My Most Excellent European Adventure, Part 3. Day 11. Frites!!

Today is our last day :( I can't believe it, it's gone by so fast and has been so amazing. To start off our final day, we left at about 10:30 after a breakfast of pain au chocolat at the house. We had about an hour and a half drive to a beautiful old town called Brugges. Lots of shopping and eating! Not to mention beautiful buildings.

 After parking a ways out of town - it was crowded- we walked around a bit and had lunch at of the many open air restaurants.

Our waiter was a slightly better waiter than a photographer... I AM in the picture, I promise...

The food was ok- I think I had the best luck of all of us. A delicious cheese croquette and a croque monsieur. After lunch, we split up for a while. Betsy found another flea market- she has a special radar!

Meanwhile, Angela went shopping for some clothes, and Heidi and I went wandering around. We struck gold at this shop. 

 This place had the BEST chocolates possibly I have ever had. Beautiful and relatively inexpensive, it was so pure heaven!!

We all met up again to take another canal tour of the city. While we waited, we got another picture of the whole crew...

Aren't we cute??

 It was such a beautiful and charming tour for many reasons...

beautiful buildings...

beautiful weather...

towering steeples..

very attractive, and ridiculously charming, Flemish tour guide...

Our tour guide was so funny! When we got off the boat, I thanked him in French and he told me not to start speaking French- to be smart and speak English. Then as he was helping me out of the boat, in my true to self-clumsy fashion, I lost my balance a bit as the boat rocked. We did a little dance together right on the dock.. Oh swoon... Loved him! 

We tore ourselves away from the beautiful canal, and our tour guide... and headed to a church called the Holy Blood. Supposedly, they have some of the blood of Christ in a vial and you can pay a donation to touch it. Very interesting and beautiful church.

More colorful than the stone and stained glass churches we have seen elsewhere. We wanted to go to another church where they have a statue by Michelangelo, but it had already closed. We got some famous Brugge frites- or fries. If you are ever in Brugge, don't forget this local delicacy!!

Andalouse sauce is the way to go!!

Don't eat with your hands!!


 After the frites, I drove us back to Brussels for the last time and we began the sad task getting ready to go home. Laundry, packing, charging up electronic devices... So sad, but I think we are ready to be home, but not back to real life. It's going to be a rough transition I'm afraid. But I am so excited to see everyone and tell them about this wonderful, amazing adventure. I have been really lucky to have the opportunities I have had to come here several times and hope it's not the last!! Until then, au revior and auf wiedersein! 

*another delicious food day- here's what was on the menu:
pain au chocolat
cheese croquettes
croque monsieur
waffle
chocolate
frites


Do I really have to go back to American food???

My Most Excellent European Adventure, Part 3. Day 10: In the Trenches

 After such a chaotic couple of days, it was nice to have a relatively low key day. We slept in a bit and and left at about 10 to go to a local farmer's market where we assured the best Belgian waffles around. It is such a different way of life to buy all of your food in an open air market - and just a few things at a time. No buying in bulk here. It would be very hard to get used to, I think. It was very charming and fun. The best part was of course the waffles!!

Delicious bread. 

Olive bar

Beth scoping out the wares

Apparently this market is known for having the best waffles. The secret is this: they put big chunks of sugar in the batter so it sticks to the waffle iron and kind of carmelizes each waffle.No toppings, syrup or anything else needed. They are amazing on their own.

The piece de resistance... 

I enjoyed every bite

After the waffles we wandered the market for a bit and I found some mausches (chocolate sprinkles)  at a local store and we were off to to town of

Ypres... or Ieper... It is known by many names but is pronounced (ee-pray) This is a beautiful town with a lot of WWI history. We went to a fantastic WWI museum- probably the best museum I have ever been to. Lots of interactive things and multi media (music, voices reading texts, sound effects, videos... you name it!) 




They gave each of us a ticket with a person's name on it to scan in and learn about throughout the tour. At the end you got to find out if the person lived or died.

