Ok, now I’ve got to go back a few days to catch up… Tuesday and Wednesday were spent pulling our suit cases down about 50 times to see what we were going to take home with us and what things we were going to leave behind. It was amazing how much we had to go through. Some things that I had packed away were never even touched in the 2 years we were here, and those were most of what I determined to leave behind. Then there was the roll-up electrical cables, the “wheel stands”, radio/CD player, and on and on…all this was either being left with “Bumble Bee” or given to the neighbor in the caravan who has come to Delft to help his daughter move in to her new apartment. Our liquor cabinet…well, the crew at the Delft campground liked that. Of course there was the last walk into Delft to visit the market one more time, and the last cheap breakfast with as many espresso refills we could stand at IKEA. Then on Wednesday afternoon, finally having everything packed and re-packed for the last time, we said our good-byes to the crew at the campground and headed for our airport hotel. After checking in, lugging our bags (5 suitcases, 3 carry-on, and Lou’s purse) up to the room, we jumped back into “Bumble Bee” for the last time and headed off to see Donna in Utrecht. You know, I think we must have missed something or maybe it was that we just didn’t have the time, but we just didn’t get melancholy. All the way out to Donna’s was as if we were just going to the grocery store instead of coming to the close of our European Journey and saying good-bye to our faithful companion (Bumble Bee). As we pulled into Donna’s yard and the gate closed behind us, we knew that this was the finish of our first leg. Now onto our next “Journey”… We walked to the train station from Donna’s, caught the train to Schiphol (Amsterdam’s airport), and waited for the airporter to take us to our hotel. Early the next morning we were on our way back to Seattle. Our flight was taking us to London and then directly to Sea-Tac for a total of 11 hours of in air time (which is 10 hours more than I really enjoy). Well, “We’re Baaacccckkkkk!!!!
4 February ’06, Saturday.
Ok, now I’ve got to go back a few days to catch up… Tuesday and Wednesday were spent pulling our suit cases down about 50 times to see what we were going to take home with us and what things we were going to leave behind. It was amazing how much we had to go through. Some things that I had packed away were never even touched in the 2 years we were here, and those were most of what I determined to leave behind. Then there was the roll-up electrical cables, the “wheel stands”, radio/CD player, and on and on…all this was either being left with “Bumble Bee” or given to the neighbor in the caravan who has come to Delft to help his daughter move in to her new apartment. Our liquor cabinet…well, the crew at the Delft campground liked that. Of course there was the last walk into Delft to visit the market one more time, and the last cheap breakfast with as many espresso refills we could stand at IKEA. Then on Wednesday afternoon, finally having everything packed and re-packed for the last time, we said our good-byes to the crew at the campground and headed for our airport hotel. After checking in, lugging our bags (5 suitcases, 3 carry-on, and Lou’s purse) up to the room, we jumped back into “Bumble Bee” for the last time and headed off to see Donna in Utrecht. You know, I think we must have missed something or maybe it was that we just didn’t have the time, but we just didn’t get melancholy. All the way out to Donna’s was as if we were just going to the grocery store instead of coming to the close of our European Journey and saying good-bye to our faithful companion (Bumble Bee). As we pulled into Donna’s yard and the gate closed behind us, we knew that this was the finish of our first leg. Now onto our next “Journey”… We walked to the train station from Donna’s, caught the train to Schiphol (Amsterdam’s airport), and waited for the airporter to take us to our hotel. Early the next morning we were on our way back to Seattle. Our flight was taking us to London and then directly to Sea-Tac for a total of 11 hours of in air time (which is 10 hours more than I really enjoy). Well, “We’re Baaacccckkkkk!!!!
