Day 7

We had a walking tour of the City of Bruges & walked around the main town square. We took a canal cruise and then shopped and tasted chocolates at many of the Belgium chocolate shops. We then went to Hitler's Atlantic wall and walked through some of the German bunks. Then we enjoyed a Belgium waffle. From there we went to Flanders Fields.

Day 6

We had a gorgeous drive up to the Cistercian Abbey of Orval. Then we went to Dinant, the birthplace of Adolphe Sax inventor of the saxophone. We'll add more later. We had a great a wonderful dinner. I actually ate salmon and salmon mousse. For dessert we had cream puffs. We went on a magical carriage ride by the colorful illuminated canals (although it was still light out). It stays light really late until about 11:00 PM. We saw the canals and windmills and many other things.

Day 5

We started out on a walking tour of Luxembourg city. We saw the cathedral and the Grand Ducal Palace. Then we went to see General Patton's grave and the Memorial. Later we went to Trier in Germany. Trier is a historic Roman city. We went to dinner at a woderful German restaurant. It was an original billa turned into a restaurant. We had a fabulous view of Mosell river and the surrounding valley. The dessert was ice cream with strawberries. It not only tasted delious but was beautiful to look at.

Day 4

This morning up before 6:30 again and after breakfast(where Sharon had raisinettes again) were out the door by 8:15. We saw an authentic windmill dating back to 1636 by the Amstel River where Rembrandt used to go to paint. It was beautiful there. Then on to a working cheese farm where we saw how they made cheese with milk fresh from the cows and also a wooden clog making demonstration. We drove to Haarzuilens to visit the garden of De Haar Castle and the on to Maastricht where they were having the Spring Festival which they have been having for centuries. We ate Dutch fast food--interesting. They put mayonaise on their french fries. Then we went into Belgium and stopped at Bastogne--the site of the Battle of the Bulge. They have built an American Memorial there. The final stop of the day was to the Duchy of Luxembourg. That's three countries in one day!!! We had a buffet dinner at the hotel where we each tried about 6 different desserts. It's after 10:00--time for bed.

Day 3

We woke up at 6:30 and had breakfast (Sharon had raisinettes along with her breakfast). We left the hotel at 8:15 and went to the Rijksmuseum. A local guide took us through. We saw several Rembrandt paintings including his famous The Night Watchman. Then we went to a diamond polishing factory. We went to the little fishing village of Volendam where we had lunch and watched our tour guide eat raw herring and onions. Yuk! Then we went on a tour of hidden Amsterdam and to the Anne Frank house. We were on our own for dinner and found a cute little Italian restaurant. We shared a delisious chocolate torte. Back to the hotel where we had internet problems. Then to bed around 11:30. Another long, fun, exhausting day!!

Days 1 & 2

Just shy of 24 hours we finally arrived in Amsterdam. We took a cab to our hotel and got there part way through the orientation meeting with our tour group. We immediately went on a canal cruise in a glass topped boat. We went to dinner at a local restaurant and had something that sounded like hodge podge. We couldn't decided if it was the world's largest meat ball or the world's smallest meat loaf. It was on a bed of pureed mashed potatoes and carrots along with a sausage of some kind with mustard. It really was pretty good. Then we all took a walk along the Red Light District. Then back to our room to crash. By the way--marajuana is not legal in the Netherlands it is just decriminalized!

Pre Trip Preparation

Tammy and I are leaving on Thursday. We are so excited. This is a test of our blog email.