Harvey Travel Arts

Last week I posted about giving thanks in all circumstances. This weekend, my sentiments were tested when we went to Valkenburg, Netherlands, to see the Christmas Markets. What you have is a view from our hotel. The actual Christmas Market photos will come starting next week. Right now, though, I want to tell you it was difficult to give thanks at this hotel. Now I'm usually a laid back traveler, and I love European hotels in general. I like the unique buildings, the tasty breakfasts, and cozy rooms. But when we arrived and they told us that we needed to let them know if the room was too cold, I knew I was in for an adventure. The room was too cold for Brian, if that tells you anything. Usually he's the hot natured one, and I'm the one who is always cold. This attic room, though cute and cozy, was not warm. We froze, and turned on the shower at one point to let some steam from the hot water to heat the room. I thought of my blog, and giving thanks in all circum...

Sunday morning the Chaplain gave his Thanksgiving message. The main point? Be thankful in all circumstances. I am reminded of Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place , where she is thankful for the fleas. Yes, fleas! The fleas on the prisoners allowed them to safely avoid the detection of the guards and get Bibles, medicines,supplies etc to those who needed them. Those guards certainly didn't want to "catch" the fleas. Sometimes life feels like that, doesn't it? That everything is going wrong, your health is bad, loved ones are dying, and what could there to be thankful for? Sometimes finding thankfulness requires digging deep within ourselves and may even mean looking for what appears to be a negative on the surface (fleas, anyone?) and realizing that there could be a reason. Something, perhaps, to be thankful for. You're probably wondering why the pictures of trash and crowded cities on a post about thanksgiving. These are pictures from Brian's rec...

Every fall I enjoy the autumn colors of orange, yellow, red and purple that spring forth. I have to admit, one of the things I loved living on the East Coast of the US and now I enjoy in Germany are the beautiful leaves turning. The time frame is so brief; only a couple of weeks it seems, and then they fall, leaving a barren tree in their wake. You can probably look through the blog and see similar pictures. I never tire of taking them, or having Brian take them, because every tree, every scene, is different. Just a couple of weeks ago, Brian and I were driving near Worms (it's a town, not a creepy crawly) and happened across this park area. It's actually the grounds of a former schloss (castle or palace in German). The sky was bright, the reflections were beautiful, and the tree above looked like the perfect place for climbing.

One of my favorite exhibits at Vienna's Natural Science and History Museum was the butterflies. I have never seen such a wide variety; there were cabinets and rows full of the vibrantly colored creatures! It was difficult to get a clear photo with the reflection from the glass, but you can see here that there are unique patterns, colors and sizes to be found. Only a Creator with an unlimited imagination could have created these beautiful creatures. The very first verse of the Bible tells us, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 To think that these butterflies are only a small part of what He created amazes me.

When we were in Vienna, Brian and I visited one of the most comprehensive natural history and science museums I have ever seen! On the top floor there were rooms and rooms of animal, ocean, fowl, and insect specimens. The live bee exhibit was the most fascinating. They had two places in the exhibit for live bees: one was a hive behind a sliding magnifier and the other was a treed in hive encased in glass. You can see in the picture below that there is a tube from the hive to the outdoors where bees can come and go. Let me make this clear: there was nothing between the bees and us but glass. So naturally my thoughts wandered and I thought: what if someone breaks the glass? We're going to have a museum full of bees! Fortunately, things went as they should and no glass was broken, no bees escaped. I have to admit, watching God's creation up close in a new way was pretty cool. And to those who are wondering, no, there were no honey samples. Fortunately there are grocery ...