Lage Lippe

In Monday night after a couple of connections on the train, Meridith and I arrived in the town of Lage Lippe in Germany to visit Harry and Anna and their children William and Kiara. It's been fun hanging out withd seeing the local sights. William met us at the train station wearing his Team Canada jersey. He and his sister were born in Canada and are proud of it. That night, we feasted on pizza.

The first afternoon, once the kids got home from school, we went to see the hilltop monument of Herman the German - something like Hermannsdenkmal in German. It commemorates a guy named Arminius who led the Germanic tribes in an important victory over the Romans. Arminius was the hero of a specific German guy in the 1800s who dedicated his life to making a monument. He died a pauper, but the monument was built. After looking out at the hilly countryside, we played around on a high ropes course which happened to be closed. So for free, we played on the lower levels.

Because our gracious hosts have young children, jobs, and a building project, they are a little busy. So Anna dropped us off at Westfaliches Frielichtmuseum Detmold (www.lwl.org/frielichtmuseum-detmold.de). It was an open air museum recreating life in this region of Germany a couple of hundred years ago. Farms were set up according to region and time period. Our favorite was a moated farm. The houses were often combined with the milking stalls and other pens. The rich ones had doors to separate the spaces. Poor people could sit at the kitchen table as they gazed at their cow. At least, that's what I interpreted from what I saw. We wandered through the rain, tried to get around school groups, and rode in a wagon where the driver spoke a little English. It was interesting and educational.

The next day, we visited Detmold and its castle. In the downtown is a castle where the princes of Lippe lived. A line of Lippes lasted for over 400 years before it was broken and the current line took its place. The current line is related to the Dutch royal family. Ten or twelve rooms were open to the public. They were pretty ornate for belonging to just a regional prince. There were tapestries that took years to produce and tons of portraits, some of them of really ugly people.

Our time in Lage was great. But the thing I enjoyed most was just hanging out with the family. They were a huge blessing.

I'll end this because I know it's kind of boring. We arrived in Berlin yesterday and man, did we ever see a mullet today. It was like a guy had a poodle attached to the back of his head.

A Happy Birthday to All!

Since I can't access my email, I'm sending some birthday greetings here. Hopefully these people will see their names here and know I haven't forgotten them :)

So happy birthday Arleen! I hope you have a wonderful day! Too bad we can't go to the Spice Shop this year. Maybe I'll pick up some M&Ms in Poland for you . . . .

And happy birthday Shandi! I hope you have a great day! I miss you guys and will see you before you know it!

And finally, happy birthday Grant! You'll have to choose your own coffee machine. Enjoy your final year of being a teenager. Since you told me that you never read this blog, then I'll say I love you little bro. Go Hounds Go!

The City of Bikes

Before I commence further, I must point out that anyone wanting more info on this trip could check out the link to Meridith's Murmuring on the right hand side of my blog. It should be the last link on my fellow bloggers list. Also, if anyone has sent me any urgent emails, I cannot seem to access Hotmail from this location in the interior of Germany. Mom, you can use my yahoo address.

When I last wrote, we were boarding a train to Amsterdam, the infamous capital city of the Netherlands. After hearing of this place where the international airport is such a busy hub, I expected a very large, raucous city. I was much surprised at what I found. The people are indeed "free thinking" with legallizes prostitution and "smart shops" selling such delicacies as cannibis lollies. But the city itself is small and old and quite picturesque. A population of only about 750 000 roam around the 100 km of canals. Or more accurately, they cycle on 600 000 bikes, traversing the u shaped canals that intersect and curl up to the harbor. There are over a 1000 bridges. They protect their bikes with gigantic locks. The red light district is indeed a sinful area, but not as obtrusive as I feared. I was deeply saddened to see scantily clad women posing in red lit windows, hoping for business.

