Days 118 - 126 (July 2 – July 10, 2013): London, England

The Quick Facts

* Our last port of call: the familiar London, England
* Had an impressive week, I must say: went to Wimbledon, saw the Book of Mormon with front row seats for $30/each, and had dinner at a 2-star Michelin rated restaurant
* Stayed at the apartments of two friends who were gracious (and patient) enough to host us, to whom we are exceedingly grateful: Alissa (Carrie’s childhood friend, see our time in Berlin) and Andrew (another old friend from my high school days)

The Good:

* Wimbledon, by far the highlight of our time in London.  I have wanted to go since I was in grade school (which, sadly, was a long time ago) so feel very lucky that Carrie was able to snag tickets online during that ~3 nanosecond window a small number of tickets become available for sale to the general public each day
* Book of Mormon – yep, we saw that too.  How?  Carrie won tickets in a lottery the show holds every day before the show (she’s on a roll, don’t think I didn’t entertain of the notion of stealing her away to Monaco for a run at the craps tables!).  Front row, center.  $30 each.  If you’re ever in London, it’s free to enter the lottery and you just may win seat too!  I think they may do the same thing in NYC too.
* Stonehenge – it’s a pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere, but for me it was still cool to see.
* The beauty that is London – from the regal buildings of Westminster to the exciting-the-kid-in-everyone coolness of Windsor Castle to the serenity of Hyde Park – London continues to show why it is one of the greatest cities in the world

The Bad:

* The USD/Pound exchange rate…my gosh, have you checked that thing lately?  Ouch.

With somewhat heavy hearts, we took the Eurostar train from Brussels to London for what would be our last port of call on the trip.  We did have good friends to see, and some cool days ahead of us which made the fact that our trip was coming to an end a little easier to accept.

 

The coolest thing, for me anyway, was being able to go to Wimbledon and watch a match on the famed Centre Court.  The experience was everything I hoped it would be and more.  Why more?  Because the staff at Wimbledon are off-the-charts friendly.  Truly.  When I went to take our picture in Centre Court back where our seats were (which were literally in the back of the stadium), a security guard not only offered to take our picture but encouraged us to move down closer to the court so we could have a better shot.  That’s just one example.  It really made for a pleasant day, not to mention the great tennis and, of course, strawberries and cream!

 

This is Fred Perry...at the time I took this picture, he was the last Brit to win Wimbledon (in 1936).  Andy Murray changed all of that a few days later.

 

And, as I mentioned, Carrie won us tickets to go see the Book of Mormon.  Here she is outside celebrating her triumph….she may want to speak with you about a great book that will change your life!

 

We also got out to Windsor Castle (with Carrie's friend Alissa), which I had been to before but still inspires the boy in me – it’s just really cool with its grand halls, moats, and medieval weaponry.  No pictures inside, which is a bummer.

And what trip wouldn’t be complete without taking in the traditional sites?  “Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament.”

Buckingham Palace...

 

Trafalgar Square

Looks who's on a Lion!

 

We also took a boat ride down the Thames which provided the opportunity to see some cool stuff.

 

The boat ride ended in Greenwich, which is where the Prime Meridian is….here’s me straddling between two hemispheres!

 

And I went to Stonehenge, just because I had to see it.  It is what it is, a pile of rocks, but to be out there trying to imagine what they used it for is kind of cool.  I’m glad I went.

 

 

There is a bit of a “Field of Dreams” aspect to it too, since it’s truly in the middle of nowhere in a field with one road leading in and out.  Here’s the scene, it reminds me of the last minute of Field of Dreams as people are lining up to come watch “the baseball men” in Ray Kinsella’s corn field.

 

To cap off our trip, we had dinner at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (which offers a decently-priced pre-theater menu).  Two Michelin stars, and deservedly so.  A wonderful dinner to top off a wonderful trip.

 

And that’s that kiddos.  Stay tuned for one or two more posts on the trip in the days/weeks ahead.  Thanks for coming along with me!  For now, I’ll end this blog as it began: with a picture of Carrie, the best site in every city and without whom this experience certainly would never have happened.  Thanks for inspiring just a little bit of crazy (uh, the good kind!).

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Days 116 - 117 (June 30 – July 1, 2013): Brussels, Belgium

The Quick Facts

* Our last Eurail train ride from Bruges to Brussels
* 1.5 days in Brussels, the capital of the EU and home to one of the most beautiful squares we’ve seen in Europe
* Stayed with my old friend from high school Kate who, despite having four small children, was kind enough to open her home to us for two nights and even cook us dinner on one of them (yes, she might be superwoman)

The Good:

* Catching up with an old friend who I hadn’t seen in an age
* Brussels is a bustling city, with beautiful architecture and very defined neighborhoods that make it quite lovely and livable
* Great park spaces – the city devotes a lot of space and attention to its parks

The Bad:

* Nothing

The best thing about Brussels is the opportunity to see a very old friend….although over the course of two days we managed to eek out one picture together which is a little pathetic:

 

Anyhoo, the central part of Brussels is demarcated by the Grand Place, which is one of the most beautiful and powerful squares we’ve seen in Europe.  I’m sure these pictures don’t do it justice, partly because they were setting up for some event while we were there so there was a lot of stage construction activity obscuring the grandeur of the square.

 

There’s also a cathedral, which is big but not that impressive once you get on the inside.

 

And then there’s this….a peeing statue (the so-called “Manneken Pis”).  Not sure what to make of it, or that it’s one of the most popular sights for people to go see while in Brussels.

