Europe Part 2

We finally made it to bed the first night in Amsterdam...  and to say that we made it until 8:00 pm... it was a miracle.  That said... by 3:00 am, I finally asked the room (yes we all stayed in one room, just like old times)... is anyone ELSE awake?  

They all replied... yep, one at a time.  :)  

Sleep evaded us all for awhile and Dutch television consisted of boobs, boobs, and more boobs.  Go figure... us Americans are rather prude.  I settled on animals over boobs and finally fell asleep.  We all awoke at 10:00 am... we were so sleeping on Houston time.  :)  

After a delightful, albeit, expensive breakfast, we hit the road for Cologne, Germany.  Dad had his heart set on some time in the Kolnerdome and dinner at an Argentinian Steak House he used to love.  It was about a four hour drive and off we went.  We decided to take some back roads though instead of all highway and I ended up navigating.  

We ended up going through some of the CUTEST towns...  the pictures of the windmills and the beautiful house with gardens are in Elst.  I was just struck by all of the flowers!!!  Everything was so manicured and clean.  You didn't see the garbage on the sides of the street... you didn't see the pollution...  it was just... clean.  

We made it through another town which was alongside the Rhein River...  and there were pleasure boats and roadside french fry stands.  Vegetable and fruit markets and we even saw a kangaroo... yep, you read right.  A kangaroo...  :::::scratching head::::  and a cannibus farm.  Now THAT is not something you see every day.  :)  

We stopped at a German restaurant for a snack...  we sat outside, the weather was gorgeous.  We also got directions to Cologne and headed out.  

The first thing we noticed upon arrival was the hordes of people lining the street and reveling in the streets... beer, German flags and some inebriation.  We quickly found out it was the DAY of the European Soccer Championship and it was Germany against Spain.  If a restaurant did not have a television... they were closed.  

It was quite a sight to behold all of the people...  and quite fun to be a part of it all even if they did lose.  :)  

We also had the chance to see and walk around the Dom... which is this gorgeous cathedral...  they are always working on it and it did have quite a bit of scaffolding up...  it is just spectacular though and for some odd reason, my dad who is the most UN-churchy man you will ever meet has fallen in love with it.  Has always been in love with it... and I do believe we walked around the Dom more than once...  maybe even 100 times.  :)  

Dad's favorite restaurant was closed for the night so we settled on a little German restaurant and Kristin, my sister, had the chance to have her Weinerschnitzel.  :)  

It was a fun day... and none of us could quite get over how well we were traveling together.  :)