April ’04, Tuesday. We boarded the train for Haarlem at 10:59am. Alright, I know, the morning hours start a little earlier than 10:59…. First, I either caught my second cold or, because everything is in full bloom around here I’ve got an allergy problem. I just could not get to sleep last night…. my head felt like a stuffed medicine ball. Unfortunately Louise isn’t feeling up to par either so we’ll let all that answer our tardiness. Attached to the Haarlem station is the VVV (visitor information center) so we went in and purchased a map of the 2 walking tours of Haarlem. It seems that Haarlem was in a 2 year siege beginning in 1572 and lost most of their inhabitants. That was when the Flemish came into the picture. By 1621 the Flemish had established themselves at 51% of the inhabitants of Haarlem. The architecture shows us that today. Our walk took us to the Grote Markt. This Markt is were they had among other things, competing knights in tournaments. The town hall dates back to 14th century and was a hunting lodge belonging to the Counts of Holland (Now tell me, why is it that we HAD TO HAVE a new City Hall in Seattle? This one even looks better and it is a couple of years older…. Someday I’ll understand I’m sure). We then walked across the Markt and entered the Great Bavo’s Church. This is a late Gothic cross-shaped basilica with a slim-line wooden crossing tower. This church was built in 1445-1446. If you are in to the arts, Frans Hals the portrait-painter is buried here. Also in this church is a large Muller organ and was played by Mozart during his tour of the Low Countries. Walking further. we came upon one of the museums that we’ve wanted to see. The Teylers Museum with a striking neo-classical façade from 1878. This is the oldest museum in the Netherlands. There is a large display of fossils, coins, an electrostatic generator and a very nice collection of paintings and drawings which included Rafael and Rembrandt. This day was done for both of us so we decided to call it and head back to our pitch. As I mentioned yesterday, it is amazing just how much later it stays light here. When we arrived back it was already just before 7:30pm and the sun was still high in the sky… Well, hope we sleep better tonight. Tomorrow we are off to the tulip fields of Netherlands and the nationally known gardens of Keukenhof.
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26 April ’04, Monday. Hello from Zandvoort, NL. We pulled away from Amsterdam after breakfast and headed West past Haarlem and on to the North Sea and Zandvoort. We stopped in one of the suburbs of Haarlem for groceries and didn’t stop until we found the gates of our next “pitch”. This was a short trip and we saw some beautiful countryside along the way. As usual for the Netherlands we enjoyed the architecture of all the homes and businesses and of course the wonderful canals. Our campsite is right across the road from the North Sea beaches and about 2 blocks from town center. We got “Bumble Bee" settled and headed out to do some exploring. The boardwalk is just across the street, so we walked towards town looking for lunch and exploring all the new sites before us. We came upon a sea food vendor in his outdoor kitchen/trailer. Let me tell you, everything that he had looked great so our decision wasn’t easy. The only thing that Louise and I totally agreed upon was next time we would only order 1 meal and split it. The portions we received were huge, with a capitol “H” and tasted fantastic. After filling our stomachs we continued our walk, looking out at the beautiful sea, the sunbathers (a few topless and still others completely nude), and some hardy bathers who even late this evening (8:45pm) headed into the cold waters. Zandvoort is celebrating it’s 700th Birthday this year. Heck, we think 100 years is a lot. Zandvoort was first settled on the 25th of April 1304. It started out as a fishing village and now, well, a “Sea Side Resort” complete with real nice Casinos, hotels, great restaurants, and one of the worlds best racing tracks. This afternoon there were time trials going on for national motorcycling competition. Zandvoort is a cozy village with lots of sidewalks and very few roads in the village it’s self. The beach has “Pavilions” all along the beach front. The first 7 are for those that want to bath in the “all together” with the remaining 28 to handle the rest of those that enjoy the beach. Now a Pavilion is a space that has a restaurant/bar with raised seating and bathing areas that are sheltered from the winds by being surrounded by glass. They also have private wind shelters that will handle 2 beach lounge chairs that line the beach area in front and down to just before the water high tide. Louise wanted to see the sunset tonight so about 8pm we wondered over to the beach to watch. Just around 9pm we saw what was just about “Sunset” as the sun went behind some low clouds and eventually went below the sea. Now this isn’t the 26th of April back in Seattle with the sun still shining at 9pm. Tomorrow Haarlem and then back here for the “Nudist Beaches”. 