Wednesday & Thursday Oct. 19th & 20th: Left Nashville Wednesday afternoon; first stop Philly. Ironically Ann had a Philly cheesesteak sandwich for lunch at Opry Mills (before going to Philly???), but could have had the same sandwich at the Philly airport. Got a little sleep on the plane, and landed at London/Gatwick Thursday morning, then caught our plane for Amsterdam. Got a cab at Amsterdam airport in order to beat the rush hour traffic out of town and in to Haarlem. The cab driver pulled us up to our street and said "...it is down there...I can't go there, it is bicycles & walking only...". Too cool! Made us extremely glad we packed light!!! Went to the Boulangerie to get checked in to our apartment....which was amazing.
[Steve] Our apartment was right in the heart of Haarlem, less than a block from everything. The loft of our apartment had perfect acoustics for recording acoustic guitar & songwriting....what a place to get creative! I know...dream big Steve, dream big....
Friday Oct. 21st: We did a lot of everything on this day...except take pictures (it was a rainy day, plus just about everywhere we went prohibited pictures). Breakfast at Haarlem, train into Amsterdam, tram to Van Gogh Museum (if you're a fan of Post-Impressionism art, this is a must-see), boat ride through the canals (a great way to see the entire city in 90 minutes), Anne Frank House (you can save a ton of time in line by buying tickets for admission after 4pm at tourist office), Damrak Sex Museum and Red Light District, train back to Amsterdam, & listening to some great jazz at a pub until closing.
[Steve] Through our connections in the "music biz" we were fortunate to have a singer named 'Gold Rush' guide us through the Red Light District as only he could (*be listening for his version of "I Was Made For Lovin You" coming to the USA soon). His expert guidance was very much needed on a Friday night...especially going down Prostitute Alley! And...you can hear Bob Rigter and his band "5 On The Rigter Scale" on the PBS Radio series 'European Jazz Stage hosted by Hans Mantel'.
Saturday Oct. 22nd: Our first "big day on the train". Rode from Haarlem to Brussels (9am-noon) and saw lots of flower farms throughout the countryside. Got in to Brussels and connected to our train for Luxembourg....with about 7 seconds to spare! Fall foliage was just starting to change throughout the Belgian countryside. Got in to Luxembourg just before 3pm...and nobody knew where our hotel was (including the cab driver...but he found out). Got checked in and hit the streets while they were still having their grand market. Luxembourg is a very clean city....looks like a rich European city that has just been sandblasted and had 3 coats of paint. The people are... "an acquired taste" but quite decent for the most part. After a bologna sandwich for lunch (no ... really), we went back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We were hoping to hit a hot European Disco that night...and we were not disappointed. The VIP Room - DeLuxe exceeded our wildest expectations (emphasis on "wild")...and that was just the private party before the place broke out into a full-blown Disco! It was here that we met James Perri (a.k.a. Jimi Polo) who was performing for the private party, and who has a new CD of original material coming out very soon. He has also appeared at the other VIP Rooms, including Paris. A great night in Luxembourg!
Sunday Oct. 23rd: On the train again for the ride back to Brussels. Did a walk-through of the Grand Place, took a few pictures with Mannekin Pis, and took a cab to try & find the Comic Strip Museum. Couldn't find it, so we settled in to a night of beer tasting on the square; where we met people from Jackson, Tn. Sampled the chocolate and waffles (*they just call them waffles, since after all we were in Belgium.....). Couldn't find any sprouts however..........
