The Atomium

When I booked the Lindbergh Tours trip to Belgium, I had no idea that it would include a brief stop to see the Atomium. Actually, I had never even heard of the Atomium, but it would be one of the coolest things that I saw on my trip.

The Atomium was built for the 1958 World's Fair held in Brussels. Here is a picture of one of the original buildings from the fair. So futuristic!

The Atomium is a model of a unit cell of an iron crystal and it stands 335 feet tall.

It's shiny and amazing! Seriously, my pictures don't do it justice.

Doesn't it look like it belongs in Tomorrowland?

We had fifteen minutes to race around and look at the Atomium. The negative aspects of bus tours really shone through here, as we didn't have time to take the tour, which allows guests to go inside several of the spheres. It's okay though, my husband hasn't see the Atomium or Brussels, so I'm sure that we have a European road trip in our future.

Here is the Atomium "Welcome" sign; a very popular photo spot.

And a dynamic sculpture.

If you're visiting Brussels, you have to take a side-trip to see the Atomium. It's a unique and wondrous structure.

Amsterdam to Antwerp

Bus sightseeing tours: you either love 'em or hate 'em. If I'm in an unfamiliar area and short on time, I'm a huge fan of the bus tours. The biggest con with bus tours is that they really pack in the sights and you don't get very much time to explore at each stop. That said, I really wanted to see Belgium, and I found it a little intimidating to take a public bus or train on my own. The bus tour seemed like a more practical option.

After reading tons of online reviews, I picked Lindbergh Tours, which offered a day trip (11.5 hours) from Amsterdam to Belgium for seventy-nine euros.

The tour started early in the morning and was a twenty-minute walk from our hotel, near the main train station. I picked up my tickets at the Lindbergh Tour office and waited under this sign to be led to the tour bus, which was parked several blocks away.

Here's the double-decker bus. It was about 1/3 full.

The driver and tour guide were fantastic. I met a lot of wonderful people on the bus, mostly other single travelers and couples. Although, I do have a quick rant about one family who took the tour. It was a family of six, four adults and two little girls who were about five years old. Both of the children were very, very sick; coughing and sneezing the entire time. Naturally, I got sick a few days later with the same symptoms. It's bad enough that they brought these sick children on a long day tour in a confined bus, but then they were just rude on top of it.

They were from Spain and requested that the tour guide translate in Spanish. While the tour guide was speaking ( English first and then Spanish), they were loudly talking and being disruptive. It was so bad that the guide got up and tried to have a talk with them about keeping it down and they argued with her. It got so heated, that I thought they might be thrown off of the bus. They were also late returning to the bus at every stop. Frustrating.

If you go on a bus tour, you'd better be well-behaved or risk getting the stink-eye. Everyone gave this family the stink-eye.

Our first stop in Belgium was Antwerp. We had about an hour and a half, but we were warned several times to make sure to eat lunch at this stop. No food on the bus! Guess what? Everyone's favorite family tried to sneak food aboard.

Antwerp, as I would learn, is famous for its jewelry district and diamonds. I think that the bus company had worked out a deal with Diamond Land, one of many diamond retailers in the area. We were led off the bus and straight to Diamond Land for a diamond cutting demonstration. I like the name "Diamond Land", it makes me feel like I'm headed to a super sparkly theme park.

Truthfully, jewelry doesn't interest me too much. I listened to the presentation, glanced at the dazzling jewels, and got out of there to eat and see the city.

I didn't have much time to eat, so I did the "Bad American Tourist" and grabbed McDonald's. I wouldn't have admitted to eating at McDonald's, except check out my receipt.

My "Royal with Cheese". I totally didn't make the Pulp Fiction connection until I was sitting down and eating.

I had just enough time to race around the city square and snap a few pictures. The buildings and statues were amazing and really, just a small taste of what was to come in Brussels.

Next stop...something very, very cool before our big stop in Brussels. Hint: It was constructed for the 1958 World's Fair.

Amsterdam- Van Gogh Museum

The night was still young and the museums were open late, so after the Tulip Museum, Eating Amsterdam tour, and Anne Frank Huis, I grabbed a taxi and headed across town to the Van Gogh Museum. It's very modern and fancy.

My ticket was eighteen euros and included an audio tour. I love audio tours.

The Van Gogh Museum is run by a foundation created by the ancestors of Vincent Van Gogh. Specifically, it was opened by Van Gogh's nephew, who was named after his uncle. When Van Gogh died, all of his unsold art was inherited by his brother Theo, who in turn, died six months later, and left it to his widow.

The audio tour elaborated on Van Gogh's close relationship with his brother Theo and the mental illness that ran in their family. The museum currently houses the largest collection of Van Gogh art in the world. Although the collection is big, it did not contain many pieces in the style that I've come to associate with Van Gogh. The collection seemed less vibrant and more subtle, than the pieces that I've seen in other museums or in touring exhibitions. The structure of the museum includes pieces from every phase of his career, so it is representative, but just maybe less flashy than the pieces that have made their way to America.

My take-away was the overall Van Gogh story, his relationship to Theo, and how that reflected in the art, rather than individual pieces. I was excited to see Bedroom in Arles and The Potato Eaters, in person. It's a rush to see the real deal, after studying the pieces in text books.

I enjoyed the Van Gogh Museum and left with a deeper appreciation for his life and art. However, I'm not sure that I would recommend including this in your itinerary, if your visit to Amsterdam is short or if you're not a huge Van Gogh fan.