Snapshots of the Vatican

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Some of my favorite, up-close-and-personal shots of our visit to the Vatican this past summer.

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A Few Hours in Amsterdam

Layovers can be a drag.  Being locked in an airport terminal, counting down the seconds until you can finally board your next flight, is not exactly a glamorous aspect of traveling.  However, sometimes you can maximize a layover into a sightseeing opportunity with a little bit of research and pre-planning.

While en route from Uganda back to the United States in August 2007 after a mission trip, I had the opportunity to get a brief taste of Amsterdam for a few hours, thanks to some forethought by our group leaders.  We arrived in Schipol Airport in the early morning hours (somewhere between four and six a.m.) and took advantage of their somewhat comfortable chair-beds to doze for a few hours before going out into the city.  Bleary-eyed and groggy, we secured our luggage in the airport lockers, made our way through passport control, and down into the train station below Schipol.  After only fifteen minutes on the Intercity direct train line, we emerged at the beautiful Centraal Station ready for a few hours in the city!

Having spent the prior nine days in Uganda, Amsterdam was a bit of culture shock for many of us in the group.  We were out and about before the street cleaners had finished their work, and the remnants of the prior night's revels still littered the streets.  Nevertheless, the buildings shone brightly in the early morning sun, the fresh flowers in the window boxes sweetened the air, and the canals provided a quiet playground for many ducks.  It was my first taste of Europe, and I was hooked!

We found a little breakfast cafe where we enjoyed an English breakfast and not-so-friendly service from our Dutch waiter.  To this day I'm not sure whether he just didn't like Americans (since the British couple in the corner seemed to get a warmer reception) or whether he lacked the patience to handle a large group so early in the morning, but I've often wanted to go back and give him a second chance to change my opinion.

After breakfast we continued to wander the streets.  The culture shock (and entertainment) increased as we encountered our first coffee shop.  For those of you unfamiliar with Amsterdam, a coffee shop actually serves marijuana.  Contrasted with our recent arrival from a Christ-centric mission trip to Africa, the idea and reality of a coffee shop simultaneously amused us and reminded us that "we weren't in Kansas anymore!"  For those of you who need actual coffee while in Amsterdam, find yourself a nice little cafe (preferably one with a great canal view) for a hot cup of Joe.

"This car is so tiny!"

Sadly, we were not in Amsterdam long enough to tour the Anne Frank house, the Corrie ten Boom museum, the Royal Palace, any churches, the Rijksmuseum (National Museum), or the plethora of other world-class museums located in the city.  We also did not visit De Wallen, more commonly known as the Red Light district, but then again, we had no desire or inclination to do so.  Even in the nicer neighborhoods, however, rainbow-colored flags shadowed many doorways, and we soon figured out that this is an indicator of it being a sex shop or something similar.

Having spent as long as possible walking through such beautiful neighborhoods as the Jordaan and admiring many pristine canals, it was finally time to return to Schipol for our flight to the states.  I have yet to return for a proper exploration of Amsterdam, but I will always hold those brief layover hours in high regard as the beginning of my love affair with Europe.

Have you ever squeezed any sight-seeing into a layover?  Have you ever visited Amsterdam?

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Linking up with Bonnie Rose and other travel bloggers for #TravelTuesday!

"Our State Fair is the Best State Fair!"

"... Don't miss it! Don't even be late!"

These lyrics from Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair musical always weasel their way into my thoughts whenever I visit the State Fair of Virginia.  This year we actually were "late" to the fair as we did not visit until the very last day of its 2014 session.  But better late than not at all - and it was a gorgeous day at the fairgrounds!

Virginia's State Fair is held at the Meadow Event Park (you horse lovers ought to recognize it as being the farm where Triple Crown winner Secretariat was born and raised) just north of Richmond in Doswell.  A successful state fair experience requires only three ingredients: good weather, lots of carnival food and rides, and plenty of farm animals.  With hardly a cloud in the sky, sated with elephant ears and gyros, and more bunnies than hands to pet them with, our state fair experience was definitely a success!

We began our day with free samples of Virginia peanuts as we munched our way through the vendors and craft competition exhibits in the main event hall.  I was especially taken by the intricate quilt work and loved the second-place quilt featuring iconic symbols of France.  It certainly stirred up my travel fever again!

From belt buckles to bathroom remodeling vendors to political campaign tables and everything in between, there were plenty of temptations to lighten your wallet in that exhibit hall!

Next we satisfied our stomachs with some carnie food.  Throw your diets out the window!  From fried Oreos (or candy bars) to cotton candy to turkey legs, you have your pick of gastronomical poisons delights.  We chose a gyro, the Greek version of our beloved döners from Europe, as our lunch.  At the hefty price of $9 a piece, it was far from thrifty, but we were more than satisfied at how delicious and filling they were.

After lunch we checked out Rosaire's Royal Racers - a traveling show from Sarasota, Florida, featuring some fast (and not so fast!) racing pigs.  Even the most dour-faced person couldn't help but crack a smile over the pigs' names: Shake'n'Bacon, Miley Swine-us, Britney Spare-ribs, and Lindsay LoHam being chief among my favorites.  The first two heats of racers went by rather quickly, but the crowd favorite turned out to be the last one between the Asian Potbelly pigs.  While the first two races took less than 20 seconds, the potbelly race took several minutes as these 300 pound animals meandered lazily around the track!

From the racing pigs, we walked through all the carnival rides (choosing to abstain from trying any this time) and on to the animal tent.  Baby chicks, tiny ducklings, and three day old calves could all be found under one giant tent to make your "coos" and "awes" easy to do in one place.  Farm equipment, antique tractors, and the rabbit, pigeons, and chicken tents were all close by.  This year's pumpkin competition entries were also in the cow's tent, and the largest pumpkin set a state fair record at a whopping 1,203.2 pounds!

After a solid five hours at the fairgrounds, we were ready to call it a day.  The State Fair never seems to disappoint, and today’s experience was no exception.

Have you been to your state’s fair?  What’s your favorite part?

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Linking up with other travel bloggers on the #SundayTraveler!