Bruges was brugeatiful

9/23 Brugge truggely bruggeautiful

The morning started off a little shaky. We were checking out and I had to run and get the car. That was the easy part-the hard part was trying to get back to the hotel. I didn`t get the warning that the city was worse than a labrynth in that all of the streets were one way so if you got lost the only way to get back was to leave the city proper and go around the ring again, which was tantamount to spending an additional 20 minutes of driving.

I got lost and decided to park the car and come back by foot. After being gone about an hour, I finally hooked up with Marie and Zach to take a look around the city. We got lucky since Wednesdays are the days that they have all the farmers/local vendors come to the square to sell everything from fruit to Goi Cuon(Vietnamese Spring Rolls). We all found things to eat...from salads to roast chicken - all for 10 euros or so.

After knoshing for a bit, we did some sightseeing and shopping. It has been tough to find things for our friends and relatives...the stuff they sell is just for the most part too tschotchke like and not worth buying.

Bruges for those of you not familiar has an area around the city centre that has become a world heritage site by Unesco. It is that old...the city charter for Bruges was granted on my birthday 7.27.1128... The first signs of fortifications go back to Caesars invasion of the area back around the 1st century B.C.

The town is just so beautifully maintained with the flowers, canals and the architecture. We would go into a building and the owner would say.." This building was rebuilt 200 yrs ago, but our cellar dates back to medieval times.

I love that...they really value the heritage and the integrity of history.

After finding a few things, we had to change B&B`s and found an even cheaper better place on the other side of town. Had dinner next door where "the locals ate" and had an average meal.

Zach and I went to play some soccer outside and ran into some Spanish students who were travelling around Europe. They were Tuna band members-

playing traditional Spanish guitar at different venues around Europe. They invited us to join the festivities at a local pub-which allowed Zach in...and we had a blast! Had a Bruges beer and zach had a OJ on the rocks...while we rocked out.

9/24

Woke up early at 9am and headed out for some more shopping and browsing around the city. Took Zach to the park for some needed exercise with the soccer ball. Afterwards, had some very average Thai food..at the only Thai restaurant in the city. The weather was alot better than the previous day(cloudy and cold), so we decided to hop into a canal boat for a ride around the city. Wasn`t as beautiful as Ghent, but still was a sight to behold. We all had ice cream after the ride and I have to say that it was the best ice cream we have had on the trip...

Drove to Brussels and had to make an executive decision-do we stay in the centre of the city or the outskirts? We decided on the suburbs and we sure were glad we did! Funny story...I know we have been going on and on about how about how bad the service has been in Belgium, so you will be shocked and awed by the next story. We had a volte face in regards to our view on service after stopping at a local hotel(literally just dropped off the highway to find the nearest hotel). First off, the guy was so apologetic that they didn`t have a room and proceeded to call numerous places and check on the internet for a hotel nearby. There was a big label expo going on so all the rooms were full in Brussels and the surrounding area, but luckily he found a place somewhat closeby. The guy went so far as to get in his car and drive 20 minutes out of his way to show us where the hotel was located. It was out of circa 1960`s - frozen in time- the place was musty, dank and a ghost town(nary a customer in sight). Still, the room was big and we had no complaints(just hoping it wasn`t the scene of a crime scene in the past. Got a recommendation for dinner, which ended up being closed when we arrived. Luckily for us, the restaurant next door called Margaux was open and had only opened 1 week ago-it was great food. I had squab and Marie had halibut for the gazillionth time! Finished it off with one of those Gateau Chocolate that ooozes out warm choco in the middle...nice.

Going to bed now.

Will make the trek into the city tomorrow.

