NATO Supreme Ball at the Heidelberg Castle

Last Thursday night, Greg and I attended the annual NATO Supreme Ball at the Heidelberg Castle.  Wow!  What a venue!  Actually, that's an understatement.  It just seemed so surreal to be at such an event in a castle that was built in 1214.  Last year, we got to attend the Naval War College Christmas Ball at Rosecliff (one of the famous mansions) in Newport.  And we thought that was awesome!  I can't believe that we managed to trump it. To top it off, the weather was perfect.  Here are some pics. 

The girls posing with me while waiting on the babysitter.

Greg and I enter the castle grounds.

At the cocktail party on the terrace with the Neckar River below.

Greg with his latest partner-in-crime and newest BFF, Robert, from Poland.

After the cocktail party and on our way to dinner.  Cobble stones and heels do not mix well!

Our table mates.  A good time!

"The Happyness Band" (I wonder if they know they spelled it wrong?).  They were great!

Blumen Fields

During the spring time in Germany, you will see many Blumen (flower) fields along the side of the road.  They can contain any variety of flowers.  If you are so inclined, you may pull over and pick as many as you like as long as you pay the asking price by placing your money in a barrel that is located along the edge of the field.  It's an honor system and no one is actually sitting out there to take your money or ensure that you pay.  You will see the honor system in place all over Germany including on all public transportation and I love this.  The girls and I have been talking for a long time about how we need to stop and pick some flowers.  We always seem to be in a rush whenever we pass a Blumen field, but one day, we actually had some time and literally stopped to pick and smell the flowers.  And at 0.45 Euro (about .60 cents) per stem, it was a great deal and well worth the price of entertainment!  The girls had a great time meticulously ensuring that we got the best flowers.

Greg and the girls in the Blumen field.

Decisions, decisions!  How do we choose?

The final arrangement.  This photo was taken several days after the flowers were picked.

Hip-Hop

About 3 months ago, I signed the girls up to take a German hip-hop class.  I learned of this class through an American friend of mine whose daughter (a friend of Leena's) was currently in the class.  My girls love to dance, so I thought this may be something they would enjoy doing.  They take the class in the small town of Östringen with a group of kids ages 5 through about 9.  It's a small class and the teacher speaks English and is great about translating for the girls if they need help.  There are only 3 Americans in the class (Leena, Taryn, and their friend Makenzie) but the girls have seemed to make friends with everyone.  It amazes me how it takes very little communicating for kids to become friends. They tend to giggle amongst themselves a lot (probably because laughing is an international language) which is really cute.  Anyway, last night, the hip-hop class put on a small performance in Östringen.  The town of Östringen was putting on a mini-fest of sorts.  All the shops along the main street were open until midnight and there were a lot of food and beer vendors and two stages set up (one on each end of the main street).  So, our girls were set to perform on one of the stages.  I was not entirely sure what to expect because the parents are not able to see any of the weekly hip-hop dance lessons and the girls are not good about sharing with me what they learn in class.  Before the dance, Taryn expressed concern about forgetting the dance, but I assured her that no one would do it perfectly and that it was okay if she forgot parts or messed up.  After the routine, I was very proud that neither girl froze on stage or appeared nervous.  They actually did a really great job!! Afterwards, they said they had a great time!  Here is a short video clip and some pictures.  Taryn is in the frilly pink skirt, Leena is in the frilly black skirt and their American friend, Makenzie, is in the frilly black, white and pink skirt (so it's not too hard to pick out who the Americans are on stage!).

Leena, Makenzie, and Taryn before the performance.

The whole gang doing their cool poses!

The beginning of the performance!

The performance. 

Small video clip of the performance.

Weekend trip to The Netherlands - Keukenhof Gardens

Two weekends ago (yes, I am already behind in my blogs!), we took a trip up to The Netherlands.  Since we have been  here, I have had several people tell me that we must go up to Keukenhof Gardens and see all the tulips when they are in bloom.  And they were right!  Never in my dreams would I think that it was worth a 5 hour drive to see a flower garden!  The gardens were so immaculate, it was beyond amazing!  Not a weed or a flower out of place in the entire 79 acre park (did I mention this place is HUGE?).  It's the largest bulb flower park in the world with more than seven million tulips, daffodils and hyacinths in full bloom at this time of the year.  When we arrived on Saturday morning, it was pouring down rain and most of our time was spent huddling shoulder to shoulder under a covered pavilion with about a million other people.  Fortunately, the rain stopped around 1:00pm and the sun came out, giving us a glorious day!  We met up with some friends from Heidelberg, making the trip even more fun!

The girls wanted to have their pictures made in front of flowers all day long!

So beautiful!

Stopping to smell the flowers!

We almost took a swim getting this family shot!!

When in Holland, you must have your picture made inside a wooden shoe and....

... in front of a windmill!

This picture was taken on top of the windmill.  The crowd at the gardens on this day rivaled Disney in August!

Glorious flowers everywhere!  It never got old!

The girls take a break to dance to a band playing in the park.

Lunch time!  We had some awesome shredded smoked ham on a roll and later some stroopwafels (waffles with syrup baked in on the inside).  YUMMY! 

Photo ops everywhere!!

This kind of tulip was new to me.  Later I found out that they are called butterfly tulips.

While we were there, we got to see the annual flower parade.  It follows a forty kilometer route and passed right outside the gardens on the afternoon of our visit.  It is the most famous parade in The Netherlands and consists of about twenty floats and more than thirty vehicles all covered with flowers.  Taryn commented that it was "the best smelling parade she ever saw".  And she was right!  The crowds lined up to see this parade reminded me of Mardi Gras.  Only one big difference... you could hear a pin drop as the flower floats approached.  And then applause as the float passed by.  It was like being on the 18th green at the Masters.  Some very nice people were thoughtful enough to let the girls stand in the front of the crowd.  Meanwhile, the adults hung back and held our cameras high in the air to get a shot!

Everything on the floats was made entirely of flowers!

 

We spent about 9 hours at the park and only saw about 2/3 of it!  I would love to go back and see what I missed.  Here are a few more shots....

The girls take a rest after the parade.

This picture was actually taken on our way back to the hotel.  There are just fields and fields of tulips everywhere!!  It was so amazing.  We just pulled the car over on the side of the road and got this shot!

Another shot taken from the car. 

We actually did go into Amsterdam for a few hours one day.  I don't know if it was bad timing on our part or what, but it was very crowded and filled with mostly thugs and slugs.  I found myself with a death grip on the girls the entire time.  I don't think I will be rushing back there anytime soon.

The girls standing outside the Amsterdam train station.

This is a Dutch urinal and a first for me.  These were located on the street right outside the train station.  If you're a girl and had to pee, I guess you're out of luck!

The girls in a cute Amsterdam side street.

On one of the famous canals.

We stayed in a small town called Haarlem which was only a 15 minute train ride from Amsterdam.   It was like a mini-Amsterdam without all the thugs and slugs.  Fun fact: Haarlem gave America's Harlem its name back when New York was "New Amsterdam," a Dutch colony.  Haarlem was very cute and quaint.  We loved it.  It just so happened that the Flower Parade ended in the Market Square in Haarlem where the all the floats were parked and displayed.  When we got up on Sunday morning, we were pleasantly surprised to be able to see all the floats up close. 

Taryn in front of one of the floats in Market Square.

The girls and I in front of the Grote Kerk (Great Church) in the Market Square.

Leena poses in front of one of her favorite floats.

Taryn finds some shoes just her size!

On one of the canals in Haarlem.