Saturday, December 01, 2007

Lunch and Shopping in Middelburg

Well, as it turns out, Thursday was rainy, Friday was rainy, and I'm fairly certain that there is rain in the forecast for the next... oh, say, 120 days or so.

In any case, that didn't stop us from heading out to Middelburg on Friday (Thursday was an, "Oh, gee, it's bad weather... let's just be lazy" day). I schlepped the baby around for entirely to long, spent too much money, and struggled to find our parking garage, but other than that, we had fun. Middelburg has some fantastic shops, especially around the "Groote Markt" (or main market square), including Esprit, the fantastic "de Drvkkery" bookstore, and the "Dis & That" specialty shop. But apparently, there's not a single non-smoking restaurant in all of Middelburg, so if you're eating out, be prepared for a smoky-bar setting.

I find Dutch lunches to be a bit unremarkable. The choices usually encompass toasted sandwiches (like the kind Mom makes for you when you're a kid - either toasted cheese or toasted ham and cheese), an odd version of the "American Club" (using stale bread, chicken, ham, cheese, and eggs), or baguettes with various things smeared on top. The restaurants generally serve soup as well, and the Dutch make a really mean "French Onion" Soup. I could bathe in that stuff (after it cools from the scalding hot temperature at which its served).

We ate at a little locale just down the street from the "Pottenmarkt". It was actually a bar, but it served lunch and was less crowded than the various touristy cafés on the Groote Markt. I loved the rustic wooden tables and red walls. It felt so warm!

After lunch we toddled around the cobblestone pedestrian zones of Middelburg for a bit (one of the things I love most about Europe!) before returning home to the farm for some quality play time... afterall, he deserved it after being so patient with Mommy all day.

If you want to read more about Lukas (and the parenting challenges of late), I've just updated his blog. Happy reading!

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