Oh the time we spent in GHENT

9/21
Arrived in Ghent late and after wandering around the town for 45 minutes, we came upon a little hole-in-the-wall place that looked good for the night. Zach had passed out in the car and we put him to sleep while I went down to order some food for Marie and I. I had a steak that was wonderful and Maries salmon was edible.
Got to bed late around midnite.
9/22
Woke up and had a quaint breakfast prepared by the owner of the B&B.
She was a cross between Annie Lennox and Maude if you can envisage that...ran a restaurant, did the cooking and also ran a small hotel...amazing lady.
We got out and headed to the center of the city. Ghent is the 2nd largest city in Belgium and has the highest number of university students(place was teeming with youngsters).
Ghent probably goes back to Roman times as some observers note the name Ganda, which is Celtic for "confluence" was inhabited by Celts way back when. Our first thought was wow this place is absolutely beautiful and not so touristy.
We got on a boat tour to check out the city and decided that the beauty rivalled Amsterdam so far on our trip from a pure architectural perspective.
After the ride, got some lunch at a local Brasserie, which started off innocently enough with a nice meal for both of us. However, we were shocked and awed by the audacity of the guy charging us $4 for an extra plate and a fork- his response was that the Spaniards would come and order one thing and need extra dishes, so they decided to charge for it...
a first in my life(after forced to buy water since Tap wasn`t available).
We didn`t let it get to us and enjoyed the sightseeing for the rest of the day. I normally am non-plussed walking thru a cathedral, but the St Nicholas Church was absolutely beautiful with its ornate gothic style and some amazing sculptures that I had to take some shots of. The church dates back to around 1200....wow.
We took off since we didn`t want to arrive in Brugges too late...The drive was about 45 minutes and after some help from people in the city, we found a great B&B near the center of the town for only 100 Euros.
Walking around Brugges for only 30 minutes, we had flashbacks to our trip last yr thru the South of France with all the fantastice villages taking u back in time to a simpler pleasant place. Had dinner at a touristy place that seemed crowded enough to warrant a look- oh well what a mistake that was. We got there and not only did it take 20 minutes to take our order, but the attitude of the waitress was beyond surly. Again, you would think that they know people are there for a vacation and want to enjoy, but they try hard to make the experience like going thru security at an airport...jeez. Got to bed around 11pm and look forward to the day in Brugges.

I be glum in Belgium

9/20 Arrival in Belgium-first stop: Antwerp

We arrived in Antwerp around 3pm and were told repeatedly by the locals that we would have a lot of trouble getting to the center of the city since it was always shut down on Sundays... If this info(which ended up being completely wrong) was a portent of things to come in Belgium, then we were off to an ominous start!

Lunch at a local bistro left us wondering what all the hype was about food in Belgium...

We slowly made our way to the center of the city eventually finding our hotel after a few fits and starts. For those who are wondering why we don`t have a car navi, the reality was that the rental car agency wants you to a pay 9o euro return fee , this on top of the 14 euro a day charge for the shipping of the car navi back to Amsterdam(assinine I say- I could buy a brand new one for 150 euro).

Getting back to Antwerp...we got to the Radisson Blu and dropped off our luggage and decided to do a quick walk around the area, even though all the shops were closed. Eventually, hunger pangs set in and we stopped off at a bistro recommended by our hotel. This is the moment in our trip when we got our first introduction to service Belgian-style. First off, the food was horrific(shrimp scampi tasted like something 2 days old and Marie`s wok veggie dish was a joke-noodles soft and the veggies even softer). We were already getting a little antsy before the food arrived, given that a group of Muslim women at the bar started to scream obscenities at the bartender(had to be something that the bartender said to offend them). We asked our waiter about it and he mumbled something under his breath about Muslim people.... Later, when we complained about Marie`s food the waiter replied "Maybe they serve it differently in YOUR COUNTRY". The waiter was obviously a bigot along with his colleague tending bar. If our son was not with us, I would have acted belligerently toward the guy, but I couldn`t...so we left after paying for my crappy shrimp scampi. Oh another wonderful thing about Belgium I forgot to mention- they do not serve tap water...they say the water quality is horrible, so you must order water off the menu. Is that just unbelievable? For the rest of the trip 4 bucks a pop for a half liter of bottled water...what a freaking j0ke...Belgium - a third world country with no water filtration system?

Belgium...I have a new anagram for your country - IBEGLUM I became glum while we were in Belgium...starting with Antwerp. Got back to the hotel and had a quick bite at the bar-once again, very average food for a 4 star hotel. I felt like I was time warped back to the Soviet Union pre-perestroika...

