Zaanse Schans, Holland

Our next stop was at the open air museum - Zaanse Schans. This gave an overview of past life in Holland. This included cheese making, wooden shoes, working windmills - grinding, woodsawing, and oil making.








Cheese looks good!!!








The wooden shoes are made of poplar wood.
They last for many, many years. No longer do they make the shoes by hand. It takes only 15 minuets to make a pair. One side is a model similar to making a key.









Finally found shoes that fit!

Giethoorn, Holland

Today, we visited three places in Holland. Giethoorn, Witmarsum, and Pingium. Geithoorn is a town of only canals, no roads. Residents travel by boat to get around the town.

Next, we drove to Witmarsum. This is the home town on Menno Simons. We saw the church where he was first a Priest. Then, we drove out to the place where there is a monument indicting his burial site and his first church.















After Witmarsum we visited Pingium. This is the place of the Hidden Church location. Unfortunately, there was no one there to show us inside.


After our visits to these locations, we traveled over the dike which separates the North Sea from the Zuider Zee. The dike is 22 miles long. We saw bikers heading north into a strong head wind. In 1988, we biked across the dike, but had a nice tailwind.






























We spent the night at Bergen-On-The-Sea. It was very cool, in fact, cold as you can tell from the photo.

Zwolle, Holland

After leaving Cologne, we traveled to Zwolle, Holland and spent the night. It is a small town but has it's share of canals and charm.

Cologne, Germany

We flew back to Frankfurt and picked up our rental car. Our destination was Cologne and we arrived in late evening. It was difficult to find a hotel. We asked a gentlemen on the street and made a suggestion which turned out to a very good recommendation. After checking in, we headed for some good German food.

On Sunday morning, we were on our way to explore Cologne. Our first stop was the Cathedral. This structure was preserved during the war. All the stained glass windows were removed by the citizens and replaced following the war.




















There were also many reminders of the Roman Empire. Ruins were seen throughout the city.




This was a well we saw in the parking garage.













A part of the Roman wall is still visible in the city.












One impressive monument that remains from the war is a church which was bombed out, but a statue of grieving parents.

Paris, France

On Thursday, we flew from Frankfurt, Germany to Paris, France. We met our friends, Harvey and Betty Hartzler in Frankfurt.


Yesterday, we spent time exploring the area around our hotel. We visited the Sacred Heart Cathedral which is on one of the highest points in the city.


Today, we will do a walking tour of the city which will include seeing the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysees and the Louvre.




















Tomorrow, we fly back to Frankfurt, Germany and begin our car tour of Holland, Belgium, Switzlerland, and Austria.

Europe By Car & Bike and Boat

On June the 8th, our 47th Anniversary, we will be leaving for Frankfurt, Germany from Chicago. Our flight will take us to Krakow, Poland before arriving in Frankfurt on June 9. We'll be accompanied by our friends, Harvey and Betty Hartzler who live in Tucson, AZ. Beginning on June 10, we will fly to Paris for several days, then return to Frankfurt and travel by car through Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria.

We will board the Merlijn in Ludwigsburg, Germany on June 26 for a week of Bike and Boat along the Neckar, Rhine, and Main Rivers. Here is a photo of the Merlijn which we took on our trip 3 years ago.















We are looking forward to this trip as a way of celebrating our Anniversary.

Another Annual Trip to Turkey Run State Park

This post is far overdue! However, here is a look at our annual biking trip to Turkey Run State Park. Our first day we passed through the arch at Marshall, IN. A very small town that is close to Amish Country.No one knows the reason for the arch, but it is a local attraction.

Here are some photos of the group on the road.


On one of our rides, we found this old church that was turned into a wood carvers studio. This gentleman had taught archaeology at a university in California and also Arizona State. His home was in Terra Haute, chose to Turkey Run. But he was always interested in wood working. His work was quite interesting.

The bell in the tower was made in Philadelphia in the 1800's













Here is his studio and some of his work.










The skeleton on the table is a work of his. He is reproducing the skeleton from wood.





Of course, when we bike we also like to eat.

And we also like to hang out after our rides.

This year, the weather was hot, high 80's to low 90's and humid. But, we had no rain. We logged a total of 128 miles. Not too bad for old folks!!