Destinations – RV Travels in Europe and North America

April 15, 2026 Vienna AU

In our quest to investigate every “Versailles of” we decided to visit the Versailles of Austria Schonbrunn palace. This one came close to matching Versailles in size and splendor.

Schonbrunn palace was the summer residence of the Hapsburg dynasty, and was used for 170 years until the fall of the Hapsburgs in 1918. The Hapsburgs as a dynasty were not slouches ruling Austria, and varying other parts of Europe for over 600 years.

A family portrait of the Empress Maria Theresa with 11 of her 16 children.

The palace has over 1200 rooms and a gigantic garden. Our tour today was limited to 25 rooms that were the sleeping quarters and work space of King Franz Joseph who was King of Austria for 70 years, as well as the main public rooms of the palace.

Queen Elisabeth of Austria, affectionately known in Vienna as Sissi was Franz Josephs wife. This room was her sitting room.

As you walk up to the palace we were struck by the amount of commercial activity taking place in front of the palace on the grounds. There were many food and souvenir stands, and even carnival rides. It felt more like a fair grounds than the entrance to a great palace. Ton was a little taken aback, but I thought it was kind of fun. The grounds are free to visit and they are immense and I imagine that on nice days and summer they are buzzing with tourists and locals alike.

Part of the food cart pod at the palace with a carousel in the background.

The palace itself was beautiful and as ostentatious as you would expect for a place that was meant to compete with Versailles. The working rooms were meant by Franz Joseph to be modest, but modest for an Emperor is quite different than modest for most people.

The woodwork and the inlays were beautiful.

The main ball room was spectacular, but not as spectacular as the hall of mirrors in Versailles. But it came a close second.

It took us about two hours to go thru all 25 rooms. We had planned on spending some time in the gardens, but while they are immense and pretty they did not grab our attention. We sat on a bench for 15 or 20 minutes taking it in and then decided to head back to the center.

Part of the Gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace.

By the time we returned to the center of the city it was nearly 2pm and we were ready for a late lunch. We headed to a place that was recommended yesterday. It is supposed to be a bit of a hidden gem. To keep up with our Vienna experience we ordered two of the dishes Vienna is famous for Schnitzel and Goulash. The food was fine. So far our verdict on Austrian food is… fine. We have yet to have anything that has wowed us.

One thing Vienna does spectacularly is the streets. They are built for walking, and pedestrians are definitely king here. There are multiple wide boulevards lined with interesting shops to wander down and almost no vehicle traffic. Of the large cities we have visited in Europe I think Vienna is the best for just strolling around.

On one of the streets we came across St. Peters Church and popped inside to check it out. It was ornate and beautiful. Ton really liked it and spent 30 minutes exploring. I spent a lot of that time sitting in a chair and taking in the place, it is built to overwhelm the senses and it succeeds. It also features concerts in the evening, and it looks like it would be a great place to take in some of the music that Vienna is famous for.

After St. Peters we decided to head back to François for the evening. I think the problem with Vienna is going to be managing what to see, as the options for concerts, museums, and just walking the streets are so diverse and tempting that it would take weeks to do the city justice.

April 14, 2026 Vienna AU

Vienna is really the beginning of our planned trip. Everything up to now was fun but it was positioning to get us to the heart of trip.

Part of the Imperial Palace of the Hapsburg’s.

Ton has visited this area before on tours, and as we have been traveling the last few years she has kept saying I need to see Vienna and Budapest. Last night we were having a discussion about how to do our visit to Vienna. In the end it seemed very complex so we decided to begin the visit by doing a walking tour of the city and see what it inspired in us.

We arrived downtown a couple of hours before our tour was due to begin so we visited the Nacht Market. The Nacht Market is a permanent market that has been in place for 150 years or so in the median of a major road.

We gave it a pass thru with an eye towards finding a coffee shop. Ton said there was a special pastry we needed to try called a Sacher Torte, since I never need encouragement to try a piece of cake I was all in. Nowhere in the market grabbed us, but just up the street we saw a place. We also ordered the special coffee of Vienna called Melange. They were both good, but neither struck as special, the Melange was a mild form of Latte with coffee instead of espresso, and the Sacher Torte was well… chocolate cake a little on the dry side. We were wondering if we had picked a bad place, but on the tour later the guide who was a native of Vienna, but had lived in France for 28 years gave the exact review of the cake I just gave including the little dry part. He said it was good marketing by the Sacher Cafe. So we felt vindicated.

The walking tour was very well done and the guide was exceptionally knowledgeable and just opinionated enough to give it authenticity. We enjoyed it a great deal.

Our guide called this statue of Mozart an Instagram shot. It is a beautiful statue though.

The tour hit all of the highlights of the center of the city, but he pointed out several museums that he highly recommended. My first impressions of the city had been that it was a typical European city, but the further we walked the more I realized that it was indeed special.

