Category Archives: Benelux

August 18 –

It’s the last day of the adventure!  We got up early to try to beat some of the queues at the Anne Frank House so we headed out after breakfast.  The lines weren’t too bad and we got in fairly quickly.  Boy, have things changed since the last time I was there about 20 years ago!  The rooms and the basics of the house are the same of course; but I remember walking up to an ordinary looking house and then going in to see a basic layout of the hiding place with lots of additional information about the Holocaust.  Now, the front of the house is behind a steel and glass façade and there are lots of video screens and voice-overs.  I think it detracts from the impact of the place because it gives the impression that there is more space.  The kids were affected and Gillian begged me to buy her the book but I remember being moved to tears.  How things change….

Afterward, we walked around the market at the Noordermarkt and Gillian found a really cool puppet at a toy store in the Jordaan neighborhood.  We had a few more errands to run so we headed back toward the shopping area to pick up a few more things and grab some lunch.  Then it was time for a canal cruise.  This was very different than the one we took in Brugge and we got to see lots of the city and the harbor and other neat stuff.  I was lucky enough to be sitting by the smartest women alive – at least she wanted to give that impression!  She expounded on everything from the beauty of Brugge and how things are different between Amsterdam than Paris.  I was embarrassed for all my Canadian friends when during one of her enlightening tips she talked about “back in Ottawa.”  Ugh!

We wanted to visit the old Heineken brewery – another of my favorite places from the last time I was here – but since it isn’t an operating brewery anymore, they have made it into the “Heineken Experience”.  The line was longer than the one for the Anne Frank House and it turns out that the entrance fee was higher too!  11 euros!  But that includes 3 Heinekens…. we decided that it would be time (and money) better spent to buy a few Heinekens and do some packing.

So back to the hotel to get things sorted.  I think we’ll actually have enough room to take everything back; thank goodness for the *4* boxes of stuff we’ve sent home already (unfortunately, I think only 3 have made it so far!).  Then we headed out for the final meal of the trip:  an Indonesian rijstaffel!  Not quite Chinese food but close enough!  We got two large bowls of rice and 16 small dishes of different foods plus a half-dozen side dishes/toppings.  We had chicken sate, beef curry, something tofu, spicy green bean things, some soupy stuff that tasted a little of coconut, an omelet (?), fried bananas, fried coconut, peanuts….. it was yummy!  We went for another wander around town to try work off some of the food before heading back to the hotel for the last night.

/san/

[Pedometer:  25, 655 or about 12.5 miles and only a few of them rainy.]

August 17 –

It’s our first full day in Amsterdam.  So I felt that it is my duty to set a few things straight.  First, Holland is still flat but it admits to being flat – and mostly below sea level.  Second, I was wrong that no one visits Holland – there are lots of visitors but none of them *drive* here!  I saw one German plate, one French plate, and one Spanish plate – all of them parked outside hotels – but there were lots of languages and accents all around us.  I’m especially intrigued by the number of Spanish and Italian speakers I hear as well as the number of southern hemisphere types:  Australian, South African, Chilean, Argentinean, etc.  Duncan is having a great time trying to translate the Spanish conversations he “overhears” ;-)!  Also, the stereotype of everyone biking around Amsterdam is actually true:  I’ve seen women in business suits and heels riding bikes around town.

After breakfast, we headed out to the Anne Frank house – totally unprepared!  We walked the whole way which was no minor stroll and got in line only to notice that the skies had clouded over and the wind picked up and that we were the only ones around shivering during what could be an hour plus wait.   We decided to fix our original mistake by returning to the hotel to get warmer clothes and rain gear and shift our visit until first thing tomorrow instead of retrying today.

So we decided to start with the cathedrals.  There’s the Neuw Kierk which was built in the 15^th century when the town outgrew the Ould Kierk which dates from the 13^th century.  Unfortunately, the Neuw Kierk is also an exhibition hall instead of a working church and with a charge of 10 Euros to get in, we decided to pass. We wandered instead to the Ould Kierk which is, unfortunately, in the Red Light district.  I hate to admit that my kids are getting familiar with the smell of pot but that’s how it goes.  We also had to wander past a few windows with working women in them which gave us another “teaching opportunity” – the ones that so many parents wish for…. 😉

The Ould Kierk was very cool and very different from so many of the other churches we’ve been in.  First as a Protestant church, there were no candles (sorry Mom!) but there were interesting burial places, stained glass widows and paintings on the wooden ceilings.  We saw where Rembrandt’s wife was buried as well.  Very interesting!

