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Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht
August 16th 2009
Published: August 26th 2009
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To The Netherlands!


Our first beer in France!Our first beer in France!Our first beer in France!

On the bus ride from England to Utrecht
The Netherlands
8/11 - 8/16

Tuesday morning, the 11th of August Will’s grandfather drove us from Honiton to Exeter, the near by city. We had purchased a bus ticket from there to London for only 20 pounds, and then another bus ticket from London to Amsterdam for only 38 pounds (for both our tickets!). We couldn’t believe how cheap it was for the bus, when everything else was in the hundreds of pounds.

Will’s granddad has such a thick British accent that it was almost difficult to understand, but he was super sweet and reminded me of mine…but British. He dropped us off in London around 8:30am and we were officially: On. Our. Own. Except for the huge sack of fruit and crisps and OJ that Will’s Mum had packed for us. Mmmm, she’s so wonderful. The bus ride was an easy one- it went straight to the Bus Station that we would have to be at the following morning for our ride to Amsterdam, so all we had to do was stick around and we’d be fine.

In London we immediately went to the Library, which was perfectly across the street from the station. There we did
Phoenix' owiePhoenix' owiePhoenix' owie

She took a killer spill, but somehow managed to ninja her way out of any real damage
all sorts of internet stuff and took our time getting settled in to the city again. After that we went out side and found a spot to play some music, in hopes of gaining back some of the ticket money…or at least to buy a celebratory pint! That first round we made a single pound! But that was our FIRST! It just got better from then on. The “Traveler’s Tavern” was right down the street so we headed there and relaxed for a bit. After that we went back to the Library to double check couches for Amsterdam, then on to play more music at a couple of different locations. Next round we made about 8 pounds! HOORAY! Back to the Tavern as the sun set and had a Scrumpy Jack Cider and a Corona - there was a special on them, or you can bet we wouldn’t have just got a dang Corona. It’s been fun trying all the different Ciders out here, they’re just as popular as beers it seems.

Before we set out into the night we had a little safety talk while we made a sign to put out while playing that read “Singing our way through Europe!”. We decided that we would gauge people as they came of course, but that our story would be that we were waiting for our friend that would be there soon. And of course not to mention money or that we were just roaming. Then we secured our Jingle Bells that my Mom gave us, so that we can always hear each other while walking the city, and headed out.

Our plan was to stay up all night since the bus left early the next morning, and we had experienced an all-nighter in London already and it seemed a well lit and safe city. We made our way to another coach station and set up for some music playing. THAT was the magical spot! Within the first song, which was “Such Great Heights”, we already had two listeners that actually sat and interacted, not just walked by or tossed some charity coins in. That felt wonderful. Our music means so much more to us than a creative request for alms. One of the listeners, Ben, was super nice. We were cautious of course, and refused his first offer for buying us some food. But he stuck around
Our owies!Our owies!Our owies!

The stairs are seriously almost a straight drop
and actually was a really awesome guy! This very tipsy Australian couple came by and basically started throwing money into our collection! They were hilarious! Both had huge sombreros on from the Mexican restaurant they just had been to, and the lady played all sorts of music. Really nice people, giving us thumbs up and calling us Dude. They thought Ben was with us, so the guy slipped him a 20 pounder before they left, which a few minutes later Ben passed on to us. Totally honest and impressive! Ben offered us food again and remembering the Buddha’s teachings to NOT refuse gifts (especially ones from proven good-guys), we accepted.

Phoenix had been craving that day…well she’s ALWAYS craving them…Cornish Pasties, so we found one open. Ben got us those and some drinks, then we found a cool spot to sit and chat near a park. We were glad to share the food and stories with him, and he agreed that it was indeed a magical night! After a while it was 2am, and we went our separate ways, and Phoenix and I decided to head back toward the bus station to wait til tomorrow. A good number of
Phoenix playing alongPhoenix playing alongPhoenix playing along

Accordians are very popular in Europe (compared to the US)
people were in the loading area snoozing and waiting for there bus, so we felt comfortable find a spot to nap the next few hours. With our Clackets we were SUPER comfy and warm, we are so glad we had those!

