Tiptoeing through the Tulips in Amsterdam

When we visited Amsterdam in July 2022, we felt it was a destination worth returning to in the not-so-distant future. Thus, we were happy to meet up there with our friends Cathy and Karen. Having done the most popular sights on our first trip, we were able to explore other options.

Our first stop was the Verzetsmuseum (Dutch WWII Resistance Museum), which has a compelling and well-done exhibition on how the Nazis governed in the Netherlands, which was different from other occupied countries based on the expectation that the Dutch might eventually embrace German rule. Ultimately they did not and the efforts to undermine, support, or tolerate Nazi rule were told through more than 100 individual stories. Afterwards we walked by the nearby Holocaust memorial.

We continued to enjoy the architecture and scenes on the canals, especially at sunset:

The highlight and reason for visiting in April was to see the tulips in full bloom. Our trip to the seasonal Keukenhof Botanical Garden did not disappoint. The Keukenhof is like Disneyland for tulip aficionados, with display after display after display by different growers. We were super lucky with the weather this one day of our trip.

We strolled through the grounds for nearly two hours enjoying the amazing displays of color and the creative names of the various tulip types. Fortunately, we got there early thanks to good planning by Cathy. By the time we left, the crowds were intense.

That afternoon we enjoyed the World Press Photo Exhibition 2024 at the De Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), showcasing the most important photojournalism and documentary photography of the last year, with award-winning photos from the 67th annual World Press Photo Contest. As you can imagine, the majority of the photos on display were hardly uplifting, but because the show highlighted stories from every continent we also learned about events and stories we were not aware of previously.

As always, we ate well, with Indonesian and Nepalese food being highlights. We also enjoyed meeting Cathy’s friends Jason and Sean, who are happily living in Amsterdam. It was fun to discuss the ups and downs and challenges of expat life with them.

We left before King’s Day – always the current monarch's birthday, and a national holiday in the Netherlands, but you’ll notice our celebratory headpieces that I couldn’t resist.

It’s always fun to see friends on this side of the pond. More to come on our day trips from Amsterdam soon.

Shana & Jeff 

Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent

After Bruges, our next stop was Brussels, which we used as a base to explore two smaller cities, Antwerp and Ghent, which are each less than 45 minutes by train.

First, however, we wandered around Brussels a bit, including to its spectacular main square.

While wandering near the square, we found a street that had literally seven or eight chocolate shops in a row. We still wonder how they all survive.

The one museum I wanted to visit in Brussels is dedicated to one of my favorite artists, the surrealist Rene Magritte. Although many of his greatest and most well-known works are in other museums, we very much enjoyed seeing so many of his works in one place. We also learned that Magritte painted numerous Impressionist style pieces. In addition, we were introduced to the works of Jean-Michel Folon, a later Belgian artist who clearly was inspired by Magritte. In addition to paintings in the museum, some of Folon's sculptures were displayed around the city, including this one, which made a great view even more interesting.

After an enjoyable afternoon in Brussels, and a very good traditional Belgian meal, we set out the next morning for a day in Antwerp. One of the most famous and beautiful sites in Antwerp is the train station, so we arrived at our first tourist destination.

Next, we headed to the Museum Plantin-Moretus, which tells the story of a printing business begun in the middle of the 16th century, and endured for nine generations of the Moretus family. Our regular readers may recall that we visited the Guttenberg Museum in Mainz last summer where we learned a lot about the origin of printing. The Museum Plantin-Moretus extended our knowledge and showed us how important (and lucrative) the printing business became in the centuries after Gutenberg's creation.

The museum is in the building out of which the business was run; it was also the Moretus family's home. The building itself was impressive with its beautiful inner courtyard, but the history of the printing business inclunding a display of the two oldest still existing printing presses in the world, along with many other rare items in the collection, was amazing.

After our time at the museum, and a yummy Greek lunch, we spent a bit of time walking around Antwerp in the cold. We got to see the Het Steen, a medieval fortress, which is Antwerp's oldest building, as well as the ubiquitous central plaza.

On our last day in Belgium, we traveled to Ghent. There, we visited the City Museum, which taught us a lot about the history and importance of the area as Ghent had a very central role in the cloth business. In fact, one display showed that around the year 1400, Ghent was one of the larger cities in Europe. Of course, over subsequent centuries, Ghent's population ebbed and flowed while that of cities such as London and Paris grew dramatically.

Later we walked around the old part of Ghent, which is really quite beautiful (although it would have probably looked even better on a warm, sunny day). Ghent, like Antwerp, also has an old medieval castle / fortress in its center called Gravensteen. It's quite a sight mixed in with the classical northern European facades and architecture.

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And that was the end of our time in Belgium. We only wish we could have enjoyed a Belgian beer outside in the sunshine, but the dreary weather followed us everywhere. More soon from The Netherlands.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

In Bruges

After Paris, we spent two days in Bruges, a city that we have wanted to visit for a long time. And, while it is a very pretty old city, it did not really live up to our expectations. In part, this was because the city is so driven by tourism that every other store is selling either chocolate, waffles, fries, beer or sourveniers. I mean, Belgian chocolate is very good, but we have no idea how so many chocolate shops can even survive in a small city.

