Helsinki to Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw and the rest of Poland.
19th Aug Laura had an early start today so, so did I. Up and out at 7.15am and after saying my good-byes made the 15 minute drive to the ferry terminal. I was 3 hours early for check in so I climbed in the back and slept for a couple of them. At 2pm I arrived in Tallinn and headed straight for the road south to Latvia. Laura had told me that the Latvian roads were bad and they certainly were not as good as Finland, but judging by all the ‘sponsored by the EU’ signs along all the newly paved roads, I was quite sure the roads have improved of late. Estonia seems like a nice country, for the bit that I saw, with lots of little villages and sprawling farms and forests. A few hours later I crossed over the Latvian border and past the old passport control checkpoints, rotting away and roads full of weeds. I’m sure their passing into history are mourned by no one. The EU has been good to these countries with a real lift very evident. Latvia is a less well off country than Estonia with obvious but subtle differences, however Latvia is lovely too. The road from the border to Riga is along the Baltic Sea and although much of the sea views are blocked by trees, many of the road side stops have access onto the beach. I stopped at a couple and there were miles of deserted beach. I’m sure if Dad were with me, he’d be in like Flynn for a swim. I finally arrived in Riga and called to the hostel. I decided to stay there and went off to park the van. Big Eastern European cities have a reputation for break-ins into foreign registered cars so I found a secure underground car-park. After checking into the hostel I went into the restaurant next door and had a lovely dinner for €5. That evening I went for a walk around the town and on first impressions seems like a larger version of Tallinn.
20th Aug Slept in today until about 10am and was on the streets by midday for a look around. I visited the ‘Museum of Occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union’ today, which was also visited by Mary McAleese, Queen Elizabeth, Laura Bush and others. It was a good display and those guys had a hard time under Stalin and later regimes up until 1991. I visited a war museum, walked through the park, the streets, by the canal and the river. It’s a nice city but I’m ready to move on tomorrow.
21st Aug Left Riga today bound for a small town called Sigulda. It’s an hour west of Riga and is best known for its castles and outdoor adventure pursuits. It has a bobsleigh track and a nice river which the guys that rent the kayaks will drive you upriver and release you to paddle down river and back to base. Unfortunately for me they do not allow lone paddlers and as there was nobody else going at the time, so that was knocked on the head. I went to the bobsleigh track, parked at the bottom and walked up to the start. The track was closed for the day for maintenance so didn’t get to do that either. At that point I decided to push south and make way for Lithuania via a village called Pilsrundale. At this tiny place there is a massive palace designed by the great Baroque era architect Bartolomeo Rastelli who also designed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, yawn. I had a nice dinner there for €6 and walked around the outside before 6 pm closing time and had to leave. Close to the Lithuanian border, I decided to continue on across the border and similar to Latvia a big checkpoint setup and nobody there. As I intended to stay the night at Sigulda and didn’t expect to be as far on as I was. My hostel in Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) was booked for tomorrow night and now I was with a 150 km of it. I stopped in a couple for places but didn’t like them too much but finally stopped at this rest area, watched a video and slept for 10 hours.
22nd Aug Up and out about 10am and hit the road for Vilnius. I arrived in the hostel early that afternoon and had a look around town. I must have broken a world record for the amount of churches I’ve been in and out of and this place added to that. It’s a lovely old world place but despite the massive restoration projects underway there is still lots of fabulous buildings crumbling away due to years of Soviet era neglect.
