Belguim May 9 - May 13

We landed in Paris and all went well picking up the Peugot 308 that we leased for the rest of the trip. Everything is good from the standpoint that it will be nice not to have to pack up for a plane ride for awhile but it is kind of unsettling to think that we are this far into our trip already! We immediately drove north out of Paris heading towards Bruges, Belguim. We had planned on stopping overnight on the way but because there were no roadside signs for hotels, we ended up driving straight there. We checked into a hotel outside the old section but right on the main plaza called the Strand. The hotel was a step up but, once again, we hit town at the start of a 4 day holiday (it seems to be a special skill we have). It was Pentecost and that is apparently a major deal here. On top of that, it was unusually warm, July weather, so everyone was out and about.

Bruges is a city of canals, with the old city intertwined with the real working city of Bruges. Just outside the two pedestrian only squares are normal shops and busineses with Belguim lace, chocolate and beer shops all over. We did two of the three!

The best part of Bruges is the bicycles. The entire city is designed, works and flows around riding bicycles. Everyone, and I mean everyone, rides bikes. There were people in their 80's riding bikes to and from the market. The older women even do it in dresses and skirts. The working people are riding in suits and the women have stockings and heals on. Make the mistake as a tourist and get caught standing on the bike path taking a photo and you'll be given the bell or the yell (probably both).


Our first night out, we were sitting at the Strand having two Leffers and we met a couple from Bruges. We had great discussions about Bruges, the weather and Belgium beer. They were emphatic that before we left town, we must visit the Garre. They told us they go there every Saturday night and have one and a half beers. According to them, this is the best beer in Belguim and to quote this guy, "very dangerous!" Typical Belguim beer has a high alcohol content and the Garre beer is apparently the highest of all (13%). They gave us directions on a coaster and left for the night.

The next day was market day and the entire plaza and beyond was one big shopping arena. There was everything from flowers to chickens. Besides the usual assortment of flea market stuff there was an unbelievable assortment of huge trailer trucks loaded with cheese, fruits and barbecue prepared foods mixed in with butchers and bakeries. Even we shopped for awhile. The rest of the day we did the typical tourist things


.......and then we got out our coaster and headed to the Garre.

Finding this place was not as easy as we thought. It ended up down an alley that is like 6 feet wide and is a very small place. Our intention was to have a beer and leave to get dinner but we met up with the couple from the night before and their friends and they sat down with us at our table.

Everyone besides us and one of the other guys had their standard one and a half but somehow we ended up having three and a half, only after approval from the owner because three is the maximum they serve. It wasn't long after, when stumbling home across the plaza, we realized the truth of the statement that Garre is very, very dangerous!!!


And this is the result!!!!!!!!!!!








The next morning, after alot of coffee, we took a boat ride on the canals and then started our drive to the Netherlands.


On our way we drove up Belguim on the coast of North Sea and then we stopped off for the night in the town of Delft, Holland (you know, the people who make those blue and white plates and porcelin pieces). It was a good place to stop for the night because it was a cute town with a pedestrian only zone and it was small enough that we could cover it in an hour! The best was that it was the start of white asparagus season and they were on all the the menus in Delft in some fashion. They were great! Next stop, Amsterdam.

We arrived in Amsterdam late morning and we had plenty of time to check into our hotel which was located right outside Vondelpark, Amsterdam's version of Central Park. We headed out to explore the city, first spending some time walking thru the park. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon which meant there were a lot of people biking, hanging out and having a good time. It also meant it brought out some of the crazies, not unlike any other city.




Amsterdam is kind of like a "ghetto" version of Bruges. It's a little more bustling, more hip, a little dirtier and gives you the feeling that anything goes, and just like Belguim there were bicylces, bicycles and bicycles everywere. Because we got there on the weekend everyone was out cruising the canals in their boats,


drinking their wine and Belguim beer and picnicing. The younger crowd could better be described as partying! Canal boats, floating restaurants, coffee shops (where you can get more than cofee...)












and a Red Light District that is also a tourist attraction all make this a quirky and different place that is fun to experience. We walked a good part of the city seeing all the sites and had a great '60's fondue dinner on the canal before checking out the red light district and wandering back to our hotel late that night. Some how we managed to knock out Amsterdam in a little more than half a day and the next morning we hit the road and started driving north to the Afsluitdijk (that's Dutch for enclosing dike). On the way we stopped in the town of Haarlem (we would rather of stopped in our Harlem) and Volendam which is on the Ijsselmeer, or the lake, created when they put in the dam to block out the North Sea. The truth is it was a boring drive along very flat, very open spaces with just an occasional windmill.

We anticipated seeing more of what we thought of as traditional Holland but we searched high and low and couldn't find it. We must have been looking in the wrong places. Rather than keep trying, we drove to Germany and the Rhine!





Best of Belguim and The Netherlands:

Belguim beer
Bicycles and bike paths
the Saturday morning market
The people
The Garre
Canal boats
Coffee shops
Cafes on the canal
Asparagus