Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa John come to Holland

(posted by John)

On February 19th we received our first visitors from the States since we began our European adventure.  Jen's parents Jeanne and John came to spend ten days with us!  We were so excited to host their first trip to Europe.  Jen, Allie and Matthew picked Jeanne and John up at the airport at 9:30am (Ryan and I were at baseball practice) and following Ryan's practice and a quick bite to eat we had them on bikes touring Amstelveen.  I think it had been quite some time since John and Jeanne had been on a bike, but as the saying goes, they had no problem remembering how to make it go. 



Biking in Amstelveen



We took them to ISA (the International Scool of Amsterdam) where Allison, Ryan and Matthew go to school but the school was already closed for crocus break (All Dutch students receive a week off in February to celebrate the blooming of the crocus flowers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocus).  We kept them moving, fighting jet lag by going to one of our favorite restaurants, L'Arena in Amsterdam Oud Suid (Old South) http://www.arenaristorante.nl/about-us.html. 


Dinner at L'Arena





We succeeded in keeping them up the entire day (Grandpa John took a 30 minute power nap but as we all know that is normal for a Saturday afternoon) so they could get on European time.



We awoke to a crisp but nice Sunday morning and trekked into the city.  We boarded the bus for the 20 minute ride to the Jordaan area of Amsterdam, best know for the Westerkerk church and the house where Anne Frank hid during WWII http://www.amsterdam.info/jordaan/.  We toured the houseboat museum that is located on one of the many Amsterdam canals http://www.amsterdam.info/museums/houseboat_museum/.  Following this we ate a late brunch at a Dutch pancake house that served pancakes with ham, cheese and mushrooms as well as others with ice cream and hot fudge.  We had both variaties as well as an adult beverage.  That hit the spot!  Matthew was not with us during this tour because he was asked by a friend to attend his first professional soccer (Voetball in Dutch) game.  Ajax is the Amsterdam team and they won 1-0!  The day ended with a bowl of the legendary Feriancek Chili back at our house.

Museumplein in Amsterdam

On Monday morning I left for Minnesota to attend a meeting at AMS.  Unfortunate timing for sure.  The reports I received were that on Monday, everyone painted Allie's room.  We certainly appreciate the help making our Holland house feel more like home.  Allie's room is now a very non-subtle pink...and she loves it!

It's Pink!

On Tuesday Jen took John, Jeanne and crew to the Amsterdam flower market.  As many of you may remember, Holland has a rich tradition in the flower trade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floral_industry. 

Wednesday entailed more paining, turning our very white living room into a soft sage green.  We love it! 

The crew visited the the Nemo Science Museum http://www.e-nemo.nl/?id=5&s=85&d=551 on Thursday and received a scenic tour of Amsterdam.



Arc d'Triumph

 I arrived back in Holland on Friday morning and we immediately hit the road for Paris.  We arrived in Paris at about 3pm and went directly to the Eiffel Tower, but unfortunately the top level observatory deck was closed for the evening, so we hopped on the Metro and went to visit the Arc de Triumph instead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe.  You must see the Arc in person to truly appreciate how impressive it really is (so come and visit us!).



Musee du Louvre

 We awoke Saturday morning and it was raining.  Good thing there is plenty to do in Paris even in the rain.  We took the opportunity to go to the Louvre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_du_Louvre and John and Jeanne enjoyed the experience.  Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa were a few of the works we saw.  I think it would take a good two weeks to see everything in this massive museum, maybe longer.  Allison, Ryan and Matthew were very good tour guides for their Grandparents. 

Later in the day the skies cleared a bit and we were able to asend to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  No matter how many times you do it, I don't think it ever gets old.  What a magnificent structure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower. 


Top of the Eiffel Tower



We ate dinner that evening at a nice restaurant that unbeknownst to Jen, was showing the England vs. France Rugby game as part of the six nations cup http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/home.php.  I thourougly enjoy the opportunities to be in a foreign country and not feel like a tourist.  In this case, we were immersed in a bar to enjoy a rivalry on par with Vikings vs. Packers or Yankees vs. Red Sox, only these two countries actually did go to war against each other on a number of occaisions.  Good stuff.



