The Great European Adventure 2025: Almost at the End

Friday, May 30, Day 6, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam has too many tourists for my taste. I felt overwhelmed by the people, and it made me realize even more how I would like to concentrate on small towns with interesting histories. But, regardless of the tourists it's a beautiful city and I enjoyed the museums. 

Miranda and I woke up late after a late night out on Thursday. We had brunch and then we met up with the boys at the Van Gogh Museum. It was another great museum experience with all the art organized in chronological order as it told the story of his life. 

After the museum, we sat in a cafe and enjoyed a coffee and conversation with a couple from Italy. We walked around a lot and ended up at the Torture Museum that early evening. A total tourist trap, but it was actually interesting, and Miranda loved it. 

We met the boys again that evening and went out for a couple of drinks with them because they were going to head out the next day. 

Saturday, May 31, Day 7, Amsterdam Netherlands

We went to the Rembrandt House and Museum. We walked through some great neighborhoods to get there, but there were crowds of people everywhere we turned. 

The house and the story of Rembrandt's life was very interesting and sad. I had no idea he had such a sad life and lost his home. Ironically, it was towards the end of his life, when he wasn't in this house, that he made his most famous masterpieces.

Later that day we went out on a canal tour about the history of the canals and Amsterdam. We had a fun group of Americans on our end of the boat and a great tour guide named Roland. Miranda and I ended up really enjoying it and we were glad we did it. 

We did one more touristy thing before leaving Amsterdam. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, and we bought a shot glass in honor of Rey, who used to collect their shot glasses. It was a cool one and we had a really great waitress. 

Sunday, June 1, Day 8, Trains from Amsterdam to Hamburg, Germany

See my previous post for what happened when I got to Hamburg. We ended up staying in the hotel after dinner and I did some writing. It was really nice to take a day off from sightseeing. 

Monday, June 2, Day 9, Train from Hamburg to Copenhagen

Even when you try to do everything right, things still go wrong. I kept lecturing Seth on the importance of planning ahead and having an itinerary. I had one of course. The other thing that was important was that we had to make reservations for long train rides. I went to the train station in Amsterdam for something else and went ahead and made reservations for us to go from Amsterdam to Hamburg and then Hamburg to Copenhagen. 

We got to the train station early enough to have coffee and breakfast. When our train arrived, we found that a train before ours had been cancelled, so there were people sitting in our seats. Technically the people from the cancelled train weren't supposed to sit in those seats. They should have been our seats, but the people sitting in ours had a baby and we couldn't tell them to get up.

Miranda ended up standing up at least two of the five hours. I got up a couple of times and had her sit down so she could have a break. Toward the last half of the trip, we were both able to sit down. It was absolutely insane.

What was really sad about this trip is that I chose a train ride, even though I knew it was a long trip, so I could have the wonderful experience of the train. I wanted to write, look out the window and meditate on life. It just goes to show that life is what happens when you're making other plans. 

We arrived in Copenhagen that evening exhausted and it was so good to see my childhood friend Monique and her partner Henning at the train station. They took us to dinner and then back to their house where they hosted us for the next four nights. They have been wonderful to us. 

Something interesting that I've realized after this trip is that 10 days are the perfect number of days for a vacation. Not too many and not too few. The only exception would be if I stayed in one or two places for the duration of my vacation. Sadly, by the time I got to Days 9 & 10, I was all traveled out and too tired to keep walking daily. 

To be continued... 

The Great European Adventure 2025: The Halfway Mark

I originally started writing this on Thursday, May 29 on my way to Amsterdam from Brussels, but I didn't finish. Now here we are halfway done with this vacation, and I want to savor every last minute of these last days. We arrived last Sunday and Miranda and I leave on Friday morning. 

Vacations are like this. You go, go, go and find the days slipping by so fast. I originally said I was going to adopt the "slow travel" approach on this vacation. My definition for this term, as regards this vacation, was that I was only going to see one main tourist site per day and the rest of the time I was just going to go slow and savor the visit and the moments. I've been successful for the most part, but old habits die hard. There have been some days where I've tried to do more than one thing.

Today I'm doing something that I would have found unfathomable in the past. I'm in Hamburg and I'm not doing anything...But sometimes you need a rest day.

