Mike and Megan-Europe 2019

Ghent Today we got up, headed off to the train station, and went to Ghent for the day.  It is a beautiful old city in Flanders.  We walked from the train station up along the canals to the old section.  We had a couple of coffees. Then we went into the Sint-Niklaaskerk and Sint Baafskathedraal churches.  We paid our Euro to climb up to the top of the Het Belfort van Gent and get some shots of Ghent from on high. Sint Niklaas From Bell Tower While up there we noticed a fort that hadn't been featured in our little tour book.  We trotted off across the canal, and paid entrance into the Gravensteen Castle.  It was excellent.  It featured what was probably the best audio guide we've come across, with a local comedian running the commentary as we toured through the medieval fortress. Gravensteen Look Way Up It was well into the afternoon as we finished, so we found somewhere to have a little lunch.  Then we popped ne...

Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Musée Magritte, European Parliament (Parlementarium) Today we got up and wandered off on our 12.98 km walk.  We started at the Musée des Beaux-Arts.  We wandered around the galleries for about three and a half hours.  In all fairness, I was done before Megan.  I like looking for a few hours, and then the church-quiet still atmosphere starts getting at me!  We also looked through the Magritte museum.  Musée des Beaux-Arts In Entrance Classic Magritte After we were done, in the early afternoon, we started towards the European Parliament buildings.  We stopped for a light lunch and double shot lattés.  Then we spent a few hours wandering through the displays in the Parlementarium.  European Parliament in Brussels One of the Interactive Display Rooms Finally, we shopped for some veggies at the open air market outside the parliament, picked up some fish and headed home....

Hop-On, Hop-Off, Manneken Pis, Grand Place, Walking, Shopping As we've experienced before, Monday's a bit of a waste day in many cities in Europe.  A number of museums we went to look at today were closed.  It's alright-we'll walk more tomorrow and check out at least two-the Music Museum and the Arts Museum (got to do the Bruegel in Brussels). This morning we got up and walked over to where we could catch the hop-on hop-off tour.  That's bad for the walking total, but a good way to get a sense of the city and figure out which places must be viewed off the bus.  We rode until about noon, then hopped off the bus to go see the famous Manneken Pis.  I guess they dress him up some days, but he wasn't wearing anything today.  We then walked over to see the Grand Place.  Manneken Pis Grand Place Also Grand Place-Town Hall Frites-With Mayo, Ketchup and Onions It was time to acquaint ourselves with a few local flavours, and we sat do...

Move to Brussels, Anniversary Dinner Well we had another fun hiccup on European trains today. Not a terrible 'stuck on an airplane' experience, but enough to make one realize they're not quite as fully reliable as advertised.  We got to Amsterdam Centraal with lots of time to spare, and were up on our platform with 45 minutes to go.  Then all the trains leaving the Netherlands started to flash 'cancelled'.  There was apparently a power failure somewhere throwing everything off. We were directed to go to another platform and hop a train going to Rotterdam, where we would meet up with our train to Brussels.  Of course, everybody was doing that, so there was a bit of chaos and crowding on this train.  We had our suitcases in the standing area, and then we saw a large and rambunctious set of young Spanish women get on board, and one hopped right up onto my suitcase.  I had to go rescue it as my CPAP and laptop were in there! We made it to Rotterdam, and ...

Rembrandt House, Moco, Vondelpark Today we headed back to the central part of the city, and went in to the Rembrandt House.  Then we walked back to the Museum Quarter with the intention of going to the Van Gogh Museum.  First big disappointment.  We should have booked ahead-they're sold out until Tuesday (long after we leave).  Oh well, we had a snack at a nearby museum, then went to the great little Moco Museum to see the likes of Keith Haring and Banksy.  After that, we took a walk through the nearby Vondelpark, which was quite lively as today's Pride Celebration was happening.  We stopped on the route home for another snack and drinks, but decided to walk back to the hotel.  We shopped for some dinner in the mall.  Today's walk was 16.01 km.  In Rembrandt's Kitchen Museum Area Festooned for Today's Pride

Beach Day When life throws you a second all-time temperature record breaking heat wave in a row you do what the sensible folk are doing-go out to the beach.  We had our breakfast, walked to the Zuid station and hopped on an intercity bus out to Haarlem.  Then we took another bus out to Zandvoort.  There is a 'Amsterdam and region' bus pass but it's a hefty 19.50 Euros.  We elected to pay as we go and saved about 15 Euros between the two of us.  Zandvoort was our favourite beach so far.  We rented two lounges and a sort of sun-screen device and read and took swims through the day! We came back in the very late afternoon.  We've gone shopping around the corner and are making dinner now.  We're going down to the lobby to listen to a guitar concert tonight and then we'll do some laundry on the machines here so we're set to head to Brussels in two days!  Today's distance is 6.87 km.  On the Way to Haarlem-Double Decker Bus Zandv...

