I had a number of interesting "it's a small world" experiences on my vacation. One of them involved a glass blowing studio in a tiny village out in the Dutch countryside. (You couldn't make that up if you tried, right?!?) When I'd mentioned my upcoming Belgian vacation to a co-worker, she mentioned that her daughter was currently in the Groningen, Netherlands area -- to which I said, "You're kidding, as I will be visiting also visiting Groningen!" The young woman was spending a month working at Mark's glass blowing studio in a museum village in Orvelte, which is approximately a 45 min drive from Groningen. My friends and I visited, and found the glass-blowing to be very interesting, as well as lovely. (They've got a rather large store with a variety of items.) Unfortunately, the studio's website is solely in Dutch, as is the museum village's. This truly is unfortunate, as it seems that during the summer season the village has a lot of interesting demonstrations. (Note: if you do somehow make your way here, and main glassblower Mark is present - he does speak perfect English, as he is originally from England.) We enjoyed even just checking out the traditional buildings and having coffee/beer/waffles in the old-time cafe. read more