3 May ’04, Monday. It will never be said that we missed Flevoland… We drove it from one end to the other, filled the van with gas, and we even went grocery shopping there in Lelystad. We would have done a lot more but nothing was opening until 1:pm and we just couldn’t wait. Our destination was Kampen, Zwolle and Deventer. Well we didn’t make it to Deventer but found a campsite in a small village of Olst. We chose not to go any further today because of a small number of Castles and ruins close by Olst. In 1440 Kampen became a member of the Hanseaic League. This was 120 years after Kampen was in it’s prime and the town center expanded considerably with large buildings. Brick houses were built into the town wall and there were over 20 gates that were surrounded by a moat. Today there are only 3 town gates remaining. When we pulled into town we saw what look liked a large street market going on so we looked for a parking space and walked into town. Well, the market was there but, they were closing down… They had been there all of Friday, Sat, and Sun and Monday everything was closing. A little disappointed but with our bellies telling us something we went looking for something to eat. We found a nice outdoor café right across from the City Hall building. Attached to the City Hall building was the Oude Raadhuis which was the seat of the administration in 1545. The Oude Raadhuis is very ornate and has quite a tale to tell. It seems that a farmer long ago thought he saw some grass growing on the roof of the building. Well, he decided to tie one of his cow’s to a rope and lift it to the roof to eat the grass off. The only problem was, after the cow had been hoisted about ¾ of the way up, it died. They have a re-creation of this each year and there has been a bronze made that sits outside of the Oude Raadhouis right now. One of the hopefuls of coming into Kampen was to find an Internet Café. Well we were given a lot of directions but after searching the entire town we finally gave up. Our hopes are to find one tomorrow….
Just a note about our camping sites; Our first site was in Utrecht and we would rate it about a 2, our next site was in Amsterdam…9, Zandvoort….5, Groningen….6, and tonight’s stay Olst….5. We have found some that we’ve had to pay for a hot shower and others not. We have had mowed grass to park on and we have had sandy grass spots. We have had co-ed shower/toilets but most separate. We have had one that smelled all the time and the others were great. There have been restaurants at almost all, but we haven’t partaken in any. There has also been some type of grocery store available on site. All the parks have been quite secure. Some have been really convenient to town by bus, train, tram or walking. Over all it has been a good experience and we look forward to those to come.
Just a note about our camping sites; Our first site was in Utrecht and we would rate it about a 2, our next site was in Amsterdam…9, Zandvoort….5, Groningen….6, and tonight’s stay Olst….5. We have found some that we’ve had to pay for a hot shower and others not. We have had mowed grass to park on and we have had sandy grass spots. We have had co-ed shower/toilets but most separate. We have had one that smelled all the time and the others were great. There have been restaurants at almost all, but we haven’t partaken in any. There has also been some type of grocery store available on site. All the parks have been quite secure. Some have been really convenient to town by bus, train, tram or walking. Over all it has been a good experience and we look forward to those to come.