Photos from Bruges

Photos from Ghent

 

Belgium April 2026 Bruges

On our first morning in Bruges we were up early for breakfast and then out the door to meet our tour guide for a two hour guided tour of the city. I booked this tour through WithLocals again and our tour guide Igor was very interesting. He is a historian and had just come home from an archaeology dig. 

We saw many lovely canals and crossed over the oldest market bridge in the city. We visited the Beguinage which was a community where single women stayed, saw more guild halls and many, many chocolate shops as well. We learned the history associated with the swans of Bruges and why they are legally protected, it involves the execution of a good friend of the Emporer Maximilian I of Austria and his decree in the 15th century that the swans would be cared for by the Belgians until the end of time. 

We had heard of the Madonna of Bruges because of its mention in the movie Monuments Men about the US Army group that was assigned with finding, recovering and returning priceless works of art stolen by the German Army during World War II.  It was returned to Bruges where you can see it today in the Church of Our Lady. It was sculpted by Michelangelo in the very early 1500's and I believe was his only sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime. (Incidentally the Ghent altarpiece was found hidden in the same salt mine as the Madonna.) We were able to see the sculpture and some other interesting exhibits in that church. 

We also visited the Church of the Holy Blood where you can actually see two churches. One is the subterranean Romanesque church and the other is a small Gothic church with a very important relic. We are not Catholic and we view religious relics with a skeptical eye because you never really know if they are truly what they are supposed to be. This church has a piece of cloth that is said to be soaked with the blood of Jesus. We went inside and the small chapel with the display altar was pretty full so we took a seat in the adjoining room which faced left from the first room. We decided to wait because someone said they would bring the relic out shortly. As we waited, a bell rang and a door opened in a chapel that we were facing and two priests (I don't know if the Catholic Church has female priests but one of them was a female. I don't know what she would be called if she's not a priest, sorry.) came out and one of them was  holding a glass container with a stained cloth in it. Our seats were right on the aisle so the container passed within 12 inches of us as they proceeded to the display case. If it truly was the blood of Jesus then that was a remarkable moment. 

We had to do some laundry while we were in Bruges and Mike had a fun time watching a giant crane truck trying to back out of a work site onto the tiny street. I think the driver made something like twenty  attempts due to the tiny street behind it and the edges of the buildings across the street and impatient drivers. The truck driver finally managed  though without any damage to the truck or the buildings. Bravo! 

Bruges was really a lovely city and we wish we had spent another day here. Our hotel (Hotel Heritage) was lovely with a really comfy bed and hot eggs cooked to order for breakfast. There was also a coffee shop across the street and many restaurants on the Grand Place and surrounding streets. 

Belgium April 2026 Ghent

After leaving Kinderdjik in the Netherlands, we drove to Ghent where we would spend the night before moving on to Bruges. It was a little disconcerting when we arrived because the power was out at our hotel and the parking garage was pitch black so it was hard to see exactly where the hotel entrance was located. Everyone was walking around the garage using their phones as flashlights. We found the elevator and the lights came on just as we were trying to figure out where the stairs were located. I happily pushed the elevator button and stepped in, but Mike was a little more reluctant since the power had only just come on and the thought of getting stuck on the elevator if the power went out again was making him pretty apprehensive. I convinced him to get in and we indeed made it up to the lobby level without any issues. 

Once in the lobby, we joined a large queue of people waiting to check in. We were told that since the power had been out for 3-4 hours our room may not be ready as the cleaning staff had not been able to service the rooms entirely. We waited in the lobby about 45 minutes before our room was ready. Mike ventured out for a few minutes while I waited but the wind was blowing really hard outside and it was getting dark so we opted for room service and went to bed early. 

We had arranged for a city tour with a guide from WithLocals and were very pleased with our guide Benedikt. He was entertaining, knowledgeable, and friendly and just nice to spend time with. We saw historic sites, learned local legends, tried some Belgian chocolate, and learned about the different guild houses along the river bank. He took us into St. Bavo's cathedral and explained the various panels of the famous altarpiece. The price of the admission to see the altarpiece was not included in our tour so we viewed that after Ben said goodbye. 

Unfortunately Mike was bitten by a dog as we crossed the plaza on our way to the church. He didn't even look at the dog, I don't know why it bit him. A smaller dog companion barked at us and I guess the larger dog just reacted to that. I also have no idea why the little dog barked. The dog's owner was very apologetic and stayed around while Ben found a place for Mike to go and have a better look to be sure he wasn't actually bleeding. Luckily he had thick cotton pants on and the dog's tooth scraped his skin rather than penetrating it.  I was sitting outside with Ben and wondering if our travel insurance would cover rabies vaccine but thankfully we didn't have to find out. Ben was quite upset by the incident too. 

Once we left the cathedral we decided to have lunch and found a riverside table outside of a Marriott hotel on Korenlei. I had a delicious bowl of tomato soup and we also some very good chicken strips. We spent a leisurely lunch watching the boats go by and people-watching. After lunch we got the car and headed to Bruges for our next stop. 

Photos from Kinderdjik

Kinderdjik UNESCO World Heritage Site - April 2026

Kinderdjik was a favorite of ours. We walked along the canal path and looked at all of the windmills. We went inside one that is set up as if a family were living it. It seems pretty cramped by modern standards but these windmills were built in the 1700's so heating a larger space would be problematic and also perhaps difficult to do structurally given you have huge blades revolving around the exterior of your home! The blades are massive and make a distinctive whoosh sound as they rotate, especially impactful if you're standing directly under one! You also have to be able to climb multiple flights of stairs several times a day and listen to the sound of the wooden mechanism turning which is located inside the windmill. I stood at the kitchen sink in the windmill and the motion of the blades rotating past the window every few seconds actually made me a little dizzy! I told Mike that would probably be the hardest thing to get used to. 

We walked to the end of the path and then took the shuttle boat back to the visitor center. One of the workers on the boat saw me counting up the number of windmills on the map, and started telling us what it takes to live in one of these windmills now.  There are several windmills that still function and to live in one of those (for 500 Euro per month) you have to become a certified miller. This is because you are required to operate the windmill for a minimum of 60,000 cycles per year. In order to do that you need to know not only the operation of the mill and sails but also wind speed and other factors. I didn't realize that the entire top of the mill can rotate, not just the blades. That way you can adjust the position of the mill according to the direction of the wind. It was very interesting and we enjoyed talking to him very much. There are windmills spread around the countryside here and there but Kinderdjik is the place to go if you want to see several at once and be able to go inside one.

Photos from Keukenhof Gardens

The Netherlands April 2026 - Tulips!!

We planned the trip in April so we could see the tulip fields and the Keukenhof Gardens. I actually bought tickets for two separate days since the weather report was constantly changing before we left home.  We stayed in Haarlem as we had been to Amsterdam once before and wanted a quieter, less busy alternative. Haarlem was a great choice with things to see in the town as well as good proximity to the Keukenhof gardens. 

The first thing that hit us when we entered was the scent! The hyacinths were blooming and the smell was incredible. Tulips don't really have much of a scent but with thousands of them blooming I would say I could smell them as well. There were so many lovely beds of flowers and the place is huge. There is a lake, a windmill, a viewing platform over the nearby fields, and a boat ride to take if you like. The tulip beds are a combination of some that are just one type or one color and then there are beds of happy mixes of various types of tulips and other flowers. There are fountains and even a maze as well. There were various sculptures scattered about but not so many that they detracted in any way from the flowers. There are 79 acres of gardens so the place is truly huge, be sure to get one of the little maps when you enter as it will save you some backtracking. We started by seeing everything on the outermost paths and then working our way to the inner paths. I would say it might have been better to start with the innermost paths as those tend to be busier as the day goes on. There are lots of benches scattered about so you can sit and relax and just enjoy the beauty. Mike said it was so much better than he was expecting and he really enjoyed it. Of course I was thrilled because I'm very happy to be in a garden anytime, anywhere. I have many, many beautiful photos of this place and I'll share a few later. 

There are buildings scattered about the gardens that have floral displays, and a huge one where you can ask questions of their experts and also see samples of the various tulips. There are a few restaurants and also some food trucks so you have some dining choices if you don't want to pack a lunch.  They are a cashless business so card only and also no dairy-free milk options in the restaurants.  No cappuccino for me *sigh*.

There is also a playground and picnic tables so it's a family friendly place - as long as you can keep your children from picking the flowers! It's all paved too so it's stroller friendly and wheelchair friendly if you have older or less mobile family members. They rent wheelchairs at the garden but I believe you need to reserve them in advance. I'm not 100% sure about that since we didn't need one.

The tickets for Keukenhof are a timed entry system though you can stay as long as you want once you're inside. They do not allow you to leave and then come back in, so if you wanted to bring a picnic lunch you have to bring it in with you at the beginning. We brought along a small backpack so we had someplace to put jackets when it warmed up later in the morning. Our entry was at 9am on April 9th and we parked in the P2 parking lot which is the secondary entrance to the gardens. On our second visit we parked in P1 on April 22 and that main entry gate was definitely busier, although the whole place was busier that day than on our first visit. The only difference in the garden's appearance from one date to the next was that the daffodils were pretty much done by the second visit but the azaleas and rhododendrons were blooming so I'm not sure I would say one was date was definitely better than the other. The weather was decently warm on our first visit though it was a bit overcast. It turns out that the overcast day produced better flower photos because the sun on our second visit created a lot of shadows on the flowers from the trees. They had quite a few flowering Japaneses Cherry trees which were absolutely lovely. 

