Blogs from Leeuwarden, Friesland, Netherlands, Europe
June 23rd 2011
The decision to leave Prague was a difficult one to make, so much so that I only decided where I was going about 2 hours before the bus left. After buying bus tickets and booking a hostel, I headed to the station to take the bus to Belgium. It was an 11 hour overnight bus trip to Brussels, but because I didn't like the idea of arriving at 5am and having to find my hostel, I continued on to Bruges. Going to Bruges was a bit of a gamble because I didn't really know anything about the place. It paid off though because luckily it turned out to be a really nice place. The buildings in the city centre are really old and charming. It's so well preserved because the city was quite poor and not ... read more
September 25th 2009
Have you ever wanted to fly? Feel your body weightless, glide over the natural currents of the atmosphere around you. Its feels almost unnatural, yet when I went kite surfing on Saturday, 8 August I did just that. It was via a travbuddy meetup that myself and 40 other hopefuls, from Dutch, to English hopefuls met up in Vlieland in the north of Friesland. Vlieland is an island part of the Friesislands and the second least populated municipality after Schiermonnikoog. We were all from different backgrounds and different ages but with one common goal. We were going to become the best damn kite surfers there was. Ok well maybe give it a try but lets be all high and mighty while we are at it right? We met early in the morning at Leeuwarden. I had ... read more
October 1st 2008
Today is our last day in Holland and since John has had an experience of a lifetime, fishing with Sake on a fishing trawler 120 kms out in the North Sea. Lucky for John he still has his Navy legs and loved the day. He and Sake caught lots of fish with Sake catching a Spanish Makreel, which was the only one caught. Many didn't survive the beginning of the trip, getting sea sick in the four hour journey getting to the fishing spot. They had a sensational day and stunk like fish and beer when they got home. Many a song was sung on the four hour journey back to land. They guys on the boat have requested Rex Hunt to come to the next fishing trip next year. Delft was also another Dutch town ... read more
Part 2: Leeuwarden (Days 2 and 3)
Published: August 19th 2008Europe » Netherlands » Friesland » Leeuwarden
August 19th 2008
I can pinpoint exactly where my affection with SC Cambuur Leeuwarden began; when I steered them to Champions League glory on Championship Manager. What? It's a fine way to pick a club. A little geeky perhaps but at least I was following it through by taking a three hour train to Friesland in the north of Holland to see them take on VVV Venlo. Some Man Utd 'fans' never go to a game in their lifetime. Si never complained about going along with my hair-brained scheme, and indeed seemed rather pleased with the idea as it meant a private hotel room rather than a hostel dorm (no such budget accommodation here). After an extended look around the home of Feyenoord in Rotterdam earlier in the day, we had to be sharp at getting to our hotel ... read more
August 5th 2008
Today (Monday 5th August) we meet my Beppe (Grandmother) and looked around Friesland. For those who don’t know my Dad’s side of the family come from Friesland (the Northern part of the Netherlands). We headed out this morning in Oom Arjen’s Buick to another great Uncle and Auntie of mine, Oom Jan and Tante Aukje. We had coffee there and picked up my Beppe. We then headed off to Berlikum - the home town of my Beppe and Pake (Grandfather). We had a quick tour of the town and then went to another great Uncle and Auntie, Oom Popjke and Tante Anneke. We picked up the key for the church and had a look at the church where my Pake and Beppe grew up going to. Beppe even showed us the spot where she used to ... read more
August 3rd 2008
Hi all, We are now in Friesland! At Tante Anna and Oom Arjen's. Daniel is going to write this blog since we spent most of the day with his family. I'm pleased to say by Dutch is getting slightly better - I can now say Tanke you well (Thank you), Hallo (Hello) and Tot ziens, dug, dewey (bye) - p.s. I didn't say I could spell the words, just say them. Anyway, here is Daniel... Hi all, it is I. Apparantly she whommustbeobeyedatalltimes wants me to write/type...er bash the key board with two fingures, this blog entrie. what kind of a name is BLOG anyway!! Well, today we had yet another breakfast of biscuit, yummy cheese, Apple stroop and chocolate hail. Life is so hard. Later on we Oom Johan and Tante Nancy took Monique and ... read more
[R] Freisland - Northern Holland
Published: September 21st 2007Europe » Netherlands » Friesland » Leeuwarden
September 13th 2007
We spent two nights in Leeuwarden, staying with Brandt's cousin Femke, her partner and their cats. It was nice to stay in a proper house again after living in our small flat in London, and then travelling the past few weeks. Yesterday we did a lot of driving around the small Friesland villages recommended by Femke. We drove into Gaastmeer for a coffee, and then onto Heeg where we had a good lunch, then continued along the coast. We saw a lot of farmland, and the traditional high roofed farm houses where hay used to be kept in the top levels and thrown down to the animals. We also saw a few traditional windmills on our way to Workum, with the new wind turbines visible also. Our last stop in the afternoon was Hindeloopen where we ... read more
August 8th 2007
The plan for today was simple - bike to the nearest town, do my interenet stuff, bike north to the longest dyke in the world (that may not actually be true, but its really long) cross it and then on to Leeuwarden - about 90km, but today was the day I learnt about the difficultues arising from a flat countryside and the dutch economy with signs. I got to Memblik no worries but the internet store was closed, ok, so lets head north - hmm, no cycle signs for cities to the north, just these ones directing you to numbered intersections on biek routes (only useful if you have the map with the numbers - I tried to get it in Amsterdam but nobody had heard of it). so, a lot of backforwad and forward through ... read more
