On to Brussels

 We bid adieu to Amsterdam, hoping to return one day as we truly loved their lifestyle and ease of living.

Our driver Nick loves his job and he was very keen to share his knowledge of the Netherlands as we travelled first to The Hague and then on to Antwerp with a lovely lunch stop in between.

The Hague is a city, of course, the 3rd largest in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam.  It is known as the city of peace and justice.  We hope one day to see Putin in the International Criminal Court building, charged with his war crimes!

On a lighter note, who knew The Hague was also on the coastline and a beach friendly city?  One disappointment was that we didn’t have tickets to see The Girl with the Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis, their art museum.  I’ll have to be satisfied with all the other Vermeer(s) we saw in Amsterdam.

After a stop for a lovely alfresco lunch in a fort town along the way, we were on to Antwerp, the largest city in Belgium.  

Antwerp’s huge port made it the richest city in Europe at one time, attracting rich bankers from all over Europe.  It is still a cosmopolitan city and was once the sugar capital of Europe.  Because of its tolerance of all nationalities, a very large Jewish community began to call it home, especially those emigrating from Spain and Portugal, most notably the Orthodox community, as far back as the 15th century.  The Hasidic Jews grew the diamond trade so large that Antwerp was known as the diamond capital of the world.  80% of the world’s uncut diamonds came through Antwerp until recently.

I just finished watching Rough Diamonds on Netflix which spotlights the culture and intrigue of the diamond business in Antwerp,  It’s worth the watch, especially to see the handsome young star who left his Orthodox family only to return 15 years later 😉

Brussels will be our home for 3 nights.  At first glance, it is the total antithesis of Amsterdam; a little bit like Rome, a little bit NY…loud, gritty and full of tourists….more like the real world.  Stay tuned for a recap of tomorrow’s adventures.