Farewell GGMA...

While I was growing up in California, I thought of my grandmother, who visited about every 5 years, as the Wicked Witch of the East (not the actual one from the movie, but perhaps one of her cousins). I was terrified of her after she threatened to put her fork through my cheek for eating ice (later, she said she hadn't realized I was too young to understand her sense of humor).

In 1997, newborn Veronica and I tagged along on a business trip to Miami. It wasn't until Jimmy's sister asked if I was going to visit my grandmother that I even considered the option, although I wasn't thrilled with the idea. To my delight, something very unexpected happened -- we became friends. Perhaps, she was still a bit of a Witch, but she's my Witch and I love her. She was articulate, thoughtful, opinionated, stubborn, independent, optimistic, very funny and fashionable (which is a rare trait in the 80+ crowd).

That first visit turned into an annual tradition of the two of us spending a long weekend together. She also came to visit us twice in North Carolina while she still had the energy to travel. Sadly, I put off calling her this month as we worked on which dates we'd be visiting this summer, and now it's too late. She'll always have a special place in my heart, and I know her spirit continues in me and my daughters. She started calling us "Suitcase Kids" years ago, so her spirit will also continue here in my blog. Here's hoping we'll all be as cool as her when we're in our 80's!

Erma Tina "Copenhagen" Zarkin 11/7/1919-1/28/2007 shown here in February 2005

Is Batman a New Religious Leader?

A man from a small town in Southern Holland has managed to get an official Netherlands ID card with a photo of himself made up to look like the Joker from Batman. By claiming that the make-up and hat were part of his religious beliefs, he managed to get around strict new rules for ID cards and passports. These rules state that the mouth must be closed and laughing is banned, but apparently smirking isn't. Head scarves are acceptable on religious grounds as long as the entire face is clearly visible.

For some peculiar reason, the town council approved the photo. Perhaps they belong to some strange religious sects themselves, so they didn't feel they could deny him. The man, who works as a security guard at Parliament protecting the Prime Minister's offices, told a radio station that he "wanted to show the rules were not up to scratch". Since he's been seen around town without the make-up, the council has now said he misrepresented himself and the ID is void. Sounds like the joke's on them.

Valuable Lessons Learned - Part 6

* When meeting your dad's oldest friend, who just happens to be jazz pianist Chick Corea, remembering to bring the digital camera along to the concert in Amsterdam isn't enough. You also have to remember to bring a memory card. Luckily Chick's personal assistant had a camera phone handy; seeing that meager camera gave Jimmy a great excuse to volunteer to play photographer at their Rotterdam concert a few nights later.

* Don't trust the train schedules on New Year's Eve. Luckily, we didn't learn this the hard way, but two of our guests did. Kathy and her daughter had the fun of watching the 1:30am train go by and not stop for them. To make things more interesting, the riot police were nearby dealing with some rowdy youths (thankfully, this type of insanity only tends to happen on New Year's Eve). Luckily the fellow cleaning up broken glass from his business outside the station helped her by calling a cab. After an expensive cab ride, she'll remember another lesson--if a friend offers a bed late at night, take it.

The Coolest Carousels...

As we wandered through Brussels' Christmas market, we happened upon the most creative carousels we've ever seen. There were 2 versions of Le Manege d'Andrea, animals and toys; they were built in the 1990's in the style of the 1800's. Every figure is completely different and has moving parts for the kids to control. This photo doesn't come close to capturing how whimsical and magical this ride was. The girls had to climb a ladder to get on. Instead of going up and down, this bird is going back and forth out past the normal circumference of the ride. They got to control his head and wings. On the toy carousel, there was a rocket that actually went up through a hole in the top. Sadly, they didn't have any seats for adults.

A Little "Pis" in Brussels...

