How Belgium is rated one of the finest Chocolates to Eat....

So Belgium is known for their chocolate...everyone says it's "The BEST chocolate"... well, now I can see why.... They use "women" to sell chocolates! :-) Now, what man in Belgium doesn't find a good reason to buy chocolates for someone in his life when he can go to this store?? I couldn't believe it when I walked by this place. Of course as a tourist it was my duty to take several pictures to come back to the States to blog about this and email my friends!!! It's a bit over the top but they had a lot of people lined up to go in the store!!!!

Anne Frank House

It was an emotional adventure and one of the first things I got to see when I arrived in Amsterdam! We waited in line for quite some time. They no longer have the furniture in place but there are still some artifacts on the wall...the collage of pictures that Anne Frank put up. One thing that I did notice is how much my neice resembles Anne Frank!

Above: Face of the house...

Above: View from the canal looking up at the house....

This was the bookcase in which the hiding spot was behind!!! The stairs were very narrow and steep. It was just an amazing honor to get to see!

Kinderdijk, Netherlands

This is where we went today. I will also post about the castle we went to see!! Here's a little history...
KinderdijkIn the Alblasserwaard, the area where to Kinderdijk belongs, problems with the water household became more and more apparent from the 13th century. To get rid of the excess water in the polders, long canals were dug. These canals are called "weteringen" and you can find them all over Holland. This method was sufficient only for a few years. When the ground lowered again because of it's structure (veen) and the level of the river raised at the same time, an additional way of keeping the correct level of the water in the polders was necessary.

It was decided to build a series of windmills which would pump the water into a reservoir (boezem) until the level of the river had reached a level that pumping the water into the river was possible again. To control the water completely was never possible and in the past centuries, Holland suffered from floods over 30 times, one more severe than the other, but always a threat to men, women, children and animals.

Keukenhof....

This is where I am going tomorrow. Today it was Brugge! I have beautiful video footage of Saint Savior Cathedral. Tomorrow we are going to Keukenhof in Holland. The Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander officially opened the 59th edition of the world famous international flower exhibition!!! There are more that 24,000 tulips and muscari flowers planted. Keukenhof is a historic park covering an area of thirty-two hectares, full of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and all the other spring bulbs. The floral displays in the park and the unique flower shows in the various pavilions are a glorious visual feast. And in the midst of this magnificent spectacle of colour there are also exquisite works of art.

Facts and figures about the most beautiful spring garden in the world:
• Awards won as Europe’s most valued attraction
• Keukenhof is unique and famous throughout the world
• It is one of the most popular attractions in the Netherlands and has clocked up more than 42 million visitors in the last 58 years
• It is the largest bulb flower park in the world
• It covers an area of 32 hectares
• 4.5 million tulips in 100 varieties
• It is the most photographed place in the world
• The bulbs are supplied by 93 Official Exhibitors
• It is the largest sculpture park in the Netherlands
• There are 15 kilometres of footpaths
• 7 million flower bulbs planted by hand
• More than 2500 trees in 87 varieties
• New in 2008: the world’s largest tulip

YEAH!!! I can't believe I'm here!!!!

St. Saviour Cathedral, Bruges, Belgium

This is where we went today....Bruges, Belgium. Our first stop....

St. Saviour's Cathedral is the oldest parish church in Bruges (12th-15th century). Of note are, among other things, the choir stalls, the rood loft with organ, the medieval tombs with murals and the extensive collection of Flemish art (16th-18th century) and tapestries.

HISTORY:

At that time, the Sint-Donatius Church, which is located at the very heart of Bruges opposite of the town hall, was the most important religious building of the city. At the end of the 18th century, the French inhabitants of Bruges threw out the bishop and destroyed the Sint-Donatius Church, his residence.
In 1834, shortly after Belgium's independence in 1830, a new bishop was installed in Bruges and the Sint-Salvator church obtained the status of cathedral. However, the building didn't really look like a cathedral. It was a lot smaller and less imposing than the nearby Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk and had to be adapted to its new role. For instance, a higher and more impressive tower was needed.
The oldest surviving part, dating from the end of the 12th century, formed the base of the mighty tower. In 1839 a fire destroyed the roof of the cathedral. William Chantrell, an English architect, famous for his neo-Gothic restorations of English churches, was asked to restore to Sint-Salvator its former glory. At the same time he was authorized to make a project for a higher tower, in order to make it taller than that of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk.
Instead of adding a Neo-Gothic tower extension, Chantrell chose a very personal Romanesque design. After completion there was a lot of criticism and the royal commission for monuments, without authorization by Chantrell, had placed a small peak on top of the tower because the original design was deemed too flat.

You cannot see the detail but the ceilings are all painted with different art detail. It is absolutely BREATH taking!