Salzbergen, Day

4th June, Friday

De Hoge Veluwe

Today was an interesting day. As we had missed out on the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam “Onkel Norby” politely told us that there is a much better gallery with more Van Gogh works than we could dream of. We woke up and headed back to the Netherlands to see the Knoller – Muller Museum situated in the middle of a huge park reserve called De Hoge Verluwe. The drive there to begin with was wonderful, driving through parklands and forest alike. The land was owned by a rich industrialist couple Knoller “und” Muller who happened to be one of the biggest private art collectors of the 20th century. Mrs Knoller in a very short time identified a number on artists that she thought were definitive to modern art. She collected 91 major works and 180 in total from Van Gogh to name just one artist. Not even mentioning the sculpture garden representing works from Gerrit Rietveld and Henry Moore that one could get lost in over weeks let alone days. It is a wonder mix of nature versus art set in a endless playground. If you are in the Netherlands please go and if you don't - lie to me that you did.






On our arrival back home we were informed by “Tante” Elizabeth that Norbert friends Engelbert and his wife Doris were coming for dinner. We were eating the local favourite “Spargel” also known to us non-“Neerde Saxon”-folk as asparagus. It was a meal filled with great stories and history, tales of the “terrible war”, to train trips to Russia in the height of communism. What a wonderful experience first hand about a world Ames an I could only imagine. A deep respect formed for the German children who lived on after the war and the mindset of reconciliation they had to adopt.

3 June, Thursday

Salzbergen - Day 2

Norby and Elisabeth offered us a visit to Munster. Although completely bombed during the war – it has been restored and is absolutely beautiful. It is a university town with 40 000 students. It also has the most bicycles and stats say there are 2 bicycles to 1 person within the town. This town is Predominantly Catholic and is in the Westfalen area which celebrated a catholic holiday. All shops were closed but a few cafes and the museum. On the drive Munster the roads were incredibly busy in the opposite direction as everyone was heading into Neerde Saxony (where were staying) to do shopping as it is a protestant area and did not share the same holiday.

After a little walk we hopped on to the tour bus and had a very informative drive giving us a good overvue of the city. The best part being the main road in the town centre which has a unbelievably wide road with neo Gothic shop fronts and colonnades. The cathedral that forms part of this space dates back to 800AC. From the top of it hangs 3 cages which used to display the remains of enemy's and the bones apparently could be seen for decades.
We stopped and had rhubarb tart and tea in a beautiful Warme Bakke's off the cobbled streets. As it was a public holiday, the German flags were flying proudly from the old buildings, creating an even more ancient town setting.



We visited the Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso Munster which had a very large collection of Jean Miro, Picasso and many others.

We arrived back at the Wirtz house around 17h00. Elizabeth went on to make us the most delicious soup that Amy and I had ever eaten. Being a nursing sister and having a very extensive herb garden, only fresh ingredients were used.

We had barely finished eating when the horde of neighbours came bashing through garage entrance as it was time to hang up the Golden flowers and the Gorgen (pine rope) in front of the Hollermans house. Once again it was a case of “all hands on deck” or at least one, the other you needed free to hold your beer or schnapps.



The men worked very hard to hang the Gorgen then the woman's work began as they needed to decorate it with the golden flowers.



It took about an hour or so then we went into the back garden and enjoyed a lovely evening laughing and trying our best to avoid a “Karter” (big head) the next morning.



Schnapps! Prost!

2 June, Wednesday

Trip to Germany

Packed up camp, said goodbye to Amsterdam and took the road to my new Uncle Norbert and Aunty Elisabeth in Salzbergen. For those that might not know, my mother was united with 3 unknown half brothers and her biological father about 6 years ago. One brother, Norby, was born and brought up in Germany. Having met him only once before in South Africa, we planned and look forward to 2 nights with them in their home.

A stop in Utrecht, Netherlands was made to see the Rietveld-Shroder House from the De Stijl era. Fortunately, we arrived on a day where they had an open day and no entrance fee. They gave us a ticket that included entrance to Miffy Museum (Dick Bruna Huis) and The Central Museum Utrecht. For those inspired by art, architecture and or design the Rietveld-Shroder Museum was most certainly worth the visit.



We arrived in Salzbergen at 4pm. A banner hung from a door entrance – Herzliche Wilkommen (trans. “heartfilled welcome”). That it was! Whilst we enjoyed tea and strawberry cheesecake we were told that their neighbours were having their Golden Hochzeig (trans. Wedding Anniversary) celebrations. All the friends in the neighbourhood were to join us at 6pm. And they did! From ages 18 to 75. The all came to make the decorations for the Celebratory couple, Werner and Inge Hollermann.

Whilst the men drink beer Kolmerbacher and wrap pine around 35 metres of woollen rope, the ladies make roses out of gold foil paper. This tradition is done on weddings and any major anniversaries. Immediately we were drawn in by the overwhelming community spirit. Plenty Schnapps for everyone! The last people left at 12.30! What a wonderful introduction to Salzbergen and German hospitality!