No trip to Brussels is complete without seeing the infamous Manneken Pis (Little Man Piss). While his history dates back to 1388, this particular 2-foot bronze statue was made in 1619. Rumor has it he supposedly dispensed beer in the past. We were a few days late to see him wearing his Christmas costume, which is just one of over 100 he wears at different times of the year.

An Afternoon in Brussels...

While Jimmy has been to Brussels for work, I'd never had a chance to visit. Since we had to change trains there and Jimmy knew where to find lockers big enough for all our packs, we decided to stop for lunch. This is the impressive Grand Place, the main square with a town hall built in 1455. Most of the buildings above were rebuilt in 1700 after 70,000 French soldiers flattened the majority of them in retaliation for an earlier attack. We'd hoped to see the holiday light show in the square, but it started raining just as it got dark, so we hopped on a train home instead.

Valuable Lessons Learned in France...

* Make sure the Chateau doors are securely closed. After taking photos of the icy sunrise, one of the doors was left ajar and this little finch found his way inside. Guess he liked the warmth because opening the windows didn't help to coax him outside, so Jimmy had to catch him.

* If someone says "GROSS" while walking through the Paris Metro, trust them. Whatever they've seen will definitely be gross, so there's no need to actually turn your head and be tortured by sights best unseen.

A Beautiful Show by Mother Nature...

When we first arrived at the Chateau, the reflecting pond was partially frozen. We hoped it would completely freeze and that we'd have a white Xmas, but no such luck. Although we had cold days, it was above freezing; the ice eventually melted and the predictions of snow dried up. So we were pleasantly surprised when we woke up one morning to a winter wonderland as a light sprinkling of ice covered everything. It was especially dramatic as we watched the sunrise glow pink across the trees. (If you're shocked that we saw the sunrise while on vacation, it wasn't because we woke up early but that the sun rose late.)

A Chateau Christmas...

We were just thrilled that the caretakers went to the trouble to get a Christmas tree and then let the girls decorate it. Veronica was so excited that she asked to go to the sewing store when we were shopping in Vendome so that she could use her new stitching skills to make some of her own decorations. The girls made cookies for Santa and were very excited that he'd found them so far from home. I was excited he didn't bring Ashlynn her first wish--"I think Santa's going to bring me a fox or a penguin. He's going to use his magic to make them tame." Luckily Santa knew our landlord doesn't allow pets. We even managed an American Christmas dinner with cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and roasted Cornish hens. This photo was actually taken on our final morning; to highlight where we spent Christmas, Jimmy's holding a photo he'd taken previously of the Chateau.

Time for Reflection...

On Christmas Day, Jimmy suggested we have a moment of reflection in the Chateau's Chapel. This tiny place of worship next to the moat was built in 1621, which predates the Chateau, and was dedicated to St Catherine, patron saint of spinsters and lawyers. The crypt below is empty since the tombs were relocated to a cemetery some years ago. So we lit some candles and went into the Chapel for some quiet meditation. Even a cynic like me could appreciate standing in a historic chapel and thinking about the ways my life's been blessed by my family. Later in the week, Jimmy and the girls went back in and scrubbed the floors and polished the candlesticks.

Keeping Warm...

After Jimmy returned the rental car (he turned down the caretaker's offer of a ride and ran the 15k back to the Chateau), we had good intentions of going on family walks through the woods (we did 2), bike rides through the neighboring villages (we did 1) and maybe an occasional run (we blew this off completely). Since the temperature had dipped to a high of 37, we decided staying warm inside was more fun, so we spent a lot of time bundled up in front of the fire (this fireplace predates the Chateau to 1520 and was relocated there in 1792 from the ruins of a neighboring chateau). We enjoyed 18th century activities of reading and playing games, as well as 21st century activities of watching DVDs, blogging and making free calls using VOIP. It sure felt great to have over a week of being total lazy bums.

A Day in Orleans...