Morning came and we sent off a few more post cards, checked the internet one more time and then went to Check In for the bus at 9am. We still hadn’t had a couch lined up for Amsterdam, but remained optimistic and always know we have the Hostel Directory book that dad got us if nothing else. But while waiting in line to check in, Phoenix met another angel - Kotomi! She’s a law student studying in Utrecht, that’s about half an hour outside of Amsterdam. She immediately welcomed us to her house and offered to show us around, and she was riding the same bus as us! PERFECT!

On the bus ride up we did a lot of sleeping. The bus driver was pretty strict about time, and even left a guy behind when we went on the train to go under the English Channel! Luckily, he was able to find us and get back on
A wedding processionA wedding processionA wedding procession

The bride and groom in the car and the rest of the party following them through the street of Utrecht
the bus though. But we also did a lot of sewing on our Clackets. In London, Will’s Aunt gave us these beautiful shirts from Nigeria. Since they were a bit large I trimmed a few strips off the bottom and then sewed that to the cuffs of my Clacket to give it color! That was very fun. We also got some traditional Honiton Lace while with Will that we plan on attaching as well. It’d be great to get patches and decorations from all over for them.

Since it was a bus set out for a different part of non-English speaking Europe, there seemed to be a lot more diverse cultures on it. In the back seemed to be a lot of Arabic people, with children singing in their language and then suddenly switching to “Twinkly Twinkle Little Star”! And the front of the bus seemed to have more French people. When we passed under the English Chanel and into France, it was the first time we got to interact with a predominately non-English speaking country, when we ordered some food. It was fun to try and read the signs written in French and place my order. Although, everyone in the service industry seems to know at least a little bit of English. How lucky we are as Americans!

Around 9:30pm we arrived in Utrecht, and decided to just get off the bus with Kotomi instead of trying to find our way to her place from Amsterdam. She walked us from the bus station back to her flat through the small city. It was very alive with tons of people in café’s, bars, parks, and I’ve NEVER seen so many bicycles in my life! There are specific roads for all the bikes, and it’s needed. Utrecht is a college town and with that there are TONS of 20-somethings and bars that are active throughout the night. We also found out that it is student orientation right now, so there are more activities than usual. But our quick walk through the town at night was mystifying. And the buildings are just as quaint and historic as you would expect from a traditional Dutch town.

Kotomi let us stay in her room, which is in this really unique town house. She lives on the top floor with another student that is away for the summer. The building is very
The key to Kotomi's place!The key to Kotomi's place!The key to Kotomi's place!

I think it may very well be the original key...
old and the stairways are DANGEROUSLY steep! I swear the steps are only about 5 inches deep and about 15 feet high. In fact the next morning when we headed out to see the town we BOTH slipped down them! Luckily we’re ninjas and Phoenix was able to grab a railing before falling too far. It’s seriously a nearly straight drop down. The drum and water bottle went crashing to the bottom though. My slip wasn’t nearly as bad, but was even after watching her. We got a little bruised, but survived to tell the ridiculous story. I want to get a slinky and try it out!

So Thursday we spent the entire day roaming around the city. We made sure to take a picture of Kotomi’s front door, the bus station next to it, and the corner street sign - since everything is written in Dutch. Luckily, Dutch is very close to German so Phoenix was able to be a little bit of a translator. Though, again, most people seem to speak at least a little English and were more than willing to help us out.

It seems that 90% of the population here is made up
Beautiful view on our hitchhiking adventureBeautiful view on our hitchhiking adventureBeautiful view on our hitchhiking adventure

Trying to get to Amsterdam we got to see such pretty sights
of 20-something year olds. Which makes sense since it’s a college town. But there are an incredibly high percentage of absolutely gorgeous women. I don’t mean gorgeous because they are covered in make up and have their hair all done up. I mean naturally beautiful women with unique fashion and a confident, calm attitude. Wonderful!

We found a little book store and were able to pick out some new travel journals since ours are now pretty full and almost done. And also, I have been looking for a new book to read, and so the only book I had seen in English was “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”, which is totally perfect right now. It was a bit expensive, but will be worth it. Oh, and it seems like it is definitely more expensive here than in the UK so far.

