Blogs from North Brabant, Netherlands, Europe - page 3

Here I am in Tilburg, Holland. After a long, sleepless journey from Sydney I arrived in Amsterdam. I soon got onto a train heading towards Tilburg and it wasn't long before I lost confidence in my self and decided I had boarded the wrong train. Ofcourse it took me quite a while to decide that I had boarded the wrong train, a task made no easier by my reluctance to ask for help or even appear confused lest the surrounding dutch suspect the little, dark haired guy with luggage is a tourist. Though eventually my worrying proved needless as I soon realised I was on the correct train headed for Tilburg University. When I got to Tilburg Uni station there were UvT people there ready to take me to the uni and get me started registering.The ... read more

We finally had a sunny day again. Sun shinning, blue skies all around. The suggestion was to go for a bike ride. Hugo and Jola have four bikes, so we each had one. The bikes were made ready, of some of them the saddles had to be lowered. Drink bottles in bags and baskets. Liz took her bike into the street to try it out. After a few attempts, she really tried. Hugo looked on and said that this was no good. You are to insecure and scared for falling. He was right. The last bike ride was about 15 years ago and age has a bit to do with it as well, although she does not like to admit that. As for Allen his leg had a problem reaching over the saddle. With the camera ... read more

Pictures attached Reached home yesterday evening after a 27 hours trip by ferry and train from the cold Shetland islands via London and Brussel. Back home and thinking already a bit for next year train/ferry trip. Unfortunately the situation in Arab region changed a lot this year and I not even plan it for next year. The islands were great except the cold .For next year the trip might be as follows: Via Germany to Poland, crossing the Baltic States crossing to Helsinki, via Stockholm to Norway and starting with ferries in Bergen, first to Shetland after that Faroe islands and than also by ferry to Iceland enetering Iceland probably on the wrong side and moving to Reykjavic and fly back, Have to do quite some planning still. This time the trip was short and cold ... read more

It became again a day of lots to eat and seeing places that were very interesting. Starting of with a walk to the house of Gabi & Heinz, where breakfast was waiting. A very large breakfast we must say. We can only eat so much. They showed us a place in Oberhausen that has an out of work gas cylinder that is 109 metres high. In there there was an exhibition of a fascinating journey around the world. . A 43 metres tree from fibreglass was in the middle. The tree of life. We could see the most splendid sites of natural and human development. Astonishing items from the history of the earth. Magic photographs of beautiful places 9of the world were there to see. We spent a lot of time there after we first visited ... read more

Last year I was not able to finish my trip to Damascus and planned to do it this year. However due to the problems in Syria it s not possible to do so at the moment. Instead of that I planned a not too long trip to visit Ireland and Scotland including the Orkney and Shetland isles. Today I ll start and will travel the first leg of the trip by train to Edinburgh. Just took out my sunglasses from the luggage for as far as I can see in the weather forecast there will be no sun. Hopefully the riots in Belfast will be over by saturday. The orange parades brought some problems in Belfast again. With the Orange Parades in July protestant people in Northern Ireland celebrate Prince Willam of Orange s victory over ... read more

Monday (27/06/11) It was the day I got to go and fetch my mother and sister from the airport. I wanted to spend the night prior to ‘fetching’ in Amsterdam, as it would be less of a mission to travel the next day. However, prices are really high and I didn’t have the urge to just rock up in the city and find a place. So I left nice and early in the morning, only to find that the train to Schiphol was delayed by just over a half-hour. This then sent me on a blur of getting on and off at various stations throughout the day. I was late for the ladies and I think every member of the Dutch family had received a worried call from my mom already. Relief on the faces of ... read more

Tot over 3 maanden! Als jullie ons niet kunnen missen kunnen jullie ons hier op volgen! Kus ons ... read more