Spring 2011, and we head to Assen for WSBK. Pics can be found here. Fly into Frankfurt, pick up our car and make the drive to Assen, Netherlands. Spend four days there for the races and then head off on a road trip that takes us to Amsterdam, Bruges, across France to St. Malo and the beaches at Normandy. From St Malo we drive up to Paris for a few days, meet a work colleague (Lynn) and her husband (Tim) for dinner, and then drive into Luxembourg for a few days. We didn’t really plan on this being a WWII tour, but being in these locales it would have been impossible to avoid, not that we wanted too. Seeing the beaches at Normandy, and the American cemetery in Luxembourg were on the list, but we ended up visiting a few more, like the German cemetery in Luxembourg, and the monument for the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium. This trip was a mixture of large cities and small tourist centric towns.
Amsterdam
Short drive from Assen to Amsterdam. GPS is a wonderful thing and we drive straight to our hotel, The Toren. Considering the narrow one way streets, all of the canals, pedestrians, and bicycles, it was remarkable. We found parking practically in front of the hotel, but it was ridiculously expensive. Opted to have our car moved to the outskirts of the city. Really convenient – guy comes to your hotel, takes your car and then delivers it back when you need it. Still costly though, something like 35 Euro/day. Some places you go to and think, that was nice, glad I came, but don’t need to come back. I didn’t have any strong yearning to see Amsterdam, just thought of it as a place that needed to be on the list of places to go. Turns out I liked it a lot more than I expected, and it’s now back on the list of places to return too.
The Toren is a fantastic hotel on a beautiful canal – with great service. When checking out, we were asked how we enjoyed our stay. We made the mistake of commenting on the construction noise from the down the street. Now this was a very minor annoyance, but the staff insisted on removing one nights charge from the bill. We tried to explain that the noise had not been that big of a deal, but they insisted. In the future I’ll watch what I say more carefully.
Spent the first afternoon walking the central part of the city; flower market, red light district, and the quieter streets. Would have been cool to have bought a bunch of bulbs to plant in our yard, but of course we’re not allowed to bring those back into the US. We’ll have to see about ordering them. Trying to stay off the busier streets and not being run over by all of the cyclists. Need to keep your eyes and ears (for the ring of bike bells) open at all times, but it’s not that difficult. The next day we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was well worth the time. Stopped by some diamond market or something and that was a total waste of time, felt like a trapped rat as they would lock you in the rooms when they brought out their wares (LB thought the diamond ‘museum’ was great – got to watch rough being polished, and also to see some exhibits of spectacular diamond jewelry).
Strolling along the canals, seeing folks slowing motoring by, having lunch and drinks, made Amsterdam seem like a very pleasant place to live. Would love to see what it is like in winter.
Bruges
Didn’t know anything about Bruges until I had seen the movie (In Bruges), and then since we were passing right by it we had to add it to the stops. Cute town, definitely falls into the category of glad I stopped by, but don’t have an urge to return. There were a couple of photo ops that I kick myself for not taking a tripod with me. That’s an item, like GPS that makes the permanent list of items to pack (I’ll mention sunscreen in a later post :)).
Normandy, Omaha Beach, France
The drive from Bruges to St. Malo took a couple of hours longer than we had estimated. Across Northern France we were on the highway, but about halfway into the trip we dropped off onto two lane roads and worked our way to the coast. This allowed for a very pleasant drive, seeing lots of the countryside and the smaller towns, but of course it takes more time. We arrived at Omaha beach mid-afternoon, so we didn’t get to walk the bluffs or see any of the other D-Day landing sites. If/when we go back, this area needs a couple of days. Weird though how there are a lot of small “museums” in all of the towns with tanks and old jeeps out front.
St. Malo, Mont St. Michele
We grabbed ourselves a beachfront room in St. Malo. It wasn’t in the old part of town but a short walk up the street. Hotel was your standard beach town accommodations, nothing special but very clean, good beach access, nice large balcony off our room to sit and have drinks, and an excellent restaurant a short walk away. When we arrived it was near dark, and the waves were crashing against the seawall directly below our room. When we woke the next morning, the tide was out and there was a hundred meters or more of beach. Amazing. We don’t get anything like that here in California.
Paris
After a short visit to Mont St. Michele (which was amazing – and on LB’s bucket list), we had a leisurely drive to Paris. Once again GPS saves the day with a direct route to our Hotel Luxembourg Parc . For a three day visit, we didn’t have a lot of plans. Dinner with our friends Lynn and Tim, a visit to the Cluny Museum to see the tapestries again, and then Montmartre on Easter Sunday (an incredible place to be on that particular holiday). Spent the majority of our time just strolling around, stopping into cafes for a small bite and some drinks, and just enjoying the warm weather and Easter festivities. Especially fun and tempting were the chocolate shops full of Easter treats. Having spent a week in Paris the previous year, we knew our way around a lot better, and the weather was a definite improvement.
Luxembourg
Leaving Paris, we begin to make our way back towards Frankfurt. Knowing we were going to be passing thru Luxembourg, and the American Cemetery was near there, we plan for two days. First afternoon is spent walking Luxembourg City, and sampling the food and beverages (naturally). The next day we immediately head for the American Cemetery. We arrive shortly before it opens and then walk the entire monument – a profoundly moving experience. From here we head to Bastogne (below), and then returning to Lux., we stop at the Vianden Castle. From here we decide to take a look at the German Cemetery which is very near the American Cemetery. Very stark in contrast, but at least it was maintained.
Bastogne, Belgium
After the American Cemetery, we spent the rest of the morning driving the backroads and goat trails of the Ardennes Forrest. We pretty much stumbled onto the Mardasson Memorial. Driving thru the Ardennes I was really wishing I had my bike!
Wellbredred and Littlebeast 
Bravo!!!
Wonderful pics you guys!.. Thanks for sharing!!