 

Slightly (OK, more than slightly) more appealing is the Arc de Triomphe knock-off in Parc Cinquantenaire.  It’s huge and imposing, and unfortunately closed on the day we went so we couldn’t go to the top.  Oh well, we got some good pictures anyway…

 

 

And that was that.  Our time went by too quickly.  With that, it was our last train ride across the English Channel to London.

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Days 114 - 115 (June 28 - 29, 2013): Bruges, Belgium

The Quick Facts

* Easy train ride from Amsterdam to Bruges
* 1.5 days in the much-hyped town, full of chocolate shops and beer cafes…plus a little architecture to keep it interesting
* Stayed at the Hotel Olympia - an actual hotel (quite a luxury for us), which was decent enough even if it was a good ~20 minute walk to the middle of town (but a really nice 20 minute walk to the middle of town)

The Good:

* It is what everyone says it is: a cute little town away from the hustle and bustle of Brussels and other European cities
* Endless opportunities to eat Belgian chocolate and/or waffles (even at the same time!) and drink Belgian beer
* Minnewater is particularly beautiful with lots of cute restaurants and cafes in the area

The Bad:

* I think Bruges is a victim of its reputation – with such enthusiastic recommendations from everyone I’ve ever known to go there, I was expecting more than I got…

Chocolate, waffles, fries, mussels, and beer.  That’s what you get during your time in Bruges.  So, it’s not such a bad place.  Our tour began in the Markt Square which is dominated by some beautiful buildings, including a large bell tower.

 

 

We even trekked up the Belfort Tower for the magnificent views of the city:

 

 

The lesser cousin of the Markt Square is the Burg, which comes complete with its own beautiful building (the Stadhuis) which contains a beautiful meeting hall:

 

The Burg also had a waffle food truck parked in it, which we had to get a waffle (and chocolate sauce….and ice cream)!

 

As is our custom, we then took to our bikes for a bike ride around the edge of the city, which is bordered by a river.  There are also a series of windmills on the outskirts (who says windmills are just for Amsterdam?!?)…

 

And this is the aforementioned Minnewater....it's much better in person than this picture suggests.

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Days 110 - 113 (June 24 - 27, 2013): Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Quick Facts:

* Another train ride, this time from Berlin to Amsterdam
* There’s a lot to see and do in Amsterdam, so we decided to devote four days to the city
* Highlights include the Rijks Museum (home to Rembrandt’s masterpiece the Night Watch, as well as other great works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others), the Van Gogh Museum, the moving Anne Frank House, the Red Light District, and endless bike riding opportunities
* Stayed at Gandalf Passenger Ship – yep, a boat!  Very close to Centraal Station, a wonderful place to stay and not too expensive.  It’s a converted boat so the rooms are small, but the people who own it are lovely (as is their sweet dog Jala (to quote Ron Burgundy, “that’s a soft j”)) and they make a delicious breakfast every morning.

The Good:

* The museums – Rembrandt and Van Gogh alone are special treats, not to mention all the other Dutch masters on display
* Anne Frank House – to actually see the space where they hid for over two years, and to re-hear her stories and selected journal entries, is a very powerful experience and well worth the time spent waiting on the line to get in
* Our Bike Tour – we went on a bike tour that took us to the countryside, a cheese farm, and yes a windmill!
* The culture – Amsterdam is very chilled out and famous for its tolerance of, well, just about anything.  It’s a great city to just relax an afternoon away with a glass of beer and some chips.

The Bad:

* Nothing really, although the weather is atrocious – at the end of June the highs were only in upper 50s, and it rains 200 days per year there so get ready for that!

Four days in Amsterdam!  Our hotel – I’m on a boat! (I got my swim trunks and my flippy-floppies….)

 

Amsterdam has a lot of museums to check out, most of which don’t allow photographs.  The Rijks Museum, which houses Rembrandt and a lot of the other classical Dutch painters, bears a striking resemblance to the train station:

Rijks Museum

 

Train Station

 

 

The reason?  Designed by the same guy at the same time.  I hope they didn’t pay him twice for this lack of imagination!

 

By the Rijks Museum is the fairly famous IAmsterdam sign.  Let’s play “Where’s Andy?” in the second and third photos below (third photo is if you can’t find me in the second):

 

Our bike ride took us on a tour of Amsterdam and the surrounding countryside, including a fascinating look at the lock system they’ve set up.  Amsterdam is essentially below sea level, and a staggering proportion of its land (like 70%) is “reclaimed” land that has been dredged and damned.  The Department of Water Management constantly monitors the water levels in Amsterdam and the rest of Holland to ensure against flooding, as the margin for error between dryness and flooding is quite small, like a few inches.  Here is a newer lock protecting a houseboat community….

 

 

And here is an older lock that is only used as an escape valve should water levels get too high.  Not sure if you can tell, but the difference in water levels between left and right in this photo is 5 meters!

 

We also stopped at a clog and cheese farm (super touristy but had to be done), where we saw some cows, cheese, and clogs!

 

 These pair seemed to be too big for both me and Carrie…

 

 

 And finally, our bike ride took us to a windmill!  Classic Dutch, there used to be 10,000 windmills in the Netherlands, now there are only ~1,000 and they are all protected by the government.  In their day, they were used to pump water out of areas to produce more land for people to live on.  Today, they are houses for people to live in.

 

 

 

Here are some other pictures from our bike ride, and just walking around the vast canal system which are lined on either side by the classically arrow, tall Dutch houses with the gabled roofs.

 

 

 

 Beautiful sunset pic before heading off to Bruges for the weekend!

 

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