We didn’t have any big plans for Monday, November 18th. Marco, the butler, told us that a lot of shops in the area near The Duke Suites are closed on Mondays. We did have nice weather, though, so after yet another sumptuous, languorous breakfast, we decided to head out and explore the area. I wish I could say that we saw and did a lot during our car ride, but the drive mostly consisted of killing time.

There are a couple of cities near Nistelrode, namely Oss and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, which is locally known as “Den Bosch”. Den Bosch’s official name translates to “the forest of the Duke” in archaic Dutch, referring to Henry I, Duke of Brabant. It’s funny, because when I was growing up in Gloucester, Virginia, the “Village Secretary’s” last name was “Brabant”. Every time I see a place in The Netherlands referred to as “Brabant”, I’m reminded of her! I guess her husband was of Dutch descent.

Anyway, we drove around both towns and I got some photos, but we didn’t really see a place in Den Bosch that invited us to stop and walk around. Or maybe I just didn’t feel like it… According to Wikipedia, there was a German concentration camp located just a few kilometers south of Den Bosch. It was known by the Germans as Herzogenbusch, but to the Dutch, it was called Kamp Vught. I didn’t know about this history last week, as we were driving around the town.

After awhile, Bill said he needed a potty break, so we stopped at a gas station. When we went inside, we found the toilet, which required 80 cents. However, it could only be paid for by card. This was actually a good thing, because we had been fretting a bit over the denial of the Visa card Bill tried to use at the first restaurant we went to upon arrival. It worked at the bathroom at the Shell station. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, the toilet I used was clogged. I just managed to escape the stall before it came close to overflowing!

We decided to drive to Oss to look for lunch. We ended up parking at a very large public lot and walked into a “Walkplatz”, where workers were starting to put up Christmas decorations. I spotted a nice looking restaurant on a corner called Brasserie La Colline. It turned out to be a great lunch stop. The food and service were very good, but so was the music. I ended up downloading a lot of it!

I found myself wishing we had a restaurant like this one near us. I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

After awhile, we decided to head back to The Duke Suites and enjoy our final evening in our very unique lodging. We decided to have a relatively small dinner at the Clubhouse restaurant again– lobster soup for me, and venison for Bill… The service was, again, excellent. We were the only ones in the dining room. The night before, there was one other party, but they appeared to be businesspeople. On Monday, night, a man in a suit who spoke excellent English took care of us. He gave us some of the history of the property. We found out The Duke Suites was built just a few years ago.

When we went to bed later, we discovered that the bed was actually adjustable! The head and base could be raised or lowered with the push of a button. I would love to have that bed in our house! Marco, the butler, told us he would not be working when we checked out on Tuesday. I was sad to say goodbye to him, but it was such a pleasure to meet him. He was really cool. He cracked up when he asked us if we were going back to the USA for Christmas and I said I hadn’t been back there in ten years! 😉

There’s one last entry to go before this series ends… Stay tuned!