St. Stephen Church. According to our guide until three months ago there had been scaffolding on some part of the church for the previous 30 years.

The tour ended with some recommendations for places to visit away from the center of the city and some restaurants and coffee shops to try. By the end I was sold on a longer stop for Vienna.

We took a quick dive into St. Stephens to check out the interior but it was really crowded so the stop was quick. At the end we took a slow stroll down one of the main streets to the Opera House where we caught a subway back to the campground.

The stables that are home to the famous Lipizzaner stallions of Vienna.

April 13, 2026 Vienna AU

It’s going to be a short one today. Our intent today was to stop near Linz Austria which was about 2 and a half hours from Regensburg. There was only one campsite in Linz and when we arrived about 12:30 it had a sign that registration was closed until 5pm. The barrier was down, but there was a place to punch in a code and a phone number. I tried to call the phone number but no one answered. After about 15 minutes of wandering around we decided to press on to Vienna.

Washing machines at the campground in Vienna.

A new trend we are noticing this trip is a sharp reduction in the hours that the reception is open at campground. Campgrounds are now moving towards an expectation that you will make a reservation on line, and receive all of the information you need to access the campground by email, there is not necessarily someone there to meet you and check you in. We are not great planners, and are not happy about this trend as it does not match our spontaneous planning or our computer skills. When we arrived in Vienna at 3:30 there was someone in reception, but when I went back to ask someone a question at 4:15 the office was closed. This reception is only open from 8 to 4. Late arrivals are on their own.

There are no pictures today as the photographer was uninspired, and I think I will sign off as I am tired from my unexpected 6 hour drive including an hour in Vienna’s rush hour.

April 12, 2026 Regensburg GE

We had a debate yesterday, do we take advantage of the lack of trucks on Sunday and make a big jump of 400 kilometers to Vienna, or do we take it easy sleep in a little and make a short jump of 95 kilometers to Regensburg. After a lot of back and forth, we decided to take it easy today .

I walked right by this old stone wall without noticing it. Ton saw it and caught it on camera.

Also, what a difference a day makes for the weather. Yesterday was glorious, and everyone was enjoying the 70 degree day. This morning we woke to rain, cold, and fog. The rain ended about noon, but it was gray cold and windy today.

The 800 year old bridge Regensburg is famous for.

Today was a day for old things. We visited an 800 year old bridge that in its day was an engineering marvel. The oldest continuous operating restaurant in the world, specializing in sausage. The oldest coffee shop in Europe operating since the 1600’s. Finally a brewery that dates back to 1050.

Advertised as the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the world. They specialize in a local sausage. It is located next to the Danube, and have a dock so boats can pull in and order a meal.

We started out by visiting the cathedral. When we first arrived mass had just ended and the interior was well lit. After a few minutes the lights went out and the interior was quite dark, but it highlighted the stain glass windows that the cathedral is famous for.

The cathedral had very intricate stain glass windows that were the highlight for me.

After the cathedral we walked down to the bridge which was built in the 12th century. It is cleverly named the Steinerne Brucke which means Stone Bridge in German. The bridge has gone thru many changes and modifications over the 800 years in use, but has been in continuous operation since 1146. Until the 1930’s it was the only bridge at Regensburg that crossed the Danube. It is now a pedestrian only bridge.

The gate at the end of the bridge is a modern recreation of the old city gate.

We enjoyed our walk across and lingered a bit as our son Dylan called us from Bangalore in India to chat. Cell phones have made the world a lot smaller than it used to be. When Ton and I were first married the idea of having a telephone conversation with someone in India while standing on a bridge in Germany would have been science fiction.

At this point we were cold so we decided to head to the Beer Hall for a local Benedictine Brewery. The monastery has been producing beer since 1050. I was only planning on having a beer and warming up, but Ton surprised me by suggesting we split a lunch special. The beer was excellent, and the roasted pork was good, but the salad and dumplings were excellent.

Street seen in Regensburg, puffy jackets were the dress of choice and instead of sitting on the cobblestones enjoying the sun like yesterday, everyone had their head down and were walking with a purpose.

Our last stop of the day was the Princess Coffee shop which is advertised as the oldest coffee shop in Europe. We entered a bright and modern shop, and again Ton surprised me by picking out two pastries. They were both delicious, my black coffee cost almost a Euro more than my beer.

Ton liked this street art on a building next to the Rathouse.

After our beer and coffee (and meal and dessert), it was time to head back to François. I was having a hard time with the bus when two people jumped into help us. One looked like a student who spoke English fluently and one was a middle aged lady who looked like a long term native. She had the detailed knowledge of the system and he translated her advice and added some of his own.

The outside seating was abandoned today.

This trip we have had a lot of very fun and friendly interactions with random Germans. Every night at the campground dish washing sink I have ended up in nice conversations about traveling with various Germans. The folks on the bus were charming today, and the young lady who checked me in at the campground today told me proudly that her husband was American also.

