Off with her head!

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Kristen

The kids pose with their favorite beefeater, Tower of London

Elaborate wall etchings by Tower of London prisoners

There are three things we came to see: London Bridge, Harry Potter and Tower of London. Today, we made full use of the great weather and headed directly to the Tower of London. We purchased our tickets ahead of time on line and collected our entry tickets at the kiosks. We hooked up with a Yeoman right away (those friendly beefeater guys who give great personalized tours) and we were off. I loved the stories that were shared about the boy princes who died in the stairwell of one building and the different queens (Ann Boleyn and Kathryn Howard) who were held in the tower. We also took a peek at the wall etchings done by prisoners being kept in the tower.

Prisoners of the Tower of London added their names and designs to the prison walls

Tower Green, view of Tudor buildings across the lawn

Tower Bridge

Every war museum needs a WOW factor; this definitely carried some weight

Where would you put a plane on display…the ceiling of course!

Tim ready to see what the British have to offer in the war museum

Piece of the Berlin Wall in London at the War Museum

Our walk to the Tower of London included a stroll along the river with great views of Tower Bridge, which we thought was London Bridge. Actually, London Bridge is the huge bridge for vehicle traffic a ways from Tower of London and the one you see from tower of London is named, appropriately, Tower Bridge. The afternoon’s weather held out and we made our way over to the Imperial War Museum where we saw WWII planes suspended from the ceiling, tour a very cool spy exhibit where we got to see tricks and tools of the trade. They also had a very well-produced exhibit on the Holocaust; it was so sensitive that children under the age of 13 were not permitted to attend.The photos were graphic and I appreciated the caution they took to protect little eyes.
Still not tired of walking yet, we were determined to find Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame. After some confusing directions from train personnel and the Rick Steves’ guidebook, we located the shopping cart and snapped a picture of Lauren almost traveling through the wall. Each of the kids took a turn, and I’m happy to report that all of them are muggles.

Trying to get to Hogwarts at Platform 9 3/4

London Calling

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Kristen

Skies are clear and British flag waves proudly on this perfect London day

The American Thanksgiving holiday afforded us a long weekend to take an Air Berlin hop north to London. We left the house nice and early for our 6:30am flight to London-Stansted airport. Our flight was a quick 2 hours and with the time change, our feet set foot on British soil well before the first museums were open. We took the Stansted bus shuttle to Victoria Station where we left our luggage with the friendly staff of the “Left Luggage” Company. A great idea for tourists in this city, you can pay to drop off your bags for 24 hours or longer and eliminate the hassle of carting around suitcases in town. Since our hotel was a good 20 minutes by metro from London proper and we were so early in town, we wanted to tackle some sights first before checking in to our hotel.
We promptly made our way to the British national museum, free to everyone and home to the most famous rock, The Rosetta Stone, which was key to deciphering hieroglyphs. We could have easily wandered forever in this large building but we made the wise decision to rent the children’s audioguide which led our kids to the most “important” pieces of their collection.

Rosetta Stone; funny, I always thought it was round.

A big draw for the kids was the Egyptian gallery, primarily because the pieces are HUGE, sphinx and statues which reach into the sky and a good number of creepy things like mummies and masks. My favorite collection was from the Greek period, including the Parthenon frieze and sculptures featuring perfect symmetry of figures. Just looking at them makes you feel calm and in balance. For lunch we stepped outside the museum and crossed the street to find a small cafe featuring sandwiches and pizza. We returned to the museum for just a bit more time to join a free tour which featured pieces from ancient Israel and the early Christians including some very funny cartoons poking fun at Jesus as a boy.

: Parthenon frieze

: “Night at the Museum” Big Head

: early religious cartoons poking fun at boy Jesus

After the museum, we made our way to our hotel. We stayed near the North Greenwich Tube stop at a Holiday Inn Express. We were happy to find a Pizza Hut nearby with a family special; it was just what the Rietkerk family needed.

