Category: 2022 Epic Adventure

Today was a beautiful day; 80 degrees and sunny. The old town area of Ghent is gorgeous, filled with old buildings, interesting squares and tons of restaurants. It is a short walk/tram/bus ride from our flat, so we had no trouble getting down there.

We passed the 12th century Gravensteen Castle but didn’t go in.

We actually didn’t do too much except wander the streets, watch the people, and eat our lunch in the square. While eating, a man started “blowing” bubbles and the kids went crazy.

Of course, there were the canals. We thought about a boat ride, but it would have been too difficult to get in/out of the boat.

The building below used to be a church, but now it has some kind of high-tech show. We didn’t go in.

We did stop into a couple of churches that are still working churches. First, it was St. Nicholas, an 13th century church.

Then we headed to St. Bavo’s Cathedral.

St. Bavo’s is from the late 13th century and is most known for the altar piece painted by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. The part of the cathedral that held the altar piece wasn’t open for another 45 minutes and then we would have to go in a 30-minute tour, so we decided to take a pass. Here’s a picture of it I found online.

Here are a few things we did see in the Cathedral.

Then we just wandered the streets, stopping to buy a few Christmas linens. We also got a large bouquet of flowers for Peter. He’s got a big event tomorrow and he wanted flowers. I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow. Anyway, so now I’ve got a large bouquet of flowers, several bags with the things I bought, a coat that I didn’t need any more as it was 80 degrees and a camera. In other words, I was loaded down. So, I left Peter in the square watching the kids chase bubbles and I headed home to unload.

On the way back to the tram, I managed to trip over the footing of a large piece of scaffolding and face-planted into the street. Yes, it was my turn to take a tumble. I got the breath knocked out of me when my chest hit the curb and, while I slowed myself down with my arms, my face still hit the street. Luckily, there were a couple of guys there to help me get back to my feet, but it took a couple of minutes to get my breath back.

Not too much damage was done except for a fat lip, well two fat lips actually. One on top and one on the bottom. But I chipped a tooth…rats!?! Now the tooth feels numb. I don’t know. Is that a good thing or bad? Anyway, once I got back to Peter, I got ice from a local restaurant to try and keep the swelling down. Then I went in and bought some chocolate cuz chocolate makes everything better, right?

I got 6 pieces of delicious chocolate so that should last another, I don’t know, 3-4 minutes. This stuff is amazingly good.

And because my ice melted, we stopped for ice cream. I mean it was absolutely necessary to keep the swelling down.

In spite of my fall, we thoroughly enjoyed our day in Ghent. It’s very similar to Bruges, only much smaller so it’s easy to see in only one day. If you’re ever in Belgium, I highly recommend it.

Well, it’s time to ice my face down again. And my knee is a little sore, so I’ll probably ice that as well. Then I need to pack up as we leave tomorrow for Antwerp. Have a terrific Saturday everyone. Talk soon. Love from us.

Before I forget, here’s a picture I meant to include in yesterday’s post. This was just one part of the parking lot at the main Ghent train station.

Driving into Bruges wasn’t bad as we found a park and ride about 3 1/2 km from city center. Of course, the bus into town only came once an hour (we didn’t know that until we got there) but we only waited about 15 minutes on the way in and about 10 on the way out. And, I didn’t have to deal with finding parking in a town filled with pedestrian only streets.

The main square is called Market Square and has held a weekly market since 985. It’s been pedestrian only since 1995, at least it was until I drove through it in 2018. We were trying to leave the city and I took a wrong turn and drove right through the square and a pedestrian street trying to find my way back to the main road. Oops.

Here’s a video of the entire square.

The one church I went into was one we missed in 2018, the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

The church is most known for having a vial of what is supposed to be the blood of Christ. The vial was brought to Bruges from Constantinople after the 2nd crusades in the middle of the 12th century. Even though there is no verification for, or against, its authenticity, the vial is a big part of religious life in Bruges.

Then we stopped in at the Town Hall to see the Gothic Hall. The large room, which has been in its present state since the late 19th century, is filled with beautiful murals. This is where the Bruges city council still meets.

Just outside the town hall was a wonderful street performer.

We wandered the streets a little…

Finally ending up at the Frites Museum. I have to say, the Belgians have a little inferiority complex going on with the whole who invented frites issue. Their story is that they were invented in Belgium but got them name “French fries” during WWI, when a French speaking Belgian (about 43% of the population of Belgium speaks French, about 1% speak German and the rest speak Flemish or Dutch), gave “chips” to an American GI telling him they came from his country. Hearing the French, the American assumed the country was France and French fries were born.

