Home sweet home

We made it home last night after a good 20 hour day of travelling!
Our wonderful Moms were there to pick us up - as well as brother (to carry the bags.)! Got our Timmies and drove through the rain back home (:
But - our last few days in Europe were a good way to end. We went back to pack up our immense amount of stuff, which took a good 5 hours! We then went to Erik and Marijke's again for the last days. The plan was to go to Amsterdam the second last day but we just didn't have the energy, so we went the last day. What a beautiful city it is. We walked along the canals for most of the day, saw Anne Frank's house, sat in another Catholic church, had our last European pastry, had some Dutch cheese, and just enjoyed the last day together. We also found a free market, and checked that out thoroughly. That evening we played the last game of Settlers of Catan, and did our last bit of packing. Slept minimally, and started our long day of flights. We left the rain in Holland to come home to rain! Classic. What were we told yet again? "It was nice all week, but the next few days are going to be rainy." - Never have we heard a statement said by so many different people, to us.
I'm speaking on behalf of Lianne and I, but I know that we would say the same thing, so - We seriously cannot thank everyone enough for EVERYTHING they did for us. Those that gave us directions when we were lost in the cities, others that literally let us be part of their families, and that welcomed us into their communities, it would not have been the same without all of you.
Thank you to all of the following for everything you did!
Paul and Daphne. Erik and Marijke. Onno and Agnus. Kaila. Kristeen and Klaus. John and Anne. Marian and Ivan. Donges'. Buhl's. Deitz'. All of the Lehmann's. The Dillenburg church. Everyone we met in hostels.
THANK YOU. If there's anyone that was missed - please know that you are appreciated too!
I hope all of you know how much of a blessing you were to us on this trip. We wouldn't have had near as much fun, or seen as much without you. We'll remember this trip forever - and you all get to be part of the memories!
God bless all of you!

ps. thanks to everyone who was interested enough to check out this blog! A lot of it is for us to remember, but we love that others wanted to share in our adventure (: Sorry about all the mistakes that you had to bear too. A lot of these posts were written at late hours of the night, which resulted in crappy writing! Ha

Thanks again to everyone. You are dearly thanked from the bottom of our hearts.

Lianne and Brianna

Church camp

We spent our last weekend in Europe at family camp, in Germany, with our wonderful friends. There was time to play sports, indoor or outdoor - play on the awesome swings, talk with everyone, bbq, eat, and hang out. We managed to play quite a bit of frisbee yet again, and even a bit of American football! Every day we had a sermon translated by Jonathan and our new friend Katarina! They are pretty good (: Some of the main topics were, our assurance of salvation, being one body in Christ, and baptism of the Spirit. It was really good to be studying again with others. The last night we spent together was almost perfect - a few of us were sick. We ate some pork wrapped around a stick, threw them into the bushes so pig trees will grow, and german buns. Then took off to a walk through the woods in the dark! It was slightly muddy, but bright from the moon and stars. Absolutely beautiful. We hung out and talked for a little more afterwards, when almost everyone had gone to bed, we set out to find the perfect star-gazing spot. Which ended up being in the middle of the road because we're all too scared of slugs. But it's tradition, and so it had to be done! After seeing a few shooting stars, and after we heard terrifying things in the trees, we ran to bed for a short nights sleep. Our last day with them was sunny and hot and the perfect day not to leave...BUT! We had one last sermon, a yummy German lunch and said our goodbyes. After making plans of who's coming where next, and all the reasons to come back/visit Canada. There's a little bit of insurance now (:
We said our goodbye to Jonathan in a rush because we thought the train would leave without us, hopped on, and were on our way back to Holland. Which is where we are now, enjoying the last few days before we come home.
Thank you Donges', and Buhl's and the entire church!! You're such a blessing to us, and we wouldn't have had near as much fun or encouragement without you all! May God bless you and keep you.

p.s. we were having too much fun at camp, and didn't take a single picture...sorry!

Berlin

We happened to mention to Jonathan and Frido that we were interested in going to Berlin, and the next thing we knew, we were on our way with Frido's family!
We had such a good time seeing almost all of Berlin from the tower; which we bought tickets for, but then ended up having to wait 4 more hours. Eeccchhhh. So we walked to the Brandenburg Gate while we waited. It's pretty cool, but pretty small. The Parliament building however, was quite cool! Jonathan decided right there that he was going to be a politician so he could go into it - Frido just said he would be the janitor, and still go in it! We then walked to a park of fountains, got wet, and moved onto the train station. Apparently it's the coolest building in Berlin, according to some people (: Got some water at the indoor mall there, and found a spot to toss the disc and eat homemade waffles. After tossing it for a good 30 minutes we decided that we should really go and do something else so we wouldn't have to say that "we just played Frisbee in Berlin...", so we did. Slowly but surely we found our way back to the tower and took a long elevator ride to the top! Almost the entire city can be seen from there. It's also neat cause the buildings always match the city blocks. Meaning that if the block is a 83 degree angle, the building on the corner is too! There's also a pink barbie building...not sure why though. After getting slightly misdirected - by the map, not the guys - we made it back to the hotel! We met Frido's parents for a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant! SO good. Ended off the day by playing cards at the bar in the hotel, and eating grapes (:
The next day we ate a lot of breakfast - it's free so...we had to eat a lot! All of us thought it'd would be quite cool to take a boat tour and see the buildings from the river. After Frido bought the tickets, I immediately proceeded to dropping it in the lake! But no matter, because you don't need it on the boat. A lady that was sitting beside Jonathan was graciously telling him all these interesting facts about the stuff we were seeing...because SOMEONE thought it would be so funny to pretend they were Canadian too! The entire tour he was asking questions about why all their police have cars - because ours ride horses. Also staplers - how are they legal in Germany? Because in Canada you have to have a license. Also that only rich people have TVs. When the tour was over Jonathan asked Frido what we were going to do next - in German! She looked back, and everyone was quite embarrassed, but it was super funny! We took the trams to get to the most beautiful park in the world where we could play more Frisbee! After that we went back to the hotel for one last meal in Berlin. We then hopped back into the van and were on our way back to Dillenburg. It was such a good weekend, and we've already made plans to go back in 2 years with them! Ha (:

The countryside

We had a wonderful time in France for the week, and have to say that it's one of the most beautiful places to be. So much green is everywhere, and it's almost like living on a farm - even though we didn't!

The gang on their sweet rides!

The garbage waterfall we found! Quite interesting. 

Our home for the week

They really do love each other (:

A Week in Vicq

As you can imagine, the French countryside is almost perfect. Rolling hills cover as far as you can see in any direction; fields filled with sheep, cows, and wild flowers covered the hills. Many a slug added to the vast array of nature as well.
We arrived on the 1st and headed straight to bed after a long day of trains.
We set up their trampoline, bounced, played in the nearby creek where a bottle was found and carefully washed. Enjoyed good food and company - even thought the house was chilly. We also adventured into the forest to discover a dead fox, a jaw bone from something, and a waterfall made almost completely from garbage! So what to do rather than climb up it and see if there was any treasures! There was of course (: We came back to the house soaked from rain and ready for warmth.
So though it was quite the chilly week at most times we enjoyed daily hot coffee breaks and a warm fire, as well as nice company. Much of the week was spent walking, looking at old things in the markets, starting fires (in the fireplace), and just enjoying beautiful France and a super fun family.
To be continued....

Roma

Rome was just as incredible as you would imagine - the only unexpected thing was how small the Colosseum is. It's very tall, but the arena is smaller than we imagined. It's also caved in so you can see all the tunnels underneath. Absolutely breath taking. After reading Romans inside of the Colosseum, we took a quick look at the Forum (structures that have fallen down/pillars and columns), and walked around the city taking in the awesome-ness!
We were blessed to meet two American's from Ohio the second night who were going to The Vatican the next day as well, so we tagged along (: After losing Marcus in the morning at the museum, we carried on the rest of the day seeing The Sistine Chapel, St. Pietro's Basilica, and The Forum, with Zach! The Sistine Chapel was FILLED with people, so it was a little hard to focus on how incredible it is. It also didn't help that there are men there with the specific job to yell at people to "Silencio!" and clap when people are speaking their admiration. BUT, it was beautiful. The skill that was involved is overwhelming and seriously unbelievable. He was truly gifted. Although the art that is in that museum is literally more beautiful than can be comprehended. It was almost to much to handle! Carvings of every animal, and every person who was ever known for anything, regardless of if they were real or fiction. Stunning murals on the floors, tapestries that tell entire stories cover some of the walls, and of course paintings galore - of gore. Many sad paintings resulted of the Renaissance era. Although it was amazing to see their history told through pictures. For lunch we also enjoyed more Italian pizza - of course.
Day three we decided to go find the Pantheon and enjoy the sunshine with gelato. So we did just that. We ended our 3.5 day trip to Rome with full satisfaction that we saw everything we wanted to. Because of this, we thought "let's spend more than 12 hours on trains tomorrow!". NO we didn't think that - but that's what happened. It was a long day. It got soooo much better at the very end because the Deitz family graciously said yes to hosting us, and because of that, we were picked up from the train station! We had a lovely time going to school with our new friends Dannika, Alena, and Philemon! We only sat in on Dannika's classes - which were English and French, so it was very interesting! It was a lovely sunny day of puzzling, eating, and enjoying time with each other (: The next morning we were back on the trains to Holland! We made it by 15:00, had cake and presents for Maarten's birthday, then had all you can eat Japanese! And it was more than any of us could eat. I don't think I've ever felt that sick from food. BUT it was delicious! We had a birthday party for Maarten and Olivier today, tomorrow it's off to the Keukenhof (the tulip festival), and a coronation party the next day! Then it's off to the French countryside for some house building and relaxing.

Barefoot in Budapest

Yes, we were barefoot in Budapest - we were also stared down by everyone walking around. I guess it´s frowned upon.
We´ve decided that Budapest is the most beautiful city that we´ve seen! It was sunny, hot, stunning, and we had an awesome hostel. It was a little scary at first coming up to the hostel, because it´s just a doorbell in an apartment building - so you ring up to it, then wait for the door to be open, then walk up the old sketchy looking building stairs until someone finds you! We did just that, and it ended up being our favourite place to stay.
The second morning we hiked up to the highest point in Budapest (they call it the bottle opener), which is their very own ´Statue of Liberty´. She´s holding a leaf above her head which makes her look like a bottle opener from far away. From the point, one can see almost the entire city! Including the Danube river, the castle that is 1km sqaure, and all the other incredible buildings. We then took to the streets and found the Jewish area of the city, sat in the park, and debated going to the opera or not - we didn´t. Met a lovely girl from Berlin, who we´ll hopefully see next month, and enjoyed our free breakfasts with her (:
We didn´t have a lot of time there, so we´d like to go back. We highly suggest it to everyone!