24 April “04. Saturday. On our first trip into Amsterdam we came upon a small shop that was selling antique bath hardware. She had some of the most beautiful and unusual bath and kitchen sinks, tubs, and hardware we had ever seen. Anyway, she told us of a side trip that we might want to take. Well, today’s the day and we will be going out to Purmerend. We got off the tram at Central Station and looked for the bus that would take us to our destination. It wasn’t long and we were boarding and I asked the driver if our passes that we had been using for all our transportation would cover this trip as well. He said it would so off we went. Purmerend is a nice little town with some wonderful architectural styling all over town. This town has a lot of single family and duplex type of housing. They are small and have small yards in most cases but are really a wonderful site. After a lot of site-seeing and shopping (what else) we boarded the bus back to Amsterdam. Well, this bus driver saw our pass differently and we had to pay to get back…. Well it was a good day anyway. 23 April “04. Friday. We heard that we could ride the city ferry “FREE” so guess what we did first thing this morning? Yep, we jumped off the tram and immediately headed through “Central Station” and jumped on the ferry. The ferry takes you across the river to the islands of Amsterdam. The long ride took about 10 minutes but IT WAS FREE!!! When the ferry landed we chose a direction to walk in and just enjoyed the great weather that we have been having and a wonderful community on the other side of Amsterdam. Another site that we have been wanting to see was the “Flower Market”. What a wonderful market. It was set up for about 3 city blocks all along one of the canals. You can’t imagine all the different flowers, trees, and bushes that were all on display. It was really wonderful for at least 3 of our senses. The rest of the day was just exploring the city street by street, and store by store. 22 April ’04, Thursday. Today our first stop is The Van Gogh Museum. This is one of the most modern buildings in Amsterdam and has the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh in the world. It was really great to be able to see over 200 paintings by one of the worlds greatest artists. As it was looking at Rembrandt’s works, seeing a print or picture of one of the “Greats” work has nothing to offer as does the original right there in front of you. My personal observation was Van Gogh had his good days and he had his other days and his work would show it. When he was in the grove he was really in it…. Van Gogh had a troubled early start in his adult life. He started out working in a gallery but was fired. He then gave the ministry a go as his father did and he failed at that. He really wanted to paint so he fought hard and long and finally sold his first painting. After a little success, experimenting with different lighting and color mixes, a long fight with a rare type of epilepsy with a long stay in a hospital, staying with his brother over and over again he took his own life at an very early age. What a tragedy. We needed lunch so we headed for the deli and got what we would need. Out the door to a close by park and enjoyed a wonderful picnic. Then off for a tour through the canals of Amsterdam. We have heard over and over that we “had” to take this tour because it is one that even those that live here never tire of. The countless, lavishly decorated facades standing side by side boarding and somewhat protecting the canals. The unique bridges, each and everyone unique to the other, crossing at all angles and making those that go under them feel like they must duck or loose their head. The greenery of all the trees whose branches hang low over the water help make these 17th Century canals a wonder of their own with the lure to come back because you didn’t see everything. Then heading for the tram and back to “Bumble Bee” for a great barbecued dinner, a bottle of good wine and making plans for tomorrow. 21 April ’04, Wednesday. Hard to get to the showers this morning but we make it. Back to Bumble Bee for breakfast of eggs, bacon, and “Nescafe Espresso”….can’t beat that can you? Do a little pick up around the pitch and the van and head off for our second day in Amsterdam. This day was planned and made us both “happy campers all day long. Our first stop was going to be Rijksmuseum. They have on display the very best of it’s collection “The Masterpieces”. One of the many was “Rembrandts “Jewish Bride””. Other artists without naming them all were, Jan Sateen, Frans Hals, and Vermeer. Over 400 masterpieces are in view. But, before going on I must tell you we came across a great street market just prior to the Rijksmuseum and we spent at least 1 ½ hours there. Now back to our leaving the museum, we headed east for a couple of blocks for our third stop for the day…. The Heineken Experience. The Heineken experience started May 17, 1867 and is still going strong today. This is the second largest brewery in the world. The tour was a “self tour” with 2 stops on the way to taste the cold refreshment of a “Heineken”. We felt that we really got our monies worth out of this tour. This wasn’t going to be a long day so after stopping off at a grocery store we caught our tram back to the camp grounds and fired up our barbecue. Tomorrow….. Big day planned. 