Friday, August 30

Once upon a time, Linda and I saw a movie named In Bruges. We hated it. It was filmed in black and white and was about two criminals who needed to hide out after killing someone. They chose Bruges. The film not only seemed stupid but dreary. The town always seemed overcast. Our friends later told us it was a spoof. We didn't get it. We'll need to try again,.

Well, we're here, its in color and the day is bright and beautiful. Our place the Alergia Hotel, but really a Bed and Breakfast has a lovely garden off the dining room. We consider eating out, but its just a little too cool.

After a typical European breakfast of meats, cheeses, breads, orange juice and coffee, we venture out. As advertised, we are 1 1/2 blocks from the main square. The platz is dominated by the clock tower where one of the criminals jumped from but didn't die immediately. Another thing that irritated me about the film.

Anyway, we wonder around a bit toward a canal city tour. There are four tour boat companies, all give you the same tour. We choose the one that is a little out of the way and has the shortest line. Its a short wait and then onto the boat that rocks as big people get on. The captain/tour guide waits until he has a full load and is balanced. He surveys our group for language preferences. No surprise - Dutch, French, and English. So, he alternates between each language and driving the boat. Why is it that every time we take a tour using multiple languages does it seem like the guide spends more time speaking the other languages than English? Is this just our imagination or are those other people getting more information than we are, or does it take more words in other languages to express yourself?

We see old buildings, a little history about Bruges and its golden era of the 15th century. Bruges was a major trading center and known for the quality of the merchandise sold there. Bruges was synonymous with quality. 

After the tour, Linda wants to buy a pendant she had seen earlier. On the way to that vendor we pass a painter and buy one of his watercolors of the city. She buys the pendant and then we walk back to the main platz to the Historium - a multi-media presentation of the history of the city during the 15th century. Its interesting: you are guided to walk through rooms, each with a video presentation with a story line of a young apprentice who works for van Eyeck and falls in love. The rooms are decorated in period modeling. The audio is from a mobile unit where you select your language. Works good. From the terrace, I take some pictures of the main platz below. Here's me in the picture that van Eyeck was painting in the story.

We eat lunch at one of the many cafes ringing the platz. I pick this one because earlier when I asked if their kitchen closed at 2:00, the guy was nice and funny. And, by the way, they don't. They stay open all day. We order the lunch special which starts with a herring salad for Linda and a shrimp salad for me. I ask how it is and she says, "its fishy and interesting". I decide to pass on her offer of a taste. Her main course is a Flemish stew - delicious, especially the dark sauce - and I get mussels which are also tasty. We end with chocolate mousse. I break my diet and eat it. Hey, this is Belgium where the best chocolate comes from. 

I'm still suffering from my cold and tired. We walk back to our room. Linda goes back out to shop and I take a nap. She returns with no  bags. But, she has a goal of eating a Belgium waffle with chocolate sauce, not Nutella. We walk around with the intention of finding the perfect place where we can sit and have an espresso and share a waffle. After walking up and down several streets we find ourselves back at the main platz and sit at one of  the cafes. They have waffles with assorted toppings. All more costly than the street vendors that don't have seating. I guess seating comes with a price. Our waiter is rather indifferent and really pushes the waffle of the house that has a mystery sauce. Linda thinks that might be nice, but as he walks away from the table he mentions it comes with ice cream and she doesn't want that. As these waiters do, he punches the order into his portable machine that connects with the kitchen. Linda smells a rat and gets up and tries to change the order to just the chocolate sauce. When he delivers it, there is a waffle soaked in chocolate sauce with slices of banana and a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a separate dish. Linda thinks she successfully changed the order but when the bill comes we are charged the outrageous price of 11 euros, 3.50 euros more  than any of the other waffle selections. Linda is pissed. She complains to our moody waiter but he says it was not possible to change the charge on the order, it was already in the computer. What a joke.

