Part 4 – Belgium and
Netherlands
Our plan included 8 nights in the “low countries” – 3 nights
in Belgium, 3 nights in Netherlands near Amsterdam, and an additional 2 nights
in eastern Netherlands visiting Karen’s relatives.
Day 11 – Thursday,
June 27. Gent, Belgium. After entering Belgium we had an hour to go
to reach the apartment that we would be staying at in Gent. We choose Gent as it was centrally located between
Bruges and Brussels, the primary cities we wanted to visit, and we didn't want
to spend time packing up and moving every day.
We stayed in a two bedroom apartment in residential neighborhood – basically
like a row house, it was very narrow (~12’ wide) and deep, with a living room,
dining, kitchen, and bath on the main floor, one bedroom on the 2nd
floor, and a second bedroom on the 3rd floor. There was a small patio off the second floor
bedroom. The owner met us there to give
us the key and show us how everything worked.
The apartment had a washer and dryer so we could catch up on laundry –
up until now we had just been washing out a few items by hand and hanging them
to dry. The apartment also had a wireless printer which was nice as I was able
to print out confirmations for additional hotel reservations that I had made
since leaving home. After getting
settled in we walked to the grocery store to get some food, including food for
dinner which we ate in our apartment.
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| Matthew outside our apartment, Karen by our car |
Day 12 – Friday, June
28. Gent. We
spent most of the day in Bruges, a town ~40 minutes west of Gent. Bruges is largest city in the Flemish region
of Belgium. The golden age for Bruges
was from the 12th to 15th centuries, when it was a major
trading town, with a special emphasis on textiles. Due to silting of the channel, Bruges lost
easy access to the sea in the 16th century and it began to
decline. Fortunately for tourists, the
compact area of the old city has been very well preserved. Access by car is restricted, and it is one of
the best preserved pre-motorized cities in Europe. We parked at the main train station, just
outside of the core part of town. For €2.50
we got all day parking and 4 round trip bus passes into the core part of the
city – a great deal. Once inside the old
city we walked everywhere. We visited
the Folklore Museum, saw some of the remaining windmills along the large “moat
canal” that goes around the old city, took a canal boat ride on the canals that crisscross the city, went in the cathedrals, and enjoyed the
architecture of the old buildings around the Markt (Market Square) and Burg
Square (the civic center). Of course, we
had to eat Belgium waffles and lots of Belgium chocolate. We enjoyed Bruges very much - beautiful architecture, a lot of history, and a very easy town to get around. We
left at about 7 PM to head back to Gent.
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| View from one of the canals in Bruges |
Day 13 – Saturday,
June 29. Gent. We spent most of the
day in Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium and is ~45 minutes east of
Gent. Unlike Paris which had an easy to navigate
metro system, mass transit in Brussels was very difficult to use. We could not find any official information on
possible park and ride locations (unlike Bruges that prominently tells tourists
what they should do if they arrive by car). We did find a couple of online posts that
suggested parking near the Atomium, the iconic structure built in the Brussels suburbs
for the Brussels World Fair in 1958. We
easily found the Atonium (it is hard to miss), but it took another 15 minutes
of driving around to find where to park and to locate the metro station. Once we got to the metro, we found that
outlying stations only had a map of the line that they were on. There were no attendants, and no maps showing
the whole system. You had to buy a
ticket, get on a train and get off on what seemed like it was a main station
that would connect to other lines. Once
at a main station. There were maps of the whole system on the walls, but still
no map to take with you. Even if you
knew what station you wanted to get off at, there was no indication on the train
of what the next stop was, and most stations only had the name written on the
station wall in one or two places. If you were
in the back of the train you couldn't see what station the train had stopped at
until the train was leaving the station.
Our path to the center of town was not the most efficient, but we go
there and went to the tourist information office and bought a map that had the
metro system on it in addition to streets in the core part of town. All together we probably spent more than €20
to park and ride into the center of town in Brussels vs. €2.50 in Bruges.