Then it was time for lunch – we headed to another restaurant recommended by our almost-redeemed guidebook for a typical Dutch treat – pancakes!  Very crepe like but not really, we had some interesting main-dish crepes:  ham, cheese and onion, chicken, chilian (spicy beef, beans, and veggies) and veggies and cheese.  Most interesting!  We gave in on dessert as well with a apple and raisin pancake, with Dutch stroop, and some mini-pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream – yum!

Then it was time to walk some of it off with… shopping!  As some folks will know, I have been on a quest for the last two years for a particular type of boots and today I found them on the Leidesplein in Amsterdam!  Yes Julie, they do exist for less than $800 a pair and I bought them today – yeah!  And we picked up a couple of other things.  I’m starting to have nightmares about filling out our customs form on Sunday!

We dropped the booty off at the hotel and picked up some tickets to the Van Gogh museum (pronounced to rhyme with Van Loch with the Scottish noise in the back of the throat) because it’s open late on Fridays.  It was very cool to visit again after 25 years as I haven’t been here since I was in college.  I’m a huge Van Gogh fan and I appreciated the exhibit which was arranged to show the development over his career as well as point out how he was affected by his contemporaries.

Then it was finally time for the evening repast.  We took the tram to Dam Square and wandered back to a place I noticed last night and boy was it worth it.  From the pea soup with sausage to start all the way to Frank’s advocaat “liqueur” at the end of the meal, it was fantastic!  We go the tram back to the hotel to avoid the Friday night weerdies and are preparing for an early morning to try to beat some of the crowd at the Anne Frank house tomorrow!

/san/

[Pedometer:  29, 062 or about 14.5 miles – and it would have been higher if we hadn’t wimped out and used trams!]

August 16 –

We are nearing the end of the adventure and we undertake our last transition today.  We breakfasted and checked out of the hotel but we weren’t ready to bid farewell to Brugge just yet.  First, we needed to conquer the Belfry – 366 steps to the top of the tower to see the 46 bells and a fantastic view for miles around.  While we were just feet away, the carillon played a snippet of “Ode to Joy” – very cool but hard on the ears.  We had a few shops to visit because they were closed yesterday.  I got a few more bracelets J and Frank got his first birthday present – a cool steel sculpture of a mechanic at work!  Not that he needs reminded that he gets to start work again on his birthday next Tuesday!

Then it really was time to move on and we headed along the road to Amsterdam.  During the 3 hours that it took to do make the 2.5 hour trip (damn ring road around Antwerp!), we noticed a few things.  First, Holland is flat.  I mean *really* flat.  I swear I could see Germany….  And Holland is windy – which is probably why they have so many of those windmill things; we saw a few from the highway which was very cool.  Second, Amsterdam is the first city where we found a real classic rock station! Third, it seems that though the Dutch like to travel, no one else travels to Holland!  We saw lots of Dutch license plates in other countries but didn’t see *any* foreign license plates after we crossed the border into the Netherlands.  Finally, Frank rates Dutch roads above Belgian roads but not as good as French and German roads.

We found the hotel, unloaded and ditched the car early.  We weren’t supposed to turn it in until 10 a.m. tomorrow but we were tired of sitting in it and were worried that something might happen to it.  Frank was incredibly pleased that he had driven 3 cars through 8 countries with no mishaps. And when two passing policemen warned us about taking care of our stuff while we were unpacking the car (“This *is* Amsterdam”), we decided not to push our luck and get the car off our hands.
Thus lightened and incredibly hungry from missing lunch, we headed out for an early dinner to a local restaurant recommended by the now suspect guidebook.  With this one, the book may have redeemed itself.  The food was excellent, the service outstanding and friendly and the overall experience wonderful. Duly fortified, we took a belated exploratory walk all the way downtown and back.  We’re staying in the southern part of the city by the museums and the Vondelpark (hoping to run tomorrow!) and it’s a bit of a hike downtown but we had some Belgian chocolate to burn off.  We made it all the way to the train station before the seedy characters, dubious scents, and the increasing dusk indicated that it was time to go back to the hotel.  Now to map out the plan of attack for tomorrow!