April 8, 2026 Maastricht NE

Maastricht is a town on a small handle of land that sticks down between Germany and Belgium. If you travel 20 kilometers east you are in Germany if you travel to the western city limits you are in Belgium and if you travel 20 kilometers south you are also in Belgium.

The Market Square actually had a market going on it today. Good for shopping, bad for pictures of pretty buildings.

We had stopped near Maastricht on our third visit to Europe way back before Covid. We did not go into town, but had bookmarked it for a future trip. A quick bus ride from the campground deposited us on the riverfront in the center of town. The Maas River (in Belgium and France it is called the Meuse River) cuts thru the center of the city.

Most of the town is located on the west bank of the river which is where we were headed. It is an old town that dates back to the Celts around 500 BC. The Romans had a small town here. It became a major city in the middle ages and was a prosperous river trading city.

This church is called Onze-Lieve Vrouwebasilik. Built in the 1200’s

Today the town is a shopping destination for all three countries in the area. So we weren’t that surprised to find a bustling town. The weather was almost perfect with clear skies and temperatures in the low 70’s.

We started at the market and as usual enjoyed window shopping (or is it table shopping when there are no windows), but the market blocked all of the pretty photos, so after a while we moved on.

St. Johns Church on the left, and St.Servatius Basilica on the right.

Maastricht was on the “border” between Catholic Europe and Protestant Europe during the reformation. As a result as you approach the main church in town it looks like one gigantic church. When you get closer you notice there is a small road splitting the building. It turns out there are two churches side by side, one with an interesting red tower is Protestant, and the larger one is Catholic.

The kids section of the Dominican Church Book Store.

Ton and I are both big fans of libraries and bookstores and today we found our most memorable one. The Dominican Church Book Store is in a repurposed 13th century church. It is spectacular, and we were both thrilled when we entered it.

The main floor shows its origins as a church.

We spent quite a while walking thru and exploring all of the corners of the store. We both thought that this was a wonderful use of a deconsecrated church.

The arches really gave this section a special airy feel. The light was brighter and the stones shined differently than in the rest of the bookstore.

The place was full of other people who were just as impressed and awed as we were. We could have spent the whole day there but I was getting hungry so we reluctantly left to find some local food. Finding places like this in small cities is one of the reasons I love traveling like we do.

One last picture of one of my new favorite places.

On the way to lunch we saw the entrance for a church that did not look that special from the outside. We were glad we entered though as the magic of this church was on the inside. The Onze-Lieve Vrouwebasilik was much larger on the inside than it looked from the street. Not only did you get to visit the main church but you are allowed to visit the nice garden in the living area for the nuns who used to be here. It was another unexpected surprise delivered to us today.

Part of the interior of Onze-Lieve Vrouwebasilik.

We set out to find lunch and specifically a dish called Zuurvlees a stew that traditionally was made from horse meat but today is done in beef. The stew has a tangy sour taste and is quite dark. It is usually served with fried potatoes that you dip into the stew. We found a place serving it and ordered one for the two of us. It was delicious and just the right size for us to share.

Our Zuurvlees that we shared along with a Dutch and a Belgian beer.

After lunch we strolled around for a while people watching, and despite it being a Wednesday the people were out in force. As I said the sunshine and warm temperatures seemed to have everyone’s spirits up so it was a jolly crowd walking around town. After a while we crossed the Maas and walked to our bus stop for a trip back to François.

A nice street of homes on the way to the train station.

April 7, 2026 Maastricht NE

Today we completed our trip to Tilburg by visiting the site that put the city on our map. Just outside Tilburg is another Abbey brewery. The Brouwerij de Koningshoeven brews beer under the trademark La Trappe. When we were looking for a place to settle for Easter we picked Tilburg because of the Abbey brewery.

The brewery is relatively young. The Abbey was founded by French Monks who moved to the Netherlands in the 1880’s. They took over an abandoned royal hunting lodge. To help sustain the Abbey they began brewing beer. The beer caught on and turned into the major source of income for the monastery.

A picture of 3 monks and one decidedly unholy man.

To be designated as an Abbey beer the production must meet three criteria. The beer must be produced on the ground of the Abbey. The beer must be produced by or supervised by a monk. And any profits from the beer must be given to charity.

The problem is that the number of monks is dwindling every year. At Konigshoeven there were 180 monks in the 1950’s. Today there are 18, and the average age is 66. The youngest monk is 35. Several other abbey breweries have lost their designation because they no longer had a monk on site due to death and retirement.

The church and the dormitory for the monks. Part of the dormitory is now run as a hotel as there are many more rooms than monks.

They produce 1 million liters of La Trappe beer per year which is a lot of beers for 18 monks. Today most of the work is done by non-monks. They also have a tie in with a corporation that causes some discomfort for purists.

