We knew we wanted to do as much traveling as possible while we lived in NL. We’re in a great location geographically and many places of interest are very close. I currently have a list of 31 places that we want to see (the list keeps growing). We’ve been to 13 of them in six countries so far. 😀

Travel expenses are a monthly budget item and I think we’ve done a good job staying within our means. I get a monthly allowance for gas, so car travel is very inexpensive. Area stores offer discount train tickets from time to time and we take advantage of that. We’ve gotten tickets for as little as €13 round trip. The tickets can be used for travel anywhere in NL. We’ve taken the train to Amsterdam, Utrecht and Nijmegen. Air travel within Europe is pretty inexpensive. We can fly many places for under €50, if we book early enough. Once we’re in the city, we usually walk everywhere. It’s the best way to see everything and we get some exercise. The only exception was London where we bought Oyster cards and used the Tube. We took a taxi for the first time in Pisa from the airport to our hotel – well worth the €13 fare to get through a maze of streets in the dark. 🚕

I use booking.com for hotels and get good rates for places off the beaten path. We always book a place that includes free breakfast. Europeans don’t skimp on breakfast! The breakfast buffet in Florence was huge (only half of it is pictured below). We’re not too picky about the accommodation as long as it’s clean, comfortable and quiet. The room we had in London was tiny and stuffy, but it was in a good location. When we walked into our room in Pisa, we saw two single beds. I thought I had booked a double? Oh well, for one night it didn’t really matter to us. Dick opened the door to what he thought was the bathroom and found another room with a queen bed. So we had a family suite for the two of us. The hotel was old and shabby, but it was pretty clean and the bed was comfy. The B&B in Haarlem had a fairly large room with nice light, but we had to share the bathroom with the owner and other guests. That was different!

We typically seek out street vendors for lunch or have a light meal at a cafe. We always try to have a nice dinner because we want to experience the cuisine! We have rarely been disappointed. The only bad meal I can think of was a French dinner in Equisheim. Food is one of our biggest expenses. 

We bought museum cards for NL. It costs €60 for the year and it can be used at virtually every museum in the country. It’s a good value! In other countries, we’ve picked one or two museums that we really want to spend time in. Museum admission is typically around €12. In Brugge we got a discount museum card from our hotel and in Florence we went to the Uffizi when it was free (first Sunday of the month). We do self-guided or free walking tours, which are  a lot of fun. We avoid the people with headphones following the guide waving a flag. 😬 There are tours with practically every mode of transportation (bike, Vespa, horse & buggy, scooter, trolley, etc), but the only one that’s made sense to us so far was the canal boat tour in Amsterdam. 

Shopping is a must for me, but I’m mostly a browser. We don’t buy kitschy souvenirs or tee shirts. We bought wine glasses in Alsace and beer glasses in Brugge, which we use (in moderation!) and don’t display. I’m a sucker for scarves and have added several to my collection. I wear them a lot. Dick got a really nice leather jacket for a great price in Florence. 

Our biggest challenge is going to be time. I have lots of vacation time and Dick’s schedule is flexible, but there are still limits to how frequently we can travel. Believe it or not, we like to stay home and have some down time on occasional weekends! We’re going to the US for the holidays and we’re not likely to travel during the coldest months of January and February. In the spring, we hope to be hosts and tour guides to visiting family. 

Hey, it’s a good problem to have and we’ll make the best of it. We are so grateful for this opportunity to see more of our world! 

Gent (Ghent) is another medieval city just 30 min. from Brugge. We drove there through the fog on Sunday morning. The fog didn’t clear until mid-afternoon and the temperature hovered around 40 degrees all day. It was kind of fun seeing this old city in the fog at first, but we were wishing for sun by noon. 

We toured Graventeen, Castle of the Counts, first. The design is based on a castle in Syria so it’s quite different from other European castles. It was a residence for the Count at first, but for most of it’s active history, it was a prison. The exhibits featured weapons, torture and execution devices (like the guillotine). 

We found a nice indoor spot along one of the canals to have a coffee break before meeting up with another free walking tour. This tour was led by a young Russian woman who spoke excellent English. She kept us moving along to stay warm, but my toes were numb by the end! We picked up some historical facts and tourist tips on the tour. There is a lot of construction in Gent right now because they are installing cable cars to replace buses. It was a distraction to me, especially in an area where there would normally be a good view of the amazing city hall. I wonder if the cables will also detract from the views of beautiful buildings.

We desperately needed a warm place and warm food after the tour. Hot soup and hot chocolate in front of a fire (it was on a tv screen, but still ok) fit the bill. After we were nicely warmed up, we went to St. Bavo home of “The Mystic Lamb” also known as the Ghent altar piece. The cathedral is incredibly complex, ornate and full of artwork. It’s too bad that we didn’t have more time to spend there before it closed at 5pm. We walked back through part of the city center and stopped off at ‘t Dreupelkot for a shot of jenever. This is apparently what one does in Gent! There had to be nearly 100 different flavors on their “menu”. I had passion fruit and Dick had ginger. 

Since we had a reservation back in Brugge, we couldn’t stay in Gent past sundown. The lighting there is supposed to be spectacular. Dick and I agreed that we would have to go back for another visit — possibly after the construction is completed. There is light festival there in early February and maybe we can go to that next year.

I’m going to refer to Bruges by the Flemish name Brugge. I don’t understand why European place names are translated into the language that is being spoken and instead keeping the spelling and pronounciation of the native language. As long as the Latin alphabet is in play, of course. I guess foreign conquests contributed to this phenenonmen, but I digress . . .

