Well Hello again Amsterdam

Tuesday May 31, 2011

Today was our last full day in Europe.  We awoke in Brugge and ate breakfast at the B&B, I think we may have been the only guests left, and then we spent a little more time walking around the city before we headed to the train to make our way to Amsterdam.

Let's start with where we went once we checked out of the B&B. We walked around and went searching for a few geocaches. The first one that we were trying to locate was a multiple clue cache. We found all of the places that the clues asked us to and we were within about 5 feet of the cache but we couldn't find it and we were not putting our hands in strange holes. It was frustrating to give up on it when we had spent the better part of an hour getting to the final clue but I guess that's something you have to learn to deal with if you are going to look for caches. The second one was much more basic and we were within about 10 feet of it and searching when another guy with a gps came over, we worked together and found it stuck to some metal box and signed the slip and now Jamie can cross The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Belgium off her list of countries where she's found caches!

After finding the caches we decided that we needed some more chocolate. Jamie wanted to get a few pieces to take to give to the flight attendants on her flight home and, well, I don't really need an excuse to buy more chocolate!  We went to two places, one was a branch of a place I'd been in Brussels and so I was able to get more of the chocolates that I new I really liked.  The other place was recommended by Rick Steves and it was a very cute family run shop.

We also knew that we needed to make one last stop for ice cream! This time splurging and getting three scoops on a waffle cone. The ice cream in Europe just can't be beat, I've just never tasted anything from the U.S. that tastes quite as amazing!

We were also on the hunt for one last postcard to send to our good friend who lives in Montana. We finally found one and some stamps so we just needed to drop it in the mail at the train station. With our bags loaded down we made our way to the station. We took a train to Antwerp and then transferred onto a train to Amsterdam. The trip took us about 3 1/2 hours and thankfully took us straight to the airport.

Once we got back to Amsterdam I was able to put my postcards into the mail, I had tried to mail them when we were first in Amsterdam before heading to Denmark but couldn't find a mailbox so I held onto them until we got back to Amsterdam.  After mailing my postcards and grabbing some food in the airport we caught the shuttle to our hotel. It was disappointing that the hotel didn't have free wifi but I think at that point we were both ready to be home.

The following morning we packed up one last time and caught the shuttle to the airport.  The lines at the baggage check were absolutely ridiculous and if it hadn't been for the bottle of wine in my backpack I could have skipped the line and headed through security to do a little last minute shopping and spent the 40 Euro that I had leftover. Unfortunately, Jamie's line was even longer and I didn't feel comfortable just leaving her. She was trying to fly standby on a pass but somehow she didn't get listed for the flight. I finally had to go and rush through security and catch my flight while Jamie had to head back to the hotel to spend another night in Amsterdam hoping to get on a flight to the States in the morning.

It's good to be home but I really miss traveling.  I like wearing something other than what's in my backpack but I really do love seeing new things. Hopefully I'll get to take a group of students to Europe one of these summers and do even more sight seeing.  Next on my list of places I most want to visit is Greece and the Mediterranean, I think a nice 3 week cruise would be the perfect way to see the area. Time to start saving!

Suzie :-)

Biking around Brugge

Monday, May 31, 2011

Since most museums and tourist sights in Brugge are closed on Mondays we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous sunshine and go for a bike ride. Our Rick Steves guidebook gave us a discount on our bike rental and even gave a recommended day trip to the nearby village of Damme.

First we ate breakfast and the headed to the bike rental place. Of course we got lost getting there as I confused St. Niklous with Niklous street. Oops! We got bikes with a basket on the front so that we could stop and get a picnic lunch on the way out of town.

Let me just say that biking and trying to navigate is very difficult. We made a few wrong turns, one market was closed but we finally found the store and bought supplies for a picnic lunch and headed in the right direction. Once out of the city center there is a bike path that follows a canal straight to Damme so we couldn't really get lost anymore. We went at a leisurely pace stopping to take some pictures of us with our bikes. Our first glimpse of Damme was actually of a working windmill that is open everyday except Monday, what luck.

We rode through the cobblestone streets and down a little bike path to a bench along a cute little canal.  Across the canal we could see some cattle laying in the grass enjoying the windy afternoon. We stopped there to enjoy our lunch of cheese and bread. Unfortunately we didn't read the bread package very carefully and ended up with yummy raisin bread. Now, raisin bread is good but it doesn't go very well with cheese and chicken so we ate them separately and sipped our wine out of plastic cups.  It was a very nice little picnic even if it was a bit windy.

