Brugge and Ghent

We had the opportunity to visit the city of Bruges, Belgium.  We purchased tickets and went on a very informative canal cruise and learned some of the history of this interesting city.

After the canal cruise we to the center of town.  The Christmas Markets were still going with plenty of holiday foods - bratwursts, Beligan waffles, and hot chocolate.  This town like many towns in Belgium had a variety of stores selling chocolate.  We strolled along the streets, window shopping and sampling chocolate.  We stopped and visited an art museum along the way.

When we finished our tour of Brugge, we drove a relatively short distance to the town of Ghent which was on the list of top 10 places to visit in Belgium. After arrival we went to St. Michael's Church where they had Baroque paintings including one by Van Dyck. We wandered the town and found a place for dinner.  We all agreed that Ghent and St. Michael's was a must see.

"Life is like a piano, the white keys represent happiness and the black show sadness.  But as you go through life's journey, remember that the black keys also create music."

The Hague Temple and Kinderkijk

On Friday morning we began our day at the Hague Netherland Temple.  We asked if we could do family sealing and were told yes.  We dressed in our temple clothes and met with the 2nd counselor in the temple presidency, President Van Wermeskerken.  He told us a little about himself before we began.  He and his wife had served in the Philippines as the Area Medical Advisor.  After we finished our sealing session Gary and I asked President Van Wermeskerken if he knew some people we knew who had served in the Philippines Area Office about the same time.  He responded that he and his wife did know them and we visited for a short time. It is interesting how small the world seems when serving the Lord.  As we visited we learned that it was President Van Wermeskerken's 75th birthday.

After the temple we went to a local restaurant for a delicious lunch.   Following lunch we visited Kinderdijk, which is about 15 kms east of Rotterdam to see the windmills.  The pictures below tell the story.  Kinderdijk is Dutch for Children’s dike.  Most of Holland is below sea level.  In the 18th century the mills were used to pump the water out.  These days the windmills have been replaced by automatic water pumping stations.  The windmills still operated and if the wind allows it, they turn in the wind.

“Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people. Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow. Let us go not only for our kindred dead, but let us also go for the personal blessing of temple worship.” Howard W. Hunter, A Temple-Motivated People, February, 1995 Ensign

Rotterdam, Netherlands

On December 26th we left Frankfurt with 3 other couples and drove northeast to the Netherlands.  Our first stop was the Hague Temple.  Unfortunately the website was inaccurate and the temple was closed.  We had an interesting lunch at one of the only places open on "boxing day".  After lunch we went to Rotterdam and checked into our hotel.

After checking into our hotel, we went out to explore the town.  The stores in Rotterdam were all open for boxing day.  Our first stop was the Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk.  This was a Protestant (Reformed Dutch) church.  It is the only remnant of the medieval city of Rotterdam.  Shortly after we walked in they announced that church visiting was closing.  They were preparing to have a church service.

 

 After leaving the church we saw a flock of sparrows that were flying in a interesting pattern.  After we watched the birds for a few minutes we entered the Market Hall.  This was a huge mall with many different booths with all kinds of food.

We finished checking out the Market Hall and went in search of something to eat.  On our way to a bridge we could see we saw some cube houses.  Google says they are innovative houses designed by Piet Blom.  They are based on the concept of "living as an urban roof".  They are suppose to represent an abstract forest.  There are 38 houses which are all connected.  They go over a very busy street which takes you to the waterfront.  We admired the buildings, found a restaurant, had dinner and returned to our hotel.

"Never blame anyone in your life.  Good people give you happiness.  Bad people give you experience.  Worst people give you a lesson.  And best people give you memories."  Zig Ziglar