You Go Nate!

Crossing Into New Lands!

Friday was a very full and fun day. We slept in a bit and had a nice breakfast. We then jumped in the car and headed towards The Netherlands!

On the way we stopped at this overlook into an enormous coal excavation. It was enormous. So enourmous that I had to take four enormous photos to capture it. Here is an enormous panorama of the enormous coal excavation. Click the picture below to see the ENORMOUS panorama....

We continued on until we passed through into The Netherlands. Another country to check off my list.

We drove to the Tri-Border with The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. The Tri-Border was also a few meters away from the highest point in The Netherlands. Here is Solveig and I at the marker. I felt a bit like Sir Edmund Hillary. It was exhilarating!

Here I am at the Tri-Border marker with my back leg in Germany, my front foot firmly in The Netherlands, and my hand in Belgium. I was in BENEGERM... like BENELUX but now better tasting! (obscure joke)

There was a tower on the Belgian side of the border and Jack and I went up for a look while Solveig and Sidney ate some fries.

Here I am overlooking The Netherlands...



...And here is a nice green town in Belgium.

Afterwards, we drove a little ways to the American WWII Cemetery. Here rests over 8,000 American soldiers who died in the area during World War II. The land was gifted to the US by the Dutch people and it is the only one in The Netherlands.

Here I am trying to look sober, but I actually just look ticked off.

I wasn't... I was sober... A happy sober...

Rows of crosses...

The Memorial

Our next stop was the town of Valkenburg (Falcon Castle). This was a small but very interesting Dutch town built upon soft limestone rock. Many of the buildings are built from this rock.



The ruins of a castle overlook the city and you must pass beneath the old gate to enter the inner-city...



We walked around the city for a bit and then ate lunch. I had a typical Dutch dish: Indonesian Kabobs. Indonesia was a Dutch colony and there is a big Indonesian population. Thus, Dutch cuisine has many Indonesian touches. It was tasty!

Next it was time to go up into the castle. It was pretty ruined, however and so there wasn't too much to see.

Here is Solveig, Jack, Sidney, and I in Valkenburg.

We drove home and left Sidney with the baby-sitter, then we went to the traveling circus!



This wasn't your circus with creepy clowns and poor animals. This was an acrobatic circus called "Flic Flac" and it was very good.

The crowd waiting for the show to start....

There were a variety of solo and team acts all set to heavy Rammstein music.

This woman was very flexible. She reminded me of how good I used to be at Hands-Up-Stands-Up...

The monkey bar guys were cool...

Of course, you have to have a trapeeze artist...




The highlight was the motorcycle ball. It began with eight motorcyclists riding around in this ball...

Then it was five! Then it became eight!

Here is footage of EIGHT motorcyclists riding around in this little ball. It was incredible.




At the very end they turned the stage into a pool and it rained from the ceiling. Then all the acrobats got to come out and have a big community shower while taking their bows....

We went home and I slept great after a long and fun day.

Don't forget to check out the latest pics from Friday!