After finishing our lunch we made our way to the old church in town and went in to take a look. Part of the church has been destroyed but the other part is quite lovely. There was this creepy statue with 3 faces in the garden behind the church and we must have taken 30 pictures of ourselves trying to imitate the statue, it was quite hilarious if not irreverent.

After visiting the church we headed back into Brugge. The ride back seemed to go much quicker, most likely because we didn't get lost. Around the old moat of the city there are four old windmills so we rode along the moat to take a look at them and of course take some pictures. We then attempted to go to several recommended eating establishments which were closed. We finally found one that was not closed and we sat and talked and listened to the locals arguing with English tourists for about 3 hours before we headed back to the B&B.

It was a great day and bikes are definitely the way to get around Brugge. I really do love this city!

Suzie :-)

Mussels in Brussels and a little peeing boy

Saturday, May 28, 2011

We awoke in Cologne this morning, ate some breakfast at the hotel (grabbing some snacks for later) and headed to the train station. We caught an 11:43 am train from Cologne to Brussels, it was time to say goodbye to Germany and head to our final country, Belgium. We arrived at the Brussels south station and took the metro up to our hostel where we dropped our bags and headed out again. Since we only had one day in Brussels we wanted to make it good. Our first stop was the Royal Museums of art which contains both "ancient" and modern art. Let me just say that Brussels is difficult to navigate! With all of the street signa in two languages it is difficult to figure out where you are and what direction you need to head.  Well, after a few wrong turns we were finally headed in the right direction. Unfortunately when we got there we found that the modern museum was closed and we could only go into the ancient portion yet we had to pay the same price. So, we decided that it wasn't quite worth it. We back tracked going through the sculpture garden and found a street market going on so we browsed the stalls as we worked our way towards the old town.

It was about this time that we figured out that a jazz festival was going on this weekend. The jazz festival made things a bit more difficult because there was a huge stage set up in the Grand Place which made it very difficult to get a picture of the square. Our first stop in the square was the city museum where we went up to the fourth floor to check out little Manekin Pis's costumes.

Mannekin Pis is a little statue of a boy peeing. There are lots of stories about why Brussels has a statue of a boy peeing but no one knows for sure where he came from. What I do know is that he is quite popular and people all over the world send him clothes to wear. He has over seven hundred outfits that date back to about the 1600's. His clothes are pretty cute and so is he, he is really quite a tiny statue and you could easily miss him if you didn't know better. We went to see him and take pictures later in the evening along with about 100 Asian tourists :)

After looking at his costumes we were ready to tackle some hardcore chocolate shopping! The Godiva shop in the Grand Place was closed so we went to Neuhaus, Leonidas, Galler, and two other chocolate shops. I bought a lot of chocolate!

We were getting hungry for some real food so we sat at one of the restaurants in the square. Jamie ordered mussels and frites while I got a little pizza. Oh, and we both got a beer sampler with tiny cups of 5 Belgian beers. The fries were okay and the mussels were not as bad as I thought they would be. The cheese on my pizza was really good, but again, it was just okay. Of the beer that we tasted only one was something that I would order again. It was a cherry lambic. In Belgium they used to preserve fruit by putting it in beer and then in the winter they would have fruit and flavored beer.

After eating a little we walked over to find the little peeing boy and take some pictures with him and then we really just wandered around taking in the sights. We were getting hungry again and found a creperie with both savory and sweet crepes. We had w chicken, pesto and cheese and then a lemon and sugar crepe. They were both delicious but I think I liked the savory one more.

While we were eating outside there was a guy begging. He was going from table to table and was very persistent. The first time he only stopped at our table for a few seconds but then he came around again and proceeded to speak to us in french and when we didn't respond he started yelling and getting beligerant and finally the waiter came out and got him to leave. I felt bad for the guy but Belgium has pretty sweet social service programs and so I'm pretty sure that he just wanted money for drugs or alcohol. Very sad.

So, after that little incident we decided that we should go and walk by the royal palace and at least see it since we were there. Thankfully we were near a subway stop and so we just took the train a few stops and walked through the park to the palace. It's very nice but not as large or grand as I expected.

From the palace we went to check out a hole in the wall place we had heard good things about. It was literally a whole in the wall and then through the courtyard to a little pub that was nice and relaxed. There we tried the lambic without fruit and then with peach. On it's own it is very sour and tart but bot in a bad way if you like things that are sour!

