Saturday Sept. 15th Small Plane Dublin Airport to Amsterdam Airport
Drive to Antwerp, Belgium
“Look, it’s R2D2!”
We arrive in Dublin, Ireland at 9 a.m. having moved our time ahead by 5 hours. It seems like we have to walk 100 miles to find our shuttle flight to Amsterdam. No airport personnel are on hand to help us know what gate to go to. We finally are helped by a couple of staff members. After waiting an hour we climb up the steps into the airplane and squeeze into our small seats. An hour after taking off we arrive in Amsterdam. From my airplane window I can see lots of sheep grazing below and wind generators. One glance at an airport clock and we know we need to set our time ahead one more hour.
We walk another hundred miles and find Sixt Car Rental where we have made a reservation for renting a car. “Be sure to not drive over the speed limit as the police enforce the speed limits very closely,” we are warned. After much discussion and paper work we are told we will be picking up a silver gray BMW sedan. Another long walk and moving alone flat moving belts much to our surprise we are given a 4 door white Renault
with black trim. It is very nice looking and we drive off in it quite satisfied. Al is driving the car out onto the streets for the first time. I don’t know about him, but I am sitting in the passenger seat very nervous. Suddenly we are driving on very unfamiliar streets and what do all these strange looking street signs mean?! The street signs are symbols…not words. We are on our own. (help!) Al seems to be cool, calm and collected as he listens to “Sarah” tell him where to go. Thankfully Al bought European maps for our GPS system before we left for Europe. The commands of “Sarah” did not fail us. Without her we would not have found our way at all. It takes me about an hour to relax
in the car and start to look about me as we head for Antwerp, Belgium. We pass through the low lands of Holland passing both old windmills and many new wind turbines waving their arms in the breeze! I am reminded of Don Quixote and how in his crazed mind he thought the Spanish wind mills were giants with fighting arms. Another thing very noticeable is much graffiti written on walls that we pass along the roadside. It is fascinating to see and it is good looking graffiti; very colorful and in interesting curving shapes.
Stopping off the highway to use the bathrooms we see a familiar shape alongside the building. “Look!” I point out. “It’s R2D2”. That is exactly what it looks like, and there are three of them spread out a little. Three “R2D2’s!” But what are they? Al and I can’t figure it out. We ask someone and they say, “It is for your recycle cans and trash.” Well, what do you know. They are very unique looking to us.
After about three hours of driving we arrive in the old city of Antwerp, Belgium. As we drive through the streets we admire the old tall buildings and facades. We are definitely in Europe surrounded by the old European city buildings. I am so excited to see this. Al finds Hotel TRYP
where we have room reservations for two nights. After we check in Al drives off to find a parking place as the hotel has no parking spaces. I take the lift upstairs to our room and unpack a few things. Mostly I stand at the big window looking out over the roof tops of Antwerp and admiring the view. Meanwhile Al is driving through the streets of Antwerp looking for a parking spot. He finally finds a spot long blocks away from our hotel!
Hiking back to the hotel he finds Martina waiting in the main lobby for us. I come downstairs and we greet each other warmly! Cousin Martina has gotten other Belgium cousins together to meet us at a dinner party in the home of our cousin Paul and Bea De Decker. Martina takes us by taxi through the streets to the other side of town to Paul and Bea’s lovely apartment.
Inside I am greeted by other cousins with open arms. We are meeting each other for the first time. These cousins are the grand children of Martina’s father, Henry Gylsen. We are seated around the living room surrounded by Frances and Susanne DeDecker, Paul and Bea DeDecker and Anny and Mariette DeDecker.
I greet them and talk with them about my parents and Danish father, showing them old family photos of my mom and dad and me and my sister Kris growing up in Leonia, NJ. Flemish is the language spoken in Belgium and I am not sure how much they understand English. Appetizers are served and then we are called to dinner at the long dining room table in the next room. Bea serves us all a feast for kings! That is what it looks and feels like. We start off with wine, water and fish soup. Al and I think this is the main meal, but the dishes are removed and then plates of pork and boiled potatoes are served. In addition platters of a variety of cheeses, crusty breads, cherry curd and hummus is passed around. It is all delicious!
At the end of the meal we hear clapping and look up 
in time to see Bea serving Anny a big piece of SacherTorte, chocolate cake with apricot filling, complete with fireworks shooting straight up into the air. Everyone sings Happy Birthday to Bea with much laughter. Coffee is served. A little while later the same taxi driver comes to pick us up and bring us back to our hotel. It is hard to leave such a wonderful group.
Next Day of Journey