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29 January ’06, Sunday. After breakfast of some “sweet rolls” we had purchased at the market yesterday, we “unhitched” Bumble Bee and went to find our hotel room for Wednesday and Thursday. We were looking for a hotel close to the airport so that we could drop off our luggage prior to taking “Bumble Bee” back to Donna, and also have close access to the airport with transportation. Having that done, we headed off to the coast for one last time. Destination, Zandvoort. The first time to the coast two years ago was to Zandvoort, and I wanted to go back to find some of the food I had experienced there. Zandvoort is just around the corner from Haarlem, which is just do west of Amsterdam. When we pulled into town, it was very apparent that half of Holland had the same idea…people and cars were everywhere. We were very fortunate to find a parking place without too much trouble. A short walk to the beach and into the center of town made it really great. Louise asked me which direction I wanted to go, so I told her my motives for coming to the coast…FOOD!!! Not just any food, but seafood from one of the beach restaurants on wheels that you can find all along the beach. So, turning right, we headed off to the beach in search of FOOD. There were a lot more of the “beach wagons” here than there were last time, so finding what I wanted didn’t take much time…a raw herring, onion, and pickle sandwich!!! Lou wouldn’t join me, but did I care??? I scoffed it down, all on my own. The beach was filled with the locals from one end to the other. The sun was out, it was Sunday, and it was COLD!!! These Netherlanders are tough!!! Having all I wanted of my herring sandwich, we headed back up to the boardwalk and into town. I mean every Hollander was in Zandvoort today…it was amazing. Every store was open (and being a Sunday, this was interesting in it’s self), and the boardwalk was full. We walked down the main pedestrian sidewalk area from one end to the other, made a couple of deviations off and then back on. All of this was to find a “special” place for Lou to find something for her. Finally (after walking by it twice) she chose one. She ended up having a bowl of hot mushroom soup (all of that looking, and she just had a bowl of MUSHROOM SOUP???), and I had a “tapas” plate of bitterballen’s and a beer. Now tell me, who had the better meal??? Now I’ve had 3 of the dishes I’ve wanted…bitterballen’s, raw herring sandwich, and cod kibblings…I’m a happy camper now… This day really went by fast, so we joined all of those that were at the beach and jumped onto the very narrow and bitterly full streets and headed off to our campground. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you about our parking meter...we didn't notice that the parking place we had chosen was one that had a "pay station" located about a half block away, that needed to be fed money...we didn't. Another fortunatate day...we got away with it. Tomorrow…it's Monday 27/28 January ’06, Friday/Saturday. Getting up and out this morning was a little tough. I’m really glad we parked as close to the showers as we did, because it was another morning of DEEP FREEZE !!! Besides that, it was time to pack up and head for Delft. Just as we pulled onto the entry area of the “Circle Road” (the highway that completely circles Paris) we were in stop and go traffic. You know, you start out with 3 lanes and then it quickly goes down to 1, and then just as you get on, there is a lane that wants to cross over to get off…what a system…they must have learned it from the US. About 45 minutes later we were just approaching Charles DeGuille Airport and the traffic started to open up. It is amazing to us that you can be in Paris France, turn North a couple of hours and you are in Belgium. Then within another 2 hours of 55mph travel you are in Delft, Holland. The sun was out, but we still have the deep freeze weather pattern to put up with. When we pulled up to DELFTSE HOUT Campground we were met by the staff at the desk with: “How are the Goodman’s, we’re glad you’re back with us again?” Heck, it’s been a year since we were here, and they must have thousands that come through every year and they remember our name…I’m impressed. Now not to put this any other way, it is a pleasure to come back to one of the top 5 campgrounds that we have been in the last 2 years of nightly camping. It has to be the management of Michel and Wilke that makes it so successful. Today was the “small market day” in Delft, so we bundled up for the cold and headed out for a little shopping. I thought we had left all the bargains down in Spain, but I was wrong. We found a number of “bargains”. Fact is, Louise found another pair of boots and I purchased a great coat and sweatshirt at great prices…we couldn’t leave them behind. Then it was off to the fish market stand. The last couple of times we were here, we had cod “kibbling”, and we had to have them again…they are fantastic !!! Little mouth-sized pieces of fresh cod that has been lightly battered, quick fried, and served with some great tartar sauce and all for $3. Last time I also had one of the national dishes of “a herring and onion” sandwich which I really liked. Now the next couple of days we are going to find a place to have another wonderful Dutch dish called a “bitterballan” (probably misspelled). We have some catching up to do. 22 April ’05, Friday. Two days in a row…it’s amazing how good the sun makes you feel… It’s not summer, but it’s still really comfortable and your not getting wet !!! We’ve been hanging around camp, with the exception of a walk into town and breakfast and a look around IKEA. One of our purchases today was