TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012

The Hague, Netherlands

We sure covered a lot of ground today! We all met in the lobby of our hotel in Bruges at 8:00 a.m. I saw some of the others drinking coffee and went into the bar to get a cup for myself. It cost 4 euro ($5.00)!!! For a teeny cup of coffee in a proper tea cup. They put a few store-bought cookies with it but $5.00??? Oh well, it was coffee.

We ordered two taxis to take us all to the train station and they arrived promptly and drove us to the train station with plenty of time to spare. We were able to get a little breakfast there. I had a banana and it wasn't dipped in chocolate! Since David and Sheryl had bought our tickets yesterday, we just had to make our way to the platform.

While we were waiting for the train a sweet, cute, young woman, Anna-Clare, heard Sandy speak English and she came over and checked with her to be sure we were on the right track and knew where we were going. They chatted awhile and she was very helpful. When we arrived in Antwerpen where we had to change trains, she sought us out again to be sure we knew where the platform was for the train to The Hague. She made sure we got on the correct train and then she also found us when she got off the train (a stop or two before us) and waved goodbye to all of us. What a sweetheart! Two of our travelers wished they had their sons with them to introduce them to her.

The train ride from Antwerpen to The Hague was uneventful. We took 3 taxis to our hotel. The hotel is new and "green" and very spartan! But it is not very expensive and it's location is very near the conference we are attending. More about that in a minute. We all checked in and then quickly assembled again to take a tram to Delft. Some of you will remember the blue and white bracelets I brought back from my last trip to the Netherlands. Sheryl, Noel (friend from Dublin) and I really liked Delft when we were here before and we wanted the other travelers to see it. It was a fairly short tram ride and we arrived there around 2:00 p.m.

Most of us were starving so we split up into several groups to have lunch and shop. David and I had lunch at Het Konings Huys and it was very good. David had brie cheese and tomato on dark bread with french fries and I had wienerschnitzel with fries. After lunch we walked a little bit and looked in a few shops and then looked out the window and saw that Noel had arrived from Dublin. Noel had not had lunch yet so David and I went with him to a cafe where Linda, Diane and Carol were having lunch. Noel had a very delicious looking lunch -- ham and cheese melted on bread with a fried egg on it. David had hot chocolate and a piece of chocolate cake (didn't want Noel to be lonely) and I had coffee. We had a nice long visit and then went our separate ways to look around Delft.

We all met up again at 5:00 p.m. to take the train back to The Hague. Upon arrival we all gathered in the lobby of our hotel and got out the snack bags again. It was so nice just to sit and relax and talk. We all started to fade and people wandered off to bed. David and Noel were a little hungry so they headed out to have a little dinner. They went to a nearby restaurant called Ciao! Ciao! and had pizza and wine. David brought back a few pieces and it was delicious! His was four cheese pizza and one of the cheeses was gorgonzola . . . yum! Noel's had ham and I don't know what all but I didn't taste it. It was kind of a late night but what a fun day of travel, sight-seeing and friendship!