We walk around for about 15 or 20 minutes with Linda fuming all the way. We circle back around and she confronts him again and tells him he has ruined her visit to Bruges. He claims no responsibility that makes her even madder. Its a standoff, but at least she spoke up for herself and felt better for doing it but her angst kept her from a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Thursday, August 29

I'm sicker than a dog - bad cold, dripping nose, stuffy head, and irritating cough. I didn't get much sleep. So, the question is do we stay with the plan and drive to Bruges for 2 days or cancel and stay at the house. After a hot shower, I decide I don't want to walk around the house all day coughing. I would rather do it on the road and at our Bed and Breakfast in Bruges. 

Its only about a 3 hour drive. We decide to break it up some and stop at Ghent. It takes us a few minutes to find a parking place. While we're looking, we find ourselves driving down a street on trolley tracks which looks strangely devoid of other traffic. A man walking by signals to us and we stop. He tells us we are not allowed to drive on this street and there is a policeman just down the next block who will give us a 40 euro ticket if he sees us. The man asks us where we want to be and we tell him - Here. He laughs and tells us how to get to the parking garage. I execute a quick U-turn and after a couple of turns, we find the garage. 

Its 2:00 and we quickly learn that many restaurant's kitchens close at this hour. What? Are we in Italy? We cross the street and find an open kitchen. We look at the menu and ask what language is spoken here. The waitress says Dutch.  Duh!! We should recognize it since that's where we've been for 5 weeks. I usually don't eat soup unless Lynda Adamson serves it to me or I have a cold. Today, I have a cold and we both have a delicious large cup of leek soup and share a dish of parma ham and melon. That's a good lunch.

Then its time to explore. As we do in many European towns, head for the churches. In this case, three very large churches within a good city block of each other. We also find the river. 

On the way back we stop at a chocolate shop for an espresso. They give you one Leonidas chocolate truffle of your choice with your coffee. You got to love these Belgians. Excellent coffee and the best chocolate. This was a very good introduction to Belgium. 

We walk back to the car and drive to Bruges. Louise has a little trouble getting us out of town and we end up circling a park unnecessarily, but we make it. 

We get very close to our bed for the night but even though Louise says we have arrived we don't see it. I ask and am told its just a few more doors down the street. One of the entrances is a lady's hat store. That's confusing. I am met by Veronica who speaks English very fast with a heavy accent. We unload the car and she shows me  the private garage to park in. She explains a hundred things to do and gives us a map and offers to help us with our bags - no lift and its 2 flights. We just have one bag so I decline but thank her. Remember, in Europe the 1st floor is one flight up from the ground floor. We're on the 2nd floor, but its okay. Our windows open to the street below which is very noisy, but later calms down. There is a church about a block away. 

I'm whooped and we have some snack food that we brought with us, so we just stay in our room and rest. Tomorrow, we will explore.

Wednesday, August 28

Our next door neighbor, Liesbeth, sings in The Netherland's Concert Chorus and has invited us to come with her to den  Haag to perform Beethoven's 9th, which, of  course, means the Ode to Joy. We jump at the chance. Today is the 100th anniversary of The Peace Palace and the concert is part of a full day of events with lots of dignitaries from all over. They will be performing the same concert on Saturday in Amsterdam at the Concert Hall for 42 euros apiece as opposed to 8 euros apiece tonight. We think tonight's concert will be so much more special.

She picks us up just before 6:00 and we arrive about 7:00. The concert doesn't start until 8:30, so Linda and I have time for dinner. There are several cafe/restaurants across from the concert hall and we choose the nearest one. We don't want to spend all of our time walking around looking at menus. Since I'm not driving, I order a vodka (for my sore throat, you know) and Linda has a glass of port. For entrees, she gets two baby soles (whole fish, but easy to get to the meat) and I have a schnitzel. Both dishes are presented on a bed of al dente vegetables and a bowl of little potato marbles. All very nice.

With 15 minutes to spare, we walk across the plaza and into the concert hall. Our seats are in the orchestra over to one side a bit, but just fine for a concert. The orchestra is the den Haag Symphony. The hall is newish and modern with stark angles and a functional ceiling with no adornments, just lights and other technical stuff hanging way up there. The balcony is U-shaped like the first balcony at the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall. And, that's where all the VIP's are seated. Even though they have a special entrance they are late and we wait for about 10 minutes.

