Amsterdam

Our hotel in Amsterdam was well located (near Leideseplein) and comfortable, even if we seemed to have the smallest room in the place.

We bought Amsterdam Cards, which proved to be great value. These gave museum entries and local travel for the two days we needed.

The Indonesian meal that we had on our first night was unremarkable. The next day (Tuesday) we set off to see the museums. Even though it's undergoing a major renovation, the Rikjsmuseum still has the masterworks of its vast collection on show, so it was well worthwhile. The nearby Van Gogh Museum has a fantastic collection of his work, so that you can see how his paintings developed over the 10 years or so that he painted.

Followıng the muesums, we took a tram to Centraal Station and boarded a boat tour of the canals. The canals form semı-circular rings around the centre of the cıty, so a boat ride ıs a great way to see them. Elegant houses line the canals, wıth many houseboats moored on the banks.

We then walked to the Olde Kirke, the oldest church in the city. As thıs ıs ın the middle of the Red-Light district, thıs meant a transit of thıs tame but uninvitıng area. The Olde Chruch ıs old, but otherwise of limited interest (it is undergoing renovations).

We ıntended to go to the Newe Kirke across the city, but we found ourselves in a small old Amsterdam bar instead. Thıs has the traditional sand on the floor and dark barrels on one wall. We had genever (a gın lıquor), wıne and beer. We found ourselves talking to some local patrons, some of whom ran a Dutch restaurant across the city. They recommended a nearby French restaurant, whıch proved excellent. Another tram ride delıvered us home. Amsterdam´s trams are excellent, ıf you happen to be stayıng on one of the major radıal routes.

The next day (Wednesday), we dıd two ıPod based walkıng tours. These covered the central areas and the canal areas. While the weather was patchy rain (reminded us of Melbourne), we had a great, ıf weary, day. We saw the Newe Kırke (better than the Olde), lots of local buildıngs and sıtes, Chınatown, the Amsterdam Hıstorıcal Museum and lots of canal houses. Two partıcularly ınterestıng vısıts were the Beguinage and Our Lady ın the Attıc.

The Beguinage ıs a sort of secular convent; a secluded area where sıngle or wıdowed women lived ın a community of adjacent houses around a common grassed square and church, generally under the leadership of a senıor person (rather lıke the Mother Superior of a convent). It remains a beautiful and peaceful place, even though the Beguines are now gone and the houses are used by single females (often poorer foreign students).

Our Lady ın ther Attic is a 'hidden' church in the attic of a canal house - built thıs way to allow Catholic worship when all Catholic churches were confiscated and public worship banned. In fact, worship was tolerated as long as it wasn´t obvıous; hence the church ın the attıc. It is relatively large - ıt could accommodate perhaps 150 people.

We finished our sight-seeing wıth a visit to Anne Frank´s House, whıch is a popular and quite moving museum.

We finished the day wıth meal at the Dutch restaurant of our friends from the bar the previous evenıng. While Dutch food ısn´t a gastronomic masterpiece, this was tasty and interesting (but still a variant on sausage and mashed potato).

The next day we got ourselves to the airport (easily done by tram and train) and flew to Istanbul.

London

We travelled from Brussels to London by Eurostar. The aim was to spend the weekend with Ghislaine and Paul.

We stayed at the Hilton at Canary Wharf, which meant that we were close to Ghislaine and Paul's apartment. They met us there on the Friday evening and we had a Indian meal (the national cuisine of UK).

On Saturday we went to the Wallace Collection - a fine collection of painting and objects'd art, displayed in the London home of the Dukes of Hertford. The visit was made better by a knowledgable guide. A great place to visit, both to see the collection and also the home - and free.


After lunch at a pub (what else but sausages and mash?), we walked down Bond Street and through Green Park. We took a river ferry back to Canary Wharf from the London Eye bank, so we had a good look at the city from the river on a beautiful sunny day. That evening we went to the new Lebanese restuarant in Paul's apartment block, which was quite good.

