Aug 14, 2018 - Trip to Bruges, Belgium

Today, we found our tour company (only a few blocks away) and waited until the trip was to begin. It is a busy neighborhood, although pretty sketchy looking. We had breakfast a McDonalds nearby and then continued to wait. Once ready to leave, we walked out the bus pickup location (about 10 minutes away), boarded the bus, and set off on the 3.5 hour trip to Bruges, in Belgium.

When we stopped at the parking lot, there was a bathroom facility there. This was our first introduction to having to pay to use the bathroom. Here, it was half a Euro and there was clearly a demand for the service.

Dawn's Mussels

We had a tour with our guide, who showed us the highlights and suggested things go to do. When that was done, we were left on our own for the rest of the 5 hours there to sightsee, eat, and generally get a feel for the town center. There was a woman about our age (Kathleen Dunn from various places but now living in Ireland) who seemed to be on her own for this tour, and she sort of latched on to us. We made sure she was included in the various things we did.

Brian's Fries

Our guide suggested a restaurant for mussels and fries. He said it was the best in the city (and maybe the Netherlands) so we had to go there for Dawn to give it a try. They serve the mussels in a huge pot where I’m sure they had been steamed. The fries were in a cone basket. Dawn ate ALL the mussels (okay, I had one) while I at the fries. I didn’t miss not eating them.

After that, we had to find our way back to the bus. It wasn’t as easy as I thought, and we missed the turn to get back to the bridge to the parking lot. We wandered around for a while. I could see where we were supposed to get to, but couldn’t find the street to go down that would take us there. We ended up on the wrong side of the pond/river and had to backtrack a few times. We finally got back to the bathroom, paid our next half Euros to use them, and then waited for the rest of the tour and the bus to get back.

Ammunition Storage 

After that, it was back on the bus, and another 3.5 hours back to Amsterdam. Fortunately, the bus let everyone off closer to our.hotel, so it was a fairly quick walk back. We got back about 9:00pm and were quite tired. We went out to a nearby restaurant and had a light supper, and then back to our room to bed. My step counter indicated that we put on 19,000 steps today and we were tired and sore.

Aug 12 And 13, 2018 - Trip to Amsterdam

Flight to Amsterdam and our First Day

We were up early and on the way to Kelowna by about 6:30 am. We wanted to be in the Kelowna Airport by 9:00. The drive was good but we were in smoke from the fires the whole way. We made it into the airport almost exactly on time and had some time before our flight so had breakfast in the White Spot after we went through security.

Very shortly after we finished, they called us to board our flight, and we were off to Toronto on time. Flying over the Rockies, the smoke from BC filled those valleys as well, reaching to the peaks of most of the mountains.

It was a pretty uneventful flight and we arrived in Toronto in less than 5 hours. Then it was a long 5-hour wait there until our flight left for Amsterdam. Finally, we boarded. We were flying on a 747, and they weren’t fully booked. So despite the seats not being overly comfortable, we were in a row for three, but only the two of us were there. Much nicer than being jammed into the seats.

We managed to sleep a while on the plane, which was good. The meal they served was not a real palate pleaser, and we didn’t eat all of it. Then there was a small snack shortly before we landed.

The flight took just under 7 hours which was also less than we were expecting. The winds must have been in our favor. We landed in Amsterdam at about noon CET on Tuesday, which is 9 hours before Kamloops time. It was about 17 hours from the time we left Kelowna.

Then it was the difficulty in trying to figure out how to get to our hotel. We decided to try the train which took us to Centraal Station. It took about 15 minutes and then we had to figure out how to get to our hotel. It was supposed to be close by, but trying to interpret the street names, find where they were located, dodge the crazy bicycles and scooters, dodge the pedestrians, and not get run over by the cars was an adventure. We took a wrong turn, but when we asked a fellow going by, he was able to show us on his Google Maps where it was located. We were close and only had to backtrack a bit and go down the right street. The thing that identified where it was located was a small street sign and an arrow telling us to go down a small street. Finally, there it was. We checked in and went to our quite nice room.

We ended up having a short nap before we went for our dinner cruise. This cruise left from near Centraal Station so we walked back toward the station to try and find the cruise company. We found it and then had to wait about an hour before we were able to get on the canal boat. It was finally time and we were close to the beginning of the line so we got our choice of window seats.

When everyone was aboard and seated, we were with a young couple. They were celebrating their 1 1/2 year relationship, and it was quite sweet. After a while, we began talking with each other, and they explained a lot about the Netherlands to us. They were most helpful in our understanding of the country and about Amsterdam.

The 4-course meal was great. The food was tasty and hot. After the salad was a cup of something they called cappuccino and red pepper (it tasted just like vegetable soup which is what I think it was).The main course was a choice of veal medallions or salmon in parchment. We had one of each and they were both very tasty. The dessert was a type of chocolate pudding and rhubarb compote. All were very tasty and along with the canal tour around the city made for a very interesting evening.

Slept pretty well until about 2:30 am when our bodies told us it was time to get up. Only dozed until the alarm went off. We had to get up then to go for our tour that day.