At the end we were treated to a taste of the beer and it was delicious. Later in the day we did a comparison of the beer from here with a bottle we had from the Abbey we visited in Belgium. They were both delicious, and unique.

Our motivation for 4 nights in Tilburg Netherlands. It was worth it.

After the tour we finally started heading east and ended our day in Maastricht Netherlands, near the German (and Belgian) border. The afternoon was spent taking care of laundry which always makes us happy.

April 6, 2026 Turnhout BE

Today we decided to take a quick trip into Belgium from Tilburg. The primary reason is to buy fuel for François. The diesel in Belgium is 30 t0 50 cents per liter less than the Netherlands. In fact in the morning I ran into one of the campground workers and he asked our plans for the day. When I told him we were going to pop into Belgium for fuel- he laughed and said that we were now officially Tilburgers, as they all did that, he also mentioned we should get some beer while we were there.

The sun was out and the temperatures reached the 60’s.

We took a walk around Turnhout the town in Belgium and it is a nice market city that looks quite prosperous. Ton and I were talking and I mentioned that I liked Belgium better than the Netherlands. Ton agreed, the differences are minor (Flemish and Dutch are virtually the same language), but we have had more fun interactions with Belgians than with Dutch, we love Belgian beer, and the towns seem a little warmer and pedestrian friendly.

Our selection of Belgian Beers. The interior of the bar also had a great vibe.

To follow thru on the advice of the campground guy we stopped in a really cool pub to try a couple of the local brews. The highlight was from a brewery called Corsendonk. This is a former Trappist Brewery founded in the 1400’s that is now not affiliated with the church, but still brewing great beer. We really enjoyed the beer, and Ton put it to a test by ordering her go to Belgian beer to compare, the Corsendonk beat it convincingly. Unfortunately, like our other favorite Belgian beer, very little of this beer gets out of Belgium.

Another pub we were tempted by. The bicycle team was enjoying a post ride hydration session.

We visited a couple of other historic sites that every medium to large city has, including a small castle, and the church. But, we were drawn to the pubs. There were several, but we had to stick to the one or I wouldn’t have been able to drive back to Tilburg.

Turnhout was a pleasant surprise for us, and “turned out” to be more than just a place to get cheap gas. It is a great little town with good vibes and world class beer. Just perfect for us. Belgium continues to surprise and delight us.

The old castle, which is now the city court.

On the way out of town we got our “cheap” diesel. It was still more than $10 per gallon. However, the beer was half the price of Dutch beer, and less than we would pay in Oregon.

When we returned to the campground, the good weather and holiday had brought a big crowd in the park. We got to enjoy a lot of people watching while we enjoyed an excellent dinner Ton prepared. Also, Happy Birthday Ton.

April 5, 2026 Tilburg NE

We mostly took Easter Sunday off. The wind was blowing a gale with occasional squalls of rain. We took the opportunity to sleep in, and then had a slow go at the morning.

The campground is located in reclaimed industrial land that was once a switch yard for the rail road. The park is large and wide open. It has been well used since we have been here. We spent most of the day watching hearty souls trying to have family picnics in a gale. It was pretty entertaining for us, maybe less so for the picnickers.

One of the groups trying to have a picnic in a gale.

Yesterday when we walked by a big Albert Heijn they had a sign saying they were open 365 days per year which is unusual in Europe. Early in the afternoon we decided to test that statement and took a quick walk there. Even though we didn’t think that we needed anything we somehow ended up coming back with two full bags of groceries. That was the highlight of our Easter.

April 4, 2026 Tilburg NE

We checked out Tilburg today. It is the 5th largest city in the Netherlands. When the textile industry collapsed in the 1960’s the city went thru a period of modernization and one mayor in particular oversaw the razing of many of the older buildings in the city to replace them with “modern” buildings. His decision to tear down the historic city hall and replace it with a nine story black rectangle is particularly lamented now.

The old roundhouse at the railroad station has been converted into a food hall.

The skyline is filled with typical office towers and high rise apartments. We tend to like Dutch modern architecture a little better than what we see in the US, but it is still mostly tall rectangles.

Lately the city has been trying to repurpose the older buildings rather than tear them down. The best example is the city library which was built in an old locomotive repair building.

They have done a fantastic job of converting the interior of this industrial space into a modern and airy library. It retains some of the details from the old use including a 30 ton crane that was used to lift the locomotives. But the library space is well done and quite airy. Both Ton and I really enjoyed walking around the building and admiring the details that went into the conversion. This building is really unique. Ton really enjoys libraries and book shops and they are unfortunately becoming fewer and fewer in this digital age. This library is one of her favorites.

