Antwerp/Anvers

First, a little of the local legend:






And here's that noble Roman soldier immortalized in bronze, holding the giant's severed hand and preparing to throw it into the river. Toward the bottom of the fountain (not seen in this picture) is the mortally-wounded giant, with "blood" spurting from the stump where his hand used to be. There are allusions to this bit of folklore throughout the city of Antwerp, so beloved is the story here. Truth be told, however, scholars suggest that the city's name comes instead from a Flemish phrase meaning a place of slightly higher ground. I like the giant story better, or should I say the, errr, tall tale? OK, I haven't made a pun in several blog entries, so do bear with me and keep reading ...


I arrived at the beautiful Antwerpen Centraal train station at close to 11:00 AM. Built at the turn of the twentieth century, it follows generally the Victorian style and it's really a tourist destination in and of itself. A twenty minute walk through more modern Antwerp brought me to the old town square.

Bruges

I left Brussels at a little after 9:00 AM on Sunday, 3/25, via InterCity train. Billet aller et retour (round trip ticket), €14.10. The weather was great again - I went jacketless to the train station and threw a sweater in my backpack just in case it got cold later. An hour gone by, I arrived in Bruges.

The weather went from sunny and warm to foggy and freezing during the course of the relatively short train ride. It was so cold on arrival in Bruges that you could see your breath - really - and I was still cold after donning my sweater - you know what I mean, the kind of briskness that makes your nose run.

In Brussels

I left Brussels at a little after 9:00 AM on Sunday, 3/25, via InterCity train. Billet aller et retour (round trip ticket), €14.10. The weather was great again - I went jacketless to the train station and threw a sweater in my backpack just in case it got cold later. An hour gone by, I arrived in Bruges.

The weather went from sunny and warm to foggy and freezing during the course of the relatively short train ride. It was so cold on arrival in Bruges that you could see your breath - really - and I was still cold after donning my sweater - you know what I mean, the kind of briskness that makes your nose run.

À Liège

I boarded a train this morning (Friday, March 23) at 08:38 from Amsterdam to Liège, Belgium with a transfer in Maastricht, the Netherlands - cost, €27.80. The train to Maastricht was a fast train, but the journey still took about two and a half hours, depositing me in Maastricht with ten minutes to wait for the hourly train to Liège. This train was a Stoptrein, meaning that it stops at every single station along the route. It was also, by far, the oldest train I've ever been on - it must have been in service since the late Sixties, but it was kind of neat-looking, with windows you could open and everything. No picture, unfortunatey, because it was just too crowded and there was a suspicious-looking dude sitting next to me.

Rotterdam

I was able to get a train to Rotterdam. It was supposed to leave at 12:27 PM, but was about 15 minutes late due to the backups caused by the computer crash affecting Amsterdam Centraal. The good news is that I was able to take a hi-speed train, a Fyra, without having to pay the supplement. Dagretour = €27.70. Travel time about 41 minutes, versus the 1:04 an intercity train would take. Making up for lost time this morning.

Speaking of this morning, here are a few pictures from my stroll around Amsterdam:


A picturesque canal scene in gorgeous weather. It will be about 68 degrees today, and cloudless.

Stopped in my tracks...

Begin English language news feed from DutchNews.nl ....
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Signaling problems cause railway chaos around Amsterdam

Thursday 22 March 2012

Rail commuters in central parts of the country are faced with widespread disruption on the trains on Thursday morning because of serious technical problems around Amsterdam.

Dutch Rail (NS) says it will be at least midday before problems with the points and signalling systems have been solved, allowing services to return to normal.

Travellers to Schiphol airport, Leiden, Almere, Utrecht and Rotterdam will also experience problems, the NS said on its website. Metro services in Amsterdam are operational and travellers can use the Fyra high speed train without paying a supplement.

'We are sorry that no replacement bus services are available,' the website said. According to the Telegraaf, taxi services are in short supply in Amsterdam as people try to reach Schiphol airport using alternative methods.

Some 500,000 people use the train to get to work in the Netherlands every day. The railway problems have had a knock-on effect on the roads, with heavier traffic and longer queues than on a normal Thursday, the Telegraaf said.
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I found this news report after I found long lines at the ticket counter in Centraal station, and then the clerk said that she could not sell any tickets, even for later in the day. I knew something was up when I arrived at the station, because there were news trucks and reporters with microphones all over the place.