Grandma & Grandpa at Notre Dame

Our last day in Paris consisted of visiting Notre Dame http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris and one of Jen and my favorite landmarks, Sainte Chapelle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Chapelle.  When the sun shines through the enormous stained glass windows of this chapel, it is truly a unique experience.  The rest of the day consisted of souvenier shopping, lunch at a cute Italian restaurant on the River Seine near Pont Neuf, and our favorite Parisian gelatoria that was the perfect end to our Paris excursion.  At 5pm we piled (or wedged ourselves) back into the car to drive back to Holland.  We loved the opportunity to share this experience with John and Jeanne and can't wait to do some more exploring with them on their next trip to visit us.

Aalsmeer Flower Market

On the last day of the trip John and Jeanne were able to tour the kids' school as well as visit the Aalsmeer flower market, the largest flower market in the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aalsmeer_Flower_Auction.  The building itself is 10.6 MILLION square feet, the third largest building in the world. Awesome.

On Tuesday morning, March 1st, John and Jeanne flew back to the States.  We had a great time and can't wait for their next visit!

Hope to see you soon,

John



:)



A Day at the Beach...in February!

(posted by John)

In honor of another snowstorm that is bearing down on Minnesota today, we wanted to share our day at the beach last Sunday, February 13th.  We live approximately 20 miles from the North Sea, so the trip is short.   One unique aspect of the trip is that about the last 1/2 mile is uphill in order to get to the ocean.  Most of the Netherlands sits below sea level, which you don't realize on a day-to-day basis until you drive to the beach.  Too bad it was only about 45 degrees outside because the beach was huge and beautiful.  We can't wait to go back when it's warmer.  Also dogs are allowed off-leach so Bella will be a frequent beach goer as well! 

The signature Feriancek team "Jump"

The beach makes us happy!

After visiting the beach we went to the town of Haarlem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haarlem) an historic town dating back to the Middle Ages. We ate dinner in Haarlem at a restaurant that had great hamburgers (Ryan's request) and was located directly on the square in the center of town.  Like so many cities in Europe, Haarlem has beautiful archetecture, great restautants, and lots of fun things to do.  That being said, all the cities we've been to so far are truly unique in their own way, which makes exploring quite enjoyable.  We look forward to having many visitors that will share some of these experiences with us.  Plenty of room at the Hotel Feriancek!  Take care, John

Matthew in Haarlem

Jen's Cute New Car

(posted by John)

Most families in Holland own only car families.  The public transportation is great, gas is expensive ($8/gallon), and cars are expensive which makes one think before purchasing a second car.  Given where my office is located (City of Breukelen if you are curious), public transportation is not a great option for me so we decided we needed a second car (my company provided us our first car).  Jen had been driving a minivan for the past 10 years which although practical for moving kids, gas prices and the size of parking spaces ruled out a minivan in Europe.  So we settled on something practical (4 doors, seats 5), cute (red), European (made by Renault), and much to Jen's delight, a stick shift!  The result is a very fuel efficient 2004 Renault Modus.  Keep you fingers crossed for us that it runs for a while!

John

London Calling...

(posted by John)



Under the English Channel in the Chunnel





After receiving a special invitation from the Queen, we drove (for you geography majors, yes, we drove) to London last weekend.  We left on Thursday afternoon January 20, and made the 6.5 hour trek through Belgium and France to London.  Ryan and Matthew were psyched because they were able to play Nintendo DS for the entire drive until we reached the English Channel.  To get from France to England we took the Euro Tunnel, AKA "Chunnel."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel  The Chunnel is an underground tunnel that is actually a train for cars.  We arrived in Calais, France and boarded the train, in our car!  The under channel journey took about 25 minutes and voila...we're in England!  Driving on the left side of the road was quite an experience (it helps to just follow everyone else).  We stayed in the Westminster section of London, within walking distance to most of the sites.  Our first night entailed eating dinner in at Sole Mio, an Italian restaurant.  Italian is always a Feriancek favorite no matter where we are. 