/san/

[Pedometer: 25, 633 or about 12.5 miles about half of which came after dinner tonight!]

August 15 –

We bid goodbye to Brussels and headed out of the city center – not according to my directions, of course, no matter how hard we tried – and headed to the Atomium just north of the city. Built for the 1958 World’s Fair it’s a huge atom-shaped thing that’s 102 meters high and is served by the second fastest lift in Europe moving at 5 meters per second.  The view was spectacular and there was lots of things to look at inside the building.  It was extremely cool and gets a big thumbs up from the family!

We then hit the road for the short trip to Brugge.  We’re in West Flanders now – no French here!  We’re practicing our Dutch since we’ve got 3 days in Amsterdam after this (Alstublieft is please!) We found the hotel with little problem relative to Brussels.  We unloaded the bags, parked the car and were off to see the town.  I have to say that this place is so picturesque it’s nearly nauseating!  And the tourists!  The number of people in the town was unbelievable – and they were all tourists!  I heard more English spoken on the streets today than at any time since Frankfurt.

The market square is actually more impressive, IMHO, than the Grand Place and there are cobbled streets upon cobbled streets where ever you turn.  We got some lunch at a cafe and I was again impressed by the seriousness with which the Belgians take their beer:  although our meals were served on paper plates, we got the proper beer glasses to go with the type of beer we ordered.  Every single beer has it’s own particular glass and it may be okay to serve your brochette and frites on styrofoam but not for your beer!

We wandered about before deciding on a boat tour of the canal.  The driver pointed out that Brugge only has about 1000 years of recorded history and there is actually a hospital from the 13th century that has the wards in tact!  The thousand year old buildings weren’t enough for us though.  We needed to go the Archeology museum to get to the *really* old stuff – and what a well done museum this is!  The entire thing is hands on – although the docent at the ticket booth did warn against touching the lights! – so Gillian was in her element.  The exhibits showed all sorts of things found around Brugge dating from different periods and compared them to modern equivalents.  One of the most striking things for me was the banquet table set with eating arrangements from the 14th through 21st centuries – very well done!

There’s a church on every corner – including a few Basilicas – and we almost made it through the entire day without stopping in one but there was one that we couldn’t resist: Our Lady of the Healing Blood.  Yup, There is a church in Brugge that is famous for having drops of blood from Christ as it poured from his wound.  The reliquary for St. Sebastian’s hand has nothing on this!  There is a HUGE tabernacle behind which the blood is kept.  And of course, you can light a candle there (count: 12).  The most amazing thing about this particular religious house is that the decorations were unbelievable!  The reformed Swiss should be turning in their graves!  There wasn’t one square inch of wall, ceiling or floor space that wasn’t covered with murals, bright paint or other religious decoration.  Not a place where you want to attend mass hung over!  Not that anyone actually does that…. 😉

It was threatening rain on and off and we had to drop in on the only brew pub in town to keep dry… 😉 but when the rain was off we wandered to visit the city gates – which was very cool – and wandered along the canal where there were a few windmills (very Dutch!).  Even though today is a national holiday (Assumption), there were a fair number of shops open and we wandered around them sampling some excellent Belgian chocolates – they might be better than the Swiss!

After a while, we started to look for  dining options.  Unfortunately, since so many of the restaurants cater to the masses of tourists, just about every place had the same basic menu of traditional Flemish dishes all served with frites.  We were pretty much Belgian cuisined out so we cemented our visit by sampling Belgian Chinese food – which was very good!  Better than what we had in Switzerland that’s for sure.  And even the Chinese restaurant serves good beer in the right glasses.  I think I like this place!

/san/

[Pedometer:  19, 083 or about 9.5 miles over really old cobblestones.]

