August 31st Antwerp

So this is our day off.  Much needed. I think I slept for about 10 hours last night.  My Fitbit tells me that I walked over 20,000 steps yesterday.  This morning we decided to get our laundry done so that we could take the day tomorrow to visit Brugge.  First load went fine.....second....not so much.  Each load takes two hours.  So about half an hour into the second load Ian couldn’t find the garage door opener to let us out of the building on Monday morning.  Uh oh!  We searched the whole apartment without success before panic time.  Ian realized that he had put the opener in the zippered pocket of his shorts so that he wouldn’t lose it.  Good news ........it wasn’t lost.........bad news ........it’s in the washing machine.  Now the problem is that the machine will not let us open it up.  I figured out how to stop it but it would not open.  After a bit of cursing I changed the settings so that the machine eventually drained enough to let me open the door.  Whew!  Sure enough, there was the opener.  Shopping wet.  The other problem is that our internet is so poor that we couldn’t even get hold of the owner.  Anyway, the bottom line is that we have the opener and we think it might still even work.
After that fiasco we went for a walk trying to find the best way out of town.  We don’t want a repeat of trying to get to our apartment.  So I think we have found the escape route.  I hope. Now we are back in the oldest pub in Antwerp.  They have great wifi and beer.  Life is good. P.S.  no Brugge tomorrow.

Our day in Gent

Another beautiful day but somewhat cooler which was a nice change.  Today’s high was 24 degrees.  Tomorrow is predicted to be back up to 30 and then down into the low to mid twenties.  I think the heat wave is over.  We caught the train to Gent just before lunch time. It takes just an hour to reach there and we saw some really nice scenery along the way.  When you are staying in some of these old cities you sometimes forget that there is green space out there somewhere. We keep reminding ourselves that we are so lucky to live where we do.  We have so much space to live in.  Anyway, Gent is a really nice smallish city.  We were told by several people that we should visit Gent over Brugge or Brussels.  Our host said that although Brugge is beautiful it is like a Chinese Disneyland at night.  But we don’t go out at night so I think we’ll visit there on Sunday.  We are going to give Brussels a pass just because we only have two days left and we need some relax time before we make the long trek down to Baden Baden.  (We are hoping that Baden Baden is Gooden Gooden!). It has been recommended by Leslie and Bid so I’m sure it’s lovely.  Tomorrow will be a day off.

August 28th Antwerp

Woke to another beautiful day.  Hot again.  In the thirties with humidity.  We spent the day just getting familiar with our surroundings.  It’s a beautiful, old, very walkable city.  At least Old Town is.  But we have been warned by Christina (a lovely bartender originally from Budapest) DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS!  There is no such thing as a grid in this city.  Also everyone that hears that we have a car and drove here is amazed.  They think we are nuts! Nobody drives in the city.  I have to agree with them.  The next time we get into the car will be to drive to Baden Baden in Germany.  I wonder if people drive there?
So we just wandered yesterday and took lots of pictures.  There were a lot fewer people than there were in Amsterdam and Gothenburg and Edinburgh.  At least until we found the pedestrian only shopping district.  Then it was just like those three cities. But we were looking for the train station and had to go through there to get there. Once we found the train station we were amazed at how beautiful it was.  Our intention was to take the train to Ghent today (August 29th).  We have since changed our minds and will go tomorrow instead. Today we are just going to catch our breath and maybe do laundry.  Might even cook our own dinner! I mentioned Christina earlier but forgot to mention her “boss” Syd.  Syd is a chow and he’s just beautiful.  We may have to pay them another visit.  Our final stop last night was at Quinten Matsis. Which is the oldest pub in Antwerp. A warm, lovely old building.  We wish we had places like this at home.  We just seem to tear things down and replace them with metal, glass and concrete.

August 27th. Made it to Antwerp!

We didn’t sleep too well last night.  I guess just worrying about oversleeping and being late to the airport.  Our hotel was really close to the airport but what should be a five minute drive is more like 20-30 depending on traffic.  But we were awake long before we wanted to be and got to the airport in plenty of time.  Check in went smooth as silk. The flight left a wee bit late but then arrived a wee bit early. Got through customs and picked up our luggage and were out of the airport in record time.  Weather was lovely.  Still in the thirties in Amsterdam and Antwerp. Supposed to start cooling to low twenties by Thursday. So we were prepared for a three hour drive to Antwerp but were pleasantly surprised that we were here in 1hour and 45 minutes. We had just told ourselves that the gods were smiling on us as everything seemed so easy.  Shouldn’t have said that.  We spent 45 minutes driving in circles, through tunnels and back again.  Dodging bicycles (again) and getting cut off by other not so polite drivers.  What started as a really nice drive had deteriorated into a sweaty, stress filled cursing and swearing nightmare.  The problem was that everywhere our GPS tried to send us was either a one way street or was closed due to construction.  It was near heart attack time when we came upon a hotel with a no parking sign out front.  WE PARKED!  Ian went in and the very nice, friendly receptionist called our host and explained what was happening.  He tried to give more directions as to how we could get there and even the receptionist couldn’t follow his directions.  We knew that we were within a couple hundred yards of our accommodation.  So Ian got on the phone and told Yves (pronounced Eves) and told him “you have to come and get us!”  And he said....... I still can’t believe this....... “well, I have a car but it will take me forever in this traffic”.  He was with us in fifteen minutes.......on foot!  So I was prepared to hate him.  But I couldn’t.  He couldn’t have been nicer.  And wait until you see the place we are in.  So anyone out there that is considering coming to Belgium,  come here!  We are right in the centreof the city.  But it’s so quiet that all you will hear are the occasional chiming of church bells.  We are within a block of a good grocery store and a block or so of a nice traditional pub.  Or so Yves tells us.  We will explore the rest of the city tomorrow.  We now have some groceries in and a bottle of red and a bottle of white.  Who could ask for anything more?  This Yves is I think a writer.  There is art and art books and everywhere.  A well stocked kitchen, laundry facilities, freezer (which means ice Brenda).  Ian and I think maybe we should just move in.  He has much better taste than I.
Can’t wait until tomorrow!

