This reminds me a bit of our prolonged gourmet road trip through whole Germany with the middle of the trip highlight to visit my then-being-completely-overhauled-by Henk-Apogee Scintillas in Rotterdam
You don't have to feel too bad for my wife because we also met a Study friend of her's from Madrid (she got to know when they studied together in London) in Rotterdam and some old Dutch hifi buddies (Henk, obviously and Kees and Stanley) we haven't seen for a long time back then.
And there have been some very nice gourmet temples on the road to ease the pain
We both have very fond memories to that trip and Rotterdam is well worth a visit