Den Haag (The Hague)

First, an update on last night...

Blarney Stone Pub, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March, 2012

So a Yank, a Brit and an Icelander walk into an Irish bar in Amsterdam - The Blarney Stone. What was to have been a beer or two before bed turned into several Kilkenny draughts (the irony - kill Kenny - is not lost on me) and a short stumble back to the hotel at about 1:45 AM. As the Irish say, really good craic (Gaelic for good times, not potent cocaine). The Brit, Neil, owns a company that facilitates work visas within the EU for non-citizens (but citizens of another EU nation) within a given country. Ivar, a tall redheaded Icelander, is an IT guy who works for a company based in Amsterdam, though he is based in Reykjavik. We traded rounds and stories along with the authentic Irish barmaid, Jillian.

In Haarlem

First, some preliminaries: the downside to being able to check in early at the hotel is that I was given the single room on the fourth floor which no one had stayed in the night before (which equals the fifth floor in the U.S., as the main floor doesn't count as the first floor.) There is no elevator in the hotel, only a narrow, steep and sharply winding staircase. The good news, when I'm able to catch my breath, I have a decent view from my window:


It was in the mid-fifties today and sunny. A light chilly breeze could catch you in the shade, but the sunshine felt good.

In Transit

I've arrived in Amsterdam after an uneventful flight - I didn't even have someone next to me on the flight (I don't think I smelled that bad.)

I arrived at my hotel and I was able to check in early. I took a shower (just in case I did smell bad) and I'm about to go out for a late breakfast and then I'm off by train to Haarlem.

More to follow after I tour the heck out of Haarlem.

Location:Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Time Travel

I'm here at Logan Airport awaiting the boarding call at about 6:45 PM - it's about 6:10 PM on Monday evening as I start to write this.

We all set our clocks ahead an hour for U.S. daylight saving time last week. Right now, Europe is still on standard time. This means that there is only a five hour difference between Boston and Amsterdam. Europe goes to daylight time this coming weekend, after which there will be a 6 hour spread.

Put another way, I had to re-set my internal clock last week, I'll have to do it again thanks to jet lag, I'll have to do it once more this coming weekend, and one last time on my return. Who knows how confused I'll be, and for how long after the trip ends!!

On another time-related note: I am leaving exactly 6 months to the day from my last trip to Amsterdam and Germany. This also means that today is my half-birthday; tomorrow I will be closer to being "in my forties" than merely being forty.

Tonight's trip is nonstop and will take about seven hours and fifteen minutes - by far the shortest trip compared to my last two planes rides, and compared to my return trip, which will land at JFK with a connecting flight to Logan - total time for that trip, about 12 hours.

I'll blog again soon, maybe a quickie after I arrive in Amsterdam before I head out to Haarlem, and then a full report after my sojourn in that colorful suburb of Amsterdam.

Location:Massachusetts Turnpike,Boston,United States

What do Waffles, Chocolate and Beer Have in Common?

I came across an incredible opportunity this weekend to travel some more in the Low Countries of Europe.  I scored a last-minute ticket to Europe for $452.12 (originally $870.59 before I applied some rewards points on my credit card -- still a huge bargain).  Couldn't pass this up if I wanted to, and it was easy for me to make the decision.  I leave a week from today.

I've booked all of my hotels but one already, and I've spent about $550.00 for 6 nights.  I only need one more night, and I'm hoping for around $100.00.  I'll be staying in Amsterdam and Brussels three nights each, and in Liege for one night (that's the hotel I haven't booked yet.)

My plan this time is to take day-trips from each home base -- this allows me to leave my luggage behind and jump on short commuter trains from my centrally-chosen hub cities.  The longest one-way trip from a hub city to destination town is under two hours, a very doable thing especially without the checking-in and checking-out at hotels at each stop.  No rail pass this time; I compared the cost of a rail pass and the cost of point-to-point tickets and the rail pass is almost double the cost.

I plan to blog again (obviously) because I really enjoyed doing it last time, especially the interaction with you, my loyal followers, during the trip.  It was a link back to home and a virtual travel companion.

Further posts to follow ... and, Dad, can I have a ride to the airport next Monday night?