a vacuum cleaner. It has been one of those items we’ve thought about many times, so today we got it. It was a $40 Euro item, that was on sale for $9 Euros…that could have been the reason why today was the day… The internet café was next, but didn’t have on-line service this afternoon, so we went to the public library to check our mail. Thanks for the emails… Boy, the campground has a lot of campers still coming in. It gives us a chance to meet a lot of people from all over Europe. Yesterday we met a couple from Great Britain (never too many to meet), and today, one of the couples we met was from the Netherlands but now after traveling in the summer, winter in Portugal. They have their own yellow and white “Bumble Bee”, but about 6 years older. It still looks and runs like new. A few years ago, they shipped their van to Montreal and traveled Canada and western USA. We got an invitation to stop by their condo in Portugal this winter and we definitely look forward to it. Well, Saturday has arrived. We were up, showered, had breakfast, and were headed out to the front gates of the campground to catch our bus to the annual Flower Parade. We had no idea when we signed up and paid our $8 Euros each, that we were signing up for a whole days events. This parade runs 40km or about 24 miles. We were bussed to Wassenaar (a very small Dutch village) and told that the parade would start in about 30 minutes (11am). As we arrived we were only one of many busses to arrive and settle into the streets to await this parade. It kind of reminded us of the 4th of July parades in Carnation, with the kids all dolled up, riding anything that has wheels, and everything fully decorated with (in this case) flowers… come parade time, we saw the typical motorcycle police start out and then followed with all the kids, and more kids, and more kids… it was a hoot !!! After they had all peddled, walked, or were carried, past, we expected more, but…nothing. That is, not for the next 15 minutes or more and then, the parade that we were expecting, finally reached our village. Now this was a great day for a parade and it was a great parade for this day as well. We saw it all, and it was worth every minute and dollar (Euro) we spent, and more. The cars, trucks, horses, buggy’s, trailers, all decorated with live flowers, peddles, stems, and more were absolutely beautiful. Of course there were the marching bands, twirlers, flaggers, and more to make it complete. You can sure understand why Holland is the “Flower Capital” of the world. Yep, we had a good time !!! By 1, we were back at the bus and were starting off for Scheveningen on the coast. This was a “free stop” for walking on the beach, shopping, eating, or just lazing around on the boardwalk in the sun. We were to be there for 2 hours, so it gave us plenty of time to do it all. By the way, the name “Scheveninggen” was used by the Netherlanders as a test to determine if a person was really Dutch or…possibly, German during WWII. If they could pronounce it correctly, they were Dutch…if not… Back on the bus again and additional tours through the streets of Den Haag to see the palace of the Queen, the Prince’s office, the Summer Home, and a lot more…not a bad $8 Euro value for the day… 20 April ’05, Wednesday. It’s been 6 days since we checked into this campground and 5 days since we took “Bumble Bee” into Donna’s so that she could get the APK (Safety Inspections in Holland) taken care of for us. Any time you have to go in front of a government agency for something like this, you know that they will find something to hit you with. This was no different, but then not too bad either. The biggest item was a broken coil spring in the rear-end, and a new muffler... It wouldn’t have been that long, except that it ran over a weekend. This afternoon we checked out of our bungalow campground, and rechecked in with “Bumble Bee”. With all the mess of 3 duffel bags we brought back, 3 backpacks, makeup case, and too many bags of “new bargain items” we found in town, and a stop at the grocery store, we had our job cutout for us storing everything into it’s proper place. By the time we had 98% of everything stored, it was time to start dinner. The idea of having dinner and sleeping in “Bumble Bee” tonight was our highlight for the day (it doesn’t take much for us to get “high” over here…). We’ve had a lot of rain the last week and today started out the same. By noon the rain had stopped and by tonight the sun was out. Now that doesn’t mean that it was warm, it just means that the sun was out. This morning till about 11, it was down-right cold, but tonight it was just about pleasant. We’ll hope for more for the weekend. Well, we knew that it would probably happen to one of us, and wouldn’t you know it would be me…I’ve come down with a cold…I know, it’s only a cold, but I was doing so well. I’m going to blame it on stress or possibly, those little kids at Ikea, with their coughs and runny noses running all over the place. Lou is trying to get those vitamins down my throat, but they are sooo damn big… Tomorrow is “Market Day” in Delft, so we will probably head up to see what kind of deals we can find there. 