We took the train from Amsterdam to Hamburg to cut our trip to Copenhagen in half. We arrived this afternoon to a very stressful situation right off the bat. First, we couldn't get an Uber. They would accept the ride and then decline it immediately. We didn't understand why, then we found out. After several attempts and a potty break, we went to the train station and took a cab from there. It turned out that there were several road closures around the station and a 20-minute ride took over an hour. There was a terrible storm in the middle of the trip, including hail. We were just at a standstill, sitting in our cab during the deluge. The cab driver finally gave up when he saw the street to our hotel blocked and told us in German that our hotel was just down that street. We got out and walked the rest of the way. 

We rested for a little while in our hotel room and then we went out for dinner. I remembered that there's a lot of Indian food here, so Miranda found a great restaurant nearby. It was delicious and a great change. Now I'm in the hotel restaurant writing. 

Here is my recap of Days 2, 3, 4, and 5. This blog post is already going to be long, so I'll leave it at that for now and write more tomorrow. 

Me at the Museum David & Alice van Buuren-Brussels

Monday, May 26 and Day 2 in Brussels, Belgium

Miranda and I woke up a little late, had a quick coffee and croissant and set out to visit the Museum David & Alice van Buuren, recommended by our friend Linh. It was a beautiful home donated by this couple, similar to how the Rienzi and the Bayou Bend Collection were donated to the MFAH in Houston. The museum is beautiful exhibit of art deco furnishings and rugs. The gardens and the artwork inside are beautiful.

Afterwards we went to the Ixelles Ponds area to look at Art Neveau and Art Deco homes. Then off we went to meet up with the boys in the historic African part of town. The Church of Saint-Boniface in that area is gorgeous. 

By evening we found ourselves tired, but I didn't want to go to sleep. Instead, I went to a restaurant across the street from the hotel and had a couple of drinks while journaling and writing the first blog post of this trip. 

Tuesday, May 27 and Day 3, Brussels, Belgium

We met up with my friend Linh again. She's my college friend Tod's wife and we had dinner with them on our first night. We had breakfast with her, and then we set off and she gave us a walking tour of the area around the Magritte Museum and the history of the Brontë sisters time in Brussels. 

After our personal tour, Miranda and I went to the Magritte Museum, which is great, and I highly recommend it if you're a fan of Magritte and surrealist art.

We were so tired from waking up early and all the walking that we fell asleep when we got back to the room and then woke up and enjoyed a really nice dinner at a restaurant down the street from our hotel.

The boys checked out this day and went to Cologne, Germany.

Wednesday, May 28, Day 4, Ghent, Belgium

We got up fairly early, ate in our hotel, and set out to Ghent. We arrived in just enough time to check into our cute little hotel Flandria, We set off quickly to visit St. Bavo's Cathedral to see the Ghent Altarpiece. Amazing doesn't even start to describe it. It was so special to see a piece of art with so much controversy and history. I also saw the famous altarpiece by Rubens, "The Conversion of St. Bavo."

After St. Bavo's I made the mistake of choosing to walk to the museum of fine arts of Ghent. It was a really strenuous 30-minute walk, and I wore flats instead of good walking shoes, I was so tired by the time I arrived, but I soldiered on. We saw the panels of the altarpiece that are being restored, and we were amazed to find that it was all of the top panels! I had to go back and look at my pictures to see which ones were copies and which were the originals. They are in the last phase of a restoration project that has been going on since 2023.

The museum, called the msk, has quite an impressive collection of its own. Whenever I see artists I know I feel like I've bumped into an old friend. I felt that way when I saw the Magritte, Max Ernst, van Dyck and Rubens. 

The town is super charming and so walkable. We found a cafe where we had some great sandwiches for a late lunch, early dinner. That evening we had a drinks at a cute bar nearby and I watched a show before bed. 

Thursday, May 29, Day 5 Ghent, Belgium/Amsterdam, Netherlands

We woke up, had breakfast at our hotel, and set out to walk around town to some of the shops. We found a shop that had stamps, coins and old ephemera, like post cards. We also bought a few souvenirs in a couple of nearby shops. We had the elusive hot chocolate that we hadn't had a chance to try. We had to try it right before leaving Belgium. It was great!

Then off to the train station to catch a train, first to Antwerp and then another to Amsterdam. We met up with the boys in Amsterdam and stayed in the same hotel for a couple of days. They have been playing their music everywhere they go and meeting interesting people on the way.

After napping, we got up and went out for drinks and snacks with the boys and stayed out until 3:30 a.m. like I was young. I paid for it and had to sleep late the next day! 😂

Side note. One of the things I love the most about Europe is the architecture and I've been really enjoying the buildings and taking a lot of pictures. More tomorrow.