This was my person. She was a nurse who did not survive the war.

I learned a lot about the history of the war and the area. There were so many battles that took place here and this was also the location of the famed Christmas Truce. 

On the way we stopped at a few historical sites. First up was Yorkshire trench.

Our next historical stop was Flander's Fields. This is the location of the famous poem by the same name. This was written John McCrae.

The fighting that took place here and where the fallen soldiers are now buried was in someone's farm. I can't imagine a war taking place in inhabited areas, or literally in someone's back yard. Quite sobering. This was such a beautiful area dotted with sad reminders of a World War all around.

We arrived at the Passey's at about 5:30 and relaxed for a while. We decided that we would treat them to dinner as a thanks for their hospitality. To Pita Palace! Once, again the fries and andalouse, meat and other fillings did not disappoint. We just chatted, played some games with the family and headed to bed. Only one more day to go! I've been thinking about Dad's surprise party tomorrow night at home. Mom and everyone must be so busy getting ready. I feel bad I am missing it, but not much I can do. Hope the surprise goes off well. I am sure it will be a fun party. Can't wait to hear about it in a couple of days. 

Thought I would include a list of the yummy food we had today:

waffles in Brussels

Italian ice in Ypres

Eclair

Pita

Various chocolates 

   = Yummy!!!

My Most Excellent European Adventure, Part 3. Day 9: Little Dutch Girls

It's hard to believe we have only 2 days left before we have to leave. We have been so busy and have done so much that time has flown by. Today we spent the day in Amsterdam. We slept in a bit, all except for Betsy, who woke early to explore yet another flea market :). Angela, and Heidi, and I woke later to go and meet her- Betsy LOVES flea markets and the rest of us are happy to let her explore on her own. Angela went to do some clothes shopping and after Heidi and I met up with Betsy, the three of us went to a Jewish history museum. It was really interesting to learn about the Jewish culture and see a little more of how they practice their religion- both in the orthodox faith and more modern culture. I knew very little about it and came away somewhat more educated. The Torah is kept on scrolls and the cantor - a singer- chants or sings from it at each each service. Their services are very ceremonial and contain a lot of rituals. To be expected from an ancient religion.

The Jewish History Museum

After the museum we went to have some lunch. Some soup and toasted sandwiches (with Dutch cheese- YUMMY!). We had some time before we had to meet Angela so we walked around the flea market a bit- I found a really cute and colorful purse!) Then we met with Angela for a canal boat cruise. We were a little late because the trams are very unreliable, and we were a bit worried we wouldn't make it in time to catch the cruise we wanted. Turns out there were several more options of times we could take so all was well. The cruise lasted about an hour and was FASCINATING!!! Here are a few facts we learned about our host city for the day:

• There are about 100 km of canals
• Most of the buildings were made in the 16th century
• Most of the buildings have furniture hooks on them so they can haul everything in and out of the windows if needed. Tall, narrow, long staircases aren't the best for moving furniture.
• According to our captain, there are about 3 cars a week that get "driven" into the canal- hopefully accidentally of course.
• There are more than 100 bridges (can't remember the exact # ) 

 We loved all of the different bridges we saw on the canal.

One of the many bridges along the canal

One of my favorite things about Amsterdam was the architecture. So different from the other cities we had seen already.

Notice the furniture hook??

One of the few pictures of all 4 of us. Here we are on the canal cruise. 

After the river cruise, we went to catch the tram back to our hotel where our car was parked. We waited at the train station for over an hour watching train after train come... and keep going. Not the right train, the right train, but they didn't stop ("Niet Stoppen!). Finally, the right train arrived AND stopped and we gratefully rushed on, along with the large crowd that had gathered in the hour long wait. A few stops later, however, the train stopped and we had to get off and switch to another train that was coming up right behind it. Apparently there was some sort of accident or something. Not speaking Dutch, it was hard to understand what the problem really was. 

Waiting for the tram.... 

We weren't the only ones waiting.... and waiting...  