After we left the library we headed into the city center. Yesterday the town seemed kind of quiet, but Saturday brought out the local people and the town was much more vibrant. We were enjoying the town when we saw the main church and headed in. In a country that is mostly Protestant this part of the country is Catholic so we were curious to see the church.

As we entered a gentleman hit us with a quick blast of Dutch and as soon as he could tell it did not register he switched to English. Ton and I were talking about how spoiled we are in the Netherlands. Very few Dutch do not speak English well, and as a result we have learned almost no Dutch. Also, some of the common words are the same such Hello, and Sorry, words you usually learn in other languages.

The spontaneous for us afternoon cello concert.

To get back to the story, he told us there was a concert getting ready to start at the front of the church and we were welcome to sit in. A young cellist gave a very nice 45 minute concert that I really enjoyed. He was a very talented young man and did a terrific job. We were glad we walked in when we did.

Our next stop was the port in Tilburg. It is a river port as we are quite a way inland. It was a nice walk and they had a few interesting old canal boats docked there.

Walking back we came upon the Saturday market and Tons day was made. We spent a lot of time going from stand to stand and ended up with some rotisserie chicken, and white asparagus. We also indulged in what the Dutch call kibble, which is fried cod. The markets never disappoint over here.

After the market we decided to head back to François to enjoy our chicken and relax for the rest of the day.

April 3, 2026 Tilburg NE

We made our first move of the trip about 120 kilometers south to the college town of Tilburg. We are going to spend a few days in this area as our primary motivation is to visit the only Trappist Abby brewery outside of Belgium which is in Tilburg.

This intersection had this very interesting wait figure. It really looks like a guy peeing into a bucket. The green figure is a guy carrying a bucket. Whimsical?

But because Easter is one of the major holidays in Europe we were nervous and pre-booked ourselves into a campground for the whole weekend. We have run into problems finding places to stay on Easter in Greece, Poland, and Spain so we didn’t want to take any chances. I thought I was booking us into a major campground, but it turns out to be a small but well appointed municipal aire. When we pulled up we were a little taken aback, as it is a single row of parking spaces that only holds about 10 RV’s wedged between a large apartment building and a very nice park.

This observation tower is in the park next to our “campground”. Ton has challenged me to climb it tomorrow.

The good news it is almost in the city center, and near the train station so we can use Tilburg as a base to go to a couple of near by towns. We may also take a day trip to Belgium to get cheaper Belgian fuel. The Netherlands has the highest fuel prices in Europe and the price has exploded since the Iran war. Today we saw fuel between €2.50 and 2.80 per liter, which is well north of $10 per gallon.

The town was pretty quiet today especially for a Friday. Since it is a college town we are wondering if all of the students have gone home for the long weekend.

April 2, 2026 Amsterdam NE

We both slept well last night so a trip into the city center seemed in order. Ton found a new place for us to check out called NDSM.

The temperature had fallen compared to the last two days so we bundled up and headed downtown. The nice thing about this campground is access to the city center is quite simple. It is located at the end of the line for one of the metro lines and the trip to the main train station is only 15 minutes. Once downtown we needed to take one of the free ferries across the river to NDSM.

The entrance to NDSM. Note the neatly stacked cars in the background.

NDSM is a new artist cooperative on the grounds of an old ship repair facility. The old repair buildings have been converted into artists workshops. We could only visit part of the facility as a major tech convention is going to take place on the site next week and a lot of exhibitions were being set up.

One of the workshops in the old repair building.

One of the old buildings had been converted to the worlds largest “street art” museum. We walked around the outside, but I balked at the €21.50 entrance fee so we did not go inside. I suspect Ton would have loved it, so now I have non-buyers remorse as I write this.

A sample of the kind of street art we would have found inside the museum.

The other main building contains about 20 artist studios with different kind of art being produced. Ton really enjoyed walking around and looking at the outside of the studios. They are working studios so the public is not allowed inside, you walk thru the old shipyard looking at the art on the outside of the studios.

A sample of some of the art on the outer walls of the studios.

A lot of the old equipment and catwalks from the buildings previous life as a ship repair building were in still in place. I found myself drawn to the equipment and envisioning how the repairs flowed thru the building. My time working in automobile plants makes these kind of buildings fascinating to me.

The repurposing of the industrial site as artist studios had me a little conflicted. I guess most people would see this as an upgrade from the previous use as a shipyard. I found myself wondering if the original work wasn’t just as interesting as the current work, and if the stories of the shipyard workers wouldn’t be just as interesting as those of the artists currently occupying the space. I guess I am a bit of a dinosaur who misses old fashioned manufacturing as a statement of skill and intellectual knowledge on par with more “intellectual” work.

After NDSM we headed to the second best apple pie in Amsterdam. The Netherlands is rightly recognized as having some of the best apple pie in the world. Last year we went to the apple pie place that was supposed to be the best in Amsterdam. After some debate and searching our memory, I decided that today’s apple pie while being very good and worth the walk, was indeed second best. Ton, couldn’t decide so declared a tie, but pronounced Dutch apple pie better than American apple pie in general.