In the midst of this crazy culture, we found a few bastions of hope. Our abode was the Shelter Jordan, a Christian youth hostel in an old beautiful neighborhood. The attitudes of the staff reflected their beliefs. It was quite refreshing. Our first night, we joined in a free dinner where we got to know a few staff members and befriended a few of the non-Christians staying there, including James the Scotsman with whom Meridith could discuss music and some technical things I don't understand. I met an Italian girl who had studied Chinese. Kind of random. Anyone interested in staying at a Shelter hostel or working at one, check out www. shelter.nl

Our first full day, we went on the characteristically tourist canal tour. We were warned that locals laugh at the people who go on the boats, but we still wanted to see the city from the 17th century canals. James joined us since his friends had not yet arrived in the city. The houses along the canal are all so narrow because the greater the river space they took, the higher the cost. Because the staircases are so narrow, all furniture must be moved through the windows. To facilitate that, a hook is located at the top of the house. To make furniture moving easier, some houses are built sloping slightly forward. Some slopes seem a bit extreme and make you want to walk in a tilted fashion. All in all, I enjoyed the tour and I recommend it to future tourists. Afterwards, we had a tapas meal and went our separate ways.

I beelined for the Van Gogh museum. I had considered going to the main art museum which houses 17 century masters and a lot of Remembrandt, but instead opted for a period I knew better. It was so cool to see the progression of Vincent's work. He didn't take up art until he was 26. At first, he tried to be traditional in form and worked from his pastor father's cottage and then Antwerp. He then moved to Paris under the patronage of his brother Theo. Here, he encountered pointillism and impressionism, which took a while to impress him. Some of his works looked like overexposed photos as he experimented with color and brightness. I was intrigued by his fascination with Japanese prints and their composition and content. On some pictures, he painted a border of random Chinese characters that he'd seen on other pictures. I enjoyed it immensely - but I didn't enjoy the company of the lesbians beside me.

I also got to see my first Monet, my first Manet, my first Cezanne . . . I actually cried.

That night, we bought last minute tickets to the symphony for 7.50 Euro. We enjoyed a selection of Mozart in a 19th century concert hall. The showcase piece was a wonderful clarinet piece. The clarinetist broke a sweat doing the piece. We kept getting the double bass player and the cellist to smile at us. The bass player even said goodbye to Mer at the end of the night.

Sunday morning, we attended Christ Church, a wonderfully active congregation of varying ethnicities. God's love was definitely there. They welcome homeless people to have coffee between services. I sat beside a bearded woman who smelled exactly like Timmy, the Dutch homeless man who frequented the store where I worked in Medicine Hat. We met a cool girl from Michigan who had just arrived to attend DTS at the local YWAM base.

Then we hopped on a train bound for Zaans Schans, an open air museum in the countryside. Amsterdam is very international so we wanted to see a place that was more Dutch. Real windmills line the banks of the river Zaans with old houses clustered all around. They've preserved what I imagine to be authentic old Dutch life. We wandered into a color mill, where they grind the coloring to make paint. It was definitely not up to North American safety code. No fences kept us from lunging under the huge mill stones. But that gave us an impressive view of the inner workings of the mill. We climbed higher and higher and saw all the gigantic wooden shafts and gears and cogs. The building creaked and shook with the turning of the blades. We also wandered into a porcelain workshop and a cheese factory, where Meridith actually found cheese she liked. We were amoungst Asian tour groups who were laughing and taking a bazillion pictures. The number of Asians increased at the wooden shoe shop. We watched a demonstration and I succumbed to my childhood wish to possess a pair that fits my feet. Now I'll have to carry them around for a couple of months.

On Monday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed across the canal through the rain to the Anne Frank house. Both of us had grown up hearing about this little heroine who recorded her days of hiding from the Nazis in her now famous diary. Their hiding place was next to Westerkerk, a large and impressive church. Just behind the church is the Homomonument, dedicated to non-heterosexuals. It seemed to strange to be right next to a church.

The Anne Frank house has been left unfurnished, according to her father's wishes. The effect is haunting. A few carefully selected artifacts complement carefully chosen quotations from her diary. A few multimedia displays present the memories of Meip Gies, one of their caretakers during their time of hiding and the memories of one of Anne's childhood friends who has an amazing story on her own. I was overwhelmed to look out the blackened windows and wonder how many hours she spent staring out, yearning for freedom. Some tangible things are left of her existence - pencil markings where her parents recorded the growth of her and her sister, the game Peter got for his birthday . . . In the room Anne shared with Mr. Pfeffer, her pictures are still on the walls. Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, the Dutch Royal family, Greta Garbo, Ginger Rogers . . . She was just like normal girls with a curiousity about the famous. I cried a few times as I looked at remnants of the Nazi regime - pictures of roundups, yellow stars of David. Why have I been so lucky to have such an easy life when some people live through such unwarranted horror? If you're in Amsterdam, go to the Anne Frank house. It deeply impacted me.