August 14 –

Our first full day in Brussels started with the hotel breakfast; Duncan loved having raviolis for breakfast while the rest of us settled for typical breakfast fare before we headed out for a day of museums. The first one we wanted to visit – the archeology museum – is only open on Wednesdays (?!?) so we headed to stop two: the royal palace. We got there right as the doors opened and we filed inside with the rest of the crowd. This was the first time we had to wait in line for anything since we were in Paris. They didn’t allow any cameras inside so instead of trusting that the “no photographs” sign would dissuade you, they made everyone check their camera! Frank was not pleased to leave his behind but those were the rules.

So we wandered through looking at the rooms on public display, the several dozen portraits of various King Leopolds and the artwork on exhibit. It was mildly interesting until we got to the “Hall of Mirrors” which, unlike the amazing room at Versailles, was a small room for a palace but it was filled with a hands-on exhibit on optical illusions. It was really cool! There was a set of mirrors to put you in the middle of a kaleidescope, an apparent bottomless pit, several computer games and a pretend guillotine. The neatest thing of all though was the amazing luminescent green covering on the ceiling and chandeliers made from 1.4 million beetles wings! It was awesome! The best free tour of the day!

Our wanderings took us passed the cathedral so we stopped in again to see the treasury which was closed last night. This was the best €2 we’ve ever spent! We saw paintings and vestments and reliquaries from the 15th centuries on! The creepiest thing was the reliquary containing the hand of St. Sebastian – which was clearly visible through the glass. Ugh!

Next stop: the Comic Strip museum – our first disappointment of the day. We had read about this in a couple of places and the Frommer’s guide I bought talked about how it was great for kids and adults and mentioned lots of comic heroes that we know and love as well as many more from Belgium. It was pretty expensive as far as museums go and the first exhibit on how comic books are made and how many people are involved was pretty interesting. Then the rest of the museum seemed to be dedicated to the most famous Belgian creation: Tin Tin. Not one I grew up with! I suppose that if we actually spoke French, we would have gotten more out of it since we could then actually read the comics but the English language guide we got described the exhibits in English but that didn’t help since the comics themselves weren’t translated! There was one Beetle Bailey cartoon from 1994….

So we decided to console ourselves with a light lunch (sandwiches and salads) followed by some yummy pastries! Then we were off to the final museum stop of the day: the Beer museum! You would think that a country with 100 breweries creating more than 450 beers in a dozen different styles could do a better job putting together a museum. Alas, it was not to be. This was our second disappointment of the day – and another strike against our guidebook – as the entrance fee got you into a room with some sample brewing equipment and a seat for a 40+ minute movie on Belgian beers. Luckily we could choose to show it in English but that didn’t really matter since all they seemed to be interested in was showing the label of every beer produced in Belgium. We did get to sample a Belgian white beer and we did learn that Kriek is a cherry lambic, of which Frank has now become fond. Otherwise, not worth the price of admission.

As it was close to museum closing time, we didn’t try to squeeze in the chocolate museum but instead ventured out to see Brussels’ most famous resident: Manniken Pis. Yup, the statue of the little boy peeing on the street corner. We had to stop by and get a picture – one that makes it appear that he’s peeing on Gillian’s head of course! This isn’t the original statue – that one is in a safe place; apparently, he has a bad habit of being stolen or subject to “anatomical mistreatment”. Apparently, he does have more than 700 costumes and if we were still going to be here on Thursday, we’d get to see him dressed up as Elvis!  And the shops selling crap (or “keech” as they say in Scotland) is truly unbelievable!  You can get just about anything with the little pissing boy on it:  lace, playing cards, statues, towels, and even chocolate!

