Mon, 14 Apr 2003

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 19:26 BST 16/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 1 ( all photos )

Across a few Countries ( 4 photos )
Awaking somewhat painfully on Monday morning, it was nice not to be at work, but instead three countries and a big lump of water away. Still, our aim for the day was to get back there in time for work the next morning, so that's what we did.
Choosing to bee-line it straight for Calais, we stopped only twice for brunch, fuel and the like as we crossed through the bottom of the Netherlands and then the tops of Belgium and France. It would have been nice to have taken longer, but plenty of time for that later. Today we had to get home. Sure, the scenery was nice and varied quite a bit, and the road signs were all different, but it was just a long, if interesting, drive on a motorway to us.
We arrived at Calais very early, 3pm for a 6:40pm ferry. After asking in my worst high-school French if the man there spoke English (I expected he would, but thought it might have been rude to presume so), everyone in the office laughed at me! Well, I think I said the right thing...
Anyway, he asked if we wanted to go on the 3:15pm ferry instead - so we did, eager to get home earlier. The trade-off is that we didn't have time to sample any of the famous Caliais cheap produce that the British love to come and bring back in huge quantites on day trips. There's always next time.
So, Rosie rumbled her way on to the ferry, where we had a relax in the bar before a bit of a wander around the ship as we waved goodbye to "big proper joined-on Europe" for the moment. We grabbed a few essentials at the on-board shops, and before we knew it (1:15, actually), we were back in Britain.
No problems with customs on either side, and in fact for two Australians arriving in a Combi on Dutch plates we expected a lot of scrutiny. Both sides of the channel were happy to see us, and we drove basically straight through, back onto English soil.

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.

author Tim	location Berekuil Camp Ground, Utrecht, The Netherlands
posted 21:30 CEST 13/04/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 1 ( all photos )

Getting to know Amsterdam ( 15 photos )
Liz and I awoke quite early on Saturday since we had to get to Utrecht, about half an hour train ride south of Amsterdam by 10am. Sebastian and Jessi managed to drag themselves out of bed for breakfast (a strange all-in-one bacon and eggs mixture which worked suprisingly well) back at the hotel (we were staying in an annex building up the road), but later we found they went back and slept until midday!
Then Liz and I wandered up to the station once again, now experts (or so we thought) at navigating the Dutch transport system. We did make it fairly successfully through to where we were going, albeit on a train which stopped at places with only one other building besides the station.
Utrecht, our destination, was where we were to meet Donna, who runs a website which we had chosen as our source of campervan. After withdrawing yet more cash from the bank at the station, we rang her and she helpfully picked us up.
After quite a lot of stress the other week when she didn't have a van for us yet we had booked ferry tickets back, she managed to find a van down in a small town called Sprang-Capelle about seventy kilometers away from a dealer she had previously got vans from. She has been so helpful for us, driving down there previously to take photos and send to us, and this day was no exception. She again drove the seventy kilometers, this time in a blue campervan with me in the front and Liz in the back.
This was our first ever experience of being on the "wrong" side of the road, and boy are we glad that someone else was driving! Before she moved to The Netherlands in 1971 she was in America, and hence has always driven that way. A few hairy moments of tourists(!) not quite knowing where they were going and we eventually made it. Along the way we had seen some great little back streets of the country that we never expected to see.
The dealer in Sprang-Capelle, a Mr Timmermans, spoke only Dutch so whether he and his workers were laughing at these silly Australian tourists buying a van we will never know, but he took us for a drive in it to the post office (registration documents had to be organised), and all seemed ok.
Liz is hassling me to put the computer away and go to sleep now, so more news later!

(More 22:49 BST 15/04/03, from Platform 4, Farringdon Station, London, England)

It seems that my stop in journal-writing lasted a little longer than expected, since we are now safely back in London, so I'll try to pick up where I left off.
It's a NEW CAR! (or bus/van)