On the Sunday morning we went through Buckingham Palace, which was excellent. We had booked tickets the day before, so we got in on one of the first entries of the day to avoid the queues and crowds. The tour takes you through the State Rooms and then through the gardens. As it happened, this was the last day the palace was open for the summer season.

We walked through Hyde Park to Speakers Corner, was was ceraintly interesting. Bring your own steps and away you go.......

Paul and Ghislaine went off home and Bernadette and I visited the Courtauld Gallery, which is located in Somerset House, on the banks of the Thames. This is an excellent collection, with great Impressionist paintings.

That evening we dressed up and dined at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Claridges. We had the fixed menu of a soup, two entrees, a main and two desserts. Even though the servings are small, that makes for plenty of food. I thought that the food was great (especially the truffle and corn soup and the lobster and crayfish ravioli), though it is fairly rich. Overall, a great experience.

On the Monday morning, we were off early to get to St Pancras to get on a Eurostar service to Brussels. A fire in a tunnel two weeks earlier was still causing disrupted services and our booked service was cancelled. Nonetheless, we got on a train which got us to Brussels, even if the service was about an hour longer than normal. From there, it's a easy three hour trip to Amsterdam.

In Bruges

The trip from Melbourne takes as long as it takes - 8 hours to Singapore, a 6 hour transit, 12 hours to Amsterdam and then a 3.5 hour train trip to Bruges. We used the Singapore transit to go into the city and do a small tour of the Arab area, which was particularly interesting as it is the time of Ramadan.

We arrived (tired) in Bruges at about 9.30 am. Very fortunately, our hotel room was available, so we had a shower and a 90 min rest.
Since then we haven't stopped. In two days, we've walked all over the old part of Bruges', seen museums, churches, markets and numerous charming streets and houses. The photo shows Bernadette in the Markt Square, where a market is held every Wednesday. We've also done the obligatory canal tour and had the obligatory chips, chocolate and beer - of which the beer is by far the best. There are very many beers in Belgium and some bars have a wide selection at really good prices - imagine getting Chimay beer at only €3.40!

Bruges is a compact city that retains many of the buildings that were developed in its golden age as a trading centre up to the 15th century. Then their economy turned pear-shaped, because the canal providing sea-access silted up and also the king decided to favour its rival, Antwerp. This wasn't completely unfair - after all, the citizens of Bruge had gaoled him, executed some of his friends and only released him based on promises that he later forgot. So, Bruge couldn't afford to redevelop the old buildings and they remained.

Of course, these old buildings are now the foundation of the city's prosperity. Fortunately, we are at the tail end of the tourist season - tiny Bruges (population 75,000) gets about 3 million visitors a year. There seem plenty here now, but apparently it is now fairly quiet by Bruges standards.
We've had fun here and we do think that Bruges is worth a visit (but not in the real tourist season). Tomorrow we're off to Brussels and on to London on Eurostar.

Ready, Set......

We are just about ready to go. On 23 September, Bernadette and Michael head off for about 7 weeks. Initially, we fly to Amsterdam and travel to Bruges. We then take the Eurostar to London on the weekend so that we can see Paul & Ghislaine. Then it is on the train back to Amsterdam for a few days.

Then we really start. We fly to Istanbul. After two days on our own, we join our tour group. This is an Imaginative Traveller tour titled Istanbul to Cairo, which spends five weeks travelling through Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. We finish the tour in Cairo and we will take a brief trip to Alexandria, before returning to Cairo. From there, it's home, via Amsterdam and KL. We are back on 12th Nov.

However, before we start we have got to get everything organized. Aside from the travel things, we have Nana Joan's 90th birthday to celebrate (which is why Paul is arriving to spend a week in Melbourne). We also have Michael finishing up at Jemena and retiring (again). Then we'll certainly be ready for a holiday.