The “second best” apple pie in Amsterdam. Still delicious.

It was gray, cold and blustery so the walks were done with a sense of purpose and directness we might not have had on a nicer day. But Amsterdam remains a beautiful city to walk in.

One of the many decorated bikes on bridges in Amsterdam.

Our final walk was to a brewery located in an old nunnery in the infamous red light district of Amsterdam. The nunnery was founded in the 1400’s to offer sanctuary to women of bad reputation who wanted to turn their lives around. This made me wonder if the current red light district goes back to the 1400’s also. The nuns brewed beer to help pay for upkeep of the nunnery. Their beer was in high demand, so when the nunnery was winding up operations they sold their recipes to a private party who continued brewing the beer.

Since we had a picture of a canal, we also have to have a windmill to prove we are in the Netherlands.

The brewery was the last stop of the day, and even better was located just around the corner from a stop on our train line. We returned to the busy campground and had a light dinner to make up for our huge piece of apple pie.

We normally would have been tempted to try some cannoli’s, but we had just finished our apple pie.

April 1, 2026 Amsterdam NE

There was some activity today, but not particularly interesting activity. The day was spent provisioning for the upcoming trip. One of the reasons we like Amsterdam as a base is there are two excellent large Asian groceries near the campground we stay at.

We are now fully stocked up with Thai and other Asian, sauces, spices, and noodles. We also picked up some frozen fish balls which are an important ingredient in a lot of Thai noodle dishes. One of the groceries also has barbecue pork in their deli that Ton has declared the best she has tasted outside of Thailand.

After taking care of our Asian food needs we headed over to an Albert Heijn which is one of the biggest grocery store chains in the Netherlands. After an hour we found ourselves well stocked with the other necessities of life like milk, bread, eggs, and meat.

We then headed back to the campground where Ton played Tetris with our little refrigerator and our limited shelf space. She somehow manages to squeeze an amazing amount of stuff into a little bit of space.

I spent time trying to figure out why the toilet was not dispensing water, unfortunately I was not successful. It looks like the pump may have seized up so a stop at a RV dealer is in our future.

We are still fighting a bit of jet lag, but we are thinking a sojourn into Amsterdam proper may be in the cards for tomorrow.

March 31, 2026 Amsterdam NE

We did not leave the campground today. We are both jet lagged from yesterday but it is hitting us differently. Ton woke up in the middle of the night and tossed and turned. She finally fell asleep near dawn and slept in until about 10. I slept thru the night, but crashed about 1 pm until 4:30 pm.

One of the canals that surround the campground on three sides.

We took a walk in the evening and did a census of the vans in the campground. About 250 vans in a campground that holds 450, but it is only March. The population is about 85% German, and there are more kids than normal so we are guessing German schools are on Easter holiday.

The top picture is of the automatic pizza machine that was doing a booming business as we went by. Also, since we were here last they have automated the camp store so there are no humans. You punch a code to get into the store, and pick what you want and checkout at a automatic cashier. I guess this is progress. They have also added an automatic check in machine, though they do open their reception for limited hours of the day for the old timers who prefer to interact with humans.

March 30, 2026 Amsterdam NE

We traveled to Amsterdam to start our spring trip. The trip today was the smoothest ever. This time we routed ourselves Portland to New York to Amsterdam. The flight from Portland was early and we arrived earlier than usual due to all of the TSA troubles from the government shutdown. There was no line at all so we were thru in record time. Both of the flights arrived very early so our tight connection in New York become a comfortable connection. Our flight to Amsterdam arrived 45 minutes early and we were one of the first international flights of the day so there was no line at immigration and we were thru in under 10 minutes. If all travel days could be so smooth…

We had contacted our storage place to see what time we could arrive. They told us to come as early as we like. They said they would leave the keys in a place that is easy to find but pretty secure. Our Uber driver was a nice guy from Morocco.

The upshot was we arrived at François at 6:15 am. The only glitch was the earliest we could check into the campground was noon. We spent the next three hours unpacking our bags and the plastic boxes we store our left over food in to deter mouse invasions. When I say we the distribution of work is about 90% Ton and 10% Ron.

About 9:15 Ton declared close enough. We decided to take a nap until 10:30 and then head over to Lidl for our first shopping of this trip. We arrived at the campground at high noon and joined a line of 5 German vans. But the check in went quickly and we were parked up 15 minutes after arrival.

Today was as easy as it gets when transiting two countries.

November 6, 2025 Amsterdam NE

Our fall trip ended as they all do when we dropped François off at the storage. We had plenty of time in the morning to wrap up a few things to prepare François. The place we stayed in Stein was nice, a lot of farmers in the Netherlands seem to have set up side businesses as campgrounds. This one is nice and very new. It made for a good place to spend the last few days.