After various transactions and a quick look-over of the bus, Liz and I said "yes", and the deal was done! We were now the proud owners of a Big Red Bus, which, contrary to earlier plans, we have decided deserves the name Rosie. Bet you can't guess why. Various other names were tried but didn't quite fit, including a close second of Mr Whippy, but Rosie it is!
The next task was to get her from Sprang-Capelle to Utrecht, my first ever experience of driving on the left-hand side of a vehicle and the right-hand side of the road. I have to say that I didn't really do much other than follow Donna in her blue van in front of us, oblivious to road signage and speed limits (made more interesting as Donna's speedo didn't work) as I got used to driving the bus.
Changing gears with my right hand proved reasonably easy, and overall it was quite like driving the big SES truck (quick mention to Kogarah for winning the Rescue comp - yay guys!), only backwards and with no power steering. And Liz sitting next to me giving a running commentary of everything I was about to hit!
But no disasters came, and we made it back to Utrecht with a quick pit stop to relax in the sun at McDonalds (can't get away from them).
It wasn't quite time for our adventure in the bus to begin, so we jumped back on the train to Amsterdam, hoping our newly-purchased expensive posession would be ok parked there in Donna's yard.
Back in Amsterdam, we caught up with Sebastian and Jessi who had slept in until 12:30 (still used to the uni lifestyle - it will be all over soon...), and then wandered around the local touristy flea-market. Like other places all around Amsterdam, there is plenty of live entertainment in the squares, and even more people waiting to relieve you of your wallet while you watch it.
The remainder of the day was spent having a few relaxing pilseners and coffees in various local establishments - a great way to soak up the local culture as it unfolds around you. Dinner was Mexican at a nice little place, far better than the terrible service we recieved at a Haagen-Daas earlier on.

author Tim	location Nieuwe Brugsteeg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
posted 16:30 CEST 12/04/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 1 ( all photos )

A Flight into Amsterdam ( 15 photos )
(Continued from Working in London 1)
It was strange flying out over the UK, as we were up quite high and hence couldn't see the ground for the cloud-cover. We joked that the end of the clouds we could see up ahead was where the UK's own ever-present personal layer of cloud probably ended. But it was true! We looked back under the clouds to see that indeed, we had now left the UK for what I termed "proper joined-on Europe". Depending on who you ask, UK people don't think they are in Europe at all anyway.
Mark from work was joking the other day that the flight to Amsterdam was very quick, since you climb, the flight-attendants rush around with sandwiches and the like, then you buckle-up for landing. Very true.
Flying in over "the continent", we saw just how amazing a place The Netherlands is in terms of water. They have Europe's busiest port in Amsterdam, as the huge queues out to sea of ships showed. The harbour areas go on and on. We were of course very excited to see our first cars driving on the "wrong" side of the road from the air!
The humorous American pilot talked us through our taxi into Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, as we did a few U-turns while he tried to find the correct bay to "dock" in. Good-natured airline, EasyJet.
Our first Dutch language signs served to confuse us greatly, but luckily almost all have English equivalents, and most people speak English at least a little.
No hassles getting bags or through customs, although since Liz was showing her UK passport, she just went through the "fast" lane, and didn't get a stamp. Most annoying, since that's part of the fun of travelling.
So we wandered through the airport, following the little picture of a train as we needed to get from there (a little way out of the city) to Amsterdam Centraal station. This proved quite simple to locate, and the ticket-machines easy to use once we worked out where the English button was, and that it didn't take cash.
The trains run quite frequently, so no major problem waiting for one, after we had worked out that platform 7a and platform 7b are different ends of the same platform. We fumbled our way onto the train, noting immediately that people were smoking on it. Everywhere. It seems that there are little signs on the outside of the carriages telling you whether they are smoking or non-smoking. Although, it's a pretty nominal suggestion - there's just less smoking in the non-smoking carriages.
The train only stopped at Amsterdam Centraal, although we weren't really sure since there were no signs on the platform. We just wandered around a bit until we realised that our location fitted in quite well with the map we had.

(More from 21:30 CEST 12/04/2003)
We wandered around for a while, attempting to work out which direction to look before crossing the roads, and eventually found a tourist information place. We had a coffee at the attached cafe, Liz bravely being the one to go and order, while I talked to the info people about how to get to a bank to get money out. Also, we grabbed a map from the map machine, despite being a little sceptical since the machine back in Chester ate our money and gave nothing in exchange. But everything in Europe works better!
We located our hotel, which turned out to be very handy to the Centraal station - wonderful since we used it quite a bit on the subsequent days. The land-lady seemed to have been indulging in some of the local past-times a little too much, and her cat wasn't much better.
After dumping our bags in the great modern room, we wandered in search of money exchange, which we found in Amsterdam Square (Liz in a clog!). We had our first of what turned out to be many relaxing sits in the sun, soaking up the atmosphere and generally not doing much at all, before wandering back in search of our friends.
Arriving on the stroke of 7pm, we stood outside Centraal station, looking for anyone who looked vaguely like they might be the person I had last seen in Year 11 at Sydney Tech and his girlfriend Jessi who we had never seen. Luckily, they had been looking at this website and seen recent photos of us, so they walked straight up and said hello!
That night, Sebastian showed us his local knowledge by directing us fairly well through to some of the interesting little areas further out from the city centre. We had Italian for dinner, and continued exploring the Dutch culture.

(customised)