Snow and Stolpersteins

It has been winter in Frankfurt for many months. It is cloudy and rainy nearly every day. But we were lucky enough to have  a few days of snow! They brought havoc too! As Lady Hiva and I drove to work there were cars all over the roads and off in the ditches. People really struggle to drive in the snow. 

We find things to do in the house when it is snowing. 

One of those things is to create chain reactions and Rube Goldberg tricks. He and Lady Hiva get more and more animated and bigger and bigger tricks. It is funny to watch him narrate the chain reaction before it happens and see his face when they work out!

There was one of the storms that started at noon and dumped more than a foot of snow up in the mountains. We were making our way to the school to get Koala Bear and we got a call from Lucky Dragon that the bus was stuck on the side of the road behind another bus. He asked us to come rescue him. 

Once again I was glad that he had a cell phone so he could call us. I was also glad that he knew we would come get him. I was thankful we have a good vehicle for snow and that I can drive in snow. We were able to get close to him and then I ran up the snowy hill until I saw the busses. 

Koala Bear and Pluba made a snow family. It made the whole neighborhood happy. Koala Bear put one of here own yarn creations on each of them. We would see people stop and say hello to them or take photos. 

There are stones around Germany called Stolpersteins. They are small bronze plaques in replacing one of the cobblestones in the sidewalks to honor the families and people who died in the war. Many of them are Jews. It tells their names, their birth days and what happened to them in the war. They are placed outside of where they lived or where they were taken. They are solemn things to see. 

Lucky Dragon had to choose a family to learn about and write about for history and humanities. Then we went to find the family's stones and leave flowers. What a cool way to learn about history so the younger generation learn to remember the past and find ways to love others. 

We have grown to love our neighbors. They are so good to us. They watch over us and help when they can. They speak no English, so we are glad we speak German. It is so fun to have time with them. 

 

We went up to the mountain near our house. It was beautiful! I loved being there with the family. They wanted to sled and sled and sled until it was too dark to see. 

Me running up the road to rescue Lucky Dragon!

Museums and Morsels Of Amsterdam

There is so much history in Amsterdam. It would be a missed opportunity to not go see the museums. We went to many of them, but obviously did not get to ALL of them. We would have to go back a few more times to see them all. 

We were lucky enough to see some. And we were impressed. We got tickets to the Anne Frank house. It is usually booked out months in advance, but we were able to get some tickets. Sadly, we cannot take photos in the house. The Muggles and I were shocked how closely it looked to the National Geographic series about Miep Gies called A Small Light. That series made the museum and the history come to life. 

In between museum visits, we had to stop and eat delicious fries! 

 

We went to the Flower district too. Lady Hiva was itching to bring a whole bunch of bulbs back to plant in the yard. 

We ate more stroop waffles and had some delicious proffertjes. 

Another delicacy was the Dutch chocolate. 

Koala Bear has long been a fan of art history (thanks to some great humanities teachers over the years). She learned about Van Gough last year and that prompted a stop at the next museum, the Van Gough Museum. We were able to see many of his famous original works. Although Starry Night is housed in New York City. 

We all had favorites to see. We also had many that we did not like...I guess that is the best thing about art, there is something for everyone. 

We made it to the Lego Store in downtown Amsterdam. It was so cool to see that they had recreations of famous Dutch artists and iconic Dutch environments. 

We had to take this photo after Lucky Dragon decided to test the ice in the canal. 

We had to take this one to commemorate the time we were in Amsterdam for a HUGE winter storm that stopped the city, but did not stop us! 

The best part of the Netherlands is all of the international food that we can find. 

The next stop was the NEMO science museum. This stop was really for the Muggles, but it ended up being fun for all four of us. We were there for several hours. It is a hands-on museum for all ages to explore many different aspects of science. We build bridges, studied in a lab, used engineering, and watched chain reactions. 

He thought this 3D printed housing project was so cool!