By the time we got to the main square (grand Place-Grote
Markt) it was lightly raining and lunch time, so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for
lunch. One of Karen’s quests in life is
to visit every Hard Rock Cafe and purchase a souvenir pin. She has dozens of them on a display board at
home. After lunch it had stopped raining
so we took some photos in the square, bought some more of that addictive Belgian chocolate, and
went looking for Manneken Pis. This
small bronze statue was originally erected in 1618 and is a statue of a small
boy “performing one of nature’s most basic functions”. Karen wanted to take a photo of this iconic
Brussels landmark, but was disappointed that he was dressed up in cycling gear
to commemorate the start of the Tour de France and didn't look like the
postcard photos that you see. We then
continued our journey by heading to the Cathedral of St. Michael, skirting a
large demonstration with heavy police presence near the central train station,
and then headed to the royal palace. We ended our visit in Brussels a couple of
miles from where we had started at the European Parliament buildings. We
then caught the metro back to our car and drove back to Gent.
Overall Brussels was a disappointment. There are some wonderful old buildings in
the city, but they were interspersed with new modern buildings, and there was
lots of automobile and bus traffic. It is primarily a big commercial city versus a place to visit. The metro system was not user friendly, and
it was dirty. The metro stop by the European
Parliament building looked like a stereotypical station from a ghetto – the walls
were plain concrete, and mostly covered with graffiti. The metro was also more crowded than that in
Paris.
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| Manaqin Pis ready for the Tour de France |
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| European Parliament building |
Day 14 – Sunday, June
30. Gent to Haarlem, Netherlands. We left our apartment in Gent mid-morning and
headed towards the Netherlands. We crossed
over the border around noon. Total
distance driven in Belgium 220 miles (350 km).
Total distance driven to date 1170 miles (1880 km). Our favorite things in Belgium were: Karen – Bruges, canal ride and cute
buildings. Matthew – European Union
parliament in Brussels. Elizabeth –
Bruges & chocolate. She says she
wants to live in Bruges. Mike – the
canal ride in Bruges and the fact that they have preserved the character of the
old town by limiting vehicle access and modern development.
Other observations about Belgium: Not sure if there are differences in the
laws, or if it is just a cultural thing, or a combination, but there is
definitely a different priority between cars and pedestrians/bikes in Belgium
than in France. In France cars do NOT
stop for pedestrians even if the pedestrian is in a cross walk and half way
across the street. In Belgium
pedestrians seem to step off the curb and cross the street wherever they want,
and cars stop for them. Often the
pedestrians don’t even look - they just step down from the curb and head across
the street as if it is a continuation of the sidewalk. Same with bicycles – they zigzag across the
streets as they wish like they are the only one there. So far we have not seen any accidents, nor
any aggravated motorists, cyclists, or pedestrians.
Along the way to Haarlem we stopped in Delft to tour the Royal
Delft factory, famous for their blue and white porcelain pieces. We learned the history of the porcelain
industry, and learned how they make their handmade pieces with a process that
is very similar to that used 200 years ago.
We watched master craftsman hand painting the pieces – it takes almost
10 years for an apprentice to work up to paining the most complex pieces.
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| Painter at Royal Delft factory |
In Haarlem we stayed in a hostel – very basic room with two
sets of bunk beds, but we did have a private bath and shower. Once we
checked in we drove into the center part of Haarlem and walked around the town
square and had dinner. After dinner we
went in search of the Hans Brinker statue – the boy who saved Haarlem by
plugging a hole in the dike with his finger.
The statue is in Spaarndam, a quaint Dutch village a few km from
Haarlem. It was a very pretty drive out
to Spaarndam, on narrow country lanes with just enough space to pass an
oncoming car if both use the unpaved shoulder of the road. Lots of boats and houseboats along the
waterways, and some windmills. We didn't
have specific directions of where the statue was and fortunately were able to
spot the statue and find a place to pull over and then walk back to take a
photo.
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| Hans Brinker |
Day 15 – Monday, July
1. Haarlem. Today we let the kids sleep in and Karen and
I got up early and went to FloraHolland in Aalsmeer,
a 30 minute drive from Haarlem. It is
the largest trading center for plants and flowers in the world. The self-guided tour takes you on walkways
above the floor of the massive building where you can watch hundreds of
electric trolley’s move thousands of carts of cut and live flowers around the
distribution floor where flowers are moved into and out of the auction rooms
and then divided up to fill specific orders.
You can also look into two of the auction rooms, each with 300 buyers
sitting behind computer screens in stadium type seating bidding on
flowers. In each room there are two
separate auctions going simultaneously, with each lot of flowers being
auctioned off in just a few seconds. The
whole place is extremely efficient, but from a tourist view it looks like total
chaos, but everyone knows exactly what they need to do.
