Amsterdam to Newark to Nashville (Day 14, The End)

 

I took a grand total of two pictures this day, both of our luggage, so I'm including some of my favorites from our trip in this post.

 

Our flight left Amsterdam at 9:15 a.m.  Not knowing how checking in my bike would go, we gave ourselves three and a half hours before our flight, so our Uber pickup was at 5:45.  The lovely Hampton Inn provides a takeaway breakfast, so we had a little bit of food with us. 

 

We decided to check our roller bags this time since we were checking my bike.  They were free, but we didn't know what the bike would cost.  Typically it's between $100 and $150 each way.  We were prepared for whatever.  We got our bags checked, then the airline employee said, "Checking a bike?"  "Yes."  "Okay, we just need to change it from 3 checked bags to 2, then add the bike."   "How much?"  "Oh, it's free, too!"  

 

 

In case you lost track, we got my bike box for FREE.  All the materials needed to pack my bike were FREE.  And now the bike was flying to America for FREE!!!  Enjoy the Ride, Liv!

 

 

We had plenty of time to relax and stretch our legs in the airport before it was time to board our flight.  I felt like the flight went pretty quickly for an eight hour flight.  We arrived in Newark, New Jersey, which meant going through customs.  The line for customs was very slow, it took us about 40 minutes.  Then we collected our luggage and prepared to check them to Nashville.  I was concerned about the time for this connection, but Newark airport does this right.  They have a separate bag check for international travelers, as oppose to going all the way back out to the main bag check.  This went quickly and we were back through security and at our gate in plenty of time.

 

We had about a two hour flight to Nashville.  Our bags made it safely and so did my bike!  I was very relieved.  Les' sister, Lisa, picked us up and after a little wrangling, everything was in the car and ready to go.  

 

In the more than six weeks since we got home from our trip, Les and I have talked so much about what a fantastic trip this was.  Definitely top three of all the trips we've ever taken!  I still can't believe how much fun a cycling vacation ended up being.  I was apprehensive, but it could not have gone better.  Being on bikes, traveling at our own pace, enjoying the ride was so much better than boarding buses with the masses and seeing what the tour guide wanted to show us.  We have already been talking about doing something like this again, we're even thinking about a land-based trip where they move your luggage for you.  All I know is this was my first cycling vacation but it won't be my last!  

 

 

Amsterdam ~ Leaving de Holland (Day 12, Part 1 of 2)

 

We had one final breakfast with our friends on the boat, then it was time to start checking out.  I had reserved a room at a nearby Hampton Inn, we rode right past it the day before, so we knew we could get there very easily.  We rode over and tried to find their bike parking.  I finally went inside and asked.  This would be our first of many interactions with the staff here and each time was extremely pleasant!  

 

 

Naturally, the bike parking was underground and secure, next to the cars.

 

Once our bikes were secure, we walked back to the boat to get our luggage.  From there we took a tram back to the Hampton.  We were way too early to check in, so we left our luggage in storage and found a cafe nearby.  This was a cute place with a small playground next to it.  For the next hour or so we watched families ride in on their bikes, grab a coffee and let their children play.  We each had a sandwich, then split a piece of chocolate cake with our cappuccinos.

 

 

Our room was ready when we made it back to the hotel and we took a much needed nap!  I could finally breathe a huge sigh of relief.  We were done riding for the trip and we made it safely with no mechanical issues, flat tires, or crashes!  Total miles ridden for the total trip, including the ride in Brugge before we met the boat, was 226.75!  That was more miles than I had ridden for the year up to that point.

 

Our next order of business was to the meet the bike company to return our rental bikes... or did we?  Check back tomorrow... 

Dendermonde to Antwerp ~ Evening in Antwerp and MAS (Day 8, Part 3 of 3)

 

 

Because our boat was docked very near to the Antwerp city center we were given the option of having dinner off the boat that night.  Les and I decided it would be a good night to find hamburgers!  Our first stop ended up being a bust - they advertised burgers on their website but had recently switched to all chicken.  We walked a little more until we found Ellis Gourmet Burger - I don't remember exactly what we ordered, but they were both fantastic!

 

Franklin had told us about the MAS - "Museum aan de Stroom" translates to "Museum by the Stream."  We could see the museum while we were eating and noticed people on the top.  When I asked our server about it she told us the museum closed at 5:00, but the panoramic deck was open until 10:00 p.m.  

 

We decided to check it out.  There was no fee to get in and we made our way to the escalators.  The building is 10 stories and the escalators went up 9 of them.  We made a right turn at the top of each floor, circling our way up.   The views were completely worth it!