We did some shopping and bought some chocolate and lace and yet more earrings! Then some time in a café sampling the local brews (more kriek!) and listening to street performers – a string quintent! Then some quiet time planning our route to Brugge tomorrow before heading out for the evening meal. We decided to give the guide book one more try and check out a recommended restaurant. It was good but nothing great. It was hot inside but at least it as a non-smoking restaurant. Duncan and I tried the carbonnade of beef with stoemp, apparently potatoes mashed with spinach (?!) and Frank had muscles again. We were annoyed by a table of “fellow Americans” a few tables down who were everything that Europeans hate about us. I can tell you that they are from San Francisco; it took them 11.5 hours to fly to Amsterdam; he was in the military stationed in Japan (He loves Kyoto!) and it was their 19^th anniversary. How do I know all this? Dad decided to make small talk with the two Japanese women at the table between us and told them his life story! He waited until he was done smacking and yelling at his youngest son (who was obnoxious and whiney and deserved it!) We really wished we could speak Gaelic!

/san/

[Pedometer: 18,961 or about 9 miles, some of which was spent shuffling past exhibits.

August 13 –

Another adventure begins!  I started this morning with a quick run – who knew one of the benefits of staying at a hotel in the middle of nowhere is that there is a park with a running trail right next door.  Yippee!  We showered and breakfasted,  handed the bags back out the window, and set off to take care of a few loose ends in Reims before heading out.  We visited the Musee Automobile Reims-Champagne which Frank voted as really cool (tres bien!)  It has about 150 cars, about 50 motorcycles and a thousand or so toy cars all in this old factory.  I found it interesting because there wasn’t the typical collection of old and unique American cars – I’ve been to a few car museums in the States! – this had an interesting assortment of European, especially French, cars which was really neat.  There was the obligatory Corvette but otherwise, not a Chevy in sight.  Frank just *had* to buy a model – a 1972 Ferrari Dino – for his collection.

We wanted to visit another champagne house, Pommery, but there wasn’t going to be another English tour for more than an hour and we didn’t feel like hanging around quite so long so we were off to fight the Battle of Belgium.  I had heard many horror stories about navigating through Brussels and Brugge – the two places we are headed – so I tried my best to be prepared without the aid of Helga.  Of course, this meant that I wound up with multiple map books and the laptop with PDFs of Google maps open.  (Yup, driving down the road with the laptop open….) Everything was as awful as I had heard!  Frank noticed the difference in the roads as soon as we crossed the border – I believe there was a comparison to the Jersey turnpike!  Then there was the bad signposts and the fact that we had about 5 maps and they were all TERRIBLE!

We eventually found our way to the hotel without too many tears or swear words but of course it’s on a one way street that has pedestrian bollards up so we can’t actually get there!  We dropped the kids and the luggage off and found a car park where we are about 7 levels underground – and not likely to move the car until we actually have to!  The price to pay for having a room right off the Grand Place….

Which is WOW!  I had heard about it and seen pictures but it really is an awesome square!  We didn’t take too much time to explore then because it was time for our 3 p.m. lunch!  We hit a stand for the local delicacy of French fries with mayonnaise, with a couple of sandwiches, and some Belgian waffles for dessert.  Yum!  Then we began our wandering to try to find our way around the place.  We explored the Grand Place some more and then wandered off some side streets where we found half a dozen or so stores devoted to animation and other cool collectibles, which kept the boys busy for quite some time!  Then we decided to take care of the obligatory visit – the local cathedral!

This one is not called Notre Dame but is dedicated to St. Michael and St. Gudula and is really lovely.  It’s the first cathedral we’ve been too this trip that has already been through a complete restoration and it is beautiful.  I lit my candle on the St. Michael side (that’s 11) and admired the statues of the apostles that lined the main church.  Then we went to the “basement” of the church where there is a display of the original Romanesque church from the 11th century which was uncovered during the renovations.  Lots of cool stained glass and other stuff.  Very neat!

Then we wandered through the Parc Bruxelles which is also very cool and came out on the side of the Royal Palace.  It was closed but is definitely on the agenda for tomorrow.  The flag was flying over the building so the King is somewhere in Belgium; I suspect we won’t see him…  Then off to find some dinner.  We found the area equivalent to the Latin Quarter in Paris where there are dozens of restaurants in a row down small alleyways so all the menus are similar with similar prices.  We picked one at random and had the 3 course dinner for €18 and it was okay.  Duncan won for the best meal:  waterzooï – a soup-like stew with chicken and cream and about a pound of butter!

