AAAHHHHH Spa Weekend!

Well I am back from Baden Baden and had a wonderful, if not "eye opening" time. It was a planes, trains and automobile type of trip. I left from Amsterdam and flew to Strausbourg and then took a train to Baden Baden and a bus to the hotel, by this time I was ready to spa. I dropped off my bags and walked around the town, it is a beautiful, cold, snowy town. After some exploring I went to the Fredrichsbad spa-it is billed a Roman Irish bath. When you first arrive you go to the locker room and strip down to your birthday suit-the only suit allowed! You are given a sheet like object, and you can tell all of the non-Europeans, we have that towel wrapped around us as many times as possible! There are 17 stages at the Fredichsbad spa and I was ready for all 17 (on Saturday's the stages mix on stages 7-12)! The first starts with a shower, then on to the "warm air bath" which is a room that is about 129 degrees, so you lay down and relax (towel still firmly in place). Stage 3 is: 154 degrees, towel not as firmly in place. Stage 4 is another shower and they take the towel away from you! Stage 5 is my favorite stage: the soap and brush massage. You get a full massage with either a rough brush or a soft brush, I went for the soft brush. Stage 6 (without the towel-or my security blanket) is a thermal steam bath. Stage 7-is another shower (they like showers) Stage 8 is when the mixing begins, both boys and girls and bday suits is the thermal full bath in hot water water. This is the point, keep in mind I am not wearing my glasses-(after all it is a bit creepy to be wearing nothing but glasses), that I took a wrong turn and ended up in the men's stage 6. The only reason I figured this out is because when I walked in the room it went silent-well there were other issues but they were a bit blurry. So after this awkward turn of events I went back to the whirl pool in Stage 9. The rest of the stages are baths that tend to get colder in nature. The final bath is 64 degrees. I was only brave enough to submerge waist deep, it is obvious I am not a true European. Then on to my second favorite stage, the relaxation room. One of my favorite parts is that you are reunited with your towel! The attendants take you to a quiet, dark room and you lay down on a heated table and they wrap you up like a cocoon and you relax! Of course this was not enough of a German spa experience so the next day I went to the Caracella spa. It is right next to the Fredrichsbad. One of the selling points is the fact that swimsuits are a requirement (on the first floor at least). At the Caracella spa there are more thermal baths, one of best parts is that you can swim from inside the spa to the outdoor pool. It was great fun to be sitting outside in the hot thermal water while it was snowing. There was also an area with sun lamps, you could spend as much time as you wanted under the sun lamps. Since I don't remember the last time I really saw the sun, I spent hours under the sun lamp. Of course I wanted the whole spa experience so I had to go upstairs to the second floor. The second floor is filled with sauna's, whirlpools and sun lamps but no swim suits. I must say I learned quickly to not lay down in the sauna's because if you lay down other sauna goers have to step over you. If you open your eyes at just the wrong time, you could be scarred for life. After venturing outside to the "fire sauna", with towel of course, I decided it was time to join the world of the clothed and I ventured through Baden Baden to the Casino. The Casino in Baden Baden is very well known in this area of the world-men are still required to wear ties and jackets. It is an amazing building, it looks like something out of a James Bond movie. There were a couple of roulette tables and black jack tables going. I bought 40 Euro's worth of 2 Euro chips and took my seat next to the guy with his 500 Euro bill (which I didn't know existed) and his 100 Euro chips. I watched and learned. I learned that if you think you are really going to win at roulette you aren't very smart. I watched my neighbor go through 1,000 Euro's in minutes. I found it all very entertaining and started betting my 2 Euro chips. I was down to 20 Euros and then I won big (as big as you can win when only gambling 2 Euros!!) so I took my 36Euro's and cashed out! I figured 4 Euros for an evenings entertainment wasn't bad! Sadly the next day I had my last spa treatment, last apple strudel and had to head home!!! I have decided that next winter I am planning some trips to places where I can see the sun shine. Sadly we don't have a single 3 day weekend in March. I hope to survive!

Exciting day today

It was a very exciting day today in The Hague-for about 20 minutes the sun shown!! There was frolicking throughout the Embassy, we made plans to have lunch al fresco, I wondered where my sun screen was and then......it started to rain. Sigh....but of course if my biggest worry is lack of sunshine and worry that my umbrella won't last a winter I guess life isn't too bad! We have a three day weekend coming up and I am off to Baden Baden in Germany (hoome of many famous German spas, all of which I will be trying out) I figure if I am going to have to get naked in front of strangers I want to be in another country!