9/21 Burnt Omelette and Crap Service at your service

Had decent breakfast buffet except for the egg white omelette(the only thing that they had to make to order). It was the worst omelette I have ever seen(burnt black on one side and raw on the other-bordering on a joke...I laughed when I looked at it).

Left our bags in storage and went shopping/sightseeing around Antwerp.

Marie managed to find a great scarf for herself and otherwise not much else. We stopped to get a sandwich at a local deli and once again felt the curse of crap service in Belgium. We ordered a panini with some veggies and the wench..I mean lady behind the counter couldn`t have been more unpleasant! I mean...we wanted a little extra tomato and it was like we were asking her to sell her soul...the attitude was appalling. I`m thinking that they all go to the same training seminar: "How to annoy and anger customers 101!!!"

I could go into the minutiae of things in Antwerp, but all I can say is that you can skip this place since there is no redeeming qualities that we found whatsoever. Off to the town of Ghent, which will astound you with its beauty, but leave you aghast with stories regarding the service...tata for now.

Life is a Parade in Eindhoven!

9/18 Arrival in Eindhoven to a ticker tape parade

We arrived in Eindhoven in good time(about 2 hrs from the Windmill city). We had our friend`s address, but no idea which exit to get off at...

I got lucky and managed to stop at a local Thomas Cook travel to get somebody to google map their place, which ended up being only 10 minutes away. Our friends, Sue and Jelle were kind enough to put us up for 2 nites at their awesome flat in Eindhoven. Not only did they show us great hospitality, they also moved out of their master bedroom to let us use it(thanks again guys!). We headed out to the local downtown area for some food and lo and behold we ran smack dab into a big parade. You know what they were celebrating? Thats right...the allied liberation of Eindhoven took place on this day back in 1944-which is celebrated with a festival of lights(The Lichtjesroute) at nite. I have to say I was bursting with pride and nostalgia as veterans from the war along with other American military personnel marched along thru the downtown area. I swear it felt like I was taking a step back in time-watching the procession.

I said to our friends that you shouldn`t have gone to all this trouble just for us...

Finally, we found a Chinese place nearby(decent Chinese!). Jelle, you didn`t have to treat us to dinner....thanks again. Our hosts were so incredibly sweet-not only to they let us stay, but they let us do laundry, got Zach a really great book and made us breakfast two days in a row. Moreover, Zach had a great playmate in Timo, who was very good about sharing some awesome toys with him for 2 straight days(zach had to be getting sick of having mommy and daddy as his playmates!).

9/19

Woke up and had a wonderful breakfast( the Dutch like to eat ham, cheese, bread, jams and sometimes a boiled egg). We then headed to a park/zoo that had a fantastic slide(Zach got airborne and managed to smack his bottom pretty good-he is a tough little soldier!) Stayed at the park til 5 and decided that we would stop by the supermarket to pick up some food for dinner at their house. They finally allowed us to buy some food for the dinner and I was able to grill up some lamb chops, top round, rib eye and fish for our dinner on their roof. It was a nice break from all the dining out that we had been doing. Finally got to bed around 12am or so....

9/20

Had a quick breakfast and bid adieu to our wonderful friends in Eindhoven. Next stop is Belgium...where you have a friend in the diamond business-Antwerp.

Jean Claude Volendam and Zaan Schaans

9/17 AMSTERDAM TO VOLENDAM

Got into our rental car and headed to Volendam(quaint little fishing town) that happened to be 20 minutes away from Amsterdam. As you know, we have been bouncing from city to city with reservations usually one day in advance or sometimes not at all. When we arrived in Volendam at 8pm, we realized that this sleepy town had a dearth of B&B`s, which made it a tad stressful. After stopping off at a local supermarket, we found out about a place that was close to town. Once we arrived, we were met by a Dutch guy who seemed to be a bit frazzled. I went to check out the room and finally after trying 3 different keys, we got in and didn`t even bother to negotiate. 90 euros was the rate and since it was late, we took it and headed into town to a local seafood place. The food was awful and my shrimp cocktail had shrimp that were microscopic-I kid you not-not only tiny, but the sauce was a cross between thousand island and french dressing...really nasty stuff. Marie`s fish was so deep fried that it bordered on inedible. Finally put Zach to sleep around 10pm.

