved to a school almost twelve hours from Canyon. 
For grad school I went to Iowa, a fourteen hour drive.
After school, Jay and I moved to Wyoming which is about thirteen hours from family in Texas.


Traveling long distances in a car has never been a big deal to me. You load up early, get some great snacks, and hit the road. When you feel tired, need gas, get hungry, or need to use the restroom, you stop. You pull into a gas station or food place, take care of business, reload on goodies, and are on your way again. 


Never in all my time spent driving to and from, here and there, did I see this.

Now, once on a drive to Louisiana for church camp we stopped at a bus station in Dallas in the middle of the night. We were able to get off the bus and stretch our legs and I remember the bathroom having a pay toilet. I also remember it being terribly disgusting. I have not spent any time in really big cities in the U.S., and I'm wondering if they use pay toilets there??


In Europe, especially along the highways, you have to pay to go the restroom! We have seen this in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. There is generally a long line (or queue as they call it) with a turnstile that's locked. When you put in your change...anywhere from 50 cents to a Euro, the turnstile unlocks and you can enter. At some of the places in Italy there was an attendant you paid. 

I'm not sure why they charge you. At some of the roadside stops in Germany you paid 70 cents but then got a ticket worth 50 cents off a purchase in the store. It has been an interesting discovery here. Just another little difference!


**Don't worry, I wasn't being tacky taking pictures in the queue for the restroom (or WC as they call it many places here...for water closet?). I borrowed these from the internet.


Tot ziens!

Little Difference #6

Growing up my mom managed a pool in the summers. That meant that my brother and I got to spend all day, every day at the pool. Pretty much kiddie heaven. 


Sleeping in. Hot, windy days spent at the pool. The smell of chlorine and sunscreen. Aahh...
Even after my mom no longer worked at the pool in the summer, I still spent a big part of my vacation at one pool or another. That is what summer is (was) to me.


When we moved to Wyoming we had to get used to a little different summer. I mean, in Texas, it's basically summer from April to September (at least). In Wyoming, we have springs in May and June, and then summer in July and August. 


In Holland, we're adjusting to still an even different definition of summer. 


Here's a look at our weather this week. (I changed it to Fahrenheit for you, so you don't have to double the Celsius and add 32 for a rough estimate).

R

   Night   Day−•− Temperature

Do you see the highs for the last two days?? In the 50s! Not exactly pool weather, that's for sure! One good thing, though, is you don't have to worry about getting too hot or sweating too much (Amber, this place was made for you!). Just another little difference.


Tot ziens!

Drakes Going German Part 3-Cologne

Sunday morning we woke up with tired feet, but we were ready for the next stop on our tour...Cologne.

We parked a little outside of town and rode the train in so we didn't have to deal with city traffic and attempt to find parking. It was so worth it, because as soon as we exited the train station, we walked right into the plaza of the Dom Cathedral....Breathtaking. It is sooooo huge, it is difficult to photograph!

{Seriously, you should google this cathedral so you can see some professional pictures. Amazing.}

Although the Dom is definitely the main attraction in Cologne, it is a beautiful city with 12 Romanesque churches (in adddition to the cathedral) right around the City Center. We walked around and enjoyed a sunny Sunday afternoon.

We had a wonderful weekend and arrived back in Enschede tired but ready for more! On this Sunday we leave for a trip with Jay's classmates. We'll be gone for a week and will be visiting Switzerland and Italy during this school-sponsored trip. Can't wait!

Tot ziens!

Drakes Going German Part 2-Trier Dom, Basilika, & Imperial Baths

Lots of pictures, but it was just so beautiful!

This is the Trier Dom. It is a magnificent church built on the site of Constantine's former palace. Words (or our attempt at pictures) can't really do it justice. The main relic here is the burial robe of Christ. They also have these catacombs you can walk through and in one of the rooms, Constantine's mother Helena's skull is in a gold container!

This is what they call the Basilika or the Romische Palastaula (Guess which name we called it by??). It is currently a Protestant church, but served as the Throne Room for Emporer Constantine when he lived here.

See the wedding party taking pictures here? Right beside this are Palace Gardens and we saw multiple wedding parties there.

It was very open, very grand.

There are also Imperial Baths in Trier. They are dated to about 1600 years old, and you can crawl down into the caverns they used to heat them.

It was an amazing place to see. It's all so very close together, that you're able to see a lot of different places in a very quick amount of time. It was a very full day, but worth it.We checked into our hotel and got to sleep early to get ready for our trip the next day...Cologne.



Tot ziens!