Reijksmuseum and Proclaimers Today we got up and had the great breakfast here.  Then we walked to the Metro station and took the train to within a few blocks of the Reijksmuseum.  This museum was worth a good half day.  We walked around all the floors.  We did the tourist thing and started by walking up to the main gallery to see Rembrandt's Nighwatch.  They have it in a big glass room as they are working on restoring it but letting the public watch as they work.  They have two months of work just scanning it with an x-ray fluorescence scanner. Dutch Breakfast-Note the Hagelslag Weeping Willow Feeding On Canal The Reijksmuseum Scanning the Nightwatch Afterwards, we took a walk around the gardens and park that surrounds, past the Van Gogh Museum (which we are going to on another day) and back to the canal and walk to the metro.  We did stop for some pannekoek (cherry and cream) and a few Heineken (right across from the Heineken ...

Koninklijk Palace, Anne Frank House, Canal Cruise This morning we got up and had the hotel breakfast.  It was really good!  We're working through trying Dutch foods, and stroop is available so I think I'll get some on toast tomorrow. We walked back to the metro station, bought 2 day passes, and headed down to Centraal Station.  We wandered around taking some pictures of the very iconic architecture around the area, then headed in to visit the Royal Palace.  We poked into the Nieuwe Kerk church next door, but they wanted a healthy fee to go in so we took a pass.  I remember not wanting to pay Westminster Abbey's fee a number of years back, on principal. Houses Close to Centraal The Palace De Nieuwe Kerk on Right-Magna Mall Straight On Prinsengracht Canal After this we wandered through a spectacular looking mall (Magna Plaza), then headed over to where Anne Frank House is.  We had a few drinks at a nearby café and sampled a vegetar...

Train Travel and Arrival in Amsterdam We had a very early morning-up at 5:30 a.m. and running for the bus by 6.  Our trip to the train station in Marseille was quick, and we were able to settle onto our train to Paris easily.  There was some delay during the trip to Paris which made us a bit nervous, as it cut our transfer time to get from Gare du Lyon to Gare de Nord a bit short.  We grabbed the RER line that took us straight there, but were a little nervous.  We got there in time though, and were off on the second phase of our journey. We arrived right on time in Amsterdam, and took the Metro out to Zuid Station.  Our apartment hotel is a ten minute walk from there.  The storage for commuters bikes at the Metro stations is like nothing we've ever seen, and the bike lanes everywhere are awesome.  We trucked the suitcases along the street to our hotel, unpacked, and then went for a small walk to nearby Amstelpark.  Our hotel is in a mall and ...

Shopping and Beach This will be a very short post.  We walked down to the Old Port this morning, had coffee and did a little shopping.  We have some of the obligatory Marseille soap to cart around now.  Then we came back to the apartment, took a cooling break, and headed out to the beach.  Then for two hours it was take a dip-read-snooze-repeat.  We're back home finishing the laundry to hang this evening so everything is ready for tomorrow and our train trip to Amsterdam.  We have to be up at 5:30 am and heading to the train station! My view on the beach

Wandering And Beach   A lazy day today, but we still covered ground.  In the morning we went down around the Old Port area again, and looked around in shops that were open.  We had a small breakfast with pain au chocolat, juice and coffee.  Then we came home, changed, and tried to go to the Pointe Rouge beach from yesterday again.  It didn't work.  The bus that runs out there was not running.  The road was shut down for a triathalon being run.  So we improvised, and walked around the bend southward to a beach along the way called Plage du Prophete.  It was not quite as nice as Pointe Rouge, but was still nicer than Catalan.  After that, we came home to change.  Then we went down to a restaurant to take in two Marseille staples-we split an order of Bouillabaisse and  an order of Aioli.  We covered 18.46 km today, and have walked over 100 km in our first week. Fish Market at Old Port Plage du Prophete A Fer...