23rd Aug Up around 10am this morning and decided to leave Vilnius but not before doing the much hyped ‘Free walking tour’ of the more unusual sights at midday. Although it’s free, for tax or regulation reasons or whatever, one is expected to tip at the end if they thought it was any good. Around 10.30am I went down the town to get some breakfast and decided on this particular place. It was nice and sunny Sunday morning and I took a seat outside and waited. A while later a waiter appeared, plopped the menu on the table with a grunt and was gone. I flicked through it, decided on some gourmet pancake thing and awaited his return. 10 minutes later he came back and I told him what I wanted. He looked at me and said ‘Breakfass finiss in the 11am’. I could have thrown the menu at him; I was sitting at his restaurant like a green horn since 10.50am. He leaned over the menu, impatiently flicked the pages to the Lunch menu and prodded his finger down on the page and stood up straight again. I vigorously flicked the pages to the end, closed the menu with a prod of my finger and handed it back to him with the delicacy of a Lithuanian Lada. I stood up slowly and with 2 Americans grinning widely at the next table, I strolled off with my pride full and my belly empty. After a quick visit to a convenience store and a sandwich and cappuccino later I was waiting at the steps of the town hall for this tour. There were 10 others waiting and at 12.15pm it was obvious that whatever gobsheen that was doing the tour had no intention of showing up (despite the poster advertising it as being on 7 days per week). Deciding at that point that it was time to point the van in the direction of Poland, off I went. It wasn’t too long before I was close to the Polish border and I pulled into a petrol station and exchanged all my Lithuanian coins and notes for that exact amount of diesel. It was a pre-pay station so I had to go to the counter and pay for the amount I wanted and back out to the pumps and it would dispense that amount in fuel. When I plopped all my coins on the counter it was like a scene from a bar in a Wild West movie with copper coins spinning and rolling this way and that. I parked on the opposite side of their forecourt, had a quick bite to eat and went for a snooze in the back. Two hours later, I was on the road again crossed through an obstacle course of a border into Poland. It was early Sunday evening and the traffic was mental. The Poles are lunatic drivers passing out cars in a solid line of traffic, squeezing in where there isn’t space, risking their lives and others to save about 20 seconds, maybe it was because it was a Sunday evening. Hunger was creeping in and dead quiet rural eateries are usually not a good idea so passing through this town I spotted a McDonalds and succumbed to its temptation. It was the busiest McDs Id ever been in with people squabbling over table and Q’s out the door. I pronounced the Polish ‘Big Mc Meal’ in my best accent and yer wan hadn’t a clue what I was saying. Bored Que’rs were watching and listening in and I felt the eyes of the world were on me. Abandoning my efforts to use the language, I pointed at pictures etc and got what I wanted. Driving along through the countryside anyway, Mary my Sat Nav was telling me that I would be arriving in downtown Warsaw in less than 20 mins. All there was around me were single carriageway roads, farms and redneck kids. It dawned on me that the clock was an hour earlier in Poland and in fact Warsaw was 1hr 20 mins away. That suited me fine as I didn’t want to arrive in Warsaw until the following morning. I pulled into a service station / truck-stop for the night and parked in amongst the trucks. I started writing up my blog for the night when I noticed a dog sitting in front of the line of trucks. As time went by I observed him sniffing and growling at anybody that walked near the Lorries but not the truck drivers themselves. He seemed to know the difference. I reckoned he was a stray and etched himself purpose and a living doing what he was doing as the drivers were giving him scraps and bit and pieces. Was lovely to see.
24th Aug Up and out at 10am and off to Warsaw rejoining the mental traffic made worse by road works, probably one of the short term downsides of EU infrastructural money. An hour or so later I arrived in the old town of Warsaw, and it’s absolutely beautiful. There are so many fantastic buildings I just wandered with my mouth open. All is not how it seems however as Warsaw was flattened during WW2 and all their old period buildings have been 90% rebuilt to their original design since the mid 80’s. It took me totally by surprise and would definitely recommend it as a weekend destination. Armed with all the tourist info I saw a lot of the city and by the evening I felt I’d seen a lot of what was on offer. That night I went down the town again to soak up the night atmosphere and have dinner. As I walked around I was listening to all the busker musicians playing the best classical music I heard anywhere. The famous composer Chopin was from Warsaw and perhaps he has inspired future generations of musicians. There were lots of beggars too and one person I gave money to was an elderly chap Id say in his mid eighties. He was dressed in his best suit, a grubby former soviet design with a really skinny tie and leaning heavily on his stick. He shuffled his weight from one leg to another and was standing there for ages. He was comforted the classical music being played nearby and I watched him with his little plastic container subtly at his front and not being shoved in anybody’s face. He wasn’t collecting much, in fact there was nothing in his container and had got nothing in the 15 mins I was watching him. His toothless mouth hung open as he watched the 3 busking violinists through his thick glasses and I felt so sorry for him. What was his life like? At that age having to beg and obviously not comfortable with it or used to it. He was trying his best to look respectable but at the same time if you didn’t look closely you would think he was just standing there. He should be with family, watching TV or in bed. I had a lump in my throat as I observed him. I tried to work out what he would make in an evening and maybe through a donation I could encourage him to go home early. I know there are worse cases in the world but it must be frightening at that age not knowing what will happen to you the day you can’t get out of bed to beg.
