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Published: June 12th 2015
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Wednesday 10 June:
Another 9am sleep-in! It must have been all those stairs.
After breakfast we headed out on the road again and our first stop today was the town of
Zons. This is a medieval walled city, indeed the oldest of its type in Germany. In one corner was a historic windmill. As we hadn’t had enough of climbing stairs we decided to go up. Inside it was quite compressed and the stairs were more like ladders but we all made it up and down with no drama. While the blades of the mill still worked the inner mechanisms no longer did, but it was still interesting to see how everything works. Good views of the entire town were also to be had from the top.
Then we needed to cross the mighty river Rhine. The nearest bridge was about 20 minutes away but from here there was a car ferry so we used that. Then it was just a short drive to
Düsseldorf, specifically to the area called
Benrath which has a very nice schloss (palace) to walk around and admire. This done we headed for
the Neanderthal Museum where we met Tim (outside, not in one of the displays). This museum is on an archaeological site where Neanderthal remains have been found. The museum was quite interactive and had lots of good information (in both written and audio English). There were displays of some remains and many reconstructions. You could also go into the grounds where the actual remains were discovered. What we (as a people) now know about the Neanderthals has progressed greatly and it was quite interesting.
Then it was back to Krefeld for dinner at home (lots of asparagus) and then it was off to a local playground. I’m not sure if this was mainly for Zachary or Tim! Good fun and it wasn’t Zachary who went to fast on one of the round-a-bout things and came flying off! Before that though Andreas and I went to the supermarket on bicycle. No, that is not a mis-type. The last time I was on a bicycle the Wall was still well and truly up and Wham! were cool. However, I made it there and back without falling off but a bit of a sore arse. Heather attempted to get Zachary
to sleep. He wasn’t cooperative and it wasn’t until well after 10 that he fell asleep…
Thursday 11 June:
A tired and grouchy Zachary was up at 7ish. So we made sure he had a bit of a snooze on the way to our first stop today which was
Kevelaer. Now we were only 11km from the Netherlands border! This town is a “pilgrimage” town dedicated to Mary since 1642. Over a million pilgrims from Germany and Nederland visit every year. The town was very pretty and we had a look inside the chapels. Zachary helped Birgitta light a candle also.
Then it was onto
Xanten. This is one of the largest open-air archaeological museums in the world. On this site was the ancient Roman city of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. This has been largely reconstructed using the same dimensions, materials, and methods of the time. There was also an excellent playground for Tim (who had met us here) and Zachary and an indoor museum. Part of the museum was the excavated baths. This was the best bit of the place I thought. It took very little imagination
to see the baths filled and the Romans going about their business. There were also many excavated weapons, helmets, and various pillars and building remains on display also.
Then it was back to Krefeld. I joined Tim on the train for this. We headed for castle grounds and it was our shout for dinner at a local restaurant: Em Kontörke. We got back and had a farewell drink (I had splashed out on some genuine French champagne) and then off to bed for our last night in Germany until we return on August 11. Hopefully we will be able to organise a day, or perhaps an overnight, trip to Köln from Darmstadt in that final week and the Gebauers can meet us there. The weather here has been kind and the hospitality outstanding. Andreas and Birgitta are both battling colds and they could easily have left us to our own devices. However they have soldiered on and taken us to places we would certainly not have gone to had we not stayed with them. It has been so nice to see them all again.
Friday 12 June:
Our train was due
to leave at 11:30 so we had plenty of time to get packed and for Zachary to play outside this morning after Skyping with Oma. He has had a great time with the Gebauers and seemed to remember them from their visit last year. Having had 3 boys themselves they were used to having a pint-sized tornado tearing round the place!
We walked to the train station and said our farewells before catching the local service to Düsseldorf. We arrived there and my phone rang. It was showing as Andreas’s number so it wasn’t going to be good news! Heather’s travel pouch with her passport, cards, and phone was still at their place. A bit of a pain but not a major crisis. We are staying with Hannie and Anja (cousins) in Maasluis next weekend so it will be posted to them.
We found the bus stop and got on our bus for
Brussels, Belgium. Found our reserved seats which were, once again, already occupied. One guy tried to argue the point but he did move. We had front row top deck seats again so we weren’t giving them up! The bus crossed the
border into Nederland, stopping briefly at Roermond before heading west-south-west. It was rather warm in the bus and the air conditioning wasn’t really keeping up – Heather and Zachary both had a snooze.
Arrived after 3 hours in a very hot (32 degrees) and busy Brussels and managed to find our way via tram and metro to the hostel (pre-planning and research paying off again). On check-in I was told that the amount owing was not €183 as expected but €105 as there was no charge for Zachary and our Hostelling International discount hadn’t been applied so that was a nice bonus – as was finding out breakfast is included. The room is small but has a separate bathroom. However it wasn’t very clean in that the bins were full and the floor needed a good sweep. Can’t connect to the wi-fi in our 4
th floor room so that’s a bit of a pain too.
We checked out the park “Botanique” down the road and weren’t too impressed. Initial impressions of Brussels – busy and dirty with some rather odd people. So went to a busy supermarket and got stuff for dinner which we
cooked. Tried to get Zachary asleep at a sensible time so that we can go to the Dinosaur Museum and Atomium tomorrow. However we seem to be having a phase of bedtime battles at the moment and so “normal” bedtimes are a struggle. Hopefully we can get back to some sort of normal routine over the next week!
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