Holland, Belgium and trip to Rome

5-Days in Holland (with a day-trip to Brussels), and traveling to Rome

April 15 to 20, 2010

All safely buckled up and ready for the trip!

Margy and her traveling bear, M. B. Fletcher, were safely buckled up for the flight to see Cristián and Antonia in The Hague, in Holland, and for a day-trip to Brussels, Belgium to meet old friends Ad and Betty.

Adding to the adventure was the unexpected volcanic eruption in Iceland, which shut down the Amsterdam airport just after we arrived, and then threatened to prevent us from getting to Rome, Italy, for our planned 10-day bus tour. We just made it, and share the story below.

Flying into Amsterdam, the tulip fields below were striking. The photo from our plane window was not unlike a newspaper photo we saw while in The Hague. A beautiful patchwork of colors.

A Chilean welcome sign, "bienvenidos," greeted us upon arrival in Cristián and Antonia's apartment. Antonia made a special meal of pasta, veggies and salmon. They both took great care of us during our whole stay.

All you can eat!

We also enjoyed a dinner in town, at their favorite all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant.

One day Antonia took us "up" to the beach. Remember, Holland is below sea level!

The seaside is pretty.

Even prettier are the interior canals of Holland

One beautiful day we took a long walk through town, while Cristián and Antonia also brought one of their bikes. Margy took a spin on it for a bit through the narrow streets of The Hague.

Flowers, birds, sunshine - a great day!

During our walk we passed the beautiful grounds of a United Nations property, where a World Peace Pathway was built.

196 nations joined together in cooperation and solidarity to create the pathway on this beautiful site in 2004.

During our stay we enjoyed listening to Cristián and Antonia practice their early music, using newly purchased instruments.

The detail on his new 17th century Spanish model Baroque guitar was beautiful, all hand done. More beautiful was the sound that Cristián made as he played. He has invested in better instruments now that he completed his Ph.D. in music at the conservatory in Spain, where he was valedictorian, and his diploma is signed by the King of Spain!

Another of Cristián's early instruments is this Renaissance lute, English model from the 15th century, with its different looking right-angle neck and 15 strings. It's a pleasure to hear Cristián play.

Jazz? Cristián? Yes, he has started taking lessons on his new electric guitar, just for fun. Meanwhile, Antonia practiced some early dance in the upstairs studio.

Antonia practiced on her Baroque oboe, late 18th century style.

Antonia makes her own reeds for her oboes. Shown above is an early 18th century German style oboe d'amore.

We did a day-trip by train to Brussels, Belgium, to meet with a former co-worker of Artie. Ad, and his wife Betty, live in Belgium. Ad used to be the general manager of the company's Durez plastics division in that country.

Artie, Ad, Betty and Margy in the Brussels plaza.

Ad and Betty were the perfect tour guides, explaining the history and significance of all that was around us. We entered the plaza from a side street, and were impressed with the scenes as they unfolded.

Surrounding the square were magnificent buildings reflecting each of the major trade groups of the time. Some buildings dated back to 1690s.

We enjoyed the touring, and better yet the catching-up from a decade since we had last seen Ad and Betty.

Sky lit mall.

Muscles on ice.

We walked through the first sky lit indoor mall, from 1847, that later was copied in several other countries around the world. Outdoor cafes sparked our appetite, and we dined at one of Brussels finest restaurants, Chez Leon.

The two-story establishment of nearly 120 years was bustling with waiters and customers. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together amidst the history and culture around us.

You can see Betty and Ad are enjoying their retirement, happy and in good health. We were happy to see them and spend our time together.

After lunch, we did a bit more strolling as we worked our way back to the train station for the return trip to Holland.

Cristián posed briefly in front of the palace. Moments later we were on the train to The Hague.

Do you remember the Iceland volcano that shut down air transportation through most of Europe and north America? We'll never forget it!

Margy checked the Internet each day for our KLM flight status, to find out if our plane to Rome would be possible. The Amsterdam airport was shut down since our arrival in Holland, and it looked like we would miss our flight to join the tour of Italy scheduled months earlier.

We checked train availability to Italy and all were fully booked. Then we tried rental cars, and were lucky.

We canceled our flight for the sure-thing of the rental car. Quickly we packed our bags, went to the Avis dealer, and started out for Italy one day before the tour was to begin.

We bid farewell to Cristián and Antonia at the car rental place. With a beautiful Mercedes, with GPS, we began what was to be a 17 hour drive through Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. We stopped only 4 hours overnight in northern Italy, and continued on to Rome to meet the tour group.

Having never driven through these countries before, some of the new languages and signs had us entertained, such as this exit sign in Germany.