A few notes on Belgium so far.  This is the first place we’ve been to where there seems to truly be a language war.  Switzerland has more than one official language but the streets only have one name.  Here, every single street sign has the the street name in both French and Dutch – talk about confusing!  No wonder I had issues with navigating!  So far everyone has spoken French – at least until they figure out how bad our French is and then they switch immediately to English!  But I think that Brugge will be more Flemish and be mostly Dutch, we’ll see if I’m right. This is also the first place we’ve been where there has been a noticeable amount of graffiti.  I don’t recall seeing any in Zürich and very little in Frankfurt so this is quite a shock.

So we’ll see what tomorrow has to bring…

/san/

[Pedometer: 16, 360 or about 8 miles not including this morning’s run!]

July 27 –

It seems that the weather gods are smiling on us – another dry morning. More clouds than yesterday but the promise of another good day. No run for me as my left knee isn’t faring well – I think I need to stretch a bit more. We started the day with the bakery run and got coffee from the hotel restaurant. Then we dropped off two large loads of laundry at a local laundromat for a service wash – I love that concept! – and headed into town to tie up some loose ends.

First, to the casemates, the historical fortification of the city which was built up again and again starting in 963. Apparently an independent state in the middle of Europe including a city with natural defenses was too much to leave alone so European rulers have passed it back and forth for centuries. We walked through the Bock area through walls that are hundreds of years old and looked through cannon holes and down wells and under buildings. It was really cool!

Then we wandered back to the Cathedral to take pictures which we couldn’t do the other day. It really is a tremendously beautiful place. We hit a few kitschy shops to pick up some interesting souveniers – where else could Duncan get small statues of Asterix and Obelix? Then we picked up the clean laundry and prepared to head out of town.

We programmed Helga to take us to Vianden – a town that Victor Hugo raved over and was suggested to me by both the guide book and my friend Guiseppe as a nice afternoon out. Correct on all counts! The Vianden castle is picturesque beyond belief! It’s like something out of a storybook – I kept waiting for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to fly over the mountain.  We wandered all over more centuries old stones and looked out over a beautiful valley.  Then it was time to head home and when we stopped for gas (the cheapest in Europe at about one Euro per litre – you do the math!) that’s when the skies couldn’t hold back any more and we got a soaking downpour for about 20 minutes.

The sky was clear again by the time we got back into the city and got some of the yummiest Indian food yet!  Big thumbs up for Luxembourgian Indian food (?!?).  Now it’s time to pack up and prepare to head to Strasbourg tomorrow. I’ve promised to have a crepe for my friends Julie and Christine since we weren’t able to do that ourselves last December.

/san/

[Pedometer:  22,389 or about 11 miles mostly up and down old spiral staircases and over old rocks!]

July 26th –

Another bright and sunny day! Since this hotel doesn’t offer a yummy breakfast buffet, we wandered out to the local patisserie for coffee and pastries (because I’ve never met a breakfast worth 18 euros!) Then it was off to work for me! I worked out the details of the number 18 bus and got to the offices of Eurostat in time for my day’s worth of meetings. The folks I chatted with were wonderfully helpful and I learned a lot about how an international statistical agency works, how it’s different from a national statistical agency and how they do some of the things that we do.

Meanwhile, the family was out enjoying the sunshine and the city. It made it up to 26 degrees celsius – significantly warmer than we had in Scotland! They traipsed all over visiting museums, walking through the valley in the shadow of the fortified city and generally exploring. After I got done discussing database design and dissemination strategies, we all converged on the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Tonight’s repast was to be a bit more traditional. We wandered to Mousel’s Cantine for traditional unfiltered beer and pork products. Gillian had the kid’s schnitzel which was the size of Rhode Island; and Frank and I had two of the traditional pork dinners. Only Duncan had to be different: he had HORSE for dinner! He said it was delicious and didn’t get the jokes about eating Trigger! A bit more wandering through the city and then it was home to call it a night.

/san/

[Pedometer: approx. 24,000 steps or 12 miles for the family – Frank forgot the pedometer for part of the day’s wanderings. I managed about 10,000 including much wandering about in the Eurostat building.]