With a limited opportunity to go sightseeing since we rented a car for only the first 3 days of the 12 in the Loire, we decided to explore somewhere new. We chose Orleans, where Joan of Arc at the age of 17 led troops to victory at the Siege of Orleans in 1429. After another difficult search for a restaurant that wasn't filled with smokers, we found a winner where we had a terrific traditional French lunch. Of course, the girls especially loved it because we let them have dessert for lunch since there wasn't a thing on the menu they'd eat. We visited the 17th century cathedral and the old city hall built in 1555 as well as the small Xmas market. While Jimmy took the girls ice skating, I wandered the shops. Afterwards, we enjoyed the Xmas lights when we stopped in Blois for dinner. When we returned to the Chateau, we were greeted by the amazing sight of over a dozen deer prancing across the lawn (perhaps they weren't exactly prancing, more like running for their lives but that doesn't paint as pretty of a picture).

R & R in the Loire...

After a great weekend in Paris, it was time to head to the Loire Valley for 12 days of relaxing at the Chateau du Plessis-Fortia. Unlike our previous two visits when we had the place full with friends, we were the only guests. In fact, I think we were the first to brave the winter in this drafty place in many years (thank goodness for 2 electric heaters that moved with us from room-to-room). We stayed in the ground floor of the Petite Chateau, which is the "new" gray wing built in 1791. We only ventured across the Grand Chateau to head to the dungeon to do laundry and to raid the supplies in the other kitchen.

Bad Parents in Paris - Part 3

Good parents would have taken the girls in a taxi back to the hotel after a long day in Paris. Instead, we finished up the night by making the girls walk around in the cold looking for somewhere to have dessert in the Latin Quarter. On the way, they had this Marilyn Monroe moment (with panties, of course).

Bad Parents in Paris - Part 2

Yes, this photo does feature Veronica under the table at a nice restaurant in Paris. While most parents would have discouraged their daughter from crawling around on the floor in a fancy dress, we saw it as a photo op.

Bad Parents in Paris - Part I

Being the bad parents that we are, we didn't stop the girls from wandering all over the the fish restaurant to take photos and shoot videos with their new digital cameras (thanks Buddy & Memmie!) Luckily it wasn't too crowded on a Sunday night, so they were limited on the number of people they could irritate.

Chinese Food in Paris?

Thanks to the Sparanos for their recommendation, we didn't need to spend our usual time searching all over the city for the perfect restaurant. While eating Chinese food in Paris did seem a bit silly, it was the fish at Dragons Elysees that attracted us. Not just fish to eat, but fish to watch from tanks all over the floor of the restaurant. In case you're curious, we didn't eat the fish in the tanks; luckily they were there just for entertainment purposes. This photo features Ashlynn feeding some of the koi from our table (the water was actually blue instead of this nasty yellow, but the exposure on this photo was hard to correct).

A Night Out on the Town...

We figured it was a pretty rare event for us to be in Paris at Christmastime and that it was only fitting that we'd do a nice dinner out. Of course, this did create a bit of extra work since we had to fit in fancy clothes (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the girls' new dresses!) in our backpacks and had to bring a roller bag just to carry the overflow of shoes. So, here we are at the Gare Lyon Novotel (our new favorite chain since it caters to families -- Ashlynn even started learning how to dive in the indoor pool) all dressed up for our big night out.

Happy New Year!

Thought I'd take a moment to interrupt my regularly scheduled entries on our France trip to wish you a Happy New Year. We celebrated New Year's Eve in typical Dutch-style, by creating massive air and noise pollution while blowing crap up. All our fireworks were small, but those around us were the professional style we typically saw at city-sponsored shows in the US. This photo shows Veronica in her favorite viewing spot (you can see a burst of color behind her on the right).

Thanks for humoring me by reading my blog. As you know, I never run out of things to say and enjoy the opportunity to pretend to be an important travel writer (as proven by the site meter with over 2,000 hits of which only half are probably my dad's). Don't forget, I take requests, so please let me know if there's anything you'd like to see me include.

Best wishes for a great 2007!