A side note: I saw my first real Academy award there. On the set of a movie based on Anne's diary, Shelley Winters promised Otto Frank that if she won an award, she would put it in the Anne Frank museum. And she did.

I could write so much more about the city of bikes. But now we are in Lage Lippe, Germany with friends of the Penner family.

A normal keyboard!

Well, the letters are in all the right places. However, the keys are in disrepair. Some are slanted and others must be pounded with extreme force for them to work. I've got a lot to update you on. We'll see how much happens in the next half hour. An African woman is yelling on the phone and distracting me.

After the hectic pace and expense of London, I really enjoyed Brussells. It's the home of the EU and NATO headquarters. Chocolatier shops and waffle shops are scattered throughout the tourist district. We each got a waffle before stopping to admire Manneken Pis - a fountain of a little boy peeing. The residents periodically dress him up in little outfits. We just missed the Asterix and Obelisk festival. I think he dons an Obelisk costume on Saturday. Meridith toured a museum of musical instruments while I wandered and stopped to pray in a cathedral. We met by the Palais de Congres where an exhibition of strangely painted horses was being held.

Our train ticket to Amsterdam allows us to stop along the way so we stopped in Antwerp, not really knowing what to expect. My guidebook didn't say much about it. Antwerp is the heart of Flemish Belgium. To speak French here may hamper the service you receive. We stayed in a hotel in the Jewish part of town, right beside the railroad tracks. Orthodox Jews kept going by with their ringlets and long black coats blowing in the breeze. On the way to our hotel, we walked through the jeweler section of town. At one time, Antwerp was the hotspot for Benelux rich people. The money that has gone through here is evidenced by the multitude of jewelers and ornate buildings on the shopping streets. This has declined, with many jewelers shutting their doors for good.

But Antwerp is still one of the diamond capitals of the world. This is where a large percentage of the world's diamonds are cut and set. In fact, the standard cut that many jewels have is the Antwerp Cut, developed here of course. We went to a showroom and saw the craftsmen at work.

Antwerp was the hometown of the painter Rubens and is quite proud of that fact. My favorite sight in the entire city is Antwerp's Notre Dame. We arrived late for an English tour, but still caught most of it. This cathedral is about 700 years old. Originally, only the clergy had access to the altar area - it was actually cut off by a wall. In the main part, each of the guilds had their own chapels. During the French Revolution, all the paintings were sent to Paris for safe keeping and the building was used to stable French horses. The king of the Netherlands brought the paintings back on a horse cart.

Our guide took a lot of time to explain to us the significance of the art in the cathedral. Because the people were illiterate, the art had to be didactic. In the tradition of Ignatius, the art had to draw the people in to make it realistic for them. That is why the paintings have people in 17th century dress instead of biblical. It challenged the people to think where they would fit into the story. There were four Rubens in the cathedral, but we focused on two. My favorite was The Descent of the Cross. To my eyes, the panels depicted three events not normally put together - pregnant Mary visiting Elizabeth, dead Jesus being taken down for burial, and Simeon blessing Jesus in the temple. But the guide explained that the theme is carrying Jesus, being a Christ bearer. The guild of the Musketers wanted a painting of their patron saint, Christopher - the Christ bearer. Because the story of Christopher is legend and not fact, they weren't allowed to. So Rubens did a painting on the theme of the story. On the outside of the panel is a picture of Christopher and an old man with a lantern. The lantern is symbolic of Jesus, the light of the world. I felt challenged to be a better Christ bearer. How are you carrying Christ . . . .