20 April 04, Monday. I guess we will have to really buckle down and get the heck out of bed if we are “going to get an early start”….. as it was, we boarded the tram at 10:30am and headed into Amsterdam. Our first time in the big city and we kind of felt it too. We hadn’t really set an agenda for ourselves and that was our first mistake. We kind of pulled at each others strings all day long and that didn’t make live easy. One of the first “agreed upon” destinations was the home of Anne Frank. I think we all remember the story of Anne Frank and her family as they hid for more than 2 years from the Nazi’s. The outside of the home was really just about like any other home here in Amsterdam. The interior is pretty much like it was except there is no furnishings at all. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to figure out just were we where and “discussing it”. I think we both were looking for night time and then we could check out the “Red Light District”. Let me tell you, we found that the whole tourist community was waiting for the same thing. After 7pm everyone was heading over to the district to check these girls (and from what we understand men as girls) out. It was really quite interesting as they set up their business in a very narrow window. It was completely occupied by a stool/chair and themselves. Behind them was their place to do business. Once a deal was made a curtain was drawn and it was business as usual for them. As we all walked the narrow streets looking in on them they would look back, some would jester, and some would dance to the music that was playing behind the windows. I must admit, the girls weren’t the only things that we saw all day long. We really enjoyed the architecture, the canals and the boats of the canals, the little pubs and the espresso shops. We even stopped for a ride on a huge Ferris wheel that was set up in front of the Royal Palace. This was only one of many rides that were available and it was in stark contrast to the rest of the surrounds like the Palace and all the rest of the historical buildings. Our leg muscles aching and really tired we headed back to the tram and onto the van. We got home just after 10:30pm and it felt like it. 19 April ’04, Monday. Is Monday still “Laundry Day”? Well, it was for us this morning. A couple of loads of wash and dry and we checked out. Leaving Utrecht is to us “Getting Started” on this journey through Europe. We really don’t have a schedule or a destination to follow but we are heading to Amsterdam for our first stop of many on our trip. We had to stop by Turner Campervans on the way out of Utrecht and wouldn’t you believe it but we got lost trying to find her. I was very glad that I had my second cup of coffee before leaving. Then off to find our new campgrounds in Amsterdam. It was a short trip and luck would have it and we drove right to our next destination. As we pulled in to the Gaasper Camp Grounds it felt good right from the start. Going into the reception area, checking in, and being guided to our “pitch” was more than I could have expected. Even checking out the restroom/shower areas, the grocery store and the bus stop just outside of the gate. We didn’t get here until 3:30 so we decided to spend the rest of the day hanging close by and getting some work and reading done right in the van. Tomorrow we will make a day of it in visiting and exploring Amsterdam. We hope to start early and end late. Wish us luck…. 17 and 18th of March 2004. Tuesday was spent just testing our wings (feet as we were walking) around Utrecht. It was a good day to do this as the weather was overcast and in the low 50’s (just like Seattle !!!). We had to watch ourselves as we walked the streets. Now don’t get me wrong, we did stay on the sidewalk but, with there being a bicycle lane, a car lane and a separate bus lane it made it rather interesting to cross the street. Another interesting action or should I say no action was the stopping at the “Stop Lights”. The general rule as I saw it was “SWSWSW” (some will, some wont, so what !!).It was the “so what’s” we had to watch out for….. I really like the town of Utrecht with the architecture of “old” and mostly townhouses style, the very narrow streets that just swing one way and then the other. All the waterways and all the little row boats some swamped and the others just like new. A retired man fishing from the banks and pulling this little fish up at his leisure. The GREAT bakeries that not only serve up wonderful pastries but the best coffee’s ever. I think I have found my next home !!!! After noon we called Donna to come and pick us up so we could finally meet “Goldie”. Well, “Goldie” is a little rough right now but when Louise and I finish with her she will be ONE HELL OF A GOLDIE that we will all be proud of !!!! Wednesday was some more of the same of finding more neat little corners to round and another little shoppe to explore. The camera is clicking galore (I will be working at getting these on the site soon). Thursday we went down for breakfast, checked out of the Ouwi and walked pulling our one bag (we left all the others with Goldie) to town and through a street market and then on to the train station for our ride back to Amsterdam. The train ride was executed “Perfectly” this time. This morning we woke at 4am and headed off to catch our plane to Paris and then on to Cairo Egypt. The Paris airport is going through a major remodel and getting around was a challenge. The customs experience arriving in Cairo was easy enough but for some reason it took forever!!! We arrived without a hotel or B&B to go to and well, we are going to move in the morning…. This one is…well…. more to come… |
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