Before the playing begins, a woman emerges from backstage and welcomes the special guests in English, French, and then Dutch. Part way through her talk, a little old woman sitting on the side balcony starts yelling that she can't hear what the woman is saying. The MC very kindly tells her that she is speaking in 3 languages because of all the special people attending and if she will just wait they will get to the Dutch part. People end up laughing. We don't get any of this immediately. Later, on the drive home, Liesbeth explains what was said.

The first piece is a tribute to Benjamin Britten by a Swedish composer. It was melancholy. Then came the grand 9th in all 4 movements. Maybe I have never heard the entire 4th movement because it was longer than I thought, but beautiful and majestic. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. 

Dining out and a concert in den Haag an listening to a friend sing - its the good life.

Tuesday, August 27

Its Market Day at Baarn and Linda wants to return a pair of pants she purchased last week at the market in Soest. The stitching has come out. She expects the same vendor to be at 
Baarn. That seems to be the rule at these small towns in the area.

I'm feeling a cold coming on, so she walks over and I bring the car over later. We meet at the cafe on the square across from the market. We always seem to go to this same cafe whenever we are in Baarn. I have an espresso and wait for her. And, don't you know, the guy isn't there. We'll be in Bruges this coming Thursday and gone next week. So, it looks like a home repair. 

On the way back, we drive over to the health food store for some cereal and L-glutamine and nuts and seeds. The rest of the day is reading and resting - trying to get rid of my oncoming cold.

Monday, August 26

Once we get going today we decide to find the De Haar castle. Joke had sent us an email describing this classic castle just outside of Utrecht - not far. We put the address in our 
Tom-Tom and head out. After about 30 minutes we pull into a parking lot which looks like its close to something that looks like a castle. While we are trying to decide if we need to pay, a woman happens by and hears us talking. She tells her that she thinks these parking spaces are just for the residents who live across the street. If we want to park, we need to drive around the block and use the parking garage. As we continue to talk, I show her the printout of the place we're looking for and she tells us we're in the wrong town. Whoops. We're in Ijsselstein and we want to be in Haar Zuilens where the Kasteel De Haar is. 

We decide that since we're there, we should look around. After finding the garage, we walk past this church with its interesting tower and  protrusions at the top that we have never seen before. We continue walking over to what looks like the main street and stroll down the equivalent of 3 blocks. Its Monday and before 1:00, so most of the shops are closed. We look at a couple of menus and finally settle on one cafe where we sit in a garden-like area. Linda has a very Dutch dish: three eggs, ham, and speek. I have carpaccio and we share fries. 

Having checked off that town, we put the correct address into the Tom-Tom and head off for another 30 minute drive. This time we pull into an area clearly marked Kasteel De Haar and park the car. It is a storybook looking castle. It has turrets, a moat, a drawbridge, and nice looking towers. We pay the park admission fee and the parking fee and decide we don't want to pay an additional 12.50 euros apiece for a tour of the building in Dutch. 

We came to walk around the grounds and that's what we spend the next hour doing. There are ponds where white swans are vacuuming the green scum off the surface of the water. We discuss whether or not anyone ever eats swans. We don't think so. Even in those paintings where the hunter has a bunch of different dead game, you don't see dead swans. We wonder. 

The rest of the walk is along paths by a maze, more ponds, old trees, and gardens. There is a wedding at the chapel on the grounds and as we approach, so we sit on a bench and wait for them to finish. Back at the gift shop we decide to buy a book about the castle to find out its history. Linda wants to know about its history. Linda. 

We sit at the cafe for an espresso for me and sparkling water for Linda. The wedding reception is next door in the restaurant and we watch them take pictures. 

On the way out, we drive through Veluten and an A and H grocery store where we stop to shop for dinner. Its a large store and we found taco shells.

Another wonderful day in Holland.

Sunday, August 25

Today was a glorious day. The weather was very iffy - overcast and some fog. The forecast was for rain. But, Jose and Hans took us on an adventure. We walked over to their house at 11:00 for coffee and a peach pie. We visited for almost an hour and then Jose brought out toasties (ham and cheese sandwich toasted on both sides). We were full and ready to go. The main objective of the day was to take a boat ride down a canal. Hans drove us over to the other side of Baarn to a bedroom community called Eemdijk. We arrive just in time to board and we're off. 