Last night, we checked into a different hostel where the reception area gave us the creeps. We made our way over to the river Scheldt and watched the sun go down as we sat beside a Canadian war memorial. After eating some pizza, we hung out in a square before finding our way to a jazz club. While sipping on a Belgian beer, I listened to a jazz pianist collaborate with a sax. The saxophonist had bushy bushy eyebrows that added to his mystique. It was lovely.

Next stop: Amsterdam. My guidebook has some advice on purchasing weed and hash. I don't think I'll be needing it.

Belgium

Some final postscripts from previous entries: My plane ride was mqde even more exciting by the sick woman seated across the aisle from me. Every few minutes, she was wretching or everything was being moved so it could be cleaned up. Then either me or the old man next to me kept pressing the call button. Then when I actually needed someone, they stopped coming. Not much sleep on the plane, but I did watch the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. And Nickie, I thought of you because there was an earth from the air display along the Thames.

We are sitting in a rather dodgy internet cafe. The keyboard is of a messed up European variety with keys in the wrong places. Particularly problematic are A W and M. Please forgive any mistakes. I amtyping less than half my usual speed. It is horrible.

Our journey through the chunnel brought us into France where all the villages on the horizon proudly cluster around a church spire amid the rolling green agriculture. So technically, I have now been in France.

In Brussells, we stayed the Vincent Van Gogh hostel. I highly recommend it. Good value for the money. The famous painter spent a year working in the main building. Once again, our roommates were asleep early, leaving me fumbling in the dark.

The city is a lot more relaxed than London. We spent our days wandering around the old city. A beautiful Gothic cathedral was hosting an organ recital. As an organist rehearsed, we wandered around. I lit a candle and prayed for my family back home and wondered if any of my Belgian ancestors had ever stopped to pray in this church. In the base,ent, we were able to see what remains of the Romanesqe church that once stood there. Another Belgian highlight is the Grand Place, lauded by Victor Hugo as the greatest square in the world. Buildings hundreds of years old cluster in a square.

This keyboard is driving me crazy. Hopefully I will be better at using it tomorrow. We are going to Antwerp today. I cannot use contractions because I do not know where the apostrophe is.

London Thoughts

This afternoon we'll take the Chunnel train to Brussells, Belgium. I finally have a few quiet moments to reflect on my time in this ancient city. I'm sitting in a cramped internet cafe not far from Hyde Park.

London was definitely as expensive as I'd been forewarned. Usually the prices given were about what I would expect in dollars, not in pounds. I had to keep reminding myself that I'm in Europe, not Asia. I will have to spend some money on this trip.

Poor Meridith has had to listen to a lot of Asian monologues. My life was Eastern for almost two years. I keep comparing East and West. Driving around London, I think about Hong Kong. I compare architecture styles. It's hard to understand the East if you haven't been there, and if you haven't been there, you probably don't really want to hear about it. I'll try to not bore Mer too much more.

This morning we were packing up our stuff when one of tonight's guests came in with his stuff. Meridith told him that if he waited a minute, he could have her bottom bunk. I guess he really wanted it because he hovered behind her as she packed. When she stepped out to brush her teeth, he moved the rest of her stuff off the bed, made up his bunk and laid two pair of underwear out very neatly and left. Odd.

I'd never stayed in a dormitory in a hostel before and the experience was different than what I expected. Instead of loud busy partying, we encountered quiet people who often were asleep before we got in at the ungodly hour of 10:30 pm. Our first dorm mates were friendly and chatty at least. Last night's seemed to be mute. I like talking to people, but the quietness of the room was definitely something I appreciated - until the guy in the bunk below me started to snore.

I enjoyed my time in London. It is a nice place full of history and great stories. However, it failed to capture my heart. We're undecided if we'll even come back before flying out of Gatwick. Maybe we'll end the trip in Brighton instead.

HECTIC!

The other day I was watching National Lampoon's European Vacation. I've been having better luck than they did, but still it's turning out to be quite the Eurotrip.