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| Flowers ready for auction at FloraHolland |
After FloraHolland we went back
to the hostel to pick up the kids who had gotten up, eaten breakfast, and were
waiting for us in the lobby. We headed
off to Zuiderzee Museum, ~ an hour northeast of Haarlem. This museum has two parts, an indoor museum
and an outdoor living history museum that you take a ferry to get to. The museum was created to help preserve the
history of the Zuiderzee, the former shallow bay of the North Sea in the
northwest of the Netherlands that was closed off early in the 20th
century. When the Zuiderzee was closed
off from the sea (becoming the freshwater lake called Ijsselmeer), it
eliminated a way of life for local fisherman and others who depending on the
sea in this are for their livelihood. The
outdoor portion of the Zuiderzee museum recreated a small fishing village and
small town that would have been typical of this area by relocating old
buildings from across the Netherlands and building replicas of others. The museum is staffed by people in period
costume that demonstrate what life was like in these villages – making rope,
sails, nets, doing laundry, … All the
displays were in English as well as Dutch, although the "locals" that
“inhabited” the village only spoke Dutch.
One man did whisper to us (in English) that in 1900 local people in the
area would not have spoken English so they were supposed to only speak in
Dutch, but he did quietly explain to us in English what he had said originally
in Dutch that had resulted in blank stares from us. J We found it all very interesting and
educational and stayed until they closed at 5:30. We never made it to the indoor museum which
is also supposed to be very good.
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| Making a fish trap at Zuiderzee museum |
After leaving the museum we went
back to old town Haarlem for dinner and to walk around.
Day 16 – Tuesday,
July 2. Haarlem. We spent the entire day to day in
Amsterdam. After breakfast we drove to a
park and ride station on the outskirts of Amsterdam. For €8 we got parking for all day plus 4
round trip train tickets to Central Station in Amsterdam. Relative to the cost of everything else here
that was a great deal. After arriving at
Central Station we took a tram (streetcar) to the Rijksmuseum which has a large
collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Some artists you can't overlook are Rembrandt
van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen. After the Rijksmuseum we split up. Karen
and Elizabeth went to the Van Gogh museum, while Matthew and I went to the Hard
Rock Cafe (he wanted to buy some drum sticks) and then to Vondelpark which is
Amsterdam’s version on NYC Central Park. Karen had previously been to the HRC in Amsterdam so this was not on her "must go" list. |
| Church in Haarlem by town square |
After we met up we all went on a canal boat ride. We found a small open air boat that only held
a dozen passengers as it could fit into the smaller canals that the bigger
boats that most tourists take cannot.
There were some bridges where we had to watch our heads. Our boat driver was very informative,
providing most of the commentary in English.
We learned that no new houseboats are allowed on the canals, but you can
replace an old houseboat with one of equal size. As a result, even a derelict houseboat that
is uninhabitable is worth €200K-300K since it gives the buyer the right to put
a new houseboat on the site.
We gradually worked our way to the Anne Frank museum. The line was long, so we ate dinner and
returned to a slightly shorter line (~30 minutes). The museum was a sobering reminder of the terror
that Hitler and the Nazi’s inflicted on Europe last century. The following quote from Otto Frank
summarizes the purpose of the museum, “We cannot change what happened
anymore. The only thing we can do is
learn from the past and to realize what discrimination and persecution of
innocent people means. I believe that it
is everyone’s responsibility to fight prejudice”. After the Anne Frank Museum we worked our way
back to Central Station and took the train back to our car, returning to
Haarlem.
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| Amsterdam sign and the Rijksmuseum |
Day 17 – Wednesday,
July 3. Haarlem to
Haaksbergen. Karen’s father has
relatives who live outside of Haaksbergen, only ~ 1 km from the German border,
and we were headed next to visit with them for 2 days. To better understand the geography of the
Netherlands we decided to not take the most direct route to Haaksbergen, but
instead to go north and cross the Afsluitdijk (Enclosure Dam) that was built in
the 1920s and 1930s to transform the Zuiderzee into the IJsselmeer. The dam is more than 30 km long, and along
the way we stopped to see the shipping locks and discharge sluices which allow excess
fresh water to pass out to the sea while keeping the sea water out. It is an impressive engineering feat. After crossing over the Afsluitdijk we headed
southeast, arriving at the Sibbel’s house mid-afternoon. We would spend the next two days visiting
with Betty, Girard, their children Martijn (15) & Louise (12), and Betty’s
mother Jo.