9/18

Found out the B&B owner was divorced, which made sense looking around his disheveled house. Nice guy, but he forgot to bring sheets for Zach, so Zachipoo had to sleep in between mom and dad.

We got out and checked out the town one more time to do maybe a little shopping-the tchotchkes were so cheezy that we abstained from buying anything.

Jumped into the car and headed to Zaanse Schans for a quick tour of the windmills. Once we arrived, we were impressed with how low key it was.

There were only 6 working windmills ranging in age from 150 to 300 years old. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, a major portion of Holland`s economy was powered by these windmills. As we came out of the first windmill(Zach got scared since the steps were quite steep as you climbed up the windmill.) I ran into a guy who I thought was the most Dutch-looking guy I had seen so far(see above picture)-just so happened that he was the owner of the windmill and had been running it for the last 30 yrs. It was getting late so we decided to head down to Eindhoven to visit our old neighbors from Tokyo. Jelle, Sue and their 2-yr old, Timo were awaiting our arrival...and would you believe we managed to find their place without a car navi system?

More in the next blog...

9/15 & 9/16 Double Dutch treat in Amsterdam

Woke up at 9:30( we have been really roughing it on this trip)! Oh I forgot to mention that we arrived the nite before at around 6pm and took a bus from the airport(4 euros per person) to a stop pretty close to the hotel. Backstage hotel was a cheapy place we found at the airport for 100 Euros a nite without breakfast. After dropping off the bags, we headed out to find something to eat. As we passed the Bulldog Cafe(http://www.bulldog.nl/), I had flashbacks to 1986 when I first came to Amsterdam-the funny thing is I don`t remember very much since I was in somewhat of a stupor the whole time. Getting back to the room- it was nice, but the noise emanating from the traffic below us(trains/sirens etc) made it a rough nite for me. My wife and son can sleep through just about anything...I am the one who needs earplugs to be able to sleep!

Ate a quick lunch nearby at a cafe and then headed off to a park to let Zach let off some steam. By 3pm, it was time for us to head over to the Van Gogh museum to get a bit of culture. The museum had obviously moved into a new building next to the Riksmuseum. Since both Marie and I are Van Gogh fans, we really got our money`s worth with the collection of art on hand. Everything from one of the Sunflowers, to numerous self-portraits(post and pre-slicing off his ear). Do you know why he sliced off his ear? He had invited Gauguin to stay with him and a few other artists in Arles(an artist colony) and evidently they got into a heated argument, which culminated with Vincent slicing off his lower earlobe in a fit of rage.

We then grabbed our bags and headed to a nicer hotel near the museum area for our last nite in Amsterdam called the Park Hotel. It smacked of a "W" type feel that was fine by us...clean, soft bed and great showers-you would think that we have been staying at youth hostels the whole time.

Found a great nouvelle Peruvian restaurant called Mashua on a dutch Zagat type-site and enjoyed the meal very much. My langostines and funky meat dish were delectable.

9/16

Got up and immediately proceeded to the docks across the street from the hotel for a 75 minute boat ride through the canals(would recommend this to anyone considering a trip to Amsterdam).

The ride itself was nice(despite the fact you could barely hear the recording) and the view from the boat was spectacular. Walked from the boat straight to a rental car agency only to find out that the only cars that we could rent for our trek into Belgium were available only at the airport(we saved 90 euros on charges for driving out of the Netherlands).

Before making a mad dash to the airport, we had to make the requisite stop at Anne Frank Huis(Anne Frank`s House). Even though I had been before and also read the book, it still crushes your heart knowing what she had to go thru for the last 2 years of her life hiding out like that. What is even more gut-wrenching is if she had only endured for 2 more months, she would have survived the whole ordeal....more on this subject another time.

Got our car after making the shlep to Schipol Airport. Nice Ford whatever with more legroom than the Polo we had(still doing manual, since an automatic transmission based vehicle is almost twice the rate!!)

More in my next blog on our trip to Volendam, Zaanse Schans and Eindhoven.

Blarney Castle was worth the hassle

9/14 Its all Blarney after Killarney!!