On Thursday morning, I awoke at six-thirty, drove to Calgary from the Hat, saw my cousin's new condo, and then at the airport, somehow lost my wallet. At the check-in counter, we rifled through my bag upteen times. I ran through the airport, searching. My mom checked in garbage cans. We looked through the parkade. Then a policeman found a dirty old napkin blowing through the parkade with a phone number for someone to call if they had lost a wallet. A couple had found it, and not trusting the authorities, had taken it home. Their note had blown away so I didn't see it. My cousin drove to retrieve the wallet, I held her baby, and my mom tried to find me a new way to England since I wouldn't be able to make my flight. God took good care of me. For no fee, the airline let me fly to Manchester and figure out my own way down.

Manchester - home of "football"s United and Oasis. All I saw was the airport. I hopped on a bus and a few hours later made it to my hostel near Hyde Park in London where my friend Meridith had checked in the previous day. I was a little road weary, but after a quick shower, was out and about. Meridith's Manitoban friend took us to pub where they dined on fish and chips and I tried to stay awake.

In our lovely dorm room, we made some interesting acquaintances - a Dane who stopped liking a girl because she wore a dumb hat, an Israeli who smokes in the room at the risk of being kicked out the hostel, an Irishman who lived in Kentucky . .. One of the best parts of travelling is the people you meet.

Saturday, Meridith and I walked around Buckingham Palace and caught the end of the changing of the guards. We strolled around the old streets, jaywalking and admiring the anti-Bush/Blair protesters. We went to Westminster Abbey. The Abbey has been in operation for over a thousand years and many of England's finest citizens have their mortal resting places there. We saw the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, William Wilberforce, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton . . . One section is devoted to the arts. Robert Browning, Dickens, Milton . . . The Abbey seems to be more about dead people than God. But when you read the inscriptions - Latin or Olde English - you are struck by the lives the people led and how many of them did seek to serve God - with the exception of Darwin of course.

For free, we were able to go into the Hall of Lords at Parliament (first time I've ever been frisked) and were therefore able to see Big Ben really close up. It's disappointingly smaller than I expected.

We also tackled the British Museum. It would take lifetimes to see everything in that place. We did see the Rosetta Stone. Most exciting for an admirer of the Old Testament like myself was the Ancient Near Eastern Exhibits. Entire walls from Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh were on display. The Old Testament was there before my eyes. There are so many cool treasures in the British Museum that it's daunting.

We also saw the London Tower, Tower Bridge (often mistaken for the less spectacular London Bridge) London Bridge . . . I'm sure I saw more, but it's a little hazy right now.

Then we met up with some of my friends from Taiwan. Colin is a Cantonese Englishman. Esther and Andy are visiting from Taiwan. We ate Chinese food at Colin's parents' restaurant. It was a jolly good time. It was kind of trippy being with Canadian and Taiwanese friends at the same time in the UK.

Today, Esther met us to attend a service in St. Paul's Cathedral. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, it's white dome is a definite city landmark. Meridith was almost in tears as the men's and boys' choir sang selections of Palestrina. The opening hymn was "Holy Holy Holy". It was awesome to sing that song in a building that grand. That made me tear up.

Fish and Chips . .. then we visited the monument Christopher Wren designed about the great London Fire. 311 steps (I think) to the top and we were overlooking the Thames and the Tower. It was pretty cool.

Next it was Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park where people stand on their soap boxes, orate and debate. It was interesting, but too argumentative for my liking. Lots of Anti-Bush monologues, fundamentalist Christians, cookoo religious people, and social activists.

Now we're figuring out the next leg of the trip. I have to sign off before my internet runs out!

Goodbye Summer!

The golden crops are being harvested, leaving bristly stubble. I know that winter is around the corner and with it, cold and snow. I am shivering already.

The other night, I went to the opening night of youth group. Before I did the devotional, we played some ultimate frisbee. Due to the sun setting earlier in the fall, we had to attach light sticks to the frisbee so we could see it. Too bad I didn't see the large teenage boy coming at me as I dove for the disc. I got a slight headache.

This summer was a blessing - a special gift from God. Faces of loved family and friends flow through my mind, summer camps, weddings, church . . . I'm sad that the days of summer are done. Two years ago about this time, I departed for Asia to begin my life as an English teacher. In a few days, I'll depart for London and unknown adventures on that expensive continent we call Europe. I love being home, but it's time for me to leave again. I'm getting restless.