We didn’t play too much music this time, but did spend a lot of time walking around and sitting on the grass next to the river that runs through the city. You can tell how the water way used to be an important resource for the town in the old days because there is a Windmill near the town, and along the waterline, the buildings are built with a small door right on the river. It makes me wonder if they used to just have boats parked outside and use the river to get around.

Kotomi had told us she would be back to the flat around 9:30pm, so we made our way back around then. It was pretty easy to find since we had been roaming and learning the streets all day. When we got to her building she had left a note on her door to come down the street to her Hosting Counselor (for the scholarship organization that is funding a majority of her schooling here). On her directions it said that it was a “very modern apartment”, and it sure was! The only one on the street that was made of new material. Not only was it modern in that way, but it was almost from a movie. We buzzed her apartment and Kotomi came to meet us…this was probably the most incredible apartment I’ve ever seen. HUGE! And there were windows all along the sides, so you had a full panoramic view of Utrecht, including the river right below and the windmill in the distance. The sun was setting and it was just brilliant. The woman that owned it was very nice as well. I’m sure she didn’t quite know what to expect when Kotomi told her who we were, but we very quickly became friends! She invited us for some tea and we all sat down and chatted for a while. We shared some of our travel stories and talked about cultures. Before we left we played her Ariel’s song, probably our most played song on this trip so far. She loved it, and after showing us her art, giving us a bottle of wine, and telling us that if we needed help we could contact her, we walked back to Kotomi’s. There she had dinner ready for us! Honestly, she is more hospitable than we could have possibly imagined…and super trusting. It’s great to share that trust with someone, and I hope that her trust will always be respected in the future.

The next day, Friday the 14th, we planned on heading into Amsterdam finally. It’s about 30 mins drive away from Utrecht, so we figured it would be a good opportunity to try our first hitchhike.
The canals in UtrechtThe canals in UtrechtThe canals in Utrecht

Bikes everywhere, really
Kotomi gave us the house key (which may very well have been the original key from when the old building was built), so we just had to be home before her at 11pm. We made a quick sign for Amsterdam and started walking toward the highway we would need to ride on. It was a really nice walk actually, about 8 kilometers (4 miles-ish) but still pleasant. We stood at a main traffic light before the highway, but with no luck. Then walked further and after about 2 hours of walking and thumbing a big service truck with a bunch of dudes pulls up. Right then I realized that my Ankle Bells were missing! My mom, aunt, Phoenix and I all got some when we were visiting and I wasn’t about to just leave them. Plus the van didn’t seem that safe. So we waved it on and I started to jog back from where we came.

The Bells have been such an important part of our trip. Not only is it a way to constantly be making music wherever we go, but we use it as a safety device. We both wear them, so when we are walking
Strange dongeon canal doors...Strange dongeon canal doors...Strange dongeon canal doors...

Wonder if they were used for boats back in the day.
in a city and one of us is behind the other, if we don’t hear the other jingling we know they aren’t still with us for whatever reason. Pretty nifty. Anyway, I decided that if it wasn’t at the point in the walk where we ran across a street then it would be gone. The whole search I remained positive and gave the Universe every hope to prove its wonderful magic to me, and at the very last point that I would have searched…there they were! Just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, as if no one had even noticed them for the past hour or so that they were there. Incredible! So I ran all the way back to Phoenix jingling my magic bells. About 5 minutes later a convertible with a young couple in it zoomed by honking and waving at us from the other side of the road. We waved back, thinking how nice it would be to ride in a convertible, but they were going the wrong way. A few minutes after that, the convertible pulled up! Hooray! They had passed us already but couldn’t get our attention, and so turned around twice to get us.

They were really sweet. Both of them totally beautiful, almost like a young version of the German couple in the movie “Supertroopers” it was hilarious. They dropped us off in Waterloo, pretty much the center of Amsterdam. Honestly, from everything I’ve heard about Amsterdam I was expecting crazy lights, prostitutes, drugs all over, people on unicycles or something! But it was just like most other old big cities. So we wandered around for a bit, played some music and made a few Euro, then eventually got paranoid about different men talking to us. And there was this weird old lady that came up to us all shaky and offered us two eggs that she didn’t finish from her breakfast (it was about 6pm at the time), but I turned it down. It was really super strange, but I hope I didn’t offend her! So, we booked it out of there and took a train back to Utrecht and safety! So, our experience in Amsterdam was short lived and nerve racking. Perhaps it would have been different if there was a group of us and our friends though.