All is well here, I keep wanting it to warm up so I can practice riding my bike. So far bike commuting has been the monkey on my back. When I first arrived I bought a bike from a neighbor, it was stolen (before I could even ride it), so I bought another bike, but it seems to be too tall, so I bought ANOTHER bike. The last bike is my pride and joy. It is a three wheel orange bike with streamers. When I first arrived at the Embassy I spotted this bike from a distance and knew it was the bike I had been waiting for all of my life. The purchasing transaction went something like this: ME: "I have always wanted a three wheel bike as a yard ornament for my house" awkard pause from owner of forementioned three wheeled orange bike "so where is this yard and house that will house my bike" longer even more awkard pause from me "I don't own a house or have a yard, but can't we all have dreams?" very long awkard pause from owner of three wheeled orange bike "just give me fifty euro". So I am now the proud owner of two bikes, neither of which I want to ride! But someday the three wheeled orange bike hopes to grace the cover of home and garden! So my goal when Spring comes (which should be a weekend in April) I will find a bike to call my own and begin riding. I am very nervous about this, I have seen more people get tickets on bikes than I have seen for cars, but biking is a way of life here and when in Rome....

I am hoping I can make it through March-can you believe it is the only month we don't have a holiday? I hope I can make it! In the month of April and May we have 2 or 3 weeks that aren't 4 day work weeks! I love this country.

More after spa time in Baden Baden (no pictures I promise!).

Finland is Fantastic!!

Well, I made it back from the Arctic Circle with all ten fingers and toes!! It was a fantastic trip. I went with a friend from work, and we left on Saturday. We flew Finnair from Amsterdam to Helsinki and then on to Ivalo-the Northernmost airport in Europe. For some reason I thought we would fly a puddle jumper with about 5 passengers (3 of them Reindeer) into Ivalo. I was amazed that we were in a plane with 6 seats across and it was 90% full! When we arrived in Ivalo we were met at the airport (with its one gate) by a bus from our resort. We arrived at the resort and loaded our own sled with our luggage and drug it through the snow to our log cabin. We had our own sauna-talk about the height of luxury!! After a good nights sleep we were up and at them before the sun was up (which is about 9:15!). We were off to the husky farm to try our hand at "mushing" after bulking up in our thermal gear we were given a quick lesson in how to mush. There were 142 huskies at the farm and EVERY one of them wanted to be on my team! We final got going and I was a passenger for the first portion of the trip. It was an amazing trip-we went through the Finnish countryside. It was too hot for the dogs (about 3 degrees) so they had to stop every 30 minutes. After lunch in a wooden teepee we were off again. I gathered my wits about me and jumped on the sled with a loud and confident HOOVAH (Finnish for good job) we were off!! It was fantastic! An amazing experience-sadly we only had about 45 minutes until we were home, but what a fantastic trip! After returning back to our log cabin-just in time for "sunset" at about 3:30 it was time for sauna, cribbage, a nap and dinner! Talk about the life-I think the Finns are onto something with the whole sauna thing. I read that in Finland there is one sauna for every three Finnish citizens. The next day we got up and rented cross country skis. After a few false starts, I think I could be a gold medalist in the newest event: sliding backwards down the hill that you really wanted to go up" I finally got a good pace going and was enjoying the fantastic scenery when we turned a corner and up ahead was a herd of Reindeer! They were right in our path, I remember thinking "these are Santa's friends surely they won't charge us!" After a few minutes of mutual admiration (I think) they moved on and we went skiing past. After a few more kilometers I headed back towards the hotel. Sure enough around another bend were 3 Reindeer calves. They were amazing! Very clumsy on land and very graceful in the snow (polar upset of yours truly!). So after some more skiing it was back to the cabin for sauna time, nap time, cribbage and dinner! I could have gotten used to that! All in all a fantastic trip and something I would recommend to anyone! Sadly it was too cloudy for any northern lights.

Next trip is to Germany-Baden Baden for some more resorts!

