A Quick Oz Trip

About 8 months ago, I applied for a job with the Australian Department of Veteran's Affairs and last month I finally heard back from them! I successfully gained an interview and I had a week and a half notice to get a ticket and everything together and go to Sydney for the interview.
I actually got a pretty good price on the ticket so I was happy for that. It is such a pain flying from the east coast, usually I just go straight from California (I am currently residing in FL). It was a lot of travel time in bad seats.
The interview went really well and I am waiting to hear back from them by the end of this month - keep your fingers crossed! It was a fast trip, I was only there 5 nights, but I got to see my Aunties, some cousins, and my Grandma. It was great to see my Grandma especially, since when I saw her last year she wasn't doing too well and didn't know who I was. This trip was great just for that, she was so excited that I came to visit her.

My Auntie Barb and baby Samara
My cousin Ellie and I

I also got to hang out with one of my best friends, Holly, as she flew in for the day down from Brisbane. It was so great of her to come in just for the day just so we could hang out! It was fun to catch up and we had a great time as usual.

Holly and I by Harbour Bridge

It was a whirlwind of a trip but hopefully worth it. I missed Brent like crazy, it was the longest we have ever been apart! We are usually together literally 24/7 (for over 1.5 years now) so we both had a tough time, but we managed.
So here's hoping I get the job!

Back Across the Atlantic

I have been out of the blogging loop for a bit, but time to get back to it. No excuse, just laziness. Brent and I returned to the US at the end of July and since we have done a lot of traveling, we decided to take a new mode of transportation back: The transatlantic ocean liner crossing on the Queen Mary 2. It was awesome. It took 6 nights, all of which were so much fun, elegant, grandiose, and downright royalty-like. It was black tie attire, high tea every afternoon, fancy balls, and out of this world food. Brent and I had an absolute blast and made some great friends too.


Embarking from Southampton, England
The elegant QM2 entryway


Look at me wearing heels!

The ship was elegant from top to bottom and I felt like royalty for a week. There is one crew member for every two passengers so the service is incredible. Drop your napkin and they pick it up a second later. They clean your room numerous times a day, leave little chocolates on the bed each night, and of course 24 hour (free) roomservice! They even slowed down and made an announcement as we passed over the Titanic site, it was pretty cool. It was a great week and definitely beats sitting in economy for a couple hours on a plane, can't wait to do it again!


Me enjoying the ride
Coming into New York harbor

Happy Birthday Brent!

For Brent's birthday weekend (June 22) I surprised him by renting a car and driving to France. First, we went to Normandy for a few days and then to Paris for a few days. It was an awesome weekend.
We stayed in the city of Caen in Normandy where the big WWII museum is located. We went to the museum, which is huge, and also saw their special exhibition on 9/11 that they have set up. Everything was really well done and interesting.


After the museum, we then drove out to Omaha Beach. We went to the American Cemetery that looks out over the beach and walked down to the beach. It was strange being right there and thinking about the horrific and important battle that took place right there. It was almost hard to believe it could take place at such a beautiful spot. Sitting on the beach looking out to the shining water was a bit surreal and unbelievable.



We went to one of the German bunkers on Omaha Beach and though it is mostly closed up, it was still cool to see. There is one full bunker completely open at one of the other beaches, but it was closed that day so we didn't get to see it.


While driving through the small Norman towns, we came across a little chateau with an apple orchard that sold freshly made drinks. The owner was really nice and surprisingly spoke very good English. He also had an adorable little boy that asked as all to "chink chink" our drinks (toast them). They let us walk around the chateau and take some pictures, it was really fun.


That night was a huge festival in Caen for the summer solstice. The streets were packed, there were tons of bands and lots of streetside crepes, mmm. We didn't know the festival was happening so I didn't have my camera with me - shame!

The next morning, Brent's birthday, we drove to Paris. We had some issues with the Tom-Tom GPS, but we made it finally :) Our hotel was in a great location so that was good. We walked to the Sacre Couer, hiked up the stairs for a great city view, ate an amazing dinner then finished the evening under the lights of the Eiffel Tower.

The Sacre Couer

My favorite Eiffel photo that I took


The next day, we did a Segway tour of Paris. It was really cool and we saw a lot. It was 4 hours long, we had a great tour guide, and a small group with a couple other Aussies. We did a Segway tour in Prague last year and loved it and were not disappointed this time either! We got to see a lot of the city without getting too tired out, gotta love it. That night we took the ride up the Eiffel Tower and that was a blast.


On our final day, we went to the Catacombs which was pretty cool. Brent has wanted to go since he saw a program on it when he was young. It was a bit morbid walking among the millions of bones in patterns, but also really interesting.

Brent found a section that was placed there on his birthday, eerie!

Our final stop was the Palace of Versailles. The lines were so long so we decided not to go inside and just walked around the immense gardens. They are so huge! It was a really hot day so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. I have wanted to go there for so long, I loved it! Next trip we'll go inside, but we were at our limit of waiting in lines at that point!


It was an awesome weekend and we had a blast. The food was of course amazing, the people were nice, and the subway was not as stinky as expected. I have a bunch more photos on my flickr site if you care to peruse: www.flickr.com/photos/lauradolman

Gouda

Brent and I looove cheese so of course we had to visit the infamous town of Gouda. Most people pronounce it "goo-da" but it is actually pronounced "how-da". In the US, most Gouda cheese is smoked and it tastes nothing like the real Gouda cheese. The real stuff is amazing! But of course all the cheese here is fantastic, it can't be beat. We went on a Sunday so it was rather quiet, but that almost made it better because it seemed as though we had the town to ourselves!

Even the decorations were cheese!