That evening Jo went with us to show us some areas of
historical significance to the Leppink family (Karen’s maiden name). She took us to the local cemetery where there
are many Leppink’s buried. While it is a
very rare name in the United States, it is much more common in Netherlands. We also went to the location that prompted
Karen’s ancestor to move to the United States. Currently the building is a bed & breakfast,
but it used to the White Horse Tavern. Karen’s ancestor got into a fight with another
man in the tavern, and thought that he had killed the other man (he actually
did not). He fled, ending up in the
United States to escape what he feared would be prosecution for murder. Not everyone has a noble reason for emigrating to another country. J We reenacted the fight outside of the former White Horse
Tavern.
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| The former White Horse Tavern |
Day 18 – Thursday,
July 4. So far our trip had gone
more or less as planned, with some minor deviations. That was all to change today. The previous night I had fallen off of a
stool, with the side of my left foot landing on the leg of the stool which had fallen over. I was in severe pain, but went to bed hoping
that it was not a serious injury. In the
morning it was no better. If I put any
weight on the front of my foot it resulted in severe pain. Betty arranged me to go to the doctor and I
spent much of the day learning about the Dutch medical system. I found out that
I had fractured the outermost metatarsal on my left foot. I now have a hard cast and crutches and
cannot put any weight on my left leg for at least the next week – very hard
when we have been doing lots of walking and on our feet for multiple hours every
day. When I am in Sweden I need to find
another hospital, get this cast removed, get another x-ray, and then hopefully
get a walking cast. However, the doctor said I may need surgery based on the type of
break. Stay tuned for more updates. I received excellent care, and everyone was
very helpful. I especially want to thank
Betty for helping me navigate through the Dutch medical system, and translating
for me when necessary. I will have to
add a section to the blog compare the Dutch, Swedish, and American medical
system later. For now I will just say “don’t
lose your plastic yellow medical card – you can’t get any care in Netherlands without
it”. I now have one as a souvenir to
remind me of my stupidity in injuring myself.
We left the Sibbel’s house at about 10 in the morning and didn't
return until after 4 in the afternoon. I
was sporting a blue cast when we returned.
My medical saga had consumed most of the day. At least Elizabeth and Matthew got to spend a
relaxing day with Martijn and Louise who were on their first day of summer
break from school.
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| "Photo" of my broken foot |
Day 19 – Friday, July
5. Haaksbergen to Kolding, Denmark. Today was planned primarily as a driving day,
and we intended to leave the Netherlands mid-morning. We were almost packed up and ready to go when
I lost my balance going down the stairs leaving the Sibbel’s house. I managed to jump forward and landed on my
right (good) foot, but the front of my cast hit the edge of the bottom step,
cracking the cast. Betty called to see
if we could go to the hospital, but because it was considered non-urgent she
had to make an appointment. The first
appointment was not until 1:30 in the afternoon. So, we spent the rest of the morning visiting
at the Sibbel’s house. With our
delayed start we were going to be arriving in Kolding after the reception at
the hotel had closed, so I contacted them and they said they would put the room
key in a lock box outside and gave us the code to the lock box.
Around 12:30 it was time to head to the hospital. Betty needed to go to work in the afternoon,
so Martijn went with us to help us navigate to the hospital and help us when we
were at the hospital. I ended up
getting a new cast. They made the new
one out of different material – presumably this one is for klutzes that need
something less fragile. I choose red for
the second cast. To save us time from
having to drive from the hospital in Enschede back to Haaksbergen, we said
goodbye to Martijn at the hospital, and he took the bus back home. We were very grateful for his help. We left Enschede around 2:30 and shortly
after crossed the border into Germany. Total
distance driven in Netherlands 495 miles (795 km). Total distance driven to date 1665 miles
(2675 km). For all of us, our favorite
thing in the Netherlands was being able to visit with our relatives. They were very gracious hosts and made us
feel very welcome. We enjoyed seeing
some of the Leppink history and learning more about the Dutch culture, school
system, etc. I didn't enjoy my medical
issues, but it is good to know you can get great care when you need it while
traveling. As I wrote earlier, you need
to be flexible while traveling and my injury will require flexibility as we
adapt our plans going forward to work around my current physical limitations.
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| Family photo - note my short lived blue cast |
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| In the hospital after getting my new red cast |
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