  

 

I wore my new top and absolutely loved it!

The top picture in this post is the Antwerp Whisperer (De Antwerpse Fluisteraar) - an interactive public art installation created by artist Daisy Boman. It features all-white, humanoid statues climbing up the walls and roofs of warehouses in the Het Eilandje dock district.  We could also see them from the top of the MAS.

 

We eventually made our way back to our boat.  We realized we hadn't had dessert, but I had a solution - we still had some of the truffles we made in Brugge!  We took them to the top deck, which was mostly empty, but we did share with a couple of people who came by.  It was a peaceful end to another wonderful day!

 

 Miles ridden 33.43

Dendermonde to Antwerp ~ New Riding Strategy (Day 8, Part 1 of 3)

On our third day of riding we changed our strategy.  After the near collision on Tuesday, we decided we would be the last riders to get off the boat.  This was a winning strategy!  We arrived at the first suggested coffee stop as everyone else was finishing up.

 

 

From there our day followed a similar pattern.  We would ride along, enjoying the scenery, without the stress of riding close to others in our group.

 

This worked to our advantage when we got to the next stop -  the Wissekerke Castle.  There was a restaurant nearby and everyone was eating lunch there.  The castle wasn't open when we rolled in, but we learned that it would open in about 40 minutes.  We had a light snack, then watched everyone else ride away.  We had a delightful 45 minutes to ourselves.   We have tons of pictures so I'll do a separate post about the castle next.  The grounds were beautiful!

 

To get in to Antwerp we had to go through Saint Anna's Tunnel.  This is a historic pedestrian and bicycle tunnel connecting the city's historic center to the Linkeroever (Left Bank) district under the Scheldt River. Opened in 1933, it is famous for its 31-meter depth (100 foot), tiled 570-meter (about 1/3 of a mile) walkway, and original wooden escalators.  

 

 

We did not actually ride the escalator - there is also an elevator.  This was so crowded and a little crazy!  We didn't take any pictures, I was especially occupied with staying upright on my bike, but I found these pictures on the internet.  It was not this empty when we were there.  This is the tunnel under the river.

 

We rode a little further until we got to the city of Antwerp, one of the largest cities in Belgium with a population of over 550,000.  It was warm that day, but not as hot as the previous two days.  That didn't stop us from getting gelato!

 

Our boat hadn't arrived yet, so we leisurely wandered around Antwerp.  I bought this blouse.  It is so comfortable, I wish they'd had it in a couple more colors.

 

We found the Antwerp Grote Markt (Dutch for "Big Market" or "Great Market Square".)

 

 

We got a text message from Franklin that a particular chocolate shop was having a sale - buy one, get one free.  So of course we had to check it out.  Obviously, we did more than check it out...

 

We had a free evening in Antwerp and I'll share about that in a later post.

Chocolate Truffle Making Class (Day 3, Part 1 of 2)

I didn't write much about the chocolate we got at Chocolatier Dumon because we only bought a couple of samples.  I knew we had chocolate on the agenda for Friday morning so we greatly restrained ourselves!  Prior to our trip I had heard about Belgian Chocolate, but didn't fully understand what makes it so special.  Belgian chocolate is world-renowned for its strict adherence to traditional craftsmanship, 100% pure cocoa butter, and an exceptionally fine grinding process. This uncompromising quality and a rich history of artisan innovation set it apart from mass-produced alternatives.

I booked "Belgian Chocolate Truffle Making Workshop" for both Friday and Saturday.  Prior to our arrival there had been a lot of rain in Belgium.  Les had his eye on a big bike ride for one of the days, but that would depend on the weather.  As I previously mentioned, our weather was fantastic and we didn't see any rain our entire trip.  We decided to do the truffle class on Friday and Les would take his solo adventure on Saturday.

.

We arrived at the workshop at 10:00 a.m. and were met by our teacher (I think her name was Sabina.)  There were only four others in our class, so that made it fun and enjoyable.  The first step was making ganache for the truffle filling. 

 

While the ganache was in the freezer, we made hot chocolate.  This was quick and easy, but very tasty!

 

We then got to work rolling our truffles into balls and coating them.  Unfortunately, our ganache needed more time in the freezer, so we kind of had a mess on our hands! The coating included cocoa powder, brown sugar, sprinkles and Rice Krispies.

 

They weren't pretty, but they tasted great!  We took two full boxes with us and they would travel with us for the next week.  We enjoyed sharing them with fellow passengers and some of the crew members.

 

Les had one sage piece of advice:  "You need to practice!"  Ha!  I'm pretty sure truffles will be making an appearance in my Christmas baking this year.