Back to the big city......Brussels. The European Union has caused a big building boom in Brussels, huge areas of modern buildings housing all the branches of the governing bodies of the European Union. Brussels was the epicentre of the Art Nueveau movement in the late 19th century and there are many preserved residences constructed in this style. We took a bus tour of the city on our first afternoon in the city and we could see the contrasts in Brussels. The ver...

A quick connection in Antwerp and we were in Brugge (Flemish), Bruges(French)......... complicated history. Beautiful small city with a very long and rich history. Early Bruges was a very powerful trading centre specializing in textiles. In the 16th and 17th century this was a very wealthy city and their buildings and town square are a testament to that wealth. Again, canals brought trade goods into town and the Guild Houses along the canals were the center of in...

We left the wind and rain in Amsterdam and travelled to Utrecht by train. Utrecht is a small university town with a very young and sophisticated vib with lots of shops, restaurants and bars. The city is ancient with many wonderful buildings, churches and cobblestone paved streets. Similar to Amsterdam (and all towns/cities in Holland) there is a network of canals winding thru the centre of the town, which enabled commerce in centuries past. This past week we us...

Amsterdam in the fall can be wet, very wet, windy, windy and wet, also cold and damp.......did I mention windy and wet? Amsterdam has a completely disagreeable climate in the fall. Umbrella manufacturers do their product testing in Amsterdam in October. An umbrella that can withstand an Amsterdam October is the "gold standard" against which all umbrellas are measured. Today ( 50-70km/hr wind and rain w/ 9c temp) we saw the streets littered with the debris of infe...

Spain has a wonderful cuisine based upon an abundance of fantastic ingredients. To start their day a cup of strong cafe con leche or strong hot chocolate and a sweet roll. By midmorning a tapas of Iberian ham or some other savoury to tide them over to comeda, lunch, which is eaten at 2-3pm. From what we saw lunch can be a large meal and on the weekends the restaurants were packed with families and extended families out for a large elaborate lunch meal. Dinner is ...