Milano: One memorable day

Milano, Italy- difficult to get into, difficult to get out of (too long of a story and you would have had to be there and see how tired we where trying to deal with stuff).
But when I heard that Leonardo's Last Supper was in this town, the difficulties of the trip melted away at the prospect of actually seeing with my own eyes the 500-year-old mural. We packed our things for an afternoon adventure only to find when we got to the church (the picture to the left) that viewings for the day were all sold out- we had to get tickets from 4-8 weeks ahead of time to go inside. I was so disappointed. But as has happened a few times on this trip, a kind woman overheard my distress and came up to Kenton and I and offered us her extra ticket. We paid her well for the ticket and counted it as great luck to have one of us get to see the masterpiece. My dear hearted husband said that he wanted me to go and he would wait for me outside. As I got in line to go in at my assigned time, groups can only go in 15 minute intervals and 10 people to a group, who do I see but Kenton! Another kind old lady from some foreign country had come with a friend but she had seen the art 5 times before so she convinced Kenton to take her ticket - and he did! So we both got the unbelievable opportunity to see this incredible work. The painting was huge, and in very good repair considering it's age and all the problems it has seen in it's 500 years. The colors, though pale, were still vivid.
Here is a photo of a fort/castle from the 9th century. This is a cool ancient place that has seen so many battles from France and Spain and every other King who wanted the rich soil that is found in this area.

And a photo of the center of Milan. Sorry, hopefully we can post more later, like to secret Mafia men all over the place that Kenton stealthfully took pictures of.

Paris: WOW!

Kenton with his new hat on Father's Day

Paris has been the first city that we have been in where everything has been so surreal that I have to remind myself that, yes, I really am here seeing what I am seeing. I never really thought that I would come and see the Eiffel Tower, or the Mona Lisa, or Notre Dame! I think I feel this way because there was so little time to prepare for this trip that my usual advance history reading and studying did not happen this time. But we have spend a great 3 days in PARIS! Just Look!
Kenton in the streets of Paris carrying the Artista wheel on his back! This has been the most difficult part of the trip with travel.
The trains have been difficult to figure out, gragging baggage up and down stair cases in busy train stations has caused very difficult moments for everyone.


Mona Lisa, amazing! Everyone said her picture is so small, I think on the contrary. She just happens to be in a very large room with extremely large paintings - like 30 feet high by 30 wide. Her painting is awesome.


This famous, life size, statue in the Louve that reminded me of all the stringed musical instrument players in our family. The hair is Nates', the smile is Dan's, the carefree joy in the face is Tyler's.


The Eifflel Tower, again stunning and not what I would call small! When in France, eat like a frenchman - so Kenton did eat snails!!!

Germany: 22 Castles and 3 times more Parishes

I guess if I had thought about it, I should not have been so surprised that Germany was once a country ruled by nobility, with Kings, Knights and the whole lot of characters involved with that life.
On our car trip from Koblenz to Nurenberg Germany, one of Kenton's contacts suggested that we drive the scenic route. Here are a few of the 22 Castles that we came upon!



Germany was a pleasant surprise, very surprised at the beauty, away from the big cities all is green and abounding with vegetation of all sorts. The people are familiar looking , but to be honest, everyone in all of the countries we have visited have looked like they could be an American! Another pleasant surprise was that even in places where there is little space between homes we would see an area that co-op gardens where being grown. These little gardens would be lining the railway or highways, small long plots that were divided up with all sorts of plants being grown.

Here is a picture of a common German village. The second photo is a photo of what will be one of the most unforgetable church visits we made here. This is a beautiful cathedral that we when we had spotted for a bit and to watch the German football game. We saw groups of people entering the building and Kenton, wanting to see a church service, suggested that we go inside. WOW what a surprising treat. The people entering were members of the 100 voice choir who were practicing incredible 20th century music. This was the first time that Kenton has heard a choir preform in an old european cathedral and the unspeakable sounds that can be heard only in that setting. For those of you who have heard this know what I mean when I say that unseen choir members seemed to be standing to be in every corner of that building.

For years, when our kids were acting up, goofing off and being silly, we would call them "Ratskellers". I do not know where we came up with that name, I do not remember hearing it by any others but...... Kenton and I were looking for a place to eat dinner and watch the Germany football game. We came upon a resturant with the following name.

Interesting views

As we travel hundreds of miles throughout Europe we have found it interesting to see the different changes in country side between the countries of England, Holland and Germany. Here are just a few interesting observations.

After 9 hours on the road: England was hilly, lush green, every field separation is made through a tall dense hedge. The landscape meanders along brooks and streams that became boundry lines to land holdings. Most open fields in England house either small herds of cows or sheep (we never saw swine but smelled them). Little English towns would pop up here and there and always would have a tall steppled church in every town. We saw no orchards of any kind in England which would account for never getting a salad or fruit as a meal choice (except at great expense). Wood shingle roofs and small gardens are common.

After 6 hours on the road:Holland, because it is flat we could see for great distances. They commonly have large livestock farms with mostly sheep and cattle. But you could not smell the herds like you can in the states. I think that is because they are in open grass fields and not standing in plain dirt! The crops in Holland were corn, barley and cherry orchards (at least were we where). They are set up differently in Holland and it must be because perfectly flat land lends itself to perfectly square boundries! Order in all things is BIG in Holland, perfect square fields, all the houses line the streets with acreage in the rear. All the same. The homes have either the traditional thatched roof or newer homes now have brown tile roofs. Everyone has some kind of garden and flowers in the front yard.