Big Ben





Friday morning began with a run for me to stretch my legs out and scout around for the day.  A sunny day in London!  My run took me past Big Ben and the London Eye, what a way to start the day.  I arrived back at the hotel for a quick shower, breakfast and off we went!  We walked along the Thames river which disects the city.  Our first major site was the Houses of Parliament.  A huge gothic structure that was actually built in the 19th century.  Big Ben http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/culture/big-ben is attached to this building and is quite an imposing site.  We arrived just as the bell tolled 11:00.  Really cool!. 



The Lion King



Next we moved on to the London Eye, but it was closed for the day, the last day of a two week maintenance period.  This site would have to wait until Saturday.  So we moved on to the hightlight of the trip for Ryan and Matthew.  The video arcade.  We actually visted the arcade on Saturday as well.  Motorcycle racing was the choice of the day.  Next we went on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of London.  We were able to purchase a two-day pass (Ryan did admit that he really liked the bus tour as well).  We rode through London on the upper deck of a convertible double decker bus.  It was about 40'F so it was a bit chilly but what a great way to see London.  We saw the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London (nearly 1,000 years old!), Buckingham Palace and many other great sites.  Our day was capped off when we attended a live theater production of The Lion King.  An outstanding show that all five of us enjoyed thoroughly.





After our big day on Friday we slept in a bit on Saturday and then made our way to the London Eye http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Eye.  The entire wheel takes between 30-45 minutes to perform one rotation, so we had plenty of time to take in the beautiful views.  It was really high! (I am a bit afraid of heights...).  Our next stop was the video arcade...then back on the bus to continue our tour of London.  The highlight of the day was our tour of St. Paul's Cathedral www.stpauls.co.uk/Cathedral-History.  Not just your average church!  St. Pauls was built in 1703 and is the second largest domed structure in Europe (St. Peter's cathedral in the Vatican is the largest).  It was beautiful.  We toured the entire cathedral and went to the top of the dome on the outside of the church, an area called the Golden Gallery.  Once again, I was a bit nervous as it felt like we were on top of London, this time without plexiglass between us and the ground.  We all climbed the steps both on our way up and our way down (the kids, especially Matthew did great!). 



The Golden Gallery at the top of St. Paul's Cathedral





Ryan's meat pie







We ended our day by eating dinner at a traditional English restaurant, where Ryan discovered "meat pie."  He loved it!  It's a little known fact that Ryan's 2nd favorite food is meat.  Jen and I are going to have to learn that recipe.



On our last day we departed the hotel early in the morning to see the Royal Naval Observatory in Greenwich, England, the site of the Prime Meridian www.nmm.ac.uk/about/history/royal-observatory/.  It contained some very neat history and we can now attest to having had one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere and another in the Western Hemisphere at the same time!  We then traveled back to London to meet a colleague of mine (Keith) from AMS and his family for lunch.  Keith and his family are also American expats living in Europe.



Straddling the Prime Meridian



We enjoyed our stay so much that we did not arrive back in the Netherlands until 11:15pm Sunday night. Bella missed us but she had a great time staying with our neighbors Sylvie, Cecelia and Nicolene.  Despite the last night, everyone rallied the next morning to go to school/work, proving that we are getting quite good at this European travel thing. 

London Calling

Oh and one last bit of exciting news...Allison will be starring in one of the lead roles in the upcoming International School of Amsterdam production of "High School Musical!"  The show will be put on by the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th graders of the school and Allison will be playing Sharpay Evans.  So go out and rent the original movie so your prepared for my blog about the show in April!

Best wishes to you all,

John



 





Minnesota for the Holidays

(posted by John)

We just arrived back in Holland after a great three weeks spent in Minnesota to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.  Jen and the kids arrived on Dec. 18th and I followed on the 21st.  We spent Christmas Eve day with my Mom, sister Jenny and her husband Jon and our niece Andie.  Andie is 16 months old and certainly was the star of the show!



Matthew, Andie, Ryan & Allison

 Christmas Eve night was spent at my Uncle Scott's house with the rest of the Feriancek clan on my Dad's side of the family.  Plenty of baseball talk even though the season opener is still three months away (Go Twins!)

Merry Christmas!

We woke up at our house in Eden Prairie on Christmas morning and lo and behold Santa knew where to find us!  An iPod docking station and Star Wars Legos were the major items Santa delivered this year (and a new Twins hat for Dad!) 