17 April ’05, Sunday. Apparently jet-lag is still with us. We force ourselves to stay up until 10pm and then, 3am we are both awake. By 5am we have gotten ourselves back to sleep. When we do wake, we find we have slept to 10. Now this morning, it wasn’t much different, except that we had to be out to pick up our rental car by 10, so we forced ourselves out of bed and to the showers by 9. When we first got in, we picked up a car at the airport. Their rates were good until they tacked on the “airport” surcharge of $60 Euros. That car cost us $140 Euros for 2 days. Yesterday, we went into Delft and found a rental car for $25 Euros per day…we changed carriers… It’s not that we needed a rental car, but it has given us some freedom to see some sites we haven’t seen before. Yesterday we drove into Hoek van Holland, to see the town and the location for the ferry service that hooks us up with Great Britain. There are as many ferries that make the crossing from just about as many locations, but this one has been recommended to us, so we decided to take a look ourselves. We had a nice drive through some wonderful Dutch countryside, and enjoyed the day getting back on the road. Although it was raining pretty much the whole day, it was still a good day. When we got back to the campgrounds Louise found a restaurant right here on the grounds. I don’t know how I had missed that one, so we went up for a nice dinner and a glass of OK wine. Today we headed over to Rotterdam and then made a swing around to see the town of Gouda. Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands. We decided to stay in the car and see all that we could by driving. We did see the location were they boarded the Mayflower in making the first trip to the “New World” America. A little further down the road, we saw where they reconstructed a 18th Century windmill that had been destroyed during WWII. Rotterdam it’s self had almost total destruction during that time, so what you will find there is a lot of very new and very modern buildings and a little of the “Old Town” that dates back to the 15th Century. Most of these run along the canals and is close to the harbor. Gouda turned out to be a wonderful town, again with lots of canals, little bridges, narrow roadways throughout, a wonderful town “Markt” and beautiful old buildings that are dwarfed by the huge and stunning churches. We found a great outdoor restaurant for lunch. This sidewalk cafe sat right at the edge of the Markt. We not only could enjoy a real good “split” meal, we also had the company of interesting people to talk with. 15 April ’05, Friday. Our Temp Homes at the Campground I don’t know what it is about traveling, but expect the unexpected… We no sooner had stepped right up to the door of our plane for the flight to London and on to Amsterdam, and Louise grabbed my arm and said “Oh my God, we forgot to call Mikleane and tell her where her car was (we had used her van to get to the airport and was to leave the keys in it for her and the family to find when they got back from their trip on Friday). We ran back up the loading ramp and told the agent that “we had to make a very important phone call right away…No, sorry.. But we have too, it is life or death…OK, but hurry, and only one of you”. The message was sent, and Louise was let back onto the plane. We had a direct flight to London and then a wait of 1 1/2 hours before our continued flight to Amsterdam. While waiting for the gate to come up on the board, we found a seat and had a little break from the confines we had experienced from the flight over. Unfortunately, when the gate number came up, we apparently read it wrong and missed our flight… Not good… Fortunately, we were allowed to get onto the flight that would leave 3 hours later, so not all was lost, except time and having to hang around an airport longer than we wanted. By the time we landed in Amsterdam, we were really bushed and a little touchy.. We decided to rent a car at the airport, even if it would cost us an arm and a leg. We just wanted to get to “Bumble Bee”, and then onto the campground were we had a bungalow waiting for us to move into. By the time we got to the campground, after all the delays, it was closed….not good… I walked around looking and praying that I could find someone there and wouldn’t you know it, as luck would have it, I did. About 8:30pm we were able to climb into bed, and we needed it. Now this bed was a dream, at least a dream for two very small children that wanted to sleep in the same TWIN bed… On top of this, we both were wide awake at 3:30am. I finally rolled out of bed and stepped out into the rain and found my way to the shower at 4, I think Louise lasted until 6… About 10 we finally got things together enough to go over to “Bumble Bee”. The agenda was to find out just what the trouble was with her when we left last month. I pulled the battery out and had it checked, and it checked out to be perfect…now what the heck, I guess it could be the starter, but I will have to leave that to the pro’s. We headed off to Utrecht to see Donna, at Turners Campervans, and see if one of her mechanics could come out. Donna was right on it and had one of her men come back with us and we pulled “Bumble Bee” about 30 feet and she started. That done, we headed off to Utrecht. They will go all over her to get her ready for the road, so we will be here in our Bungalow until Monday. 