First we went to the Gouda museum where we got to see the history of Gouda cheese and how it is made. The guide was this cute little old man who didn't speak a word of English. He was funny though and took us through the whole museum all in Dutch. Since it was all in the context of cheese we were able to figure most of it out. It was fun that it was just Brent and I though.

The Gouda cheese museum


Me and our museum guide and the old weighing system

In the museum they sold fresh Gouda cheese. We bought a little wheel and then I wanted to take a picture of the ladies working there but they insisted I come behind the counter and have Brent take a picture of me there. As I went back and picked up a wheel of cheese, a little boy that had just come in with his mother, saw me go behind and so he came back too! He tried to pick up a wheel as well and it was so hilarious.

The initial picture, me behind the counter


Laughing at the boy


Mum rescues the boy! Too funny.

We walked around the town a bit and saw a few other streets and buildings that were interesting. There were cheese shops everywhere (more than in most Dutch towns) and it was great! Good times in Gouda!

I'm a cheese lady too!

Katwijk (again)

The last time I went out to Katwijk (the beach near us) I lost my camera. So this time I held onto it tight (Brent's) and have some good photos! It was a gorgeous day and this time we followed the signs correctly and it was only 6k each way on our bikes instead of the 26k we went last time! I took my wetsuit with me hoping there would be a chance of surfing, but as you can see there were no waves at all. Sad! But I still love the beach so I don't have too many complaints.




On the way back from the beach, we came across a nice little farm with cows and a perfect picture spot. We stopped and not too long after standing there one of the cows came up to the gate. It was amusing at first and we took a few pictures, but then the cow started head-butting the lock on the gate. We decided not to stick around to see how intelligent the cow was so we hopped back on our bikes and rode home!


Me having a staring contest with the cow. He won.


The picture of us was taken from my bike seat, hence Brent's cutoff head!

Delft: More than just Pottery!

Last weekend, Brent and I decided to go to Delft for the day. Delft is famous for its pottery, an intricate blue and white style (a rip off from Chinese pottery that then became known as Delft pottery). We anticipated a couple of hours looking at the town and some pottery then head home. However, when we arrived in Delft we found out it was Theater Weekend and there were all sorts of festivities going on!

Potter's hand and some bikes dredged from the canal

The first attraction was right outside the train station. It was two guys dressed in suits dancing around an old soviet-style car. There was some music on and they were doing an interpretive dance of cold war era CIA secret agent getting Russian intelligence type of dance. It was awesome and by far the best interpretive dance I have ever seen.

In the main center there were all sorts of attractions: magicians, dancers, singers, sculptures, etc. While walking down one of the streets, suddenly around the corner came a group of people dressed as big bugs. Some were even on stilts! They were running away from the "exterminator". It was interesting and a bit creepy too.

One of the oddest, but coolest things, was a guy on in-line skates with a jet pack on his back. Yes, a JET PACK! He raced down the streets with a loud roar coming from him. You'd never be able to just rock up and do something like that in the busy streets of the US. Gotta love it.

We also discovered that Delft has awesome markets! In Leiden our markets are pretty much just produce with some clothes and etc. stuff but Delft has an array of antiques and really cool trinkets. I got a fun hat, a clog thermometer for my Dad, some cartoon puppets for the nieces, and a cool Frangelico set of Monk and cups for Brent's Aunt. It was so fun to walk through the markets and see all the stuff.

Loved this guy at the market in clogs!

We printed out a map and took a walking tour of the sights of the Dutch East Indies Company. It was based out of Delft so there was a lot to see! We some of their individual houses, the storing house, trade house, headquarters, etc. It was really interesting and nice to throw a little history in with the day - I always like that!

The trading house of the Dutch East Indies Co. and us at the Princenhof

When it got dark (which isn't until after 11 pm here), the main show was put on. It was an opera type of thing. I can't really say because there were too many people for me to be able to see. That is the one drawback of living in a country of gigantic people! I did get to see one thing, which was definitely the best part of it! There was a crane set up that raised the "clouds" of the performance. They danced around in the sky while suspended from the crane and went through the seasons. It was certainly entertaining and a great way to end a great day in Delft!

No Pictures...

Unfortunately, I lost my beloved camera a week ago with some fun pictures on it. I loved that camera and now I have to scrape up the money to get another one. I'll be using Brent's in the mean time until we get back to the US (no way am I going to a buy a camera in Euro). His isn't as good as mine, but it will have to do.
Last week, Brent's friend Trevor came to visit again from his army base in Germany. It was fun to have him again. We rented a row boat to cruise through the canals for a few hours and that was a blast. It was a bright sunny day so we enjoyed lunch in the boat and had an interesting time maneuvering under the small bridges. During my turn to row, I was going through a very skinny canal and was approaching a boat that was "parked" (no people). Brent tried to steer me by yelling out in boat terms ("steer port side!") knowing full well I had no idea what he was talking about and I think you can figure out what happened :) Just a little bump, no scratches or damage, but it sure was funny!
The next day we decided to ride our bikes out to the local beach, Katwijk, only 6k away. I had ridden there last year so I figured I could find my way there again as navigator. The three of us hopped on our bikes and enjoyed the flat journey which soon turned into a very long journey when I finally realized I didn't know where I was going. By the time we got home, what should have been a total of 12k, turned out to be 26k! Some navigator I was! But Holland has no hills so it was still a very nice and easy ride. There were some surfers out so I watched them enviously and then we had some snacks at a snack stand, about which time I apparently lost my camera.
It was a fun weekend and we are planning on visiting Trevor and his wife (whom I haven't met yet) for the July 4 weekend on base in Germany. We're looking forward to some American treats!