After 14 hours on the road (by car and train): Germany has green lush hills, lots of them, as well as flat land. They likewise farm every spare inch of ground. But we never saw one livestock farm! Not one! They farm up hillsides like nobodies business! The crops we saw were grapes, corn and grains only. They don't use hedges as much as England but rather a dense patch of forest separates land holdings. Here little villages would surface and always there would be at least one tall steppled church in the town. I believe there must be a rule that for every 25 homes there must be a church because some villages were so small but had three different churches within their boundries. The roofs are dark tile, mostly red, everyone has a garden. They have large open spaces by modern cities which are rented out by apartment dwellers so they can garden.

As we see new places I will just add their overall comparisons here.

Holland aka Netherlands don't speak Hollandaise!

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE especially the pictures with flowers! Holland is the Netherlands and they speak Dutch- go figure! But I guess that if you can read street signs like the one below you should have no problem in the Netherlands. What an interesting country. They are like the ultimate Bio-Glogal Warming conscious country but they don't want people to put up new windmills for energy!









They ride their bikes everywhere for three reasons- one: they did not build the cities in the 1800's with parking spaces, two: the land is totally flat, as far as the eye can see the only rise in the land is a water dike, so you can get anywhere you can without breaking a sweat, and three: (this is what one funny guy told me at the "football game") there are laws against drinking and driving a car but not against drinking and riding your bike!!! I got a really cute shot of mothers riding through the streets with a cart in front of their bike with 4 young kids in the cart!

We have had the awesome experience of staying with a Dutch family (can't quite figure where the term Dutch comes from when they are from the Netherlands/Holland). We have been driven around for 3 days which is really a good thing because if you can not say the street names you for sure can not find them! Below is a picture of Urie, Sven, Babette (the mom) and Yentel they daughter. We went with them to a party to watch the Holland v Italy "football" game. That was SO much fun!

Holland is totally flat, not at all like the rolling hills of England , but similar in that everything is green and every spare inch is cultivated. Most of the homes in the country have honest to goodness thatched roofs, the homes in the cities now have brick roofs. The Dutch are pretty particular about yard care, EVERY house is immaculate in it's front yard, with trees, flowers and perfect grass. I have included a picture of a front yard garden (the top picture) and the view down a row of city homes.

Holland is a very old country and when we were traveling round we came upon an 13th century country castle complete with mote and draw bridge. The setting and style of this castle reminds me so much of the story of Rupensel with her long hair hanging out the window down to the mote water below!

One more funny not about Holland - they can grow 5 marijuana plants in their garden! So the family that we visited for the Football party proudly displayed for us their plants, then they told us that there son was on tv a few months back for having grown the largest marijuana plant in all of the Netherlands!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday in London: A Smashing Time

Kenton and I had one day to cover all of London, which really is impossible but we did our best. CLICK ON PHOTO IF YOU WANT A BETTER PICTURE! Here is a collection of photo's we took. We loved London, and suggest that everyone go to see this amazing city but you cannot do London justice in any less than a weeks long visit. We took the Big Red Bus, you know those double decker buses that you see pictures of. You can jump on and off as you like and that is exactly what we did. The painted glass picture to the left was inside Londons oldest church. It shows the oldest part of London with the old castle, the tower, and several churches in the back.
This picture of Kenton by the "Fools Paradise" sign was taken outside of an antique dealer with the last name of Oakes!

The weather in London on this day was cold and threatening rain so we stopped to get a Hot Chocolate from a street cafe. We had to take a photo of it because it was so tasty but THICK! the spoon would not even drop to the bottom of the cup.

Two Castle pictures taken below are of the original castle built in London called "The Tower" which was built in 1078 by Wm the Conqueror to whom shows up on our geneolgy chart.









We took a boat to the Greenwich area of London. Here we saw these actual phone booths, yes they are still like this in London. This big row of phone booths was at the antique place we went to the day before going to London.This is an actual picture of me and an Official Queens guard. It is not infront of Buckingham Palace, you can not evern get close to those guys for pictures but it is less that 2 football fields away at St. James Palace, I do not know who was inside the Palace at the time. Everyother picture taker stood about 4 feet away from these guys, but not me!
This plaque is on the wall at Westminster Abbey, you know the place where Dianna was married, and it turns out to be the place where Grandpa Oakes English progenitors where baptized! This Big Clock Tower is Big Ben!






And here is one last photo "Lillywhites" that Dad wanted me to take for his sons! I am not sure but there must be some inside story to this!!! ;-)

Friday: Leed's Castle

Kenton and I took a large step back in time as we visited one of the most beautiful of all the castles I personally have visited. Yes, I have visited castles before, one in Krakow Poland and one in Prague in the Chez Republic. But the exterior beauty of the Leed’s Castle was stunning as you can see by the pictures below. The Castle includes a bridge over the moat, a large moat, and grounds covering nearly a square mile or more. It was spectacular! Click on the pictures - they are fantastic.

Draw Bridge and real Mote protect this castle which sits on beautiful grass acreage surrounded by gardens and thousands of Oak, Ash, and Walnut Trees! Peacocks roam freely. There are Christian Crosses Carved in windows but that is too hard to tell from this photo.

King Henry VIII owned this place and a wife lived here! I don't remember which one for sure.

We have many more photos of this spot but we have had much trouble with the internet here in London. Sorry - we will post them later.