There was even a sign board explaining how Belgian Fries began.

One of the exhibits had a couple of singing frites. If you listen closely, you can hear them sing, “we’re not French”.

The museum had lots of info about potatoes. For example, did you know the potato originated from Peru? Yeah, I didn’t either. There were lots of different displays and explanation boards.

The chip making world record holder is Belgian. In 2019, he made over 2600 kg (over 5700 pounds) of chips in 126 hours and 15 minutes, smashing the previous record, also held by a Belgian.

Of course, the best part of the museum was in the basement where we got to eat frites. We decided it was as good a place as any to eat our lunch, so we had our sandwiches while we waited for our frites to be ready.

On our way back to the bus station we passed a few more interesting things.

Marzipan.

And, of course, chocolate.

Today, we stopped and bought a few pieces to bring home.

It was an early day but it’s nice to relax a bit. Tomorrow, we’re staying in Ghent to explore the old town. The tram is only about 3 blocks from our flat. It should be a nice, easy day.

We’re staying in Ghent because it’s only a 30-minute train ride to both Brussels and Bruges, two places we want to visit. Great plan, right? Oh….not so much. But more about that later. First, here’s a picture from one of our balconies I took last night.

Second, a friend from Robson Ranch uploaded a great video to YouTube about our community. I’ve asked Peter more than once on our trip if he misses home and he very quickly replies….”Nope”. While I miss my friends, I don’t really miss home either. Well, at least I didn’t until I saw Sam’s video, now I miss it terribly. Thanks so much Cynthia for that. By the way, you’re really rocking the Cornhole Queen hat. So, I thought I’d include the link to Sam’s video in case anyone is interested in seeing where we live. Both Peter and I have “blink and you miss it” moments. I’m at the 4:19 minute mark at our spring concert last March. Your eye will be drawn to people walking into the first row on the stage but if you look at the 2nd row…there I am. Peter’s moment to shine is at the 9:13 mark. We were at the Grill for dinner with friends. You can see Kathy next to Peter, but only the top of Stephanie’s head, the back of mine and only a tiny sliver of Jim’s face. There are so many of our friends in the video. I just want to give everyone a big, virtual hug. We really love living there and are so glad we made the move. Anywho…here’s the link, so if you have a spare 12 minutes, give it a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeMyvg0Or6o&t=4s

Back to our Brussels adventure. Ghent is a much bigger city than I thought, third in size after Brussels and Antwerp. Who knew?? So, while we’re only a 15-minute walk from one train station, we needed to get to the larger train station one the other side of town for our train to Brussels. Not a problem as it’s only a 10-minute ride and an easy transfer. Except the trains out of our station are old and not in the least bit handicapped friendly. There were 3 very high steps getting into the train and while I was able to give Peter a shove up the stairs to get him in, I was having trouble getting the wheelchair into the car. Luckly a guy who had just gotten off was still hanging around and help me lift it. Then when we got to the main Ghent station, there was no lift or down escalator to get off the platform. There were, however, 3 flights of steep stairs. Once again, a kind stranger helped by taking the wheelchair down while I helped Peter walk down. The good news is that the train to Brussels was on a newer platform with a lift. There were still stairs to get into the train, but they were much lower so it was a little easier to get on. Except, once on, there were 2 levels of seats, one up a flight of stairs and one down a flight of stair. So, we stayed in the vestibule for the 30-minute ride to Brussels. Peter sat on the stairs, and I stood for half the ride, then moved into the wheelchair. Again, we had help getting off the train in Brussels and found the lift to get out of the station. What a nightmare!!

Our first stop was the Grand Place, probably the most beautiful square in all of Europe. It’s dominated by the Town Hall. Construction on the square began in the 11th century and was completed in the 17th century.

There are gorgeous buildings all around the 223 by 361 ft square. Here’s a video I took.

As you may have heard me say, Peter actually pushed the wheelchair more than I pushed him because of the uneven, cobblestoned sidewalks/streets. I was able to give him a break a few times when I found flat surfaces, but they were far and few between. Gotta love these old European cities.

After walking around the square, we decided we’d had a rough morning, so we deserved a delicious Belgian waffle for a morning snack.

