Sun, 13 Apr 2003

author Tim	location Platform 4, Farringdon Station, London, England
posted 22:49 BST 15/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 1 ( all photos )

Amsterdam Botanic Gardens ( 42 photos )
Sunday we awoke later, our first real day off as we had no firm plans until the afternoon. Sebastian suggested that we wander towards the city's botanic gardens, one of the few things he hadn't seen in his many trips to Amsterdam. This we did, taking a nice ambling walk in the once again perfect weather, eventually navigating the insane street names to arrive at the gardens.
A little disappointing overall, since most things were probably just about to bloom, their collection did however contain a strange collection of plans - even some Australian ones! The heat almost became too much as we wandered into the greenhouse, but the spraying mist made it bearable. Anytime we thought it was getting to hot, a little chill reminded us that we weren't in Sydney's botanic gardens after all.

Well, I think our train is almost here, so I'll try to get up to date in time to upload it all at work tomorrow.

(More 19:26 BST 16/04/03, from Spittalfields, London, England)

I will try to make this this last Amsterdam entry as it is almost time to go to Turkey!
That afternoon it was time to say goodbye to Jessi and Sebastian, and head once again to Utrecht. We did it in the best way, with one last beer in the Old Nickel Pub where we had been staying. We should meet them sometime soon on our way through Germany, and even have an offer to stay with Sebastian's parents!
Heading back to Amsterdam Centraal station (gee we were glad that it wasn't far from where we were staying), we had all our gear with us this time. This time managing to find a non-smoking carriage and a fast train, we arrived not much later in Utrecht.
Walking down from the station to Donna's yard where Rosie was waiting for us, we stopped along the canal for an obligatory windmill photo, our only one the whole trip!
After spending a good half hour working out with Donna what all the gadgets did in the van (even though that's her job, there were still a few which kept her guessing). We discovered that it has a warm-air gadget which is quite expensive, and we think Donna may have charged us more if she had know it was in there!
Since we had been backpacking thus far, we didn't have any quilts or pillows to sleep with for the night, so once again Donna helped us out by lending us a quilt for the night. Directions to the local camp-ground followed, and then we were on the road!
As Liz will hastily tell you, the first corner that I had to take found us on the wrong side of the road. A quick adjustment, and we drove onwards in search of our destination for the night - Berekuil Camp Ground in Utrecht. Between Donna's directions, the local signs and a bit of help from the locals, we found our destination. One of the wrong turns found us in a huge car-park where Liz happily jumped in the driver's seat for a quick spin, only to quickly declare that she would never get the hang of it. I'll convince her yet!
The camp ground turned out to be a beautiful place hidden away off the road, and surrounded by water (as so much of The Netherlands is). We had to get the bar-tender to open the gate for us (being a Sunday, the reception wasn't open), and while asking there Liz discovered the wonders of the self-cleaning toilet seat! We meant to get back there to take a movie of it since it really defies description and scared her senseless, but we failed to do so.
Next we parked Rosie in a nice little area, and rapidly started to play with all of her goodies. I just love the rotating front passenger's chair, very comfortable after a long day on the road, or indeed a short one.
We walked across the road to the service station for a snack, fed some of that to the ducks, and took a slow walk to the nearby hotel for dinner. Next time we can cook our own, but we didn't have the gear with us at this stage. The hotel was quite a bit classier that we expected, which was strange after walking through a bowling alley to get in there. Dinner was great (steaks for the first time in ages), and a suitably slow walk back to the bus followed.
The night was a bit uncomfortable sleeping, due to the multiple cushions you use as a bed, not having any real pillows and only a single dooner, but it worked out in the end. Much better next time we sleep in her.

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