Our Stop–Canary Wharf sign

Volvo–It Rolls

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Kristen

Tim behind the wheel

In October, Tim and I went north to pick up the newest addition to the Rietkerk family: a Volvo sedan. The Army ships one vehicle with the family when you move overseas. We donated the trusty gold Honda Accord and shipped the Honda minivan. For the past 3 months, the van has been great. It’s taken us as far north as Denmark and south to the Czech Republic. With more than 115,000 miles on the 2006 model, we thought now would be a good time to purchase another vehicle. Being in the land of “no speed limit”, every soldier’s dream is a super fast car. Most choose the BMW 300 or 500 series in black. In fact, there are so many of these models on military bases, it’s hard to believe they are something special in the States. Tim and I were first taken with the BMW, but after careful research (and the 50th anniversary special Volvo was offering) we decided to purchase the Volvo S-80, a 4 door sedan, in the classic dark blue Volvo color.

When you purchase a Volvo, you can have it delivered to the dealer OR you can opt to take factory delivery up in Sweden, which is what we did during the last weekend in October 2011. The deal goes like this: if you elect to pick up at the dealership, you will pay a $600 delivery fee. If you go to the factory, Volvo pays for your trip up north and then you drive it back home. Tim was able to get leave approved for the trip to Sweden and on Monday, Oct 31 we boarded a train in Parsberg (a 5 minute drive from our house) to Kiel, via Regensberg and Frankfurt. The train travel took 8 hours but was thoroughly enjoyable. No distractions to our reading selections, we stopped at the Starbucks in Frankfurt for a little snack and then enjoyed a picnic lunch with bottles of wine on the train.

Once we arrived in Kiel, it was a 10 minute walk to the Stena Line ferry where we checked in, received room keys and hit the buffet.
The ferry left port at 7:30pm and traveled across the Baltic Sea overnight. We arrived in Gothenburg Sweden at 9am and left our luggage in our cabin, which we would return in the evening. We were warmly greeted by our Volvo driver who whisked us away to the factory, about 15 minutes from the dock. Once at the factory, we were the first to check in and our car was rolled out in the delivery waiting area. We were like first time parents, oohing and ahhing over the shiny new toy. Our Volvo rep Leif took us on a tour of the bells and whistles of the car and then let us take over and take it on a spin on the test track. Lest you get too excited, the track is about 1/4 mile long and limited to low speeds. We’d have to wait to test the power in the engine until after lunch.
At 11:30, we enjoyed lunch in the restaurant which featured a traditional Swedish meal: meatballs, potatoes, gravy and lingonberries. Better than IKEA! Then, it was time for our factory tour. Sorry, no pictures allowed but it reminded me of the Disney movie Wall-E or the ride “Cars” at Epcot: lots of robots doing very detailed work. When we did see humans, they were surprisingly young; I don’t think we spotted anyone over the age of 50 on the floor and most looked like young adults. Impressive tour though. They kept emphasizing that every Volvo is created with specific customer specifications. Every vehicle is pre-ordered and built to match the end user’s desires.

We left the factory at 3:30 and drove around the city enjoying the sound system and bluetooth capabilities. Once on board the ferry again, we made our way back to the buffet. After a restful night’s sleep, we disembarked with the car and headed south to Lupburg. We made it home in 8 hours and thoroughly enjoyed driving the car on the autobahn. Tim got the car up to 110 mph, a thrilling prospect after many years at speeds half that. We are going to enjoy traveling to new places in this car.

St Petersburg, cont.

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Kristen

Our next stop was the Hermitage. Like all great cities, a good art museum shows off how powerful you really are. The Hermitage was originally a residential palace and many rooms are open to tour. In the 1800s, the decision was made to allow commoners the opportunity to stroll through the building and admire the collections. It is a “must see” for anyone visiting St Petersburg and the crowds were intense. Our tour guide led us through the main highlights and then gave us some time to browse on our own. We enjoyed gazing at the Impressionist collection and saw some artists’ work up close and personal. Very little of the Hermitage is kept in climate-controlled environments so you can really see the brush strokes and shading the artists employed.

