Gilde Hotel Deventer

... Maisonneuve Regiment buried here. This cemetery full of infantrymen is replete with names that are familiar and culturally diverse. It is like a cultural blueprint of Canada... at least Canada as it stood in 1944. Today's military is even more culturally diverse as I witnessed at the Vimy Ridge monument where every ethnic minority under the sun was represented in the Canadian Forces present there. What does that say about Canada? I am very proud to belong in a country ...

... the Germans. Pretty messy business I imagine. The losses were very heavy for Canadians... it seems the Germans knew they were coming and were ready. We learned from "our friend" at the Canada Museum that there were young people on the Belgian side of the canal who had been "recruited" by the Hitler Youth. One young lady heard that the Canadians were planning an attach and she made it her business to inform the Germans. She doesn't live in Belgium anymore. Mr ...

... and let him find his way home alone. Can you imagine that happening today?

In the interests of history, we explored the small Hengelo museum, which had an unusual cellar full of pickles and a Singer sewing machine. I bought an old photo postcard of the town, then we walked back to the van der Poel ice-cream shop. It claims to have 120 flavours, but we couldn't try them all. We certainly enjoyed the ones we did try.

... with horses and foals gambolling in the fields outside the windows. Sander and Renata are very friendly. They greeted us at the backdoor next to their metre-deep paddling pool. Despite the tepid temperature, the kids donned their costumes and lept in, before we even got into the house.

After putting the children to bed, we talked for a bit. I had been on the go for 18 hours but I was having trouble sleeping. I guess the adrenaline was still pumping. Eventually I snuggled ...

... terminal moraines of the glacial extent of the Finno-Scandian Ice Sheet. (Hey, lighten up... I majored in this stuff at University).

Mountainous, forested, Zeddam is lovely, and the Kind folks at Hotel Moors made the trip much easier and more comfortable. I can't wait to get back... Its at Benedendorpsstraat 15.

Lawndart

This is Zwolle, my new home. I wanted to share a few pictures of the town with you guys and show you how pretty it is. The city is beautiful- plenty of good architecture and flowers everywhere. I love the brickwork on some of these buildings.

... still plenty of tulips to be seen. The weather was not overly kind to us as it blew and rained while we were there it was cold but that is relative as I have only been wearing a Tshirt, hoddy (yesterday) and raincoat since we have been here. I have put some photo's in the other blogs so you can look back through them if you like. Take care Bruce

Week 3 I began school this week. I am taking six courses which totals 38 European Credits (almost 18 home credits). The classes are Business Ethics, Business Performance Tools, Business to Business Marketing, International Marketing, Public Relations and Public Affairs, and Dutch Language, Culture, and Society. I have each class once a week (except business performance tools) for three hours at a time. My favorite class is Business Ethics, hands down. It ...

... their cat, Hippie. Christmas is much more evident here than it was in Madrid, though not nearly the hullabaloo it is in Canada and the US. The big celebration for the Dutch is December 6, "Sinta Klaus", when Santa comes from Spain to bring gifts to all the children. To prepare for Sinta's visit, children leave carrots in their wooden shoes as well ...

... whip cream to make whipped cream for the pie. It was a contest to see which team could whip the cream to the point that it could be held upside down over the opponent's head without dropping. The thing that made this so funny is that the contest took place under a rotating disco ball with the theme from "Flashdance" playing. Whip, whip, whip, "she's a maniac, maniac on the floooor. . ." whip, whip, whip. The crowd went ...