Amsterdam to Bruges

The first order of business upon leaving Amsterdam was to pick up a car. Since shipping our bike over for the trip proved to be too expensive, we decided to mix cars with the bike. For the Amsterdam to Munich leg, we wanted a convertible that would do well on the autobahn.

This should do nicely. Mercedes SLK.

I was a bit disappointed that it was the 200 instead of the 350, but it is adequate.

When we can, we avoid the freeways. So from Amsterdam to Rotterdam was mostly on B roads

Once in Rotterdam, it's out for a little shopping then an evening out clubbing

From Rotterdam, we went through a lot of quaint Dutch towns. Gouda's Stathuis has been there since 1603

Almost all of the Netherlands is crisscrossed with canals, as much of the country is at or below sea level

From Gouda it was out to the coast

At Kijkduin we had to get some beach sand for our friend Ruby

There is a cool mix of new and old windmills

From there it was on to Middleburg for lunch.

You'd think with a landmark like this clocktower, you couldn't spend a half hour getting back to the car, but you would be wrong

Dutch pancake with bacon and cheese and a braised apple-cheese-walnut salad. Yum 

The municipal garbage cans are big bins with an underground vault. The garbage truck comes along with a crane, grabs the bin and lifts it over the truck where it is emptied. Except that it empties garbage juice all over the car parked between the truck and where the bin came from. Glad our convertible wasn't there!

From there it was on to Brugge in Belgium. Brugge is another medieval city with some gorgeous architecture, including city walls.

In the city square, you can have a beer as big as your head and some Flemish stew and frites

After dark, the city is gorgeous

No midgets (see In Bruges)