After our snack, we headed off to the Cathedral, where we found the City Sightseeing bus. It wasn’t a hop on/hop off, but a round-trip sightseeing bus like we used in Bordeaux. We thought this was a perfect way to get around this very large city without wearing either one of us out. We had a 40-minute wait, so I popped into the Cathedral while Peter waited on the bus.

The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula is a medieval Roman Catholic church. Construction began in the 11th century and reached its current form by the middle of the 16th century. The inside looked much like the many other churches we’ve seen, but I thought the pulpit was exquisite.

Even the back was beautiful.

We ate our sandwiches while waiting for the bus to leave. When it finally did, we enjoyed the 60-minute ride around the city.

Brussels is not only the capital of Belgium, but the capital of the European Union.

The Royal Palace isn’t open for tourists so all we got was a drive-by photo from the bus.

This is one of the largest triumphal arches in Europe. Its unique triple arch makes it the widest, but it’s 4 meters shorter than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Once the tour was over, we headed back to the Grand Place as Peter had to see the famous Mannikin Pis statue. There’s really not much to see as it’s quite small, but it’s like the Tower of Pisa, you just have to see it. Then after you do, you walk away saying….okay….that’s it?

After 2 minutes here, we turned around and went back the way we came to get to the central station. When we got off the tour bus, we were only a few blocks from the station but…gotta see the little guy peeing into the fountain. But we didn’t just want to turn around, so we decided to stop for our afternoon snack of Belgian beer and frites.

There’s some debate as to who invented fries…the French or Belgians. In France, they call them French fries but in Belgium, they’re simply called frites. Whatever you call them, they were delicious.

For my foodie friends, here are a couple of pics you might enjoy.

The train ride home was a reverse of the trip to Brussels except we lucked into a car that had a few seats just inside the door. And, we had plenty of help at the main Ghent station as several people helped Peter climb down the stairs of the carriage while another helped me with the chair. We didn’t even attempt the train to get us back to our station, so we took a taxi. It was well worth the 27 euro not to have to worry about Peter climbing up/down those gigantic steps.

Based on today, I’ll be driving to Bruges tomorrow instead of taking the train. I’m not wild about that idea as I’ve driven in Bruges and finding parking is not easy. But it’s better than dealing with the safety issues getting on/off the trains. I’ll let you know how it goes.

We spent a very pleasant few hours visiting the Battle of Waterloo site just outside of Brussels Belgium. We didn’t make it here in 2018, so we were very happy to make the out of the way trip today.

We saw a couple of demonstrations, one on the use of the flintlock, which was the weapon of the time, and the one of a canon. The canon was the smallest they would have used with 6-pound balls. The other canons shot 8-pound, 10-pound and 12-pound balls. Both demos were very interesting; here are the videos.

The only monument on the site is the Lion’s Monument built just 10 years after the battle.

There are 226 stairs to the top, and I made it!!

The view from the top was beautiful.

On my way down, I ran into a bag piper who climbed all the way up blowing his pipes. He didn’t have to pull himself up with the handrails or anything!

Peter took a video of me coming back down.

Then we spent a little time in the museum. Not much new as we’ve seen so much about the battle, but it had some nice models.

There was also a 4D movie, but there were no chairs, only leaning rails, so we took a pass. Then it was back to the car for what should have been a 1-hour drive to Ghent, which is our home for the next 4 nights. We got stuck in traffic around Brussels and then again just outside of Ghent, so it actually took almost 90 minutes.

Our host, Tine (pronounced Tina) was here to great us and show us her remarkable flat. She actually lives here when she’s not at her boyfriend’s house so there is much more here than we usually see. After being crammed into a tiny Holiday Inn Express room for the last 4 nights, we’re going to love the extra space. Here’s a video I took of the penthouse apartment.

Getting the car into the garage was a massive pain in the butt, so I’m not moving it again until we leave on Sunday. So, tomorrow we’ll take the train for a day trip to Brussels. It should be fun.

As always, thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to follow our adventures. Love to all.

We decided to stay in Rotterdam today instead of taking the train to The Hague. We may get there before we take the car back to Schiphol. What started as a blustery day turned into a beautiful sunny day with temps reaching 60 degrees.

We started by walking down the main street to the shopping area where we picked up a few necessaries. I don’t notice at home but it’s amazing how many toiletries we go through in 3 months.