The next day we wanted to get to a more historical and small city, instead of the big famous city - so we planned on heading to Delft. This time we wanted to take a train, so walked to the station and bought what WE THOUGHT was two tickets to Delft for 22 Euro. However, the ticket police guys quickly informed us that it was only ONE ticket…and that normally they would write you a fine for only having one ticket. But since we were obviously tourists and didn’t know the system, we just needed to buy the ticket when we got to the next stop. So, when we got there they actually escorted us to the ticket office! That was weird and stressful. Eventually we got everything all sorted out though and we hopped on the next train to Delft.

I like Delft a lot. It’s another city with beautiful canals and super old buildings. It’s also right on a harbor, so it has a bit of that cleansing breeze. We bought some tincture bells in a Tibet shop, which is PERFECT for breaking up thick, stressful energy. After playing music for a while and making a few Euros, we headed back to the train station. Then FINALLY we met some American Travelers! Jason and Melissa from Portland. They were just rounding out their 10 month tour of everywhere and had landed in Delft for now. It was so nice to talk to some Americans with similar ideals and lifestyle. And after conversing in translated English with everyone, it was nice to just speak freely with people that understood us, our humor, and stories with out having to speak slowly. I think they enjoyed it too. They told us how they have just been hitchhiking around instead of busing and such, giving us confidence to do it ourselves. When we went to part ways, we all hugged and when I hugged Melissa I felt this incredible pinch on my arm. When we pulled away from the hug a bee flew out from between us! I was being stung the entire time we were hugging! Ohhhh it hurt! She put some Tea Tree Oil on it and informed me that her name in Greek actually means honey bee. Haha! Perfect!

That night was really cool when we got back to Utrecht. We stayed up late packing and talking with Kotomi, who always has such wonderful questions about American culture. I think we learned so much about it by creating answers to her questions, using our education, experience, and opinions. I really enjoyed that.

The next morning we got ready for our next big adventure - hitchhiking to Denmark. Our American friends made us feel confident in our ability to do it, so we went for it. The weather was totally beautiful, so that was great. We made a pretty sign that we could change out the locations and set to it. Within 5 minutes our first ride offered to drive us to the highway! Then once we got there and settled in, within another 5 minutes a car drove up offering to take us near to the city we had on our sign. He was really nice and spoke English, like most people here in Europe. He dropped us off at a petrol station and bought us some popsicles! Then as we were walking toward the highway to hold up our sign, an old woman that couldn’t speak much English at all told us she would take us to the city!

Oh were we feeling like hitchhiking pros! So she dropped us off right on the
Our first meet with American Travelers!Our first meet with American Travelers!Our first meet with American Travelers!

Melissa and Jason! From Portland.
inside of Germany at the border control station, Germany, hahaa! We were a bit nervous, but high on our beautifully successful day. Quickly, we made a new sign hopped our first fence of the trip onto the autobon and within a few steps a car pulled over again! The driver, Andy was British so spoke plenty of English. In fact he didn’t stop the whole time! He was so funny and so very smart. He had been living in Germany for 8 years taking care of his house that has a fridge in a tree, radiators in his garden and a tipped over bathtub-pond in his front yard. Haha! Very eccentric man that actually didn’t intend to pick us up, he said he only pulled over to fix his radio but then there we were coming toward the car! He also said that it’s very illegal to walk on the autobon since people drive so fast, so it’s a good thing the police didn’t see us.

Eventually, he dropped us off near Leer, Germany. There were a lot of police at that station too, it didn’t take long for Phoenix to strike up a German conversation with them and they were super nice. They parked they’re car next to us for a while, so I think it scared potential drivers away…but they made up for it by buying us some ice cream! Ha! Two free ice creams in one day! The sun eventually started to set and we decided to try and find a place to camp for the night. We saw some trees next to the farmland, and after picking some wild cherries we looked for a spot. We found one pretty close, but very well hidden in some trees. It was like a little fruit tree thing, with cherry size fruits all around and on the ground.

