Blogs from South Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 9

Day 1 20160817 Hoek van Holland to Leiden Breakfasted on platefuls of Stena full english and endless coffee as the sun rose over Hoek van Holland, a beautiful morning awaits. Claude is trussed up on the car deck, roped to a metal barrier that looks like a refugee from a major public disturbance. It’s 7 a.m and I’ve already been up for two hours. Patchy sleep after spending a fine evening chatting with the two Andy’s about lorries, cycling and the joys of travelling alone. Being alone hopefully makes you meet people, being together moves you in a different way; more comforting perhaps but maybe more limiting. I’m travelling with Claud (my 20 year old touring bike; still as taught as the day it was made), with the ever reliable Swalbe Marathon’s, a couple of tiny ... read more

Wheewww! What a day we had in Rotterdam, lots of walking, around 19klms, cool but very pleasant when you are walking. Decided to walk down to the main shopping area, John been the Imelda of coffee machines we purchased another travelling one, then to supermarket to grab some things. As we have been here before did not venture into Amsterdam but kept local. Remembering that much of Rotterdam was wiped out in World War II we were not expecting too much but had a terrific day. Spent some time in the central plaza were there was lots going on, entertainment with curbside restaurants. Walked through a gorgeous park, there are lots of parks and trees in Rotterdam, and whilst walking there we had all these rev heads fly past us and blow me down if they ... read more

The Hague (Den Haag) was only a 30 minute train ride from Haarlem so planned a one day trip there. We wanted to visit on the way north in 2013 but didn’t get the chance so now that we soon will be leaving the Netherlands we took the opportunity. Haarlem has an excellent art museum of work by Frans Hals, but decided not to go as our plan was to visit the Mauritshuis and the Escher Museum in The Hague. The Mauritshuis is known for its collection of the Dutch and Flemish Golden Age of Artists which would naturally include Frans Hals. The train trip to Den Haag took us through one of the agricultural areas of the country. Many had been fields of flowers that were now empty except for the greens left behind and ... read more

This is it you guys: In less than a week I'll be leaving the Netherlands for an extended period of time again! But this time around I won't be studying or going to high school. No, this time it's all about exploring new continents, cultures and creating memories to last a lifetime. For the last year I've been saving more than 600 euro a month for this trip and I've spend the last month preparing, packing and most of all: Making lists. Lists of places I want to visit, sights I want to see and things I want to bring. All of these lists were way too long, so I've had to tone them down a bit. But I think I've got them down to a decent size now ;) Also , the list of things ... read more

Leiden, NL We've traveled a bit since our last blog. Our stay (2nights) in Boven-Leeuwen was super nice. Christa & Mark ran a great campground and the last night we were able to use their grill to cook steak, used their micowave for baked potatoes and had a salad. I wish that we could have all those amenities at each campground! Upon leaving, Christa gave us a small jar of homemade strawberry jam. Best campground this trip. The next campground faded by comparison. On the way there we met a gal from the states who had been living in Europe since the 90's. She had lived in France, Germany and the Netherlands. She was telling us it costs about $2000 to get a drivers license in NL. She is teaching school here. You never know who ... read more