After shopping we headed to the Grote of Sint Laurenskerk (Church of Saint Lawerence) who is the patron saint of Rotterdam. In spite of breaking ground in 1449 and being finished 100 years later, it looks like a very new church. And it basically is new as everything but the outside walls were destroyed after a German bombardment in May 1940.

It was luck that today they had a mid-day organ concert. I had seen it on the website, so we planned our visit accordingly.

After the concert, we headed to the giant open-air market adjacent to the church.

We decided to go American for lunch and ate at Friday’s. Well, truth be told, I wanted one of their famous Long Island Iced Tea drinks. It was as good as I remembered, and we had a very leisurely lunch. Friday’s is located in the indoor market.

Peter went with the cheeseburger, but I had the Chicken Caesar salad.

And, of course, we topped it off with a Brownie Obsession.

We were pleasantly surprised at Rotterdam. There’s not that much to do here but we were very impressed with the market (both indoor and outdoor) and enjoyed seeing how the old buildings like the church were mixed in with the modern structures.

Tomorrow, we leave Rotterdam and head for Belgium. Our first stop is the Waterloo Battlefield Museum. Peter has been wanted to see it since our last visit in 2018. Then we head to Ghent where we spend the next 4 nights. It’s nice to unpack for a while instead of moving every night. Luckily our flat has a laundry as we’re running dangerously low on underwear. OK, probably TMI but it’s been a long day and my filter may not be as sharp as it should be. Have a great night everyone.

It was another chilly, rainy and windy day but we still had a lot of fun on our day trip to Delft. The central train station is a short, 10-minute walk from the hotel, and Delft is only a 15-minute ride from Rotterdam. So, in no time at all we were heading to the Royal Delft factory for a self-guided tour.

Its official name is the Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles N.V. The company was founded in 1653 and has been in its current location since the 1920s. Its most famous product is the Delft Blue pottery.

In recent years they have expanded their line with different types of pottery and colors. I really liked the colors of the polychrome pottery.

The tour explained how the pottery is made and it is fascinating. The process has been the same for centuries. I found a short YouTube video that explains it. Notice the piece of black paper that’s put on the shape. It has tiny holes punched in it which gives the master painter the shape to draw. It is so cool.

Notice that the paint is black. It’s a special formula so that after it has been in the kiln it comes out Delft Blue.

Here’s a very short video I took of a master painter at work.

A few years ago, they were asked to design new dinnerware for the royal family. Because they needed many pieces, they are not hand painted. But they’re not exactly mass produced either. An overlay is designed that is then placed on the pottery once it’s removed from the mold. The pottery is then submerged in a special bath that transfers the color on to the pottery.

These pieces do not include the famous Royal Delft logo or the initials of the master painter on the bottom. But they’re still considered hand-made, just not hand painted.

They also make plates to commemorate special events. Unless they’re one of a kind, they would also be made with the overlay process.

Even though I couldn’t afford to buy the hand painted shoe I loved, I wanted to get something, so I bought a small tray that was made with the overlay process. Johannes Vermeer is a Dutch master and is my favorite painter. I bought a small tray that had one of his most famous paintings overlaid on it.

Speaking of paintings, we saw several famous paintings recreated in tiles.

Watching how this famous porcelain is made was fascinating. After browsing the gift shop for a very long time, we stopped for our morning snack in the coffee shop. Peter had a cheese filled pastry while I had this scrumptious hazelnut concoction.

Then we were off for the main square where we found…

And the new church.

Europe’s definition of “new” and ours is very different. This new church was completed in 1496. But when compared to the old church, which is 200 years older, I guess you could call it new.

This is the burial site of William of Orange who, as a wealthy Dutch nobleman, led the revolt against Spanish rule which ultimately led to independence. As a result, he’s considered the Father of the Netherlands. The current royal family are direct descendants.

After the church we popped into a pub for lunch and had delicious toasties of ham, cheese and pineapple.

And of course, a little liquid refreshment.

Just behind the pub, was the Vermeer Center. Johannes Vermeer was born and lived all his life in Delft. The house he lived in was demolished to put up the town square, so the town put an information center into one of the buildings used by him and other painters as a gathering spot.

Vermeer’s most famous painting is the Girl with the Pearl Earring (you can see a picture of it at the doorway to the building) which hangs at a museum in The Hague. Depending on weather, we may go there tomorrow.

Our last stop before heading home was the Old Church of Delft. This one was completed in 1246.

Vermeer and his family are buried in this church. He was only 43 years old when he died and not particularly well known. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that his work was appreciated.