Dairsie to Edinburgh August 26th

Left Leslie’s just before ten in the morning.  It was smooth sailing all the way to Edinburgh.  Thank god for the GPS.  We would never have found the hotel on our own.  It was too early to check in so we just left our luggage and took a taxi to the airport.  There we took the tram into city centre.  What a slick operation that was.  The trip took about half an hour. So this is festival week in Edinburgh and the crowds were unbelievable.  Monday was the last day so there were fireworks going to happen at 10:00 at night. So we jostled our way through the crowds to get a few pictures.  Scotland is having a mini heatwave at the moment so it was nice to be in the warmth.  Neither of us could stand the crowds of people and all the noise so we went into the Grassmarket area of the city.  It was a bit better there.  We found and old pub (surprise!) that was called The Last Drop.  Just like in Mexico.  Anyway, this pub is on the site where executions used to take place.  People used to come to watch and presumably have a pint.  Pretty gruesome! After our pint we walked around the castle from below so got some pretty good pictures from different angles.  Then we made our way over to New Town in search of a pub called the Oxford.  “The Ox” for short. For anyone who is a fan of Ian Rankin’s books or the t.v. series Rebus this is the pub featured in both.  It’s where the Edinburgh police went to drink.  It is also the pub where Ian Rankin does in fact go to drink. It’s a very old pub, not fancy at all.  Looks like it needs a good clean.  But you can get a good chat with some locals.  They are not accustomed to seeing many tourists.  On our way to the pub I spotted a hair salon.  I was in dire need of a trim.  I went into the shop and was lucky enough to be fit in after only a ten minute wait.  The prices looked a bit scary but I was desperate.  The only one who could do my hair was a senior stylist.  No......that does not mean I get a seniors discount.  The lowest price for a haircut was £42 but with a senior stylist it was £58.  With a £3 tip that works out to be about $95.00.  Never in my life have I spent that on a haircut!  But the stylist was worth the price of admission.  We chatted the whole way through.  I think she did a great job and she took almost an hour to cut my little head of hair.  Anyway,  we shared a few stories and had a few laughs. But before I got my haircut we found the “Ox” and I left Ian in their capable hands.  When I went o join him I apologized to him for the long wait but he didn’t seem to mind at all.  He told me that when he first got there a quiet came over the room.  But after a bit they started to chat once more.  When I arrived we began to speak to the bar girl (lovely) and a few of the patrons.  I guess I just can’t keep my mouth shut.  Apparently we just missed Ian Rankin who was in earlier in the day.  Damn! We made our way back to our hotel by 9:30 before the fireworks were over and the mad rush to get out of town began.  We had a lovely day. More to come I hope.

August 24th. Leaving Stromness for Dairsie

August 24th. Happy Birthday to our beautiful granddaughter Mackenzie who turns twelve today!
So up not quite so early today due to our fun previous evening.  Got ourselves packed up and went back to ELL &Co for breakfast. (Sort of.....it was too late for breakfast so made do with burgers and fries)  We were going to have a visit with Helen, who was married to Ian’s cousin Sidney, but couldn’t find the house. Drove up and down the road a couple of times but could remember which one it was.  Sorry about that. Then we went to take a little walk around Kirkwall.  Lots of memories there as well but we just didn’t have the time that we really needed. We got to St. Margaret’s Hope where we catch the boat for the mainland with time to spare. We arrived on the mainland at around 6:10 and had decided to drive as far as Inverness and then stop for the night.  But everything was booked.  Even in small villages .  And the prices have gone through the roof.  Orkney and the north of Scotland have been “discovered”.  It’s becoming chock a block with tourists from England and all over the world.  So we drove straight through to Dairsie arriving at just before midnight. We were both exhausted. Its a beautiful drive but it was dark and much of it is very windy with no shoulders.  And the people up there drive like maniacs!  So off to bed around midnight.  Good sleep.  Up around 8:00.  We had a stunning day.  It reached 24 degrees which is pretty warm here.  Ian and I spent the day in St. Andrews visiting places where we have been before. Some places where we stayed, some places where we were with our parents, some places where we partied with Leslie. We have lots of wonderful memories of St. Andrews.  And who knows if or when we will return.
For our last evening we went into Cupar for dinner at the Indian restaurant.(Shanhai I think). Anyway, tons of food and delicious.  A lovely evening.  Home around ten and off to bed.