The one issue with the small campgrounds is that in all three we have stayed at the final kilometer or two to get there are on dike roads. Netherlands is rightfully famous for its systems of pumps and dikes that have allowed it to reclaim a lot of land. This land makes for great farm land. The dikes are pretty tall and narrow and usually there is water on one side. The single lane on top is two way and there are pull outs to allow vehicles to pass. People manage to get around each other using the pull outs and driveways of the farms and homes .

As we were leaving google routed us on a dike road for about 7 kilometers. We were doing fine until I came to a point where there were road signs saying restricted to vehicles less than 2.2 meters wide. François is about 2.4 meters wide. I sat there contemplating what to do. The narrow road did get a slight bit narrower but I thought we would make it. At that point luck intervened and a tractor pulling farm equipment went by me that was wider than François. I took off after him figuring if he could make it we certainly could and I had the added benefit of having him clear other traffic out of the way as long as I stayed close.

Things were going well until I saw a line of cars going the same direction as us stopped on the dike ahead. After a few minutes of idling I saw the farmer get out of the tractor and go ahead to see what was going on. He came back in a few minutes and asked me to follow him into a drive way to get out of the road. We both had to back across a narrow bridge into someones driveway.

The source of our adventure today, a semi-truck on a one way dike road.

He then set off to help direct traffic while Ton and I talked to the owner of the home whose driveway we had occupied. After 20 minutes or so the farmer came back and asked if I could move further down the road to another farm. When we got to the farm we had to get a couple of cars to move so we could go back by the barn and turn around. With the help of the owner of the farm we turned François around and when we were pointed in the right direction the semi-truck had gone by and it was smooth sailing. This whole event took about an hour, and I was impressed about how nonchalant everyone was about the whole thing, the homeowner and farmer were totally nonplussed to have us show up on their property. I guess it happens enough that they are used to it.

The rest of the day was uneventful.

November 5, 2025 Stein NE

This is always my least favorite day of the trip. Ton spends most of the day packing our bags. I try to help where I can but am mostly useless except to occasionally lift something heavy. Tonight we will be our last night in François for this trip.

One unexpected complication for this trip that I realized today is the fact that we left the Schengen zone when we were in Morocco. This means our 180 day clock restarted when we reentered Spain on October 20, not when we arrived in Amsterdam on September 7. This means our spring trip will have to start later or be shorter than normal. I will be spending more time than normal over the winter using Schengen travel calculators to decide on flight dates. That is a bit of a bummer.

November 4, 2025 Stein NE

Well after procrastinating as long as we could we finally turned north and are now near Amsterdam. The two places we normally stay at around Amsterdam have both shortened their season and are closed, so I picked a place open year round at random. It is a nice small campground on a farm-and it turns out a historical site.

Nice field of flowers as we were leaving Belgium.

At the site of the campground there used to be a monastery that for a few years was the home of the philosopher and scholar Erasmus. In the mid-1400’s he was a leading philosopher within the Catholic Church. Before he got to that point he spent several years in Stein as a poor monk in a monastery that used to occupy the site our campground is on. He is a big enough deal in Europe that the program within the EU that allows students to attend any University in the EU no matter their nationality is called the Erasmus project.

If you are in the Netherlands you have to include a picture of a canal. This one is about 400 yards from our campground.

We arrived early and Ton spent a couple of hours sorting thru what is going to stay and what is going to get packed tomorrow. I contributed little except to explore the campground and the immediate surrounding areas where I learned about Erasmus.

The village of Stein. The building in the center was here when Erasmuss was here. It is now a restaurant.

After Ton had everything sorted we set off to find an ATM as we need some Euros to pay for François’ storage for next year. After accomplishing that we returned to François for a big supper. We have a lot of food to eat in the next day and a half before we head to the hotel at the airport.

November 3, 2025 Ypres BE

The trip is winding down but neither one of us is in a hurry to declare it over. This morning the conversation was about whether to head north today or tomorrow. Today is Monday and the tourist season is winding down in Belgium so most of the places we wanted to visit are closed. I offered Ton the opportunity to wrap things up and head to Amsterdam, but after a lot of searching she found a nice pub that was open in Ypres so around 11am we were off to Ypres.

The city of Ypres was literally on the front lines in WWI and was effectively leveled. So all of the nice old buildings you see on the square were built in the 1920’s and 30’s.

While Ton was researching what to do today, I took a quick walk to a British Military Cemetery about 500 yards from our campground. The Dozinghem Military Cemetery has the remains of over 3000 British and Commonwealth soldiers in it from WWI and 77 British soldiers from WWII buried in it. It is another sobering reminder that this beautiful countryside was a killing ground from 1914-1918.

Grave markers with some of the names of over 3000 soldiers buried here during WWI and WWII.