Amsterdam! Day 2

1 June, Tues

Cereal and chocolate (oh so creamy) yoghurt for breakfast and then we grabbed the bikes for a slow trip to the city. For those that do not cycle too much, Amsterdam is flat, making the bike ride a good way to view your surroundings.

When you get to town – it's a different story. Europeans cycle. This major form of transport rules over cars in the cities. It almost seems impossible to have so many bicycles. So much so, they have their own bicycle lanes and traffic lights from the campsite to and all around the city. They swish past you at any given moment.


Picnic in the park!
Although it gives you the real sense of Amsterdam life, it is not always a good thing to tour on your saddle. Especially if you are looking for specific sites of interest. Nick and I wanted to visit Anne Franks House, Van Gogh Museum and the FOAM Museum. Keeping up with the cycle traffic – you tend to zoom past your turn and end up at the end of town! We stopped for some fresh bread at the Warme Bakke and had brought along some cheese and ham for a picnic in the park. By accident we found Anne Frank's house. There we found a millipede of visitors slowly getting through the entrance. Having taken a photo of the actual house we decided not to spend our time in the queue and move on to the Van Gogh Museum which was close to the FOAM Museum.

Along our way, Nicks bicycle pedal came loose. We had to abandon bike and find a bike shop. Everywhere you look – billions of bikes. There had to be a bike shop? Bike parking garages, bike rentals – but no bike shops! Not one. Reminds us of the poem: “Water,water everywhere but not a drop to drink...”

After many a friendly Dutch person directed us to a potential help point, but nothing, we stumbled upon a general dealer. A very hungover English sales person assisted us and sent us on our way, with a tube of free glue (for other necessary maintenance on the van)!

By the time Nick finished his mending of the pedal – the tiring search was on for Van Gogh, again. My answer to this, a cold beer and chill session. Thereafter we returned home to our Zeeburg Campsite. We made a bacon and mushroom risotto with salad and had a few Hertzog Jan's (a smooth, blonde beer) and Jupilers. Dessert was a apple pastry from the Warme Bakker.



Amy blogging away!

Zeeburg Campsite is highly recommended. There are little chalets, tent and campervan/caravan facilities. Restaurant, store with fresh bakery goods delivered in the mornings, bike hire and free wi-fi... and that smell. At first it is pungent but now is unusually okay. The access to the site and the city is great by car, walk, tram or bike.

Amsterdam! Day 1

31 May, Monday



Today the road trip takes us to Amsterdam. Driving via Delft which is a very picturesque little place. Many a book refers the Warme Bakkers for a full sensory experience. They are right! The yummiest bread rolls made on site to your liking. Ham and cheese was the order of the day. No butter or marg. Who needs it when the cheese is so creamy! Mmh Mhhh! Now, honestly... if I told you that's all we left with, I would be lying! Yep, some sweet pastries accompanied these as afternoon tea eats. They never made it to tea – but were rather devoured as dessert shortly after! Note that on a Monday shops and businesses only open in Netherlands at around 11am (until 6pm). So it was a good idea to go in the morning, before the tourists and the bustle. It was a must do after seeing all the Delftware that our Mom's have collected.

Back on the highway we decided to stop in the Hague which is a huge conglomerate of buildings and city space. This is mostly the government centre, I believe. Hussle, hussle and traffic made us leave quite quickly.

Off to Leiden – just to suss it out... Our stocks that were brought along from home were really just a handful of dry goods. We want to make sure we eat the food of the countries each place we go... but were yet to find a store larger than a cafe. We were very surprised to finally find an actual large size supermarket – with FREE parking for 1 hour! Yippeee! So we shopped.

We reached Amsterdam at around 1ish and made a turn to Durgerdam. A very quaint road along the marina lined waterside and houses that look like they should only be owned by writers and artists. This road took us to the Uitdammerdijk viewpoint. This, we think and will confirm, is where a wall was made to keep the water out of the lower lying inhabited lands. When Nick told me about it – I imagined a big, ugly, man-made - but it was nothing of the sort. It looked like nature had made it this way with rolling grass and extensive sea views – just for us man-made sort.

That is one thing with the Netherlands, it is beautiful, organised, neat and clean. The roads are in impeccable condition. Where there are road works – they seem to really dig up everything they need to – only to get it right first time round, until next maintenance is needed.

Amsterdam was nothing like I dreamt of. I genuinely have dreamt (in my sleep) about it. There were no tall buildings in my dreams... (maybe I had been there in a past life, before modernisation) Nevertheless, wonderful! Such an incredible city. Nick even described it as romantic. Again, such friendly people, beautiful atmosphere but yet a very strange smell in the air.

Our campsite is in Zeeburg, about 5 minute walk to the tramline and perhaps 10 minutes (max) away from the city centre. The afternoon was spent wondering the streets and canals. Stopping for a beer (Heineken, of course) to watch the passing people. Some of which have enveloped the European dress and styles from ages past. Though, yet again... there was this weird smell in the air?