We prepared for the night with our headlamps and wrapped up tight in our Clackets. The area was on a pretty steep hill, so we decided that we’d just have to sleep with our feet downhill. The sunset was wonderful and it was very mystical and now-reminding for us. The sleep wasn’t that pleasant though! Not only did we keep sliding down the hill and have to scoot up every so often throughout the night, but the fruit kept falling from the trees and keeping us half awake and
Kotomi adding her love to our signKotomi adding her love to our signKotomi adding her love to our sign

She's writing the chant she says daily, in Japanese
in alert mode. Also, our faces were the only thing not covered up so we got quite an assortment of bug bites on our face! All in all, I’ve had worse sleeps…but this was not my favorite.

We woke up early with the sun and meditated. Then we headed back out to the road to get our ride to Bremen we wanted the previous day. After about 1.5 hours a trucker came up to us with a map and pointed out where he was going - south of Bremen, but he could drop us off on the way. Hooray! Finally! It was going to be our first trucker, and he couldn’t speak English…so we were a little leery, but were slightly desperate and honestly he seemed really nice. The ride was quiet, but we played some music and tried to remember as much Spanish as possible. Finally he dropped us off, but it was on the wrong side of the road…so we thought.

We got out, gathered our stuff and hiked down the road a bit, climbed up the hill to an overpass, crossed the autobon and set up at the petrol station on the other side of the road….for about 5 hours. FINALLY, someone informed us that the road for Bremen was not only on the other side of the autobon (our original side), but also about 20 kilometers away! CRAP! We had been sitting at this petrol station all day and it was the wrong way. That was pretty frustrating. But the man who told us this then decided he would take us to the correct highway, which totally saved our day. Right before we left I got stung by ANOTHER bee, on the opposite arm! Ouch! As soon as we got on the right track, bought a sandwich and made a new sign for Hamburg a young trucker told us he could take us, and that in face he was headed all the way to Denmark, on the Island we wanted to go! Perfect!

He had a nice truck, with blue suede seats and curtains. It was really clean and comfortable. His name is Marcel, he’s been driving trucks since he was 18 (and is 30 now), and is from The Netherlands. The Dutch people are really so friendly and helpful. That was an excellent ride, and took us SO far. We made it
On our way!On our way!On our way!

Our first major hitch, from Utrecht, Netherlands to Odense, Denmark
to Denmark by nighttime and since we didn’t have a place to sleep and it was raining, Marcel invited us to sleep on the seats in the truck. We hung out in the truck for a while, talking, drawing and sewing then all went to sleep. It was nice to be warm, but the seats were kind of uncomfortable.

In the morning he dropped us off in Middlefart, Denmark. Yep…Middle…Fart. Haha! And they don’t say it with an accent either. It was so beautiful though. The air was super crisp and fresh and my morning meditation was wonderful. We sat in the grass and were swarmed by hundreds of ladybugs, which they call Maryhens and Ladybirds. Then someone came up to us to ask where we were from and ended up giving us a yummy donut thing. It didn’t take too long with a sign before we got picked up again and brought to Odense by an incredibly soft souled Indian man name Siva.

Siva brought us right to the library in downtown Odense, where we could have free wireless. He also gave us each 200 kroner, which we had NO idea how much that actually was yet, but he insisted that we take it.

So finally we were in Denmark…

If I could sum up The Netherland (Holland) in a few words: bicycles, canals, coffee shops, gorgeous women, friendly people, English speaking.



Additional photos below
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Waiting in Leer, GermanyWaiting in Leer, Germany
Waiting in Leer, Germany

We were as pleased as can be!
Our cozy sleepy spot in LeerOur cozy sleepy spot in Leer
Our cozy sleepy spot in Leer

Where I dreamt that Crystal came and slept with us to keep us safe and warm
Yes!Yes!
Yes!

She does.
Yes!Yes!
Yes!

I do!
Free money!Free money!
Free money!

The sweetest man, Siva gave us this money after dropping us off at the Library in Odense


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