To round out our tour of the city, we stopped at the Church of Spilled Blood, an impressive onion-domed church which is more colorful than St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. We also visited the sphinx from Egypt and gazed at Peter and Paul Fortress on the water. It was a grand view of a truly remarkable city.

A peek behind the iron curtain

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Kristen

Our family pic at St Petersberg’s Winter Palace

Of all the stops on our cruise, perhaps the crown jewel was St Petersburg. Partly due to the fact that few have ever seen this city and partly because it was the end of our week-long cruise, we were eager to get off the boat and take in as much of Russia as possible. I was able to secure a tour through Red October Tours prior to leaving the States and our tour guide, Svetlana, was waiting for us when we got off the ship. We were among the first passengers to clear customs in Russia and we kept thinking we were going to be stopped for some reason. But, it was an easy process and we made our way to the private coach hired to take us around town.

Our first stop was the Winter Palace, a 30 minute ride from the ship. The palace was built in the small village of Pushkin and it was interesting to see the combination of small private homes, large apartment buildings and government monuments along the drive. Probably the first thing your eye takes in is the fabulous blue the palace is painted. No where else in Europe is this color used so predominantly. We were struck by the sheer grandeur of the building, which was built not as a residence but as a show piece to prove how rich and powerful the Russian nobility was. The rooms were filled with gold, mirrors and lots of decorative touches. The palace grounds are immaculately groomed and offer sweeping views of the property.

Lindsey and Eva at the Hermitage, St Petersberg

Inspired by the art at the Hermitage

Following our stop at the Winter Palace, we took the opportunity to eat at the original stroganoff restaurant. Legend says that a soldier, who lost his arm in a battle, was served this beef main dish because he could eat it without using a knife. It was absolutely delicious. My personal recipe doesn’t even come close. Accompanied by a cream of mushroom soup and a drink called kvass (like root beer but has some fermentation process) it was the perfect break to reenergize for the afternoon.

Mmm, nothing compares to the original! Russian Beef Stroganoff

Talinn, Estonia

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Kristen

the city comes into view from our cabin, Talinn Estonia

It was a competition to see who could get back to the cruise ship on time following our excursion into Stockholm. Steph, Bryan and a handful of kids elected to take the water taxi from Gamla Stan to the boat; Tim, Kristen, Bill, Eva and Lindsey tried hoofing it back to the ship. It didn’t seem too far but when you’re under the clock, every minute counts. Both groups made it back before the ship sounded its horn.

Following another filling dinner meal and night at sea, we pulled into Tallinn Estonia at 7:30am. From the ship, we could see tall spires and red roofs dotting the coastline. We were eager to embark on our city walk. We left the ship and walked through a little market village set up expressly for the purposes of hawking goods to desperate souvenir shoppers. We browsed quickly through the wooden shacks on our way to old town, about a 10 minute walk. Estonia’s history is a constant tug of war for domination of its ports by both Sweden and Russia. The people, however, demanded independence and currently enjoy a vibrant economy and tourists to Tallinn are not disappointed.

Lilly discovered the draw of the day, the Tower Walk

Talinn is a great city to rent a bicycle built for two

Lindsey rocking the hat

The town reminded me of the Medieval Times Restaurant, with old town walls, wooden market stalls and vendors dressed in Renaissance garb. The smell of sweet-roasted almonds wafted around the town square and quartets entertained us with lively folk music. Several of us took the walking tour of the city and another group rented tandem bikes for an exhilarating tour of the streets. Cobblestones make for a bumpy ride but the weather was pleasant and everyone was in a good mood.
We returned to the ship back through the market stalls and managed to satisfy our souvenir craving as well with painted tiles and hand-made jewelry.

A Moveable Feast

Category Archives: Travel