After opening presents and playing with our new toys, we packed up our van and headed south to St. James to celebrate Christmas with Jen's family.  Everyone was able to be there and we had a great time.  Plenty of snow available to play outside (sledding, snowboarding, snowmobiling, etc.) as well as new games to play inside.  Even though there aren't many hills in St. James, we found a nice rivene that must have contained two feet of snow on the ground!  The kids and dads had a blast.  As always there was plenty of food (never and issue) and 'good cheer!'  We stayed in St. James for three days and two nights and had a very fun time as always!  A picture of all eleven cousins is below.



The 'St. James' cousins



In addition to all our Minnesota family and friends we were lucky enough to receive a visit from the Cheesemans, our friends that we first met in Philadelphia in 2001 and now live in Houston.  We have grown very close with Jen, Mike, Zach, Isabel and Grant over the past ten years and we look forward to every visit. 

Ryan, Zack, Allison, Grant, Matthew & Isabel

The last part of our trip was spent working (me), getting together with friends at various adult and kid parties, and ringing in the New Year at our cabin near Alexandria, MN.  More outdoor winter sports and indoor board games were played in the five days we spent at the cabin .  Jen's Mom and Dad (Jeanne & John) as well as her Aunt Joyce joined us for part of our cabin stay which was a great treat. 

Happy New Year!



Grandpa John and Ryan




Matthew on Snowshoes for the 1st time!



Thank you to everyone who made time to be with us during the busy Holiday season.  Believe it or not, we did a lot more and saw many more people than I was able to mention in the blog!  We had a great time and look forward to Spring in Europe and hopefully many visitors!  Marry Christmas and Happy New Year from Holland!

John

Thanksgiving in Holland

(posted by John)

I know it's January, but while we were back in MN for the Christmas Holiday, we realized we forgot to tell you about our first Thanksgiving in Holland.  As I'm sure you will learn through future posts, a typical Dutch kitchen is quite a bit different from a US kitchen.  In our house the refridgerator is a bit small, but the oven is much smaller.  So much so that it would be difficult to fit a 10lb turkey in the oven, let alone a typical American size turkey.  Add to that the fact that a turkey is not easy to find in the Netherlands, and we had assumed we would start a new Thanksgiving tradition, maybe Thanksgiving salmon?  But our new friends the Pemantell's would have none of that.  They invited us over to their house for a traditional American Thanksgiving.  They have a nice American sized oven and know where to find a Turkey!  Preparation for the event produced my favorite picture of our stay thus far; Jen riding home from the market with a turkey strapped to the back of her bike!  I think that is a good sign that we are enjoying ourselves thus far!

John

Family Trip to Paris

(posted by John)

On Saturday, November 27th we departed by car for our first trip to Paris as a family.  By car it took us approximately five hours from our house to our hotel in the center of Paris.  Our hotel was located in a great location right on the Seine river directly across from Pont Neuf in the St. Germaine district of Paris.  immediately upon our arrival we put our things in the hotel room and strolled to the Eiffel Tower.  The temperature was in the high 30's with a fairly stiff wind, but that was no match for the hearty Feriancek's from Minnesota on their first trip to the Eiffel Tower!

Ryan has been enthralled with major world landmarks for quite sometime and the Eiffel Tower has always been his favorite.  The look on his face was priceless once he saw it up close.  I think everyone remembers the first time they saw the Eiffel Tower as it is quite impressive.  We waited in line for about 30 minutes and then took the elevator to the top.  It was dusk by the time we reached the top which was ideal because Paris at night is very beautiful.  Was lingered at the top for about 20 minutes before going back down, we even walked down the stairs for the last half of our desent!

On Sunday we went to the Lourve and Jen and I were a bit surprised by how much the kids enjoyed it.  The interactive audioguides were a nice piece of new technology to keep the kids engaged.  The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Lourve archetechture were the highlights of our trip.

For the afternoon the boys and girls split up (boys to the Museum of Modern Art and the girls shopping) and we reconvened for dinner in the evening.  Monday morning started with a quick trip to see Notre Dame before jumping in the car to head home so we arrived in time for Ryan's Basketball practice.

Paris did not disappoint.  Despite the chilly weather, we had a great time seeing the sites, enjoying dinners together and even a little gelato!

Take care,

John