Guest Bedroom

We finally got a bed for the guest bedroom.  I had to put it together.  i managed with only minimal swearing:

 

And here is the completed bed.  We are working on getting some pretty pillow covers (thanks mom):

 

Queens Day

The Dutch Queens birthday is celebrated April 30 (even though she was actually born in January).  On the Queens birthday people can sell stuff on the street.  It's like a huge rummage sale.  The night before is called Queens Night.  It's a city-wide party complete with rides:

 

On Queen's day almost everyone is dressed in orange.  Here are some pictures of the crowds in amsterdam:

  

  

One of the Dutch radio stations sponsored a free concert.  There were lots of musical acts throughout the city.

 

People try to make some money anyway they can.  Some people sell their unwanted stuff (or junk), other people teach their kids to play the violin, and yet others let other people throw eggs at them.

     
And after walking around all day, it's time for some sate:

Spanish Vacation Pt III- Granada

We ventured about 1 1/2 hours Northwest into the area around Granada, Andalucia on the 10th day of our vacation. It was also my birthday.  John got me a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  It was delicious.  He also is going to take me on a hot air balloon ride for my birthday. 

Here is a overview of Granada:

  

We ended up staying in a nice hostel near one of the squares.  We got to explore the city quite a lot. Granada is built on a hill, so there were lots of small twisty roads to explore.  The cathedral where Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand (those are the folks who financed Columbus's expedition) are buried is huge. This is one where you can see some of the intricate carving:

  

You can also get some tasty ice cream nearby after exploring the city:  

here's a view of one of the streets near our hostel:

Part of the old defense wall survives.  Here is an arch from that wall:

  

We went to the famous Alhambra for a night time tour.  The Alhambra is a very old fortress built by a muslim ruler and then taken over by christian rulers.  It had very intricate carvings and was very beautiful.  

Here is a picture of Alhambra from a hill next to the complex:

It was dark, so the pictures didn't turn out that great.  On the left is a picture of the palace of Carlos V.  On the right is a close up of some of the carvings.

    

Here is a "ghost".  Kinda looks like John ;)

  

Our vacation ended on a very disturbing note.  We had about a 1/2 hour to kill before we had to get to the airport in Malaga.  We decided to go to a nearby beach and enjoy the sun. We got back in the car and drove to the airport.  I opened the trunk and discovered that our luggage and John's computer were stolen. They must have been hungry thieves since they also stole the remainder of my cake. We can replace the clothes and phone that was stolen, but not our pictures.  We were really bummed that our pictures were taken.  Luckily John had our passports in his pocket.  I also took my phone and wallet with me, so the thieves didn't get that stuff.  We got on the plane with moments to spare after dealing with the very uncooperative spanish police and made our way back to amsterdam.  

here's a view of the beach:

Spanish Vacation Pt II-Mijas

We traveled to our second hotel on the fourth day of our vacation.  We stayed at the Gran Hotel Costa del sol.  http://www.hmgranhotel.com/spain/galerias.htm  It was filled to the brim with people about twice as old as John and I.  It was not nearly as nice as the Marriot (our first hotel).  It was on the beach and we had a great view of the beach. It was an all inclusive "resort" so we got  buffet style breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  The food was not very good, but we didn't go hungry.  

We went to Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves and hiked 14.5 km to the top of Mt. Torrecilla. It's the highest peak in western Andalucia.  The views from the top were great.  The hike got pretty challenging during the ascent.  It was a very steep 300 meters to the top.  We had some great pictures.  :(  They were all stolen along with John's laptop and our luggage on the way to the airport (more on that one later in pt. III).  

We also drove to Tarifa, Spain and took a ferry across the Gibraltar Straight to Tangier, Morocco. It was a pretty bumpy ride.  We took a guided tour provided by the ferry company.  John got to ride a camel.  I think the tour operators cooperated with the hawkers, as we were followed around the whole time by people selling various wares.  The sellers really took a liking to John and tried to get him to buy lots of stuff.  He did end up buying a camel ride, a fez, and some "silver" jewelry.  I'd like to explore Morocco some more when I know some more about the country and don't have to rely on the guides. 

We drove to another Natural park, Parque Natural torcel de Antequra to explore that area.  It was very pretty and very different from anything we had seen in Spain.  The area used to be a sea bed that has been pushed up.  The 2 h hike was beautiful and interesting.  I wish i had some pictures to show you.  

We also explored Malaga for one day.  We toured the Alcazaba, which is an old fortification first built by the Muslims and then rebuilt and used by the christian crusaders.  We also went to the Picasso museum.  Picasso was born in Malaga.  

Spanish Vacation Pt I- Estepona: wow, fantastic, great

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from our vacation until the last day.  Our luggage and John's computer (with our pictures) was stolen on the way to the airport (more on that later).

John and I arrived at the Marriot Playa Andaluza:  http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/agppy-marriotts-playa-andaluza/  late on Sunday April 19, 2009.  Our room was really a 2 bedroom apt in a time share resort.  It was great.  We were right on the beach.  We went to a lovely little tapas place in Estepona.  The next day we explored the area around the hotel.  It was pretty touristy.  We also explored nearby Marbella.http://www.andalucia.com/marbella/home.htm I heard way more english than spanish.  I think a lot of british people vacation here.  We also had our time share spiel to get us to buy a time share at that resort.  our short 90 min presentation lasted 5 hours!  Our salesman was from Belgium and kept saying wow, fantastic, great.  

Following our presentation we took a trip into the interior of Andalucia.  We went to the small village of Ronda.http://www.andalucia.com/ronda/home.htm It was about a hour drive on really curvy hilly roads.  The village is split into 2 parts, the old part and a the new part.  The parts are connected via a huge bridge spanning a deep gorge. We ate dinner at a great place that over looked the valley.  The trip back was very exciting (for John) and terrifying (for me).  We had to descend from the mountains to the coast via very twisty narrow roads in the dark.