Rotterdam and Gouda, Holland

Our latest adventure, last weekend, was a trip to Rotterdam in Holland to visit my friend Luke Seewald from Queen's who is now finishing up his MBA at Erasmus. Well, a lot has changed since Luke and I goofed off in the back row of Calculus class in first year (which might have explained my marks). Luke has less hair, but I've got more grey hair. We both married Queen's girls, but Luke and Mel have two wonderful kids: Ollie (5) and Gabriella (3).

A nice and smooth 3 hour high speed train ride from Paris is all it took to cross part of France, Belgium and into Rotterdam. Fortunately Luke and Mel's apartment is only a 10 minute walk from the train station (this comes in handy at the end of the weekend).

Saturday was spent wandering Rotterdam with our local tour guides in tow. We made sure to see more of the major architectural highlights that the city has to offer. Rotterdam was basically bombed flat during WWII, so it's a bit surreal to be in a large European city, but without all the old building and architecture that you come to expect when living in a city like Paris. First up was the stunning National Nederlanden skyscraper that seems to just disappear into the crisp clear fall sky.

We made sure to make our way to the NAI - Netherland Architecture Institute. They had an exposition on all types of world habitats, architecture and sustainable development; very interesting but some quite heavy stuff.

Of course a trip to Rotterdam wouldn't be complete without a trip to the famous Cube Houses.

and a bit of modern art


The following day we took the 15 minute train ride to the town of Gouda; yes where the cheese is from. It's a sleepy little town, especially on a Sunday when virtually everything is closed.


And of course we couldn't miss the Gouda Cheese Museum.


Sunday night it was back to Paris, or so we thought. Once the intercity train made the first stop the train manager came on and said we weren't going anywhere for a while. Someone up ahead had been hit by another train. Since we only had 30 minutes in between our train arriving in Bruxelles and our TGV train for Paris (the last one of the night) we had a feeling we wouldn't make it to Paris that night. So we hoped off the train and luckily there was a train that was available to make the 20 minute trip back to Rotterdam. Lucky for us we made it back to Rotterdam and thankfully Mel and Luke live close to the main train station. Up early the next morning for the 7:30 am train to Paris, and that's how our weekend in Rotterdam went.

Thanks to Mel, Luke, Ollie and Gaby for being such awesome hosts.

More pictures posted here, enjoy: http://picasaweb.google.com/DKSPENCE76

Bruges, Belgium

After a very busy August and September, with lots of visitors and guests, it was time for another little road trip. Rob and Cynthia were touring Europe for a month so we decided to meet them in Bruges, Belgium as they were en route from Germany to Paris. After nearly missing our connecting train in Bruxelles (since our tickets were printed with the incorrect train number) we arrived in Bruges on Friday afternoon, and ditched our bags at the fantastic bed and breakfast in the heart of Bruges.

Immediately upon arriving in the old city of Bruges, the lack of cars, and prevalence of bikes is evident. It was amazing to be in a city with so few cars (and that is coming from me!). The streets were quiet, and when we did see people, just outside the touristy areas, they were just peddling along on the old cobbled streets. Bikes everywhere! We could take a lesson or two from the old town of Bruges for our modern city centers. City planners take note.

Bikes parked at the train station

We didn't have much planned in the the way of what we wanted to see, we just decided to go with the flow and not worry too much about what we did or did not see. Before Rob and Cynthia arrived we just wandered and discovered on a sunny Friday afternoon. It doesn't get much better than that.

House and garden on the canal

Town Square

After a great breakfast at the B&B, Saturday morning we made our way to the canal boats. For those of you who have been to Paris these are definitely NOT the same as the Parisienne boats that cruise the Seine. There are only 20 canal boats in Bruges and each hold about 30 people for the 30 minute guided tour of Bruges. Private boats are not allowed.

After a lazy morning it was time for some exercise and what better way to get some exercise than to walk up the 366 steps of the Belfry tower in the center of town. The view from the top is amazing, and along the way you get to see the inner workings of the bill ringing system.

We ended the day with a little detour to Ostend on the coast of Belgium, just 30 minutes from Bruges. Ostend is a port town with a huge beach leading to the North Sea. It was good to see the ocean again..........

From here on it was full speed ahead to Paris, cruising the autoroute at unmentionable speeds before hitting the wall of traffic entering Paris on a Saturday night

For those keeners who simply can't get enough of our adventures, you wont have to wait too long since we will be in Rotterdam Holland in a couple of weeks visiting a friend from Queen's while he is finishing up his MBA, so stay tuned.

More pictures posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/DKSPENCE76