First night aboard the MS River Rhapsody was nice. Lots of room in our cabin, but the beds are a bit hard and with a duvet, a little too warm, but our steward will see to it tonight. This is a tidal river, the Schelde, so when we boarded the boat last night, it was moored very low to the pier. In fact, when we came aboard, we entered from the top-most deck, the sun deck on the fifth level. We have a large window in our cabin, but all we could see was the bloc...

Woke up early to put our bags out, and although it had drizzled in the night - no rain this morning! And we have to leave… Hopped aboard the bus which drove us to Ghent. Along the way, Steven explained that Belgium was the first to discover fries! You see, a long time ago, the people of Belgium caught little fishes in the sea, like sardines, and fried them whole. But unfortunately the fishes became depleted. Around that same time, America had been disco...

Another busy day, lots of walking. After our buffet breakfast in the hotel, we set off in a light drizzle with the head of the local tourist company on a walking history tour of Bruges. We crossed the canals and "Every bridge has a story," she told us. We went on a canal boat ride and saw a different view of the city. I think the town is charming and could easily live here - well, maybe rent a week, prices are very high. At the end of our boat ride, we visi...

Today we took off Sunday from Dulles on a KLM flight as cramped and crowded as usual these days. Flew through the night with Orion on our right shoulder most of the way, and arrived at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam in the pre-dawn hours Monday. Schiphol must have the longest terminal, and of course we had to make our way across its length to wait for our connection. Watched the sun rise in the terminal, then caught a City Hopper flight to Brussels. Had to pass ...

Again, we woke to a light drizzle and, after a good breakfast, headed out early on the bus to the North Sea to visit the Atlantik Wall installation of the Nazis during WWII. Running 1,000 miles or more from Denmark to the north of Spain, it was built as defense from Allied advances. We walked miles (but not all 1,000!) through the mazes and looked into rooms with special displays - the infirmary, the bunk house, the kitchen and of course, gun emplacements. ...