 Its still foggy but the countryside is lovely and the company is wonderful. The boat is completely full of bikes on the main deck and all the passengers sit up on the top deck. The view is good and there is a cover in case of rain.

 A little more than an hour later, after traveling down the canal and out into the Ijsselmeer, we enter the town of Huizen, opposite Spakenburg. The Ijsselmeer used to be called the Zuiderzee but in  1932 they closed it off with a dyke to protect the land from the North Sea tides and storms.

We travel up into the inner harbor to let off most of our passengers and their bikes and pick up another large group - all with bikes. This is the Netherlands, so everyone has a bike and they use them.

The boat only stays long enough for the unloading of people and their bikes and the boarding of the new ones and then  we pull away from the pier. As we leave the harbor we see some blue sky emerging from the clouds. We're sitting in plastic lawn chairs near the side of the deck when the boat turns and some water which no one knew was there is blown off the canvas top and onto Jose. No one else, just Jose. She gets drenched but accepts it in good humor. One of the crew comes by and pokes at the top hoping to get the rest of the water to fall. We wipe the chairs and sit back down. A little later, we try sitting at the stern on the lower deck, but you can smell the diesel fumes and we move back to our previous positions. 

We pass a huge turbine farm, most with three blades but some with just two. At one point there is a long row of them right at the water's edge. By the time we return to our starting point the sun has come out completely and we take off our jackets. 

Hans drives us over to Baarn to the Kasteel Groeneveld - what we would call a mansion surrounded by beautiful grounds that must be at least 200 acres. This is  just off one of the main circles that we travel through all the time. Linda and I can't believe we have never seen it.

There is a cafe in front, on the left and we sit to have drinks and my afternoon espresso. Even though it was a little cool on the boat, now the weather has become perfect, mid-70's and low humidity. Just what we expect when we visit here. We are surrounded by families with small children and a few dogs. All of them behave and we enjoy our conversation. I ask Hans and Jose about people marrying in their country. I don't see many wedding rings and I wonder if couples are marrying or just living together. They tell me that there is a large percentage who just live together. They don't see the need to marry at least until they start a family. Sounds like the States.

After we finish our drinks its time for a walk through the grounds. As we walk around a pond, we watch a dog retrieving a ball from the water. He takes it back to his master and lays it down on the grass a few feet away, just like our Florida's neighbor's dog, Scout, does. When the master doesn't move, the dog picks it up and drops it a little closer to him. This goes on three times before the master picks it up and throws it over into the grass. The dog doesn't see where it lands and assumes its in the water like last time. The dog jumps in the water and starts looking around. Finally, he gets out and starts circling the grass. He finally gets the ball and we clap.

We start down a lovely tree lined avenue that takes us to some farm fields with cows grazing. We turn back into the forest and walk through a tree tunnel.

Every two hundred feet there is a picture opportunity. Hans says we take a lot of pictures. But they're digital so we can sort through them later and maybe delete some. 

We look at very old green and red birches and oaks. Linda and Hans hug some. Its a very relaxing walk. By the time we return to the parking lot, it seems everyone is gone. Before getting into the car we walk over to a garden at the side of the mansion and look at all the different flowers planted in wide rows.

Hans drives us back home and we thank them for a great day. We eat leftovers for dinner and watch a Diane Lane, Jack Nicholson movie that we had seen before - comedy/romance.

Saturday, August 24

We're all alone. Everyone is gone and we're here until we drive to Bruges on Thursday. Linda does some wash and we walk downtown for Linda to see the Action store. She likes the carry-on bag that I discovered yesterday. They are a good size and  price and could be used as an overflow bag to hold all the stuff we have purchased. They come in black, blue, and pink. Linda went right for the pink one. 

Just in front of Action is a fast food Turkish style restaurant. It smells really good. We order two Doner gyros and eat at tables in the back, outside. Lots of meat and cheap. Another find.

After, we walk across the street for an espresso for me and sparkling water for Linda. And, we each have a Belgium chocolate covered cherry. Nice mid-afternoon treat. On the way home, we stop again at the fish shop and pick up tuna salad for dinner. 

Dinner at home and TV again.