Blarney Castle was on the agenda today after one last Irish Breakfast in the morning(bangers and bacon again ohh boy!). The drive in our stick shift VW Polo(getting quite adroit at the old stick) took about 2 hours from Killarney. The castle has a checkered history with the first structure (made of wood) built around the beginning of the 13th century, which then was fortified with stone about 10 years later only to be destroyed in 1646 by the Parliamentarian forces(those loyal to Cromwell) . It was rebuilt again and changed hands on numerous occasions. We were able to walk thru was the ruins of a castle with a few rooms available for viewing. Did we kiss the Blarney Stone? Unfortunately, the Swine Flu paranoia prevented us from doing so. For those of you who are unfamiliar- kissing the Blarney stone will supposedly give you the gift of the gab or the ability to articulate rather cleverly. Since I know that I have that gift, I felt that it best be shared with others....

We walked around the beautiful gardens and enjoyed the Blarney experience overall.

We hopped in the car and headed to a stopover place that would allow us to leave Dublin in the early afternoon on a flight to Amsterdam. For those who read about my feelings regarding RyanAir, you would understand that it would be quite cunning to fly Air Lingus(national airline) instead of RyanAir, which we did and enjoyed immensely!

9/15 Drive to Dublin Airport

Despite having the car navigation unit, we had a miserable time trying to find the hotel at Dublin Airport to drop off our rental. Nobody had mentioned that the hotel had changed owners and names making it a massive pain to find even with the help of a few of our Irish Brethren.

Alas, we finally arrived into Amsterdam without much fuss and hopped on a bus that took us close enough to the hotel I had found on the internet located close to the heart of the tourist centre of the city. More on the double dutch days in Amsterdam in the next blog.

Kenmare and Killarney: Ring of Kerry Part 2

9/12

Arrived in Kenmare at about 6pm after traipsing thru a few towns on the way(none of which stood out in our recollection). Kenmare is jumping off point for people who plan to drive the Ring of Kerry...for those of you who don`t have the foggiest notion what the Ring of Kerry is...no its not the missing book from JRR Tolkien its a beautiful scenic route that many tourists take when they decide that they want to drive through the southern part of Ireland. Once again, we arrived in Kenmare without a place to stay and managed to find a great B&B after 3 tries...at a cheap rate of 70 Euros a nite. Our host recommended Darcy`s Seafood for dinner and wow were we blown away! The sole Marie ate had to be the best piece of fish she has eaten on this trip-in a sleepy podunk town in Ireland no less! Walked around the shops and heard some music from a UK band called Yea Sayer(spell?) that sounds like a cross between Enya and Fleetwood Mac( http://www.myspace.com/yeasayer).

9/13

Checked out at 11 am after having Irish breakfast for the umpteenth time.

Irish Breakfast consists of : eggs, back bacon, sausages and toast....I`m going have to double up on the lipitor if I keep eating like this and so will Zach!

Drove to Killarney National Park to see the sights and get a hike in. Proceeded to hike for 2 hrs and picnic somewhere along the way. You see the picture of the sheep up top? Well that wasn`t taken during the hike...you see our car navi was playing us for fools taking us on roads that weren`t meant to be traversed. We ran into cows and sheep crossing the road along with some huge tractors that almost ran us off the road- the road was one lane, but two way. There were some blind spots so you can imagine how nervewracking it got at times-20 km stretches at times...no joke.

Getting back to the hike-pretty scenery along with a few deer along the way. We have probably eaten 15 panini sandwiches by now and I must say - I am getting burnt out quickly on them. Ready for some sushi Tokyo style right about now...

We got back into the car and drove the ring for about 2 and 1/2 hours - weather was perfect and the roads weren`t too clogged with buses. The view was at times absolutely breathtaking and at other times just plain boring.

Arrived at Killarney with just enough time to find a quaint B&B relatively close to the city. It was situated right next to a river and was run by a young family-they were awesome taking care of Zach`s needs since they had a daughter only 1 yr younger than Zach. Found another seafood place in town and had another brilliant fish meal-this time I had the sole and Marie had a rocking monkfish...