After a good few beers – Nick and I managed to go look in a sexshop or two. Then, visited the Red Light District... which is pretty much in the centre of town. We stumbled through it without even knowing. Nick insisted that we go when it gets darker as he couldn't see through the windows easily as it was too light. If anyone doesn't know Nick, he's very colour blind and I think the red light above each door might have tampered his sight. Me, I could see perfectly! But, as I said to Nick, this will be the first time for a long while that I will totally insist that he gawks at whom ever he pleases!!! It was great fun! Some absolute beauties, some really yucky ones, some very average, overweight ones and even a few tranny's (aka transvestites). Even one pretty tranny. We were informed by a passerbyer – that she has had work done (in all seriousness). The longer we stayed, the more casual Nick became. After seeing enough hot chicks in very skimpy outfits – we decided to go home.



Sex shop display



Red Light District

Our next day

30 May, Sunday

A bit of a late start... it was decided to avoid motorways and toll. The route took us through farming area's and small but modern towns. It was lovely at first but the streets were only really lined with houses. It was pouring with rain and this hazed up your view, so we thought not to waste time and take the motorway.

First stop – the UNESCO World Heritage Sight – the Kinderdijk. A group of 16 windmills built in the 1740's. It was to solve a high rain water content in a low lying country. Nick and I hopped on our bicycles and did our own little tour. Fortunately, the rain stopped as we left the van. People still inhabit the windmills which are placed next to the waterways. It is really beautiful and truly makes you feel that you are in Holland.

Arriving in Rotterdam at around 16h30, we new today would be very much of a travel day. As mentioned before, we have visited Bruges before and did not think that anywhere else in Belgium would give us more. The weather was not very good either – so it was a good travel day.

Again, the rain cleared up when we climbed out the van at our campsite. We stayed in the Stadscamping, Rotterdam. It cost us £27.00 for one night originally. The reason for this expense was we booked in as a mini camper with pop-up 2 man tent (to cover bikes), electricity, water and 2 persons. They charge you for everything. Having discussed that the bikes could rather live outside for the night and we would go to town for dinner and tour Nick and I decided we will have to learn to ask for some moneyback! We should get used to this over the next 3 months. It saved us 9 euro's. A muncipal campsite with a 10 minute bus trip to the city. The evening was still light and a long evening in the city was enjoyed. In most books it says that Rotterdam is a new city – trying to get out of WW2 past. This is true. There are a few buildings of interest and a monument or two re the war. It is said that eastern cuisine is great in the Netherlands. We tried a doner sandwich and it was great! At 3.50 euro's it was well worth it and incredibly tasty!

Off the a very traditional little pub with much 2010 soccer hype paraphynalia and a group of dutch folk chatting up a storm. It was around 20.00 and I suspect they had been there for most of the day. Definite feeling of old times past in a very busy city. Most people seem to drink half a pint of beer. We were the only people with “large” Jupiler Blonde beers! It should be said that the Dutch are incredibly friendly and welcoming – everywhere you go. The pub was a great end to a lovely day.

At camp – we finished off Guy and Guin's previous camping trip – Old Brown Sherry! Thanks guys! And that was it – we were done!

Highlight of the day – Kinderdijk.

Road Trippin'

In the tunnel - Cooool!

As we do not have internet connection and will need to look for wi-fi spots, you will find that although the date of the post says "xyz", we will include the actual date as the sub title.

29 May 2010

Annie and Justin were very kind to take us to our Ruby. When we arrived – Ruby was covered in bird poop! She looked awful!!! Despite all this, Annie very kindly took loads of photo's of our departure. First stop... Car wash!

Next stop was to Penny and Ryle. Where we offered a lovely breakfast to start off our journey. Nick added the “Road Trippin' Ruby” graphics to our little van. I might add – he cut them out by hand (multi-talented, I tell you!) And again, the Paparazzi Penny was on the move! We were off!

We arrived about an hour early at the Channel Tunnel and were able to catch the earlier train. What a strange experience! We were in France within 40 odd minutes from embarking. Nick and I originally wanted to be close to Lille to see where the du Toits came from. We found ourselves in Lille, went to the bank, typed in the tomtom (GPS) for a campsite and before we knew it, we were in Belgium! Only 16m from Lille. That was unexpected! So we didn't get a chance to see much of Lille.

We stayed in a campsite called Camping de L'Orient in Tournai. It is pretty much on the border of Belgium and France. So it was the fist time we experienced Ruby filled to the brim. We had some cheese, pate and chilli TUC biscuits with wine and Juliper beer. The bicycles and excess luggage were put into the pop-up tent. It was quite chilli out so we sat inside and read up on our travels for the next day.

As we've already realised – your destination is not always as you expect, we'll fill you in on the days happenings tomorrow. So far, so good!

First night on the trip and a glass of red to celebrate!