It was getting late so we headed back to the hostel and checked in. We had a private room with our own bathroom which was very nice. Not a bad place to stay unless someone starts hacking up a lung in the hall at 1 am. Otherwise it was nice.

Suzie :-)

Introduction to Brugge

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Woohoo, we made it to Brugge! Brugge was at the top of my must visit list when we first started talking about European travel. I'm not quite sure what drew me to the city, it may have been a travel or food show, but I'm so glad that we made it here.

We left Brussels at 9:30 and got to Brugge around 10:30. Right off the bat I was in awe as we walked along the old moat to get to our b&b which happened to face a canal and our room happened to overlook that canal. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and got the keys and then headed out to explore the town. We started with some breakfast in the big Market square. We had quiche and coffee, a little pricey but you pay for the central location and the sounds of the bells right there. After breakfast we decided to try the Rick Steves self-guided walking tour and perhaps a museum. We started in the market square where the big bell tower is and then headed to Burg square where the city hall sits and where the Basilica of the Holy Blood is.

The Basilica is said to posess the actual blood of Jesus Christ. The story is that a crusader brought the blood back in 1150. They display the blood daily and for a donation you can touch the container. We came back to see it but did not touch it.

The Burg square is also home to the "carwash" a modern statue that is supposed to be a play on water and lace but just looks ridiculously out of place. Another newer building in the square is the Plaza Hotel. The cool thing about this new building is that it was built on top of some old ruins and you can walk right down into the basement and see the artifacts that they dug up along with the original walls. Very cool.

The Burg Square also had one of the best statue men I've ever seen, he was so good that when he moved it gave Jamie a bit of a scare!

From the Burg we walked across a canal to the fish market where on Sunday they have some souvenier vendors out. There were a few artists selling original work and it was beautiful and would have made a great gift if I'd had money and room to bring them back.

From here we walked to an area called the canal postcard view for good reason, it was the most beautiful little spot rivelling Amsterdams canals. Of course we took pictures. Then we saw the Groeninge Museum which we had wanted to go to but it is undergoing renovations so we decided to skip it and continue our walk to the Church of Our Lady where they have the sculpture "Madonna and Child" by Michaelangelo. It is very rare to see his work outside of Italy. It was really the most beautiful sculpture I've seen, there was a certain refinement in the work. The church was really quite beautiful. From here we paused our walk and got some money from an atm and went back to the fish market so that Jamie could buy a painting. We came back to where we left off to finish our walking tour. We made sure to buy our brewery tour tickets and then we had a street waffle and soda. The place place where we got our waffle was amazing. It was a woman and her son and they also sold ice cream. The little boy was maybe 8 or 9 and he was manning the mixer making up some waffle dough, it was more cookie dough coonsistency than batter. While we waited for our waffles to cook we watched him weigh out portions of dough, it was a great scene to see.

After the waffles we had an hour to kill before the tour so we headed to the Minnewater and the place wherr the Benedictine nuns live. The Minnewater is lake like and there are lots of swans and ducks. This is also where the horses pulling the carriages come for a drink and snack. The Begijnhof is where religious women live, not quite nuns but similar. We got to the little chapel and they were singing vespers and it was beautiful. I wish we could have sat and listened all afternoon.

Instead though we had to get to our tour of de Halve Maan Brewery for our tour. The tour was given by a very dry humoured woman who clearly loved beer and new quite a bit about it. During the tour they took us to the old brewery and through all of the stages that beer goes through before anyone can drink it. The tour was educational and fairly entertaining but the best part may have been the view from the rooftop. You could see the entire town from up there, it was great. Of course after the tour we had to sample the beer and it was pretty good. I have to say that over here beer is so much more than a means for getting drunk. The beer here has depth and flavor that I've never tasted anywhere else. It is so vastly superior to any beer I've tasted in the US.

After our drinks we walked back up past the market square and made our way to a highly recommended place. Unfortunately, being Sunday evening it was closed. After much careful consideration and consulting maps and guidebooks we found an Irish Pub that was open and serving food. It felt a bit wrong to be at an Irish Pub in Belgium but the food was good (bangers and mash) and they had the Ireland v. Scotland football game on. We stayed for the entire game and really got into it. Great choice.

It was definitely time to go back to the b&b at that point and get some rest for our big bike ride in the morning.

Suzie :-)