Christmas in the Netherlands

Can you believe it two posts in one week!!! At least one resolution I have kept! The countdown to Finland continues, I was questioning my sanity in choosing such a trip in the middle of winter until I heard the following story. In Finland they have a wife carrying race-in which.......(this is the good part) the winner gets his wife's weight in beer!! After hearing such a snippet I wondered how I could get Finland on my next bid list. I digress...back to Christmas in the Netherlands. On December 16th it is Sinter Klaus day-this is the day Sinter Klaus (a distance cousin of our own Santa Claus) arrives at the beach, of course Sinter Klaus does not arrive alone. He arrives with his friend from the Moors known as Scharte Pete. There are two tales of how Scharte Pete became Scharte (Black) Pete. First is he comes from the Moors, second is that he is black faced because he slid down the chimney. In anticipation of Scharte Pete's arrival all of the Dutch folks line the streets and wear black face. As Pete and Sinter Klaus (who arrives on a white horse) parade down the street Pete throws candy to the good children (one of which would be me). But on the other hand he collects all of the bad children in his giant bag and takes them back to the Moors with him! Unfortunately I was in Portugal (close to the Moors) on December 16th so I didn't get to partake in the festivities. I will be ready to collect my candy next year. I had a great time in Portugal, the sky was blue and the sun actually shone. I went with one of my neighbors from the building and we did quite a bit of shopping, eating and sight seeing. Well that is enough for today. I promise more to come.......

New Years Resolution-more blogging

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated. So many trips so little time! Since I last blogged I have: jumped into the North Sea with 6,500 of my closest Dutch friends, gone to London and worked in the Embassy for a couple of days, headed to Portugal for some sun and fun, and increased the coffers of every Christmas Market throughout Germany!

I'll start with the craziness that was New Years day. Every year at the beach (which is only about 15 minutes from my house) they have a New Years day dunk where as many as 10,000 crazy people run into the North Sea for a refreshing start to the New Year. There had been talk of some of us joining in and I wasn't interested but then....I found out you get a free hat if you dunk and to sweeten the deal the free hat is ORANGE! I needed no other incentive (but when I found out you also got free pea soup there was no stopping me!) Of course this year happens to be one of the coldest years in recent memory, but orange hats and pea soup prevailed. At about 11:45 we made our way onto the beach and picked up our bag of goodies. To prove that I had made the right decision there were ORANGE gloves in our goody bag as well. Does life get any better than orange gloves, orange hat and pea soup as you dive into the frigid North Sea with 6,500 of your closest friends? As we gathered Dutch Techno music was blaring over the loud speakers and the beach was packed with both people watching and the dunkers. Everyone was wearing the orange stocking caps and jumping up and down to keep as warm as possible. At about 11:55 the stripping down commenced (just to swim suits I promise, this IS a family event!), at 11:59 we got into our ready to run stances and at 12:00 we all started towards the beach. The tide was out so we had to run further than I thought we would and I just kept laughing at the whole crazy situation. By the time I got to the water people had already been in and were heading back out to the warmth and free pea soup. After a waist high dunk I ran back and starting layering back up as quickly as I could, there was no frolicking and splasing around for me! On the way home that afternoon we all wore our new hats and gloves as a badge of honor (as if the blue lips weren't sign enough).

I had a great Christmas, a friend came to visit in December and we went on a Christmas Market cruise through Germany. It was a fantastic time, we were worried there we were going to be the youngest on the cruise but it was not to be the case! We met up with some other women traveling on their own and we became fast friends. There was much frivolity surronding table number 14 in the dining room (I'm afraid we may have even gotten a reputation as being a touch rowdy!). This was a great way to travel, we only had to unpack once, all the food you could eat (and great food at that) and we docked blocks away from the Christmas Markets. Luckily on the first day we discovered the charms of chocolate covered strawberries on a stick! That was our first goal each new market we found, the chocolate covered strawberry stand. On the trip back we resembled pack mules as we made our way back across Germany and home to the Netherlands. Luckily I still have about 3,000 lbs I didn't use in my household effects, but it is filling up quickly.

My next trip is Finland in a couple of weeks. We are flying into the Northern most airport in Europe and have already signed up for a dog sled adventure. From what I understand it is dark for 24 hours a day so it is going to be a very interesting trip. I have my Stillwater Newspress front pages so I can get my picture taken and hopefully be famous.

All is well here, I can't believe how fast time seems to fly. I promise to be better at blogging in the New Year.

Too many places too little time

I have returned from Milan and leave for London next weekend! The weekend after London I head to Portugal and the first week of December I am on a Christmas Market cruise.....but the icing on the cake is a trip to Lapland (Finland to see the northern lights)!! Every once in a while I work and put your tax dollars to work!