Everyone who has been to Brugge says you must visit and now I know why. Brugge is place where you can easily imagine going backwards in time to the medieval period. I think it’s the most charming historic city we’ve visited. The architecture is amazing and even the outskirts of the city feel old. Part of the reason is because they take care to make the buildings look old even when they are new. It’s brilliant!

Brugge is about a 2.5 hr drive from our house and we were there by lunchtime on Saturday. After lunch, we joined a free walking tour led by a guy named Hendrick. Hendrick was born and raised in Flanders, but his English sounded British. He said that was a mystery, but we guessed he watched a lot of BBC during his formative years. 🙂 Hendrick gave a great tour with lots of history, stories and jokes. Some keywords from Brugge history are: textiles, trade, beer and tourism. Brugge was a happening place during the middle ages, but declined during the Renaissance. Later on, we found a small family restaurant near our bed and breakfast on the outer part of the city. Our dinner was fantastic. It was a nice night so we walked back into the center of the city. The city under lights is quite magical – like being in a painting.

After a day in Gent (next post!), we came back to Brugge on Sunday night to hear some live music at a wine bar that was recommended by a coworker. The place was tiny and the tables were full, but we had made a reservation. The owner quickly made things right by moving a few people around (not so easy in such a small space). We ended up on the second floor near the entertainment. A guy on guitar and a guy on keyboard played jazz and blues tunes — they were pretty good!

On Monday, we started the day with a climb up the Belfry tower — 366 steps to the top. The carillon and bells are impressive and of course, the view is amazing. Some frites, some chocolate, some shopping, the Historium museum, the chocolate museum, beer break and then a delicious dinner. There are chocolate shops everywhere, but we managed to pick one that is family owned and we learned later that they were voted best chocolatier in Brugge this past year. The owner was as sweet as her chocolate. Our beer break was on a balcony overlooking the Grote Markt where we watched children chase big bubbles across the square. An industrious young fellow created bubbles there for hours. We had dinner at a Flemish pub where almost everything was made with beer. My fish stew was absolutely devine. We somehow scored a room with a BIG tub at the B&B, so I seized the chance for a hot soak before bed. What a day!

We made a couple more stops before leaving the city on Tuesday. We went into the Basillica of the Holy Blood, which is Gothic and not my favorite architecture. We should have gone to the Church of Our Lady to see the Madonna instead — oh well. One last turn around both squares and then I got a yummy Belgian waffle before we headed out. 

To sum it up: we loved Brugge and look forward to going back!

Dear Mrs. DeLosh, I made it to France at last and I remembered a little of the French you taught me! It was actually quite useful the first night of our visit to Alsace. Dick had ‘reserved’ a room at a bed and breakfast in Eguisheim. It was apparent from the email exchange that the owner didn’t speak English and it became even more apparent when we arrived and the reservation was nonexistent. “We look forward to our visit” evidently didn’t translate to oui nous voulons vraiment une réservation! After a tense exchange in French and English and review of email messages, the conclusion was that we were without a room. C’est la vie.

We drove into the center of town and quickly found a small hotel. The person in charge at the hotel didn’t speak English either. I was able to request a room in French and with some pointing and written numbers, we were set up with lodging. Whew! We ended up with a nice room and the reasonable rate included a delicious French continental breakfast. We often have croissants at home, but we agreed that the French croissants are way better. And Brie for breakfast? Oh yes!

Since the forecast for Saturday was rainy, we chose to visit Colmar first and go to the Unterlinden Museum. The museum is a collection of art and history of Colmar and Alsace from Medieval and Renaissance times to art from the 18th century forward to the present. It’s a nicely laid out museum and I liked that it had a local focus. It’s located in a former convent so the building itself is a piece of history. We spent the rest of the day doing a self-guided walking tour and wandering through some shops and churches. Voltaire lived in Colmar for awhile and Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty, was a native. The city of Colmar is very colorful with pastel half timber houses and LOTS of flowers. It looks almost unreal as if no one actually lives in these houses — kind of like a movie set. When we stopped to listen to the bells of St. Martin, I had a moment where I felt like I was waking from a dream only to realize that it was all real. I was really in France experiencing it all first hand — not from pictures or books! Since we like to try the local specialties when we travel, we finished up our visit with tarte flambé at a cozy restaurant.

Eguisheim is a quaint lovely village in Vin D’Alsace. The main streets are concentric circles with little side streets connecting them. It was voted the most beautiful village in France one year. There are many wineries in this town and the surrounding towns. The entire area around the villages is completely covered with vineyards and some big corn fields. It’s an amazing site. Sunday was a great weather day to walk around Eguisheim and enjoy the sights and tastes. We visited at least six wineries and tasted several wines at each. We learned a lot about the wine varieties in this region during our tastings. Alsace is known for white wines like Pinot Gris, Riesling and Pinot Blanc. We stocked up! 

Side note for my mother: we found the source of Munster cheese! I still don’t like it very much. 🙂

There are several castles in this area, though some are just ruins. You can see them up on the hills all around Alsace. We had a great view of the Trois Chateaux from our hotel room and we also hiked a short trail to see it up close. The biggest castle we saw was Haut Koenignsbourg, which was restored in the early 1900’s by Wilhelm II when Alsace was part of his German empire. We had a great tour guide, who obviously appreciated the unusual history of this castle. The route home was a long, scenic drive through the northern part of Alsace and then through Luxembourg and Belgium. We got a little lost crossing the border from France to Germany to Luxembourg, but we finally hit the right direction! We stopped in Luxembourg City for a quick dinner and made a note to go back for a day trip sometime soon.