In February, Pat called to ask if I liked Vermeer. Well, after a couple of moments of hesitation, I remembered “The Milkmaid”, and that was about all. Pat then told me about a show in Amsterdam (now she had my attention). It was the largest collection of his work, and she simply had to go.
After looking at what else was going on in Amsterdam, there was a large Van Gogh exhibit as well; we decided to go.  

While the museum’s exhibits were high on Pat and Hugh’s list, all I could think was, let the weather stay cool, so I could see the tulip fields! 

We had one problem. The Vermeer exhibit was sold out. There was a hint that maybe more tickets would become available.

So periodically, I checked the Rijksmuseum website to see if anything was available.  One morning in mid-March, I woke up around 3 a.m., decided to check, and found new tickets had just been released!  I decided against waking up my two potential travel companions and bought three tickets!  

Everyone got very excited as we planned the trip.  As usual for when we travel, I handled the airline tickets.  I found reasonably priced ones to London, so I booked.   Pat made her ticket purchase, and I set about figuring out next steps.

It was only much later that I realized we were flying into London the day before Charles was crowned King.  Well, we would just have to deal with the extra traffic!

Pat was so excited about Vermeer, and Hugh about the Van Gogh exhibit, that I decided I needed to know more than one Vermeer painting. And my knowledge of Van Gogh? Was he the one who cut off his ear? I needed to get up to scratch if I was going to plan this trip.

So I looked at what the Rijksmuseum was offering on Vermeer, what the Van Gogh Museum was showing, and what else might be available close to Amsterdam. 

That led to a side trip to Delft to see the Vermeer center there.  This was probably my favorite of everything we did.  There was so much to explain about the lighting that Vermeer used and the symbolism in his paintings.  And Delft is itself a wonderful place to visit!  While there, we traveled to The Hague to see the Girl with the Pearl Earring, which was not part of the Vermeer exhibit in Amsterdam.

We also had time to see the tulips and Keukenhof Gardens, a favorite of mine.

The Kröller-Müller Museum outside Amsterdam had a large collection of van Gogh’s works; we added that to the itinerary.  Hugh had visited the museum before on an earlier trip, while I napped in the car. This time, no napping.  After our visit to the museum, we traveled to a “famous” ice cream shop and then on to Maastricht. 

Although Hugh and I have spent other vacations in the Netherlands, we had never been to Maastricht. I found a lovely Airbnb outside the city on a small farm.  Oh my, that place was amazing!  Our breakfasts were five-star every morning.  The eggs came from the hens frequenting the yard outside our rooms. 

Pat had never been to Brugge, so after a couple of days seeing Maastricht, doing some shopping, and finding the best bakery and bookstore, we headed to Belgium.

We stayed right off the main square, but finding the hotel was difficult.  Hugh caught the attention of two police officers as he tried to drive through the square to get to our hotel.  We finally decided to just park the car and walk to the hotel.  That proved much easier. 

After we settled in, we moved the car closer.  Brugge is fun to walk and explore, and it was easy to do from our hotel.  We happened to be there over a major holiday, so the streets were abnormally busy.  But we found an antique shop to explore and had a Belgian waffle. The abundance of chocolate shops close to our hotel was fun to explore.  They had chocolate shaped into tools, hammers, and wrenches; I think Pat took some home to her handy husband, Lyle. 

I found a chocolate class, which was another highlight of the trip.  I also booked a photography tour with a local guide.  The photographer gave us lots of tips on things to see, restaurants to visit, and great places to photograph.

Pat left from Brugge to return home.  Hugh and I went on to Haarlem to see the famous windmill.  I’m not certain, but I think our hotel was in the red light district and maybe it rented rooms by the hour.  We had great fun exploring on foot to find the windmill; I also came across a museum for Corrie ten Boom.  I had read her books years ago, and had the museum not been closed, I would have visited. 

After Haarlem we drove onto Texel, an island in the North Sea.  Mary and I had biked around the island the summer of 1970.  I had very fond memories of it.  We took a ferry over and arrived too early to check into our Airbnb, so we found a local place for lunch.  Our credit cards weren’t accepted, so we found an ATM. 

Our first attempts to use the card failed, which had us rather panicked, as we were mostly out of Euros.  But the third time was the charm.  We found our room and met the host.  He was a retired sailor, so he had some interesting stories to share.  We asked for a dinner recommendation, and he ended up making the reservation for us.  We set out to explore the island.  There was an old church I really wanted to photograph.  But after arriving it was obvious the morning light would make better photographs.  So we headed on to the restaurant.

The meal was the best of our 46 years of marriage.  Oh my, it was such a delight.  The restaurant was located outside a forest, so there was no noise from anywhere.  Everything we had was delicious.  Too full for dessert….Our host was so excited when we raved about the meal! 

The next morning we set off for Groningen.  It wasn’t a long drive, so we arrived mid-afternoon.  The hotel, again, was too close to the center square, and again we seemed to drive right through it!  Google Maps doesn’t seem to account for pedestrian-only areas.  We decided to valet the car as it was just too much trouble to deal with.  Our hotel room spanned two floors.  It wasn’t large, but it was lovely.  The shower and bathtub were on the second floor at the top of a small circular staircase. 

We were hungry from our drive, so we decided to have an early dinner in the hotel.  Groningen is the home of mustard soup.  I love mustard soup, and had to try the local version.   After eating, we walked around the small city.  There weren’t as many tourists in Groningen as we had seen in other towns, and the center still felt like it hadn’t been as influenced by tourism.  We found a couple of local cheese shops and a wonderful city center office.  It was fun exploring. 

In the morning we headed to the Groningen Museum.  We were interested in seeing the architecture, but knew nothing about the exhibitions.  They had some nice pieces, but I still came away most excited about the museum itself. 

After Groningen, it was back to Amsterdam to catch a flight to Heathrow and the trip home.  After three weeks on the road, it was time.  We missed the comforts of home and of course the cats, and Tim.

I thought when we planned the trip it would be our last one to Holland and Belgium, but in talking with Pat since our return, it is clear she plans to go back.  Could I possibly let her go alone?  She might get lost, I probably need to go with her.