One of the other problems we had in Bruges was that the weather was rather bad including signifcant rain and a cold wind. This photo is a pretty good representation of our time there.

That said, the main square of Bruges, dominated by the 270-foot. 13th century Belfry, is quite beautiful and impressive.

Part of the appeal of Bruges is just walking around the historic center and taking in the cobblestone streets and old buildings and bridges, all UNESCO World Heritage designated.

The one museum we visited in Bruges, the Groeningemuseum, has a fairly small, but impressive collection, of art from Bruges-based artists through the centuries.

We did get a few brief breaks in the bad weather, and one of those gave us a very nice view of Gentpoort (Ghent Gate), one of the gates from when Bruges was a walled city.

We will say that we ate very well in Bruges, as tourism tends to drive a high-quality and varied food scene. Typical Flemish cooking includes rich beef stew that warms the soul on a cold day.

Finally, for those who missed the reference, the title of this post refers to the 2008 film of the same name starring Colin Farrel. While not one of our favorite movies, it does have its charms, especially the scenery of the city.

More from Belgium soon.

Jeff and Shana

A Brief Stop in Paris

We started our current trip in Paris both because we love Paris and because it was an easy stop on the way to Belgium and the Netherlands, which are the primary destinations for this trip.

We arrived in Paris on a warm spring day, and after a lovely dinner that night at a French restaurant we had been trying to get to for years, we took a nice walk through the city. The Musee d'Orsay and the Seine looked gorgeous.

The next day, we went to two art exhibits. The first on the first Impressionist exhibition that took place in 1874 was at the Orsay. The exhibit included two parts: a collection of the art from that first exhibition, and a virtual reality experience that takes you inside the original exhibition and Paris of the 1870's. We felt the virtual reality experience was ok, but not really necessary and a bit cartoonish. Then, unfortunately, the exhibit itself was waaaay too crowded to actually enjoy the art. Overall we were disappointed. I did enjoy a quick trip through the museum's permanent Impressionist collection, which was busy, but not too crazy. While we were there, Shana got a great shot of Paris through the clock face, which appeared to have been recently cleaned (perhaps for the upcoming Olympics).

After the Orsay, it was such a nice day that we decided to walk over to the Picasso Museum. While we felt the newly organized Picasso collection exhibit was not the best that we have seen (and we have seen many), the relative quiet of the museum made it easy to enjoy the art, so we were glad we went.

Our second day we did two things we had never done before in Paris. First, we found Le Petite Ceinture (the little belt), a series of green areas along the outer edge of Paris that follow an old, now unused, train line. While we did enjoy walking one small section, we were disappointed by how broken up the sections were, which kept us from following the trail more, although we did take a long walk through non-touristy parts of the city we had never visited before.

Our next stop was the Grand Mosque of Paris. While not as spectacular as the mosques we visited in Malaysia, it was quite beautiful and had a fantastic garden.

We were interested to note that unlike the mosques we visited in Malaysia, the French mosque did not ask visitors to dress in full compliance with Muslin dress codes (particularly the requirement that women cover their heads). Perhaps it is the difference between a Muslim-majority country and one that is not.

Finally, as we rode the Metro to catch the train to Bruges, Belgium by way of Brussels, we had a very cute companion.

This Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was incredibly calm despite the fact that when he got on the car it was very crowded (lots of feet that could step on a little guy) -- he clearly is an expert at riding the Paris Metro.

More soon.

Jeff and Shana

A Weekend in Madrid with Friends

We spent the first weekend in April in Madrid. The impetus for the trip was to see Zoe, a dear friend’s daughter, who spent Spring Break with her high school choir touring and performing in Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo, and Madrid. Because we all had school trips like that, right? I remember going . . . oh, nowhere. Not even to Sacramento or Washington DC. We were happy to use the opportunity to see friends who live in Madrid and whom we hadn’t seen for a while.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and met Nasia, a friend from Spanish school, and her husband Sariel at the Fundación Mapfre to see a Marc Chagall exhibition titled “A Cry of Freedom.” We’ve seen Chagall works in many places, yet this extensive display was uniquely curated to show the broad range of themes, styles and messages Chagall painted during his lengthy career. Most interesting were a group of paintings of crucifixion scenes that were intended as political statements regarding the plight of European Jews in the WWII era. We had never seen these paintings, being more familiar with Chagall’s more nostalgic, poetic, and supernatural works. Afterwards we enjoyed a walk through the city, dinner, and hanging out, drinking, and talking about world events in their apartment.

We met up with Zoe on Friday and showed her around the city and had a traditional Spanish lunch.

The highlight was seeing the Gunn High School Concert Choir’s performance. All their concert venues were churches, which made for a conventianal playlist. We enjoyed the gospel tunes most and were very impressed by the soloists and the acoustics.

Kudos to the teachers and chaperones for coordinating such a large group of teenagers.

We spent Saturday with Carlos, Ploy and Alex, who is now 16 months old. We also had the pleasure of meeting Ploy’s mom, who was visiting from Thailand. It was an enjoyable afternoon catching up and learning more about their lives in Madrid.

It was a perfect weekend trip – pleasant weather, easy train travel, and good company. You can’t ask for much more.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff