04/2007Thoughts on Europe

We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Europe with our friends from Alexandria, Virginia. We flew to Amsterdam, spent two days there, then rented a car and drove along the coast, visiting the beaches at Normandy, south to Tours, through the Loire Valley and on to Paris. Spent three days in Paris and then drove straight back on the freeways to Amsterdam for our flight home. We traveled slowly and took the back roads (not worrying about getting lost because of our GPS which Bill thoughtfully provided), stayed in little out-of-the-way hotels and gave ourselves time to ponder on the differences between the European way of being and our own.

It took us a little while to get used to the idea that the Euro was worth more than the dollar. I can't remember going anywhere that the dollar was less than that country's currency. Now, here we were in a place where the Euro was worth about $1.35 Not only that, but we were shocked when a cup of coffee was about $3.00 and it was a small, almost espresso-sized cup! Breakfast in our hotel was about $17.00 each. The good thing about those breakfasts was that there was plenty of bread (baguettes) and lots of lunch meats and sliced cheeses, so we could make a sandwich for lunch and sneak it out of the dining room so that with some fruit and a pastry, we had lunch almost free. As we traveled, it became clear to us that if you wanted to sit at a table and have someone wait on you, you paid for it. If you wanted to go into a grocery, or bakery, or deli, you could purchase food and drink much, much cheaper. But you had to eat in the car, in the hotel room, or picnic. As we thought about it, this made a lot of sense. The high prices were charged in order to pay the staff a living wage (you do not tip in Europe) so being a waitress or waiter or cleaning person was not a job for unskilled, uneducated workers, but rather a job you could be proud of. It's a fair system, too, since customers pay for what they use. Real estate on the Champs Elysee is very expensive, so if you want to have a snack at one of those charming outdoor cafes, you'll pay $30.00 US for a cheeseburger. If you don't want to pay those rates, then wait and eat closer to your hotel.

We were struck by how neat and clean everything was. The streets, the subways, the sidewalks, the parks, the stores, the rooms, everything. We saw lots of workers sweeping the streets, cleaning the chairs in the subway, wiping down the public water fountains, doing anything that was needed to present an environment that was pleasant, colorful, full of art, and welcoming to people. Everyone seemed to respect their neighborhood, their home, their country.

The public transportation was to die for. Inexpensive, efficient, easy to understand. Americans would hate living in such small spaces as the Europeans do, with no yards, barely even a sidewalk or balcony to put a flower pot on. But, the upside is that neighbors and friends gather at the outdoor cafes and linger over a beer or coffee rather than inside their homes. The parks are filled with families picnicking or going to the art museums or just soaking up the sun. Everyone is surrounded by great art (with no graffitti!) which must give them an appreciation of beauty in the world.

One more thing and then I'll quit. In Amsterdam everyone rode a bicycle. There are bike lanes everywhere and if you insist on walking in a bike lane, prepare to be scared witless! They will run you over (almost). But, obesity is not a problem there, in spite of the fabulous food. We could take a lesson, huh? Photos to be posted soon to illustrate the points in the above paragraphs.

"Stinking Rich" in Haarlem

After picking up our car and being somewhat discombobulated by having to drive on the “wrong” side of the road, we set out with no plans other than to stop whenever we wanted to explore.  Our first stop was only eight miles from Amsterdam, but, since we never got underway til mid-morning, it wasn’t long before it was time to stop for lunch!

Haarlem has a unique claim to fame.  A recent study found the Dutch to be the most content of the Europeans, and those folks living in Haarlem were found to be the happiest in the Netherlands.  

As we were soon to learn, the steeple of the church marked the center of town, so we parked and headed there.  We were delighted to find - as had happened for hundreds of years - an open-air market in progress. While we all were shopping for scarves, shoes, and whatever, Ron found a hardware store.  In this store, he found a coffee pot!  The pot was only $15.00 and cups were about $2.00, so just for the two of us it would only take 5 cups of coffee at 4 euros each to pay for itself!  Best decision of the entire trip.  Bill and Verda left it in the last hotel room as a gift to one of the housekeeping staff.

St. Bavo’s church was a good way to learn about medieval history.  According to Rick Steves’ guide, the church was named after St. Bavo, a local nobel who frequented seventh-century Red Light Districts during his youth. In the late 1500’s, the St. Bavo church became Protestant, and was then called the Great Church since Protestants were anti-saint.  In medieval times the church was the focal point of the everyday lives of the people of the town.  Since we were there on a market day, and the church sits right on the square, it was easy to see how, during cold or rainy weather, the market was simply moved inside the church. The base of the church is given over to lots of small shops where you can buy the well-known fries, served with mayo instead of catsup, jewelry, souvenirs, gelato, or even get a haircut.  The church owns the shops and rents them out, thus establishing itself as an economic participant in the community.

As you enter the church you feel the chill - the stone floors, stone walls and colored windows keep any warmth out.  After a while your neck starts hurting from looking up so much and you look down to notice the shape and size of the stone slabs beneath your feet, and you see names and dates engraved on them. Gives one pause to realize you are walking on the graves of people buried centuries ago. 

“Only those with piles of money to give to the church could be buried in a way that gave them an advantage in the salvation derby.  But even though the dead bodies were embalmed, they stunk.  Imagine being a peasant sitting here, trying to think about God . . . and thinking only of the stench of well-fed bodies rotting.  And the phrase “stinking rich” was born.” (Steves, p. 205)  It was the custom of the time in Europe to bury parishioners inside the church rather than a cemetery outside the church. 

St. Bavo’s church is the proud owner of a Christian Muller organ, one of the best in the world with 5,000 pipes.  Amadeus Mozart played this organ when he was only 10 years old, in 1766.  Handel played St. Bavo’s in 1740, the year before his famous Messiah debuted.  Albert Schweitzer also performed on this spectacular organ. 

Just to the left of the organ is a piece of furniture that has survived since the 15th century.  This is what I love about visiting Europe - it’s impossible to feel very important when you see things like the bench where the church gave the city’s poor their daily bread and lard over 500 years ago.  When you see this bench, the prayer, “give us our daily bread” takes on an entirely new meaning.

Even though the rich are buried here, one man was respected enough to be sculpted for all eternity on a wooden panel on the wall.  He was the Dog Whipper.  Back when the church was the site of the marketplace on rainy days, this man’s job was to keep the dogs out of the church, no doubt to keep them from running off with precious food.

After a pleasant lunch at an outdoor cafe just outside the church we continued on to tulip country.

Scent of Hyacinths

 Leaving Haarlem we continued south along the coast passing Den Haag (The Hague) where the international court holds its sessions.  If I could do this trip again, I would allow time to learn more about the International Court of Justice located in the Peace Palace.

As we drove, we passed fields of tulips - acres upon acres of them.  We stopped on the side of the road just to hop out and take some photos.  

We were near the Keukenhof, one of the world’s largest and most beautiful flower gardens, but it was already after noon and we had to find a place for the night, so we regrettably made the decision not to explore Keukenhof - a mistake I would remedy the next time.  The beauty of fields of tulips cannot be described - at least not by me - and the fragrance of the hyacinths was overwhelming. 

I’ve mentioned that we didn’t make reservations at name hotels during this trip, and for the most part that was a good decision since we were able to take our time when we wanted, we weren’t on a set schedule, and we found welcoming people wherever we were.  However, this particular afternoon we expected that we could find a bed and breakfast spot in Delft since it is a rather large city, has a university, and is the home of the beautiful Delft blue pottery.  We drove into the center of town, parked and walked around a bit.  We bought some Delft souvenirs but had no luck spotting hotels.  The guidebooks were no help. We drove up and down the narrow streets along the canals and quickly decided that Delft just didn’t want us there.  

What we really wanted was an out-of-the-way place not too far off the main highway.  Verda closed her eyes and put her finger on the map - a little spot called Neumansdorp, just south of Rotterdam, and just north of the Hollands Diep waterway.  We drove into town and sure enough, just on the right was the “Hotel Eetcafe ’t Wissel.” 

Could you possibly ask for anything more authentic?  We went in and asked if they had two rooms available and yes, indeed, they had a suite with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bath.  The price was only 50 Euro per couple and the accommodations were so very nice and comfortable.  Our rooms looked out over a canal complete with ducks and green fields.  We went downstairs to the restaurant and had one of the best meals I’ve ever had.  We decided to trust Verda’s finger on the map from here on!    

• 
  

See Amsterdam by Boat

According to the guide books, you can’t go to Amsterdam and not see the Rijksmuseum with its collection of the Dutch masters, and the Van Gogh museum.  Verda and I wanted to do those, Bill is a flea-market aficionado, so he wanted to explore the street markets, and Ron, ever the sailor, wanted to take a boat ride on the canals.

Sunday morning we had juice, fruit and croissants fresh from the bakery in our rooms rather than pay the almost $30 for the two of us to have breakfast in the hotel.  It turned out that having a restaurant in the hotel didn’t matter since it was too expensive for us to want to eat there.  Another lesson learned: don’t make your choice of hotel dependent on its having a restaurant on the premises.  In Amsterdam, there are many bars and restaurants within walking distance of wherever you stay.  And, if you don’t want to walk, you can hop on the tram and hop off at any of the “pleins” for refreshment.

After breakfast, we took the tram to Museumplein, the stop for both museums that we wanted to see.  When we saw the line for the Rijks, Ron balked.  He hates standing in lines and can’t deal with crowds.  Kind of a problem when you’re a tourist and every tourist has the same guide books that recommend the same attractions. We agreed we would come back later in the day and see if it was a shorter wait.  Secretly, I think he and I were both thinking that we had just seen the Rembrandt exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum a week before we left, so a lot of the Dutch masters weren’t here, they were in Phoenix!

So we continued on to the Van Gogh museum, just down the “straat” where we found a similar line, but this time it was I who rebelled.  I insisted that this was one thing I didn’t want to miss.  The line was moving and if we put everything off until late afternoon we certainly would not be able to fit it all in.  Bill and Verda agreed to go with me, so Ron reluctantly gave in.

There were hordes of people inside, and the mob was moving very, very slowly.  Verda and I tried to navigate our way around the crowds, and naturally we lost Bill and Ron immediately.  We didn’t make it up to the third floor because we had agreed to meet up and have lunch, but Ron said he did go up to the third floor - just to escape the crowd - and saw works by Van Gogh’s friends and colleagues - Gauguin, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec - so, if you go, make sure you allow enough time to see the entire collection.  For 10 euros it’s your chance to get up close and personal with some of the best known of the Impressionists.  And, if you purchase Canal Boat passes (18 euros for 24 hours) you get a 1 euro discount at the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh, and the Rembrandt museums.

After a brief visit to the gift shop for souvenirs, we hopped back on the #2 tram and got off at Leidseplein.  We had learned that “plein” meant something like “square” or “plaza” and we could always find restaurants, bars, outdoor cafes and souvenirs at any of the “pleins.”  Bill and I are big basketball fans and we were dying to know what was going on back home at the NCAA basketball championships.  We saw a sports bar with a schedule of all the sporting events they had available so we headed there.  Very friendly staff, very pretty waitresses, very interesting menu and as promised by the guidebooks, the unmistakable smell of marijuana burning. After a bite of lunch and a beer, we decided to take a boat tour in order to see more of the city in a short amount of time.

How Much is That in Euros?

In 2007, there were not as many websites available to help travelers find flights, hotels, restaurants, and everything else you need to know when you travel.  After searching the few sites online I found a relatively inexpensive hotel with a restaurant and that advertised shuttle service to and from the airport.  We booked a room for 3 nights and Bill and Verda booked into the same hotel for 2 nights.

The idea of guest reviews was not as popular then as it is now, so there were not very many reviews to check.  But I sure wish someone had mentioned that the shower leaked all over the bathroom floor in our room.  We had to roll up our pant legs until it dried up.  

Another unpleasant surprise was that, when we arrived at Schiphol airport, we discovered that the shuttle cost 12.5 Euros per person, or about $33.00 for the two of us.  And, it was my mistake that I assumed that the shuttle would be free if we stayed at that hotel.  When the cost of the shuttle was added in to the cost of the room, it turned out not to be an inexpensive room after all.  

But upon arriving after a trans-Atlantic flight, you’re not going to care about much but sleep.  We crawled into bed immediately and had a nap til we woke up hungry.  My husband, Ron, and I took a walk around the neighborhood and found the markets.  We bought goodies for an in-room picnic and went back to sleep for the night. 

Bill and Verda arrived early the next morning, but had several hours before they could check in, so we decided to take our first tour of Amsterdam.  The hotel was quite close to a tram stop that would take us anywhere we wanted to go, and the hotel desk sold us two-day tram passes.  The first thing on our list was the “Damme” or Dam Square.

It is difficult to see this as the original dam across the Amstel River since it is so large.  The Dam Square is always full of living statues, like the one above, jugglers, protesters, and unusual monuments.

Right away, we had to learn how to walk around in Amsterdam.  In the U.S., the pedestrian always has the right of way, but not in the Netherlands.  We had to watch for trams, be on the lookout for speeding cars, and, most of all, not walk in the bike lanes!  We were sure Ron was going to get hit before our stay was over.  He couldn't help walking next to the canals, which were where the bike lanes were.  We constantly heard Brrrrring! Brrrrring! Get out of the way or get run over!

Coming from a car-centric country, we found it unusual that the favored mode of transportation is the bicycle.  There are literally thousands of bikes in Amsterdam with parking garages just for them.  Seeing these bikes, you can't help but think that the Dutch must be much healthier than Americans.  The other thing that strikes you is the lack of "safety standards."  You know that what you see in the photo above would never be allowed in the U.S.

Back at the hotel for dinner and we were ready to talk about our various options now that we were in Europe and had a car to pick up on Monday morning.  Since we were starting out from Amsterdam, we realized that it would be foolish to try to get to Rome, Florence and Venice.  Someone suggested that we each pick one thing that we really, really, really wanted to do.   My husband wanted to see the beaches at Normandy.  His uncle Willie had died in the invasion and Ron had always been interested in the history of World War II.   Our friend, Bill,  is of German extraction and expressed a desire to learn more about his family's roots, but since they were staying an extra week, they said they would do that after we left to come home.  Verda paints and said her trip would be complete if she could go to the Louvre.  Oh, and she wanted to make sure that we actually got to Paris and didn't fiddle around and run out of time.  I agreed with her but said that my heart's desire was to to stand at the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset and see the lights of Paris come on below us.  So, first,  explore Amsterdam on the one day we had, then off to Normandy.

First Trip to Europe

When I was a little girl, my mother enrolled me in an educational program from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.  They sent a packet of information each month about different art museums in the world and the works of art that could be seen in them.  I pored over these materials for hours, and carefully, so carefully, put the stickers in my booklet in their little frames.  My favorite was the "Winged Victory of Samothrace."There was something about her power and grace that spoke to me.  I imagined myself transported from my little room in Selma, Alabama, to Paris, to the Louvre, and standing in front of her.  And then, over the years, I forgot about that dream.

Many, many years later when the children were grown and we had more time, we started investigating the possibility of more travel.  And, by then, we had the internet.  I was able to investigate sites like Travelzoo that searches out great travel deals and sends them to you in an email each week.  I happened to see an entry for “European Destinations,” which offers packages that include airfare, accommodations and, sometimes, ground transportation or connections when necessary.  For example, in 2007, this was available: Fly to Rome, spend 2 nights, take the Eurostar train to Florence, spend 2 nights in Florence, take the train to Venice, spend 2 nights in Venice and fly home for an unbelievable $955 per person.  Allowing ourselves $1000 for meals, fees for attractions, and shopping, we could have 6 nights in Italy for just under $3000.

I emailed our travel friends and sent them the link to this amazing package.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it turned out) they were on vacation at Hilton Head and had no computer access in their condo.  Days crept by with no response from them and the longer we waited, the higher the price went as the less expensive hotel spots were taken.  

Note: as I remember this now, I realize that 10 years ago, not everyone had a cell phone, a data plan, an iPad, and Wifi everywhere.

When we were finally able to speak with Bill and Verda on the phone, we discovered another glitch.  They had recently been bumped from a Delta flight and were given a voucher for a free flight as long as it was the same price or less than the flight they’d been bumped from.  When Verda checked the voucher, she saw that it expired in two days!  Therefore, we had no time to work out an itinerary with European Destinations since there are options to choose from - including length of stay in each city; 3, 4 or 5 star hotels; which mode of transportation ( train, bus, or car) -  so planning was imperative.  We were on our own as far as planning this trip.

The next thing we knew, Bill and Verda had booked tickets to Amsterdam!  I was surprised, to say the least.  Amsterdam is quite a ways from Rome, Florence, and Venice.  And they booked their flight on May 30th without thinking that, if we traveled from Amsterdam to Rome, it would put us there right at Easter, which that year was on April 8th.  Trying to find an inexpensive hotel in Rome on the holiest of days in Christendom?  You guys do know that the Vatican is in Rome, right?  

True to their adventuresome character, Verda said

“Don’t worry.  Wherever you guys fly into, we’ll just take a train and meet you.”

So, with that in mind, we started searching online for airfares.  As I looked and looked, I was getting discouraged because I couldn’t find anything - not to Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Munich, anywhere - for less than about $800.  Too much for us to spend.  Finally, one night, my husband was standing by the computer while I showed him what the fares looked like.  He suggested that I look for the previous day - the 29th - instead of the 30th.  Lo and behold!  Flight to Amsterdam for $478 each!  Instead of European Destinations to Italy, this was Cross Your Fingers to The Netherlands. 

More to come.