Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy October 2012

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Europe Virtual Day 1: Seattle to Amstrdam (July 5-6)

Today we start our quick 1 week tour of The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.  We fly into Amsterdam on July 6, and department from there on the 13th.  The trip is actually focused on seeing Andre Rieu in concert in his home town of Maastricht, The Netherlands.  Vera and I have always enjoyed his music, and even attended a concert in Portland.  He has special memories for us, as his music could calm Vera's mom down when she became agitated from her Alzheimer's.  Check out a few minutes of this link to a video of the Andre Rieu concert in Maastricht in 2009:

Maastricht is located in a tiny corner of The Netherlands, squeezed between Germany and Belgium.  No attempt was made to defend it in WWII, so there is little war time damage.  Getting there by train (our transportation choice) is not straight forward, and I hate connections.  So, we adapted.  Rather than fighting connections, we decided to spend a few days in connecting cities.  Our circular route from Amsterdam to Maastricht (via Cologne) and back (via Brussels) is shown below.  It's not that bad, as the long hauls are by high speed train, and the way over cities of Amsterdam, Cologne, Aachen and Brussels have a lot to offer on their own.

More cities, less hassle!  That's the plan.  Let's hope it works.





No comments:

Post a Comment