Milan was amazing, I remember thinking there are not enough superlatives to describe this city and everything it has to offer. I flew to Milan on Saturday and once I was checked into my hotel I went to the city center. Unfortunately on the way to Milan I realized that despite all of my good intentions I had forgotten the battery to my camera! So my first stop was the camera shop....I then went to La Scala which is the most famous Opera house there is. I didn't have a spare $445 to attend the opera so I went on a tour during the day. It was an amazing site, I was able to walk inside and see the stage-which was tiny. I then walked over to the Duomo (cathedral), this Duomo is very unique in that you can walk around on the roof. It was amazing-the sky was picture perfect and the views spectacular (once again not enough superlatives). I spent quite a bit of time just enjoying the view and the peace and quiet. After one or two or maybe even three gelato stops I made my way back to the hotel.

On Sunday I had a reservation at 8:30 to see the Last Supper-I didn't realize until I started researching Milan that the Last Supper is not a painting (embarrasing I know) but a fresco on a wall in a room next to a church. Sadly the fresco is slowly crumbling. They only allow 15 people into the room at a time and you have to be "sprayed" before you go in the room. When you walk into the room the Last Supper takes up a whole wall and it is breathtaking. You are allowed to be in the room for 15 minutes and can't take any pictures. Luckily there are benches so you can sit down and just drink it all in. Believe it or not at some point in history someone thought it was a good idea to cut a door into the fresco. After enjoying my short time with the Last Supper I headed to the train station and Lake Cuomo. At Cuomo I hopped onto a boat and headed to a little town called Bellagio. The two hour trip was (need a new superlative) spectacular. The Alps are visible in the background and the shore is dotted with little towns. I decided not to take time out of my touring to visit George Clooney-who famously has a villa on Lake Cuomo. Once I arrived in Bellagio I walked around the town and had a gelato or two or three. The town is built onto a hill which means quite a bit of up and down (which is a good thing when eating your weight in gelato)!

I have been enjoying listening to my beloved Cowboys on the internet! I still get nervous, even 3,000 miles away.

I am looking forward to Halloween, we have a party at the Marine House on Saturday I have decided to go as "joe the plumber" I have a plunger and a grey t-shirt what else do I need!!!

A quiet Sunday night

Greetings from The Hague. Not much going on here in The Hague. I will be in Milan in two weeks and I am very excited. Usually I plan and research and prepare for every trip I take (those that have traveled with me understand......)but I have hardly done any preparation for this trip. I have my tickets, a hotel room, two passports and a couple of guide books, what else does one need? I did try to get tickets to the Opera but did not have any luck. I am trying to get a reservation for the Last Supper (not my Last Supper of course but the famous painting). You can make a reservation to see it for 15 minutes, after you have been sprayed down for any chemicals you may have on you-I think it sounds very interesting and very blog worthy. Work continues to be busy and interesting-before my next move I am going to research employment law and that will play a large part in my preference list. Who cares if it is a third world country and I won't have internet-I want to know if my new post has unlimited sick leave! I am still in awe of a country that allows employees to have unlimited sick leave, AND if an employee is sick they are paid for TWO years (granted the second year is only 70%). AND as you get older you accrue additional annual leave. When you are 65 an employee earns 32 days of annual leave a year on top of the 22 days of holidays we have. But enough about that.....I have a new "it's not possible story". I joined the gym down the street from my apartment. I went in the first day to look around and see what it is all about and decided I wanted to join for 1 year, after all it is cheaper and we all know about the dollar vs. the euro. I soon found it "it is not possible" to join for an entire year until you have been with the gym for a year paying a monthly fee. I just don't say anything any more, I just file the newest "iinp" (it is not possible abbreviation for future blogs) away, smile and nod and remind myself I am living in Europe! I have been entertaining alot and will be hosting an Embassy wide Wine and Cheese party on October 17th, I had my very fun dress rehersal W&C (wine and cheese abbreviation for future blogs....) but I have found that entertaining in a foreign country is like preparing for a party with one hand tied behind your back and a blind fold on. The simplest things that you take for granted are nowhere to be found-for example tooth picks-who knew that Dutch people don't believe in tooth picks? I was making brownies only to find it was not possible to fit my 9X12 inch pan into my oven! What can you do but laugh and serve brownie batter for dessert and tell people it is an Oklahoma thing? Well I am off to bed-I am still trying to recover from staying up until 4:00am to listen to OSU demolish Troy, then get up at 8:30 to go to a 3 hour brunch, come home to prepare for a group of 6 to come over and have dinner and watch football (do you know I am becoming quite adept at planning meals that don't require tooth picks OR my oven).