We got to see a bit of the Swiss Alps just before sunset, stopping briefly at this lakeside rest area.

We didn't catch many scenic photos along the way, focused more on making time. We passed cities, farms, tunnels, and villages on our way to Rome. What we lacked in photo opportunities on this leg of our trip we more than made up for in Italy! Please check our links to the Italy tour to see the beauty of that country, its architecture, art and people.

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All safely buckled up and ready for the trip!
Margy and her traveling bear, M. B. Fletcher, were safely buckled up for the flight to see Cristián and Antonia in The Hague, in Holland, and for a day-trip to Brussels, Belgium to meet old friends Ad and Betty. Adding to the adventure was the unexpected volcanic eruption in Iceland, which shut down the Amsterdam airport just after we arrived, and then threatened to prevent us from getting to Rome, Italy, for our planned 10-day bus tour. We just made it, and share the story below.


		Flying into Amsterdam, the tulip fields below were striking. The photo from our plane window was not unlike a newspaper photo we saw while in The Hague. A beautiful patchwork of colors.


A Chilean welcome sign, "bienvenidos," greeted us upon arrival in Cristián and Antonia's apartment. Antonia made a special meal of pasta, veggies and salmon. They both took great care of us during our whole stay.

		All you can eat!
		We also enjoyed a dinner in town, at their favorite all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant.


One day Antonia took us "up" to the beach. Remember, Holland is below sea level!


		One beautiful day we took a long walk through town, while Cristián and Antonia also brought one of their bikes. Margy took a spin on it for a bit through the narrow streets of The Hague.


During our walk we passed the beautiful grounds of a United Nations property, where a World Peace Pathway was built.

196 nations joined together in cooperation and solidarity to create the pathway on this beautiful site in 2004.


During our stay we enjoyed listening to Cristián and Antonia practice their early music, using newly purchased instruments.


The detail on his new 17th century Spanish model Baroque guitar was beautiful, all hand done. More beautiful was the sound that Cristián made as he played. He has invested in better instruments now that he completed his Ph.D. in music at the conservatory in Spain, where he was valedictorian, and his diploma is signed by the King of Spain!


		Jazz? Cristián? Yes, he has started taking lessons on his new electric guitar, just for fun. Meanwhile, Antonia practiced some early dance in the upstairs studio.


Antonia practiced on her Baroque oboe, late 18th century style.


Antonia makes her own reeds for her oboes. Shown above is an early 18th century German style oboe d'amore.


		We did a day-trip by train to Brussels, Belgium, to meet with a former co-worker of Artie. Ad, and his wife Betty, live in Belgium. Ad used to be the general manager of the company's Durez plastics division in that country.


Ad and Betty were the perfect tour guides, explaining the history and significance of all that was around us. We entered the plaza from a side street, and were impressed with the scenes as they unfolded.

		Surrounding the square were magnificent buildings reflecting each of the major trade groups of the time. Some buildings dated back to 1690s.


We enjoyed the touring, and better yet the catching-up from a decade since we had last seen Ad and Betty.


Sky lit mall.		Muscles on ice.
		We walked through the first sky lit indoor mall, from 1847, that later was copied in several other countries around the world. Outdoor cafes sparked our appetite, and we dined at one of Brussels finest restaurants, Chez Leon.


		The two-story establishment of nearly 120 years was bustling with waiters and customers. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together amidst the history and culture around us.


After lunch, we did a bit more strolling as we worked our way back to the train station for the return trip to Holland.


		Do you remember the Iceland volcano that shut down air transportation through most of Europe and north America? We'll never forget it! Margy checked the Internet each day for our KLM flight status, to find out if our plane to Rome would be possible. The Amsterdam airport was shut down since our arrival in Holland, and it looked like we would miss our flight to join the tour of Italy scheduled months earlier.


We checked train availability to Italy and all were fully booked. Then we tried rental cars, and were lucky.


		We canceled our flight for the sure-thing of the rental car. Quickly we packed our bags, went to the Avis dealer, and started out for Italy one day before the tour was to begin.

We bid farewell to Cristián and Antonia at the car rental place. With a beautiful Mercedes, with GPS, we began what was to be a 17 hour drive through Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. We stopped only 4 hours overnight in northern Italy, and continued on to Rome to meet the tour group.


We didn't catch many scenic photos along the way, focused more on making time. We passed cities, farms, tunnels, and villages on our way to Rome. What we lacked in photo opportunities on this leg of our trip we more than made up for in Italy! Please check our links to the Italy tour to see the beauty of that country, its architecture, art and people.