All-in-all, we thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in Delft. Had the weather been better, we might have wandered the streets a little more, but it was damp, and we were getting cold.

Exactly 3 months ago today we arrived in London. On the one hand, it seems like just yesterday that Kathy and Jim dropped us off at the airport. On the other, it seems like an eternity since we’ve been in London. So much has happened in 3 months and we’ve seen so many amazing places. But we still have 6 1/2 weeks to go and lots of incredible places left to visit. We’re so glad that you’ll be seeing them with us. Love to all.

Today was cloudy, windy and cold but we still had a great time at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Kinderdijk Windmills. This is one of the most photographed places in Holland and, yes, we were in Holland, South Holland to be precise.

The Kinderdijk is a group of 19 windmills built mainly in the 18th century to keep water out of the fields. It is the largest collection of windmills in the country.

The sun was just coming up as we arrived. No, it wasn’t 5am, it was almost 9:30am.

While most of the windmills are from the 1700s, the oldest is from 1630. There has been a windmill on this site since 1550.

Here’s a short video of the area.

https://youtu.be/6ul5GZMxE68

Legend has it that Kinderdijk got its name after a child was found in a cradle in the water after the St. Elisabeth flood of 1431. A cat was jumping back and forth on the cradle to keep it stable. Once the locals realized there was a child in the cradle, they named the dyke Kinderdijk, which literally means Child’s Dyke.

One of the windmills was a museum, which showed how the miller and his family used to live. The family who lived in this mill in the 19th century had 11 kids. Descendents of the family still live in the area.

Most of the mills are private homes, but I’m sure they’re a little more modern than this one.

We’d walked over a kilometer from one end of the dyke to the other and it was starting to drizzle, so we jumped on the hop on/hop off boat for a ride back to the visitor’s center. On the way back we got a closer look at the mills on the far side of the canal.

Once back at the visitor’s center, we were chilled and hungry, so we stopped at the cafe for a snacks and hot beverages.

After our snack we made our way back to the car for a short, 20-minute drive to the town of Dordrecht. The earliest mention of the city was in 1049, making it one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands.

Our main reason for stopping was to have lunch as all the power was out in the village of Kinderdijk so none of the restaurants were open. There wasn’t much open in Dordrecht either but after about 20 minutes of walking on the pedestrian streets, we finally found a place that was serving lunch.

On the way back to the car, we saw a small old building across from the Town Hall that we missed the first time we walked past.

It was just 3pm when we made it back to the hotel, but we were cold and tired, so we’re enjoying a restful late afternoon in our room.

Tomorrow we’re heading north to Delft, but this time we’re going on the train. The station is just a short walk, and the train is direct, so it should be an easy commute. I can’t wait to go to the Royal Delft Museum to see the famous blue and white ceramics.

Pop quiz: What’s the difference between Netherlands and Holland? Well…the name of the country is Netherlands. There are 12 provinces in the country and two of them are North Holland and South Holland. In the early 19th century, those two provinces provided the bulk of the country’s economy and wealth, so people started referring to the country as Holland, but the correct name is Netherlands. I know you will be able to sleep much better tonight now that you know this.

Our day started early, 5am to catch our cab for the 5-minute ride to the airport. In early years we would have just walked to the terminal right behind the hotel and taken the tram to our terminal, but now that would have been a bit too much.

We had an uneventful 45-minute flight to Amsterdam, picked up the car and were on our way by 11:30am. Our stop today was Huis Doorn, the final home of exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. After WWI, the Allies insisted he abdicate as Emperor. He fled to neutral Netherlands where Queen Wilhelmina offered him refuge. In 1919, he bought Huis Doorn and lived there until his death in 1941.

The grounds were very pretty.

He bought the house empty, so he had 67 boxcars of furniture, accessories, paintings, rugs, tapestries, etc., sent from Germany.

He is buried in a mausoleum behind the house. The building is closed to visitors, though, so we didn’t get to see the tomb.

We also stopped in at the Pavilion, which had a temporary exhibit of bicycles and a permanent exhibit about WWI.

After visiting the museum, it was only about an hour to the Rotterdam Holiday Inn which we are calling home for the next 4 nights. There nothing to see in town but we’re only about 5 minutes from the central train station so it’s a good base of operations for the next few days. Tomorrow, I think we’ll head to the Kinderdijk Windmills, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It should be fun.