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June 20: Return

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Per Delta's instruction to arrive 3 hours before an international flight, I set an alarm to rise and cycle to the Schiphol Airport. As usual, I ended up with a lot of extra time but less stress. Activities: 20 minutes to clear the hotel room 30 minutes to cycle to the airport. 67F, daylight, minimal people out and minimal traffic 40 minutes to dissemble the bike, bike trailer, redistribute weight in 2 pieces of luggage 15 minutes to find counter and drop luggage 5 minutes to finish check in 45 minutes to exit passport control Schiphol has a convenient Albert Heijn store on the check-in level, prior to security, by far the best place to pick up food items. Drink? Well nothing over 3 ounces through security. The airport concourse also has some nice minimally padded benches where one can lay down without trying to span chairs with arm rests. Had a 45 minute nap/lay down. Uneventful flight, the best kind. Irony. 2 days after leaving Bruges and a 10.5 hour flight from Amsterdam to Salt ...
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15 June: Antwerp Apartment Saga

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Antwerp was the only stop where a Vrienden host was not available, so I found an apartment on booking.com. Unlike hotels, apartments seldom have any reception, instead emailing entry instructions 24-48 hours prior to checkin-in. I had requested a safe indoor place to store 2 bikes, and the owner agreed. On arrival, the check-in instruction worked, we opened the outer door, and were met by a woman in the ground-floor apartment. We had accidentally pushed a button on the keypad that rang her bell. When I said we were looking for apartment 44, she pointed upstairs, when back into her apartment, but left the door open.  Almost immediately, a 60+year old platinum blond accompanied by 2 sketchy-looking similarly aged men, began scolding me in Dutch/Flemish (I think). One guy looked like and old alcoholic, and the other a gay man with earrings. I rolled my bike trailer into the lobby, and she went off. The only word Kevin recognized was verboten, I didn't recognize anything. When she fina...
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19 June: Return to Amsterdam from Brugge

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 Adventures by Train With a 1:30 PM scheduled departure, we had plenty of time after breakfast. Having walked and cycled the Brugges cobblestones, we went for a easy spin out-and-back along the Bruges–Ostend Canal, a 24.6 km (15.3 mi) long canal in Flanders, Belgium. The canal connects the North Sea to the Belgian interior, running between the cities of Ostend and Bruges. We turned about 4 miles before the end. We cycled to the Brugges station, where our adventures started.  Where to load Kevin's bike—Some cars have a bike symbol on the side, some cars have a lower door for easier entry for bikes, heavy luggage, and wheel chairs. Some have nothing but the small entry space. A rail employee offered no guidance because we have no idea what stock they will send us. Three companies run the rail system: Equipment, ticket offices, train operation employees, and none of them communicate. After much confusion when buying our tickets on arrival in Brugges, another agent said the we had...
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June 18: Brugges Tourist, Rest Day, and Father's Day

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  Vrienden Families All of our Vrienden host families have been great, all in typical residences, a great way to meet local people and better understand the region and culture. Our Brugge-area host is on a quiet street about 3 km East of central Brugge.  Hilde was a primary school teacher and her husband taught classical guitar before he passed 9 years ago. Willy is Hilde's partner, both very warm and welcoming. While not common within the Vrienden network, we arranged to stay 2 nights. Given our 1:30 PM train, Hilde said to stay as long as we liked, just leave via the auto-locking front door. We had light rain intervals the last two nights, the first of our trip, so nice to have that flexibility.  Our airy Vrienden room in Brugges. Willy and granddaughter Laur a Hilde Three large Windmills along the NE Brugges Canal. Relics  were medieval tourist attraction in many churches. This basilica featured a robe containing Jesus' blood stains. Dog of the Day #1 Br...
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