27 February ’05, Sunday. We’ve just about made our first circle complete. On the 15th or March last year we flew into Amsterdam and the next day we took the train to Utrecht and saw “Bumble Bee” for the first time. This afternoon, we pulled into Delft, in the Netherlands, after visiting 19 countries. It has been one heck of a journey so far, and we are looking forward to our return in April to finish with those countries that we haven’t visited yet. After leaving Paris, we continued heading north. Our next campground was in Tournai, which is about 50km outside of Brussels. We had pretty good traveling weather, as it was mostly cloudy with a snow misting once in awhile to keep us informed that it was still winter. The campground in Tournai, was one of the best winter camping’s so far, and it wasn’t because of the 12.50 Euro cost per night either. The owner lives on the site and it shows, it’s well maintained...almost luxurious! Tournai was a pretty little town with a lot of history behind it. It just happens to be the 2nd oldest town in Belgium. The town with it’s narrow streets, all being hugged by the 2 story buildings, and in the middle, a huge town square, that was surrounded by at least 5 large church buildings and a beautiful cathedral with 5 spires. Unfortunately, we didn’t take a lot of time to visit all that there was to see, but hopefully, when we come back, we will take it all in. This morning, we had a large breakfast and got on the road so that we would have plenty of time to set up camp here in Delft. The sun was out bright this morning, but it was COLD !!! About the time we arrived in Brussels, we started to encounter snow flurries and heavy side winds. I fought the winds for hours, and let me tell you, I’m damn tired of them !!! Hopefully, with a couple of days camping here, the winds will have diminished and we can continue into Utrecht with out them. We have a few things to do before we leave for the airport, and it would be “real nice” if we could do it all in nice Spring weather…(wishful thinking). This campground also ranks up there with the one in Tournai. It is spotless, very close to everything (walking), and is well within the budget for our stay. As we drove into Holland, it was really amazing how the architecture changed, and also it was good to see the canals. On our walk into town, we must have crossed over 5 or 6 canals, and that was within a 3km walk. But our walk back, well, it was HELL !!! That COLD WIND I had mentioned before, was right in our face, and it wasn’t pleasant. 9 May ’04, Sunday…Happy Mothers Day !!! Today we awoke to a sun filled sky and we used it to knock down the campsite and head West to Utrecht. We even celebrated breaking down with a breakfast of Steak N Eggs. It was all worth it. Our hosts at Vreehorst Camp Ground at Winterswijk really treated us well while we were there. On checking out I asked them if there were any spots that we shouldn’t miss before we get to far West. They told us about a little town about 5 km down the road that we would probably like a lot. Well they weren’t wrong. We pulled into Bredevoort about noon and I know that it was Sunday but, the streets were without a car, bicycle, or person in site. The church bells ringing, the buildings, the gardens (the Dutch really know “How to Garden”), the roadway (all hand laid brick) were all stunning. The town also has a BEAUTIFUL Windmill that was built in 1632. It sat on a little knoll overlooking the town and with all the towers of the churches made for a picture book view. We pulled the van off to the side and walked into the town so that we could really get a feel of what we had to look at. I took so many pictures that I ran the batteries out. As we came to the far end of the road and walked around a corner we finally saw life. There was a town square and at one end of it were hand sawn tables and benches. These were serviced by a little restaurant/pub right across the street. Seeing as how it was noon, and we hadn’t had anything to eat for the last 3 hours and, it was just one of those settings that you just had to sit down and enjoy what ever they were serving, we ordered….THE BEST ESPRESSO’S, and APPLE COFFEE CAKE we have ever had. We had to go looking for a piece of property to buy right then (just kidding about the property Kids..). The restaurant/pub was originally built in 1704 and it still had ALL the ambience of the past. It was just like walking into a fiery tale. The rest of the town did start to SLOOOWWWLLLY wake up. It seems that this little town is known for it’s International Book Fair every year and there are little book shoppes everywhere. Some are even unattended little book cases that line a wall outside and they have a slot in the door or wall that you drop your fifty cents or Euro into. Really quite a stop along the roadway of our journey. We loved it. The rest of the trip to Utrecht was really uneventful but the country side was as usual quite beautiful. Tomorrow….Donna 8 May ’04, Saturday. Picture this…Heavy Rain last night, Cold as H..eck, and we have a van that has no windshield wipers. Well, this morning arrived and the rain stopped and lo and be hold our wipers have decided to work just fine….Thank You Lord!! As it was, this has turned into a “Wash Day, Clean Up Day, Sewing Day, and Finish the Cabinetry Day. Yesterday while out shopping we found some material that Louise is working on right now. She is making new draperies and re-covering the bench seat. It’s looking great. For dinner tonight, we went over to the restaurant located on the site. They only open for the holidays, some weekends, and high season. We had no idea what would be offered but thought we would try it anyway. Louise had “Chicken Bits” and I had something like a hotdog. Serving sizes were small with 4 pieces of “Kitkorn” for Louise and I had a “All Meat” deep fried hotdog missing a bun, but had a cheese and currie ketchup sauce with chopped onion sitting on top. We both had a Warsteiner Beir, not too bad. We topped that off with an ice cream bar for desert. I’ll bet you will have to go some to beat that… We’ve heard that the weather is going to break and we’ve seen the last of the rain for a few days so, we are going to break ground and head back to Utrecht. The 12th is the end of our 30 day warranty so we are going back to have a couple of things looked at. We want to wish a “Happy Mother’s Day” to all!!! This is a nice camp ground with lot’s of things for the kids to enjoy. It’s fun to watch.
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