The only real Babi Pangang
Flying Ryan Air from Stansted, London to Eindhoven, Netherlands is a quick pleasure as long as you stick to their contracted requirements. Have your luggage in properly sized and weighted suitcases and you onboard backpacks according to your purchased plans and you’re fine. If not, you pay a good amount of extra money. We paid about $29 each for the one way trip.
Our travel plan was simple; land in Eindhoven, take the public bus to the train station and connect via Province of Limburg’s beautiful Roman capital city of Maastricht to the old medieval village of Valkenburg some 15 minutes away and check into the Dormio Wine Hotel directly across from the train station. It all worked out perfectly and we were having our favorite Dutch Indonesian dish of Babi Pangang at 7pm that night.
Valkenburg Train Station
Now Babi Pangang is a Chinese/Indonesian dish of roasted (Pangang) pork (Babi) with some goody Asian veggies thrown in for taste and frankly the only country that knows how to make it to perfection is the Netherlands.
The Dormio Hotel concept is a new one in Europe where private people can invest in a hotel acquisition company that buys condo projects throughout Europe. We were planning to stay a full week and they immediately upgraded us upon arrival to a larger and more luxuriously outfitted room. Very nice.
Valkenburg is a domestic tourism destination for the Netherlands, pretty much in the same way as the Hamptons are for New York or Cornwall for London. The village is loaded with family hotels and restaurant and attractions such as castle ruins, sandstone caves, entertainment parks and much more. But for us it is also located right in the middle of family and friends. Medieval churches, Roman museums, tons of castles on rivers and lakes and the close by availability of the very reliable Dutch rail- and bus systems.
Valkenburg was the first European destination TJ ever stayed, as we did our first travel to Europe in 2016 and we choose Valkenburg for a week’s stay to fight the Jetlag before catching up with Han’s family. During the Christmas Season 2019, we once again visited Valkenburg as it features the magnificent Christmas Markets in the Caves.
Fifteen minutes by train west took us to the ancient Roman city of Maastricht, with its city walls, a couple of thousand year old churches, tree shaded squares with bars and pubs, and cobblestoned medieval tiny roads opening up to majestic squares. It was one of Han’s major hangouts while growing up, playing in bands and going to school. It’s a lot like Amsterdam but on an even smaller scale. We walked the streets, shopped some souvenirs in fabulous stores and ate some scrumptious local delicacies on sidewalk cafés. Back on the train, we agreed that the Dormio hotel choice was perfect.
The next day we did the same but this time we took the train east to Heerlen, the former capital of the Dutch Coal mines, where Han was born. The city has modernized a lot since they closed the mines in 1968 says Han. Handsome shopping malls and modern airy stores stand next to old neighborhood bars and restaurants. The city originated as a Roman road intersection (Coriovallum) with resting place and saunas for the exhausted travelers. When accidentally discovering the exact spot of the roman thermal baths in the late 1960 during an excavation for a city flat development, the city stopped the development and built a museum over the thermal baths, which has now become a major attraction for the city.
Yet another day later we took the train east to go and see brother and sister-in-law Jos and Ria, where we stayed a week during our 2019/20 visit. They had sold their Carré Farm – Exhibition several years before and moved back to the small city where she was from and he studied. This time we could only go for an afternoon of catching up and dinner because they were going on vacation to Cyprus that week and we were flying back to the States later that week. Yet we had another great afternoon followed by an exquisite dinner of salmon and white asparagus and left in pure delight in the early evening. Kudos to chef Jos.
Brothers
A Sad Goodbye – Han’s older brother Eef had been severely ill for years, mostly home bound with very limited mobility and chance of improvement. A week before our arrival he had been moved to the general hospital in Heerlen and medical predictions were not good. With family we had agreed to visit him on Sunday afternoon and in line with the Limburg burgundic mentality a small party was organized. He enjoyed it and TJ gave him a little bunny as companion. A couple of days later, he crossed the rainbow in direct view of the Maternity Home (de Vroedvrouwen School) he was born in almost 77 years ago. RIP Eef, yours was a good life.
A Couple of days later we took the train to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and stayed at NH Hotel until our plane would depart for a return to the States. This particular choice was made based on the transportation service that NH Hotels offered and a special rate they offered.. They had a 30 minute bus service from hotel to airport from where we took the train to Amsterdam Central Station, from where it is just a short walk to almost all attractions, museums and markets. In 2016 we ate Poffertjes at the flower market and TJ wanted to get them again if they were still open. They were and we enjoyed them again. A stroll up and down de Kalverstraat, where TJ fell in love with the exclusive Adidas store and added necessities to her favorite clothing collection. Across the Damrak, a short walk led us over the Walletjes and the Canals and our passion for Amsterdam’s particular sense of absolute freedom (XXX) was renewed.
The next day, our last day in Europe on this trip was a planned visit to the Keukenhof; the Dutch National Flower Park. We had tried visiting 9 years earlier, but the season had already passed then. This time we came in earlier, together with a couple of hundred thousand other visitors. But the park in full bloom is truly amazing. Decades ago it a well designed garden with ponds, canals and a couple of windmills and park section with different types of tulips. Today it’s a full fledged display of several dozens of flower merchants from throughout the region displaying the scientific manifestations of what is possible these days in the creation of colors, shapes and sizes. Now there are many ways to visit, but the easy way is a bus that leaves from Schiphol Airport (Departure passage 233) near the airport entrance. The cost for bus and park entry is Eur 32 p/person and the trip takes about 30 minutes each way. Well worth a visit.
The next day we had a noon flight back with Delta to Nashville Tennessee, where we picked up our car and began yet another return trip to Beaver Island after a short visit with the kids and grandkids in Holland, Michigan.
We had contracted for one more Summer Season on Beaver Island, Michigan
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