While we didn't order any bulbs directly from Keukenhof due to the shipping costs, we did make note of our favorites and ordered some from a different source when we returned home. The sad part is that tulips are considered an annual where we live (California zone 9) and it's not cold enough in the winter for a bloom the second year. I'll have to refrigerate the bulbs for several weeks before planting and then dig them up after the plant dies and find a cool, dry place to store them until the next fall when I'll repeat the refrigeration process again and hope for a some blooms. 

I would very much recommend a visit here if you're in The Netherlands during tulip season!

The Netherlands and Belgium April 2026

 We're back! I have a lot of information to share, including some info about using the new EES system (Entry Exit System) in the EU. I'll talk about that first for the people who will encounter that process soon. 

When we arrived in Amsterdam we were directed to kiosks to register for the EES system which involved scanning your passport (upside down and backwards), a photo without glasses, and a scan of the 4 fingers on your right hand. Mike of course was done in a jiffy but the scanner had a hard time with my fingerprints. It finally said I had successfully completed the process and we moved on to the passport control area.  There was a separate line for those who completed the registration process at the kiosk and, once again, Mike sailed right through (after answering four short questions on the scanner). The scanner unfortunately could not read my fingerprints again, even after multiple attempts, so I was sent off to the passport check line to see an immigration officer. This added about 45 minutes and even gave Mike enough time to walk down to the baggage claim and get our bags and then return to wait for me. 

I was talking to three other women in line and we decide that the scanner had a hard time reading our fingerprints because two of us worked in healthcare and spent years washing our hands multiple times a day and all of us had wished millions of dishes in our lifetime. I don't know if that was the real cause or not, but it gave us something to do while waiting in the line. When I finally reached the immigration officer he re-scanned my passport, took another photo and re-scanned my fingerprints. I had put on some hand lotion before reaching him so my hands were better hydrated, so try that if you have trouble with the system reading your fingerprints.  I was finally given the permission to go through and Mike and I headed to the rental car desk. The rental car was another time-consuming issue, but more about that in another post. 

When we left The Netherlands to fly home, I was dreading going through the EES system again and we had heard the horror stories of lines that were hours long at various airports. We arrived at the airport at 6:50 am for a 10:50 flight. Since we were flying first class, we were able to use the Delta Sky Priority lines to check-in and drop our bags which went quite quickly. The next stop was the security checkpoint. Schiphol Airport has an app where you can make an appointment for a 15 minute time slot to use a shorter security line. We  learned about that from talking to the Sheraton hotel staff at the airport. I had booked a 7:30 time slot but it was 7:10 at that point. The airport wasn't busy so the officer let us go ahead even though we were early. This put us in a line for the X-ray scanner that was shorter than the other lines, although the other lines were not super busy that early. Once through the X-ray scanner process, we moved on to the passport control area and luckily the scanner only required our passports and it took another photo- no fingerprints needed - hooray! So we were through the entire process in about an hour. I will say that the airport was significantly busier by 9am and the priority lines and time slot appt were definitely helpful. 

Our first stop upon returning to the USA was at Salt Lake City. We both have Global Entry for customs but I recently found out that Global Entry has an app where you can answer the customs questions ahead of time and snap a photo of yourself. When you land, you submit that information and the app gives you a receipt for a one hour time slot to go through customs in the Global Entry line but you do not stop at the kiosk first, you proceed directly to the customs officer with your receipt. You can include everyone traveling with you so you can go up together instead of separately. I feel that's very helpful because there aren't always enough kiosks and you can still get stuck in line waiting for one. We also had nothing to declare so that makes it easier as well. 

The Netherlands and Belgium for tulip time!

We are getting ready for a new trip in a couple of weeks! We're heading to the Netherlands and Belgium to see tulip fields, some picturesque villages and a couple of WWII sites.  This is probably the least amount of time I've ever had to plan a European trip, I normally research the destination for months and make a detailed plan with options and alternatives, etc. This time I don't even have the last three days booked for accommodations, we're going to see where we end up and then find a place. This is not my usual style but we may want to spend additional time somewhere and this gives us the freedom to do that. It all came about because Delta Airlines gave us e-credit vouchers for some flight changes that occurred on our last trip and the vouchers had to be used by the end of 2025 so we scrambled to decide where we wanted to go next. It did save us about $4500 though so that was awesome!

We have previously been to Amsterdam so we don't have much planned to see there, though I do want to visit the Rijksmuseum this time.  We will be going to the Keukenhof gardens and Kinderdijk and I'm hoping to get some nice photos of flowers and windmills. In Belgium we will visit Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, Dinant, and Bastogne. We're also making a day trip to Trier, Germany to see the Roman ruins there.  I'm not sure where we'll go after that but we talked about visiting Maastricht as well. 

I booked walking tours of Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels with a company I haven't used before but I've read many good reviews for them. The company is called WithLocals and you can choose your tour, the length and the private guide. The guides post a little info about themselves on the website so you can find one that suits your style/interests. I'm anxious to see how that goes. Hopefully we get great guides and learn a lot!