Waterford and Kinsale: RING OF KERRY Part 1

9/10 Around 6pm
We had to take the shortest ferry ride(car included) that we will ever take in our lives. I kid you not, it must have taken us 2 minutes to cross the river to get to Waterford Castle. We have been travelling by the "Flying by the seat of your pants"
strategy...literally making reservations for our hotels and B&Bs the nite before we arrive. In the case of Waterford Castle, the server recommended it to us, so we decided to go with it.
As we arrived onto the Island, we were amazed at the tree lined roads leading to the castle. The Castle was so beautiful with Ivy already showing the signs of fall colors(chlorophyll finally stopping...)with vibrant hues of red adorning the building. We played soccer with Zach out in the gardens area for about an hour since he hadn`t gotten much exercise during the day...followed by a quick dinner inside the castle.We get shown to our lodge and you would have dropped me with a feather-huge with 3 bedrooms and a gorgeous living room- wow what 239 dollars gets you in Ireland!!!I had to go out and get some food and a golf shirt(I bought it then was going to return it-god am I cheap!!)
When I got back, my poor wife was sitting on the bed shivering in terror as she saw the second largest spider crawling on the floor in her bedroom. I assuaged her as much as one could given the situation...we marched on down to the main lobby to see what could be done. I came back to hunt down the spider with one of the hotel employees alas to no avail. Finally we were given a tiny room inside the castle as they were no other lodges/rooms available. I felt that the manager on duty didn`t give a rats behind what had happened and didn`t even try to apologize to me or my wife. She just said that this area has alot of spiders!!!! Wow...thanks for the consoling message sweetheart!

9/11
Next morning I woke up to play 9 holes of golf next to the castle-nice course, weather was chilly, but sunny. I finished in 90 minutes(playing by yourself can be so incredibly peaceful) and headed back to the hotel for a chat with the general mgr.
Explained the situation and was comped for the nite and our meal(dont let me go there-the hamburger I had was smaller than a slider from Krystals for 10 times the price).
We wandered over to the Waterford Crystal exhibit. It used to be both an exhibit and the factory, but due to the downturn, the factory had closed in January of this year and all of the labor/workmanship was moved to Poland.
You can sense the despair and sadness in the voice of the lady who was kind enough to watch Zach while Marie and I walked around the exhibit.
It was getting a little late so we decided to head over to Kinsale, which is one of the requisite stops one makes when you are heading to the Ring of Kerry. Kinsale is a lovely harbour town with a checkered past, which I will discuss later.
First order of the day was finding a B&B to stay at...since we were essentially homeless. Came across a quaint B&B right outside of the city called Waterside and negotiated 85 Euros a nite for the 3 of us...the owners were in their 70`s and also very cordial hosts! Dropped our luggage and headed into town for some dinner- our host Phyllis recommended going to Jim Edwards for some fish and boy was that a good call-great clams casino(or was it mussels?), crab claws and Maries Sole was surprisingly good!
9/12
As luck would have it, this weekend was the first dry weekend since the end of June in Ireland. We were told that it rained 26 days during the month of August, which is all the more shocking since we have had nary a drop of rain during our time in both the UK and Ireland. The scenery in Kinsale was so beautiful with almost a fairytale type feel to it. I completely forgot that when we first arrived into Kinsale, it was the tail end of an Irish version of the Cannonball Run with a bunch of exotics (DB-9,Lambo,Rarri(Britspeak for Ferrari) and other beauts)...Zach was beside himself with all the cool cars driving by!!!
We were told that you have to visit Charles Fort while you are staying in Kinsale, so we did just that. Little did we know that this happened to be the weekend(happens only once a year- timing once again is impeccable) that they do reenactments of various battles that took place over the years in and around the city of Kinsale.
1601 was one of the more noteworthy events when the Irish looked to the Spanish Armada to join forces to defeat the British. Unfortunately, the Brits were able to pin down the Spaniards in Kinsale preventing a joint attack against them.
1915 was also noteworthy since the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat right of the coast of Kinsale(I think 1198 people perished out of 1900) this incident was instrumental in finally pushing America into participation in the Great War...

Alot of the people that participated in the different reenactments had been doing so for more than 30 years. It was quite fascinating to learn about different events that had taken place nearby...great little history lesson for yours truly!
We headed out to the next port of call namely Kenmare...which will follow in the next blog.