Well, we finally made it back and were on the road to the Passey's house in Brussels. We found a little pita place to get a late night dinner because we were starving. It was delicious!!! Can you say fries and andalouse sauce on sandwich?? More please. We arrived at the Passey's house at about 10:00. We ate dinner, killed a giant spider and it was time for bed! 

My Most Excellent European Adventure, Part 3. Day 8: Tiptoe through the Tulips (and windmills)

Thursday, April 14, 2011
Kinderdijk/ Keukenhof, Amsterdam

Today was another extremely busy but amazing day. We left early (about 9:00) and drove to Kinderdijk in the Netherlands, about a 2 hour drive. This is a town built on a dijk that has 19 windmills.

Creepy Ducth girl in a windmill kitchen

How about these stairs?

After navigating these each day - do you think you'd get use to them??

I particularly enjoyed the groundsworker who took a break to do some texting
(notice the proper wooden shoes!)

Very cool and interesting to see how they work. I didn't know much about the Netherlands before today - or windmills at all. Here are some fun facts:

- 40% of the country is below sea level
- The Dutch lived in the mills
- The workers were called "millers"
- 16 of the 19 mills in Kinderdijk are still inhabited
- The mills were used to pump water out of the dijks when it got too high

It was a gray, cloudy, and cold day to be walking around the mills. Very cool to see. We even got to walk around inside one of them to see how they lived.

After Kinderdijk, we drove about an hour to Keukenhof. This is HUGE tulip/flower garden. This was just beautiful and stunning. So many flowers, colors, arrangements. This was probably one of my favorite things we have done so far. We spent a couple hours there wandering and taking lots of pictures. Here are just a few.

Notice all the professional photographers... They are capturing this area below.

As Betsy and I were trying to catch this shot, we were suddenly surrounded by a hoard of professional photographers and their very fancy, and very big, equipment. Our very small, and very ameteur camers suffered by comparison.

We sadly tore ourselves away since we had an appointment at the Ann Frank house in Amsterdam. We drove the 30 minute drive to our hotel just outside of Amsterdam (appropriately named the Tulip Inn). It's actually pretty nice and more like an American hotel than any of our previous hotels. We rested in the room for about an hour then walked 10 minutes to catch the tram to downtown Amsterdam. We bought a 24 hour pass - and the interesting thing about it is you have to scan it on the tram when you get on and off. It was about a 25 minute ride to Central Amsterdam, walked around a bit to get a feel of a new city. It is a very interesting if not different city than we have seen so far. 

Can you guess the mode of transporation of choice in Amsterdam???

This is the church tower next to Ann Frank's house. We saw this XXX synbol all over the city and were very curious about it.

we made our way to the Ann Frank Haus. We had reserved tickets for 7:45. That was truly amazing to see.

It is unbelievable what she and her family had to go through for almost 2 years in hiding. There wer video clips of some of the people who knew and helped them. Even one of her father speaking which was very touching. Very sad, because she died in the camp just weeks before the liberation not knowing her father was still alive. I can't imagine what it would be like being the sole survivor of my family, especially for a father. I am so glad to I got to see that house and think about that time in history.

After the Ann Frank Huis, we went to dinner just across the street. We all got Dutch pancakes. SOOO yummy!

I got ham and cheese.

And of course a Diet Coke. No ice though...

It was such a cute restaurant and we all enjoyed it very much. We realized it was only the 2nd or 3rd time we sat down to eat with just the four of us at a restaurant on the trip. We have done so much eating on the run. So nice to enjoy the food and atmosphere not being rushed. After dinner we waited a LONG time for our tram in the cold. Finally it came and we made it back to our hotel. Such an interesting and enjoyable city despite its reputation. Although, Heidi did see someone rolling a joint in desperation while we waited fot the train. Don't worry, it's legal here. It's kind of a dirty and trashy city like Vegas but with a lot more charm and history. I love the buildings on the canals. So unique and different than anything we have seen yet. The people seem very nice and friendly and most speak very good English. Very exhausting yet exciting and interesting day.