Visiting friends : Rotterdam and Louveigre

After leaving Croatia we arrived in Amsterdam and met up with one of Lucy's old North Sails colleagues. It was fun revisiting one of her old occupations that was so familiar, yet so long ago. We were amazed by how flat the area around Amsterdam was - we were soon to learn that this was just the Netherlands in general!


We headed directly through to Rotterdam where we stayed for a couple of nights with our friends Justin and Bronwen Cross. We explored Rotterdam and managed to take in some of the fantastic public artwork and architecture, while getting a feel for this incredibly cosmopolitan city. We were also amazed not only by the nationalities we encountered - but also by how these nationalities - particularly polynesian - are linked to the old dutch trade routes and their subsequent colonisation efforts.

An amazing artwork of oil barrels and "oil people" in an unruly pile. Appropriate for such a fossil fuel conscious society?

Erasmus Bridge - One of the landmarks of Rotterdam

Traditional dutch sailing boat/barges (Lucy couldn't resist photographing more boats)

Cube houses for square people? - Lucy and Bron

We then continued on to Louveigne, near Liege in Belgium where we met up with Pierre and Geraldine Bemelmans, and their two lovely kids, Jules and Jeanne. Pierre took pride in showing us his home town and we really enjoyed getting to see Liege in the sunshine and rain. Geoff climbed the famous "Stairs on the Mount" with 4-year old Jules and we experienced the fantastic Sunday market.

Geoff, Lucy, Geraldine and Pierre

Pierre and Geraldine have converted this beautiful old stone house to a modern home. We were inspired by their efforts to rethink what could be done in a home.

The famous steps in Liege

Geoff and Jules coming down the 384 steps 

The old part of Liege is full of little stairways.  We were glad we didn't have to help anyone move house here!

Jules getting into the spirit of walking in the woods.

Picking wild blueberries...yum!

We both enjoyed curling up with a book in the Bemelmans' egg couch.

Choices, choices!  The whole isle was full of different types of Belgium beer! Pierre knows the Belgian beer industry well and gave us a shopping list of drinks we ought to try before flying back to the UK. Guess what all our other hosts got as thank-you presents...