It was a quick drive into Ypres. We passed thru a couple of villages on the way and Ton was struck by how few businesses were open, and how few people were moving about. It’s a dreary day, but part of the dreariness comes from the lack of people about.

The main square in Ypres had a lot of cars, but very few people.

But today we were not looking at cities or architecture, we were out to sample good Belgian beer. We love Belgian beer and advocate for it in all of our travels over the more famous German beer. Belgian beer just feels more creative than German beer to us. The tastes are more pronounced and the varieties have more character in our opinion.

Trying to join the happy guys in the painting.

We found a very nice, modern pub near the main square and though it was around noon we were the first customers. We ordered two local beers and a light lunch and sat down to enjoy a quiet afternoon.

The pub was named after St. Arnoldus who is the patron saint of brewers.

After a few minutes we were joined by 9 British gentlemen who were touring the battlefields of WWI. We had a nice conversation with them once we figured out they were speaking English, it took our ears a couple of minutes to adjust to their accents. Some British accents are still difficult for us to decipher even after a couple of months of hearing much more British English than American English.

The Christmas beer is out, Ton sampled it and liked it.

We just hung out in the pub for about 2 hours stretching our beers and snacks out as long as we could. It was another fun but uneventful day. It’s days like this when we don’t feel so much like tourists, but someone who is living over here in a home that happens to move. I think it is a good thing.

24 very good beers on tap. It’s too bad I was driving.

After a while we headed back to the campground and spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy and trying to stay warm as the weather has definitely took a turn. The heater will be on tonight.

This region is famous for its hop production. This sculpture was a homage to hop farmers.

Tomorrow we have no choice, we will be on the road to Amsterdam to wrap things up for 2025.

November 2, 2025 Poperinge BE

Today was a laid back day that we really enjoyed. The morning was spent doing laundry including our sheets. Laundry day is always an important event and near the end of the trip we have to find a place to do our bedding. So getting that done made this a good day already.

The main treat for the day was a visit to the In de Vrede near our campground. It is a pub next to one of our favorite beers in the world Westvleteren Brewery. It is a Trappist Brewery, and unlike the bigger Belgian Trappist Breweries the beer is not intended for export.

I am happy contemplating the three beers brewed by the Monks at the St. Sixtus Abby in Westvlerteren.

We had discovered these beers on our first visit to Belgium in 2018 and had visited the In de Vrede then to sample the beers. At the time the strongest of the beers from Westvlerteren had been declared the best beer in the world by someone important in the beer world and the demand was through the roof.

We shared this fish stew between us. I liked it better than Ton did.

When we arrived at the Inn which sits in the middle of a lot of farms we were surprised to find the parking lot packed. But the restaurant is quite large and we were able to find a table right away. We immediately ordered a bottle of each of the three beers to get us started. The beer was as good as we remembered it and the blonde beer was better than we remembered it.

The road to the inn was a single track lane with pull outs.

Over the course of the meal we began a conversation with two young men about our sons age next to us. They began telling us about other breweries we should visit when we were in Belgium. They were quite proud of the beer heritage here and gave us some good tips for tomorrow and future trips.

Returning to the campground after a good afternoon at the In de Vrede.

Eventually the wife of one of the guys joined them with a cute Jack Russel Terrier who was used to being the center of attention. We ended up chatting with them for over an hour, and really enjoyed their company. We talked about travel, beer, jobs and life.

The goats thought Ton was going to feed them.

Today we didn’t visit anything “cultural” or “historical” but these three young people taught us more about Belgium and its people and culture than hours in a museum will. We also left with an arm full of Westvleteren Beer to take with us. It was an afternoon well spent and a very productive day and we only traveled 10 kilometers round trip to accomplish it.

November 1, 2025 Poperinge BE

Today we traveled another 350 kilometers north into Belgium. The last couple of days had been about setting us up to head to this part of Belgium. The area we are in is famous for Trappist beers, and good beer in general whether it is produced by monks or not. We originally visited this area in 2019 and are excited to give it another go.

A hop farm, the reason we are in Poperinge.

To get here though we had to navigate the traffic in Paris in a heavy downpour. It went remarkably well though it was a little intense for me. Just as we departed Paris the rain also lifted for most of the drive so most of the last 200 kilometers were relatively relaxing.

Cows in the field near our final destination.

Near the end of the drive we pulled into a grocery store in the last major town in France to get a few critical items such as paper towels, dish soap and wine. Then a few kilometers later we were in Belgium.

The campground we are staying at has a nice bar that is well stocked with local beers.

The last few kilometers to the campground were on very narrow country roads. They are one lane roads with pull outs every couple of hundred yards. Luckily the one time we came upon on coming traffic we were right at a handy pull out. Once we were set up in the campground we went into the on site bar and tried a small sample of the local beers. We are planning on being here a couple of days to do more sampling.