Minneapolis, Minnesota

John and I flew in to Minneapolis, Minnesota on Dec. 14. It was really really cold. The temperature never got above -2 F while we were there. The windchill was -30 oF to -50 oF!!! We spent some time walking the skyway system that connects the downtown buildings. Here's a picture from one of the skyways:

We wanted to walk all the way from our hotel to the Mississippi river. It didn't look too bad on the map; only a couple of blocks outside. But when the windchill is -50F, it doesn't take long for you to freeze. We made it to the river and took a couple of pictures. We made it back to the skyway system with out freezing off any body parts. Then my parents met us for lunch before bringing us back to Prairie du Chien.

Snowy fun in Wisconsin

John and I enjoyed the record snowfall in WI. This December is the snowiest month on record for Madison, WI. I think Prairie du Chien (my parents house) got almost 2 feet of snow while we were here.

John and I made snow angels in my parents front yard:



Then John did some snowblowing:



And we walked around and played in the snow some more:

St. Nicholas

Dec. 6 is St. Nicholas's birthday. Saint Nick and Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) are the same person. On his birthday Sinterklaas and his assistants the zwarte Piets (black petes) come to give gifts to good kids all over the Netherlands. John and I went to John's sister's house to see if Sinterklaas would arrive. Jane (John's sister) and her husband, Cor, prepared a very tasty meal of some traditional dutch food. We had two different kinds of Stampot (one was made of smashed potatoes, kale, and sausage and the other was smashed potatoes, carrots, and sausage), smoked sausage, meatballs, and homemade applemoes (apple sauce). We had various types of pudding for dessert. On the left is a picture of us after dinner (John's mom (Bep), John, Me, Jane, Joost (Jane and Cor's son), and Evelien (Jane and Cor's daughter ).

Sure enough, after dinner we heard a knock on the window and when we looked out side there were two sacks of presents! We all opened up our presents and thought we were all very lucky to get some thing. I even got something! I got a nice big wicker basket for my bike. Now I can ride to the farmers market and load up on all sorts of stuff. Cor got a nice pair of wooden clogs, that he let me try on. Even though the clogs were too big, they were pretty comfortable. I was trying to do a little dutch dance...

Bike ride around Hoornse Plas

This past weekend John and I took advantage of the sunny day and went on a bike ride around a lake that is pretty close to our place. The lake is called Hoornse Plas. This is the shore of the lake. John said that the weeds along the shore are used to make thatched roofs.

We found a windmill that's not being used anymore along the shore. There were a couple of private homes along the banks of the lake. The picture on the right is of John on the bike path that was around the lake. I really want to go there when it gets warmer. I think it will be really nice.


The left picture is a structure that represents the gate to Groningen. The there is one flame for each day of the week. Since it was Sunday, all 7 "flames" are lit. If we were there on Tuesday, only 2 flames would be lit. The picture on the right is John on the bike path along a canal (Hoornse Diep). In the distance you can see a dutch drawbridge.

our new windows

The whole condo building is getting new windows on one side of the building. Our new windows were put in last week. It took them about 6 hours to take out the old windows and put the new ones in.

This is what our apt. looks like with out any windows (note the almost finished wall on the right):

and this is what our new windows look like. So far they're pretty nice. I'm in the process of painting our doors, so they get to hang out in front of the window.

Bike Tour

A couple of days ago it was sunny. It's cloudy 6 days out of 7 around here. I went on a 25 KM (14ish miles) around Groningen. Here are some pictures I took along the way. I followed a route that was made by the tourist office (the VVV). Most of my descriptions will come from the pamphlet.

Left: Wallhouse. It's a private house designed by an american architect, John Hejduk. Architect lovers from around the world come to admire it. It's on the shore of a nice lake.
Right: Trompburg Bridge. This is a rare cast iron swing bridge. It's wide enough for 2 bikes to pass and not much else.

Left: You guess what this sign means.
Right: Row of houses along the street. Kinda sorta reminded me of Comm. Ave. in Boston.

Scenes from the Noorderplatsoen (park). This is a elongated park in the northern part of the city, is located on the spot where the city's ramparts were constructed in the 17th century. I'm not sure what the door on the right leads too. There was a sign in dutch explaining it, but I couldn't figure it out.

More scenes from the Noorderplatsoen. On the right there was a lady feeding the birds.

This is where the "most beautiful public toliet"used to be. It seems to be getting repaired or removed. Public urinals are much more prevelant in the Netherlands than in the states.

Walking Tour of Groningen

Last week I went on a self guided walking tour of Groningen. I followed a pamphlet provided by the local tourist office (the VVV). I never got lost. It was really helpful. Here are some of the pictures I took. I'll put the captions above the pictures from Left to Right.

1. View of the Aa-Kerk and Grote Market. The church building dates back to the 15th century.
2. The Ladies public toilett. It was suprisingly pleasant.
3. City Hall. Building dates from 1810. The large scar on the lower portion of the building is a result of bullet holes from WWII.


1. Goudkantoor (gold office). Dating from 1635, it once functioned as the tax-collection office of the city.
2. Kleine Snor. Groningen's smallest street
3. Provincial Government Buliding. The Left facade dates from 1559.

1. Prinsenhoftuin Garden. This Renaissance style garden was laid out in 1625 and has a rose garden, old-Groningen fruit trees, and hedges. I really like this garden. I've been here every trip to Groningen and each time it's a little different.

2. Former pharmacy. The deer with antlers refers to the grated deerhorn which was considered a remedy in olden days.

3. Corps de Garde. This is the former guardhouse at teh Boteringepoort gate.

1. Oude Boteringstraat. This street has a lot of historically important buildings.

2. House with 13 temples. It was named after the former gothic facade with 13 pinnacles.

3. Academigebouw. The second univeristy in the Netherlands was established in 1614 in Groningen. This is one of the original buildings.

1. Typical Downtown Groningen Street. Usually the streets are barely wide enough for 2 small cars.

2. Groningen Canal.

3. House boat on the canal. The buldings on each side of the canal used to be warehouses but have since been converted to houses or buisnesses.

1. and 2. More scenes from Groningen.

3. Courtyard of the Northern Nautical Museum and Tobacco Museum. The building once served as a brewery.

1. Aa-Kerk

2. Exterior of Museums

3. Dienst Ruimtelijke Ordening (town and country planning office).

1. Interior courtyard of a Heligen Geest Gastuis (Holy Spirit Hospice). The hospice took care of the poor, sick, and elderly and functioned as an inn.

2. Saint Joseph Cathedral. The tower is nicknamed the drunk tower because 2 clock faces (double vision) are always visable.