25th Aug I slept in the van outside the hostel last night. The hostel was really busy and they used my reservation which was fine as sleeping in big smelly dorms are less attractive than having the camper to myself. I woke at 6.30am and was on the road for 7. The morning traffic was getting busy leaving Warsaw but didn’t really let up all day. The Polish roads, drivers and volumes on the roads are ridiculous, I’ll be glad to put them behind me. I drove from 7am until 2pm today and arrived in Krakow in Southern Poland. When I arrived, Mary my Sat. Nav. some how directed me down the main tourist Pedestrian street and was so embarrassing all the tourists looking at me and having to get out of the way. I swung round the first left I came across before the local constabulary caught up with me. It’s a fabulous little city with lots of old buildings, castles and pedestrianised streets. One of the churches I went into had 2 doors, one signed for worshipers and one signed for tourists. There was a charge for tourists and free for worshippers so Naturally I was a worshipper. I was walking in a few steps behind these American girls and the security guard stopped them and told them to go to the tourist entrance. He then took a look at me and I started blessing myself as I walked by him whilst spouting in a subtle but loud enough; In Nomine, Patris et filee et Spiritous Santi. He let me pass.
Krakow was the setting for the film Schindlers list and I walked around the Jewish quarter where the Nazis rounded up the local Jewish population and exterminated them in the nearby concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau. The place is still be repopulated and still has the decay from WW2. I met an Australian lad in the hostel that Id met in Vilnius and Warsaw and he’s joining me on a trip to Auschwitz tomorrow. We went out for dinner and drinks this evening and enjoyed his cop stories (Aussie Police officer in Sydney).
26 Aug Up and out of Krakow with Casey, the Australian lad, and on our way to the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau.. We got there about 90 mins later and went to Birkenau first. It was a horrifying place built entirely for the storage and extermination of Jews, Gypsies, Russian POWs, resistance fighters, gays and the mentally ill. The complex was huge and housed over 100,000 people at its peak in barn size timber bungalows. All the houses were built with a concrete base and chimney and that’s all that remains of the bungalows now except for a few that have been rebuilt for exhibition purposes. We saw the gas chambers, miles of barbed wire and the conveyer belt system of the mass murder of over 1.5m Jews. We stayed a couple of hours and went off to Auschwitz, 3km away. Auschwitz had a visitors centre and after lunch there we took a look around. Auschwitz was a concentration camp for workers in the nearby factories. They were overworked and underfed and once they started to fade they were sent to Birkenau for extermination. Funnily enough Auschwitz as a camp was a pleasant enough place on the surface. It was an ex Polish Military base and had nice grounds, mature trees and pretty red brick buildings. However, underneath the horror of the place beggared belief. Live human medical experiments, hangings, executions, lethal injections, brutal interrogations not to mention the mountains of human hair, spectacles, adult and childrens shoes, suitcases, hairbrushes etc. Inmates died from disease, hunger, exhaustion, lunacy and terror. It was great to see but at the same time shocking to know that it was perpetrated by a fellow EU member only 65 years ago.
Later in the afternoon, I bid farewell to Casey (he went back to Krakow on the bus) and I set Mary bond for Prague. I crossed the Czech border about an hour later. I though the border was further along than it was and had not spent all my Polish Zlotys (Slutties as I called them to many a raised brow) so after crossing the border swung around and back into Poland to the nearest service station and did my diesel routine. Back to the Czech republic and as it was getting dark found a service station with a truck stop and pulled in for the night. I filled up with Diesel and bought a Bohemia Beer ( apparently the best beer region in the world) paid it all with visa as I had no Czech money and drank that before bed.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
(Part 2) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.
Aug 12th Up and out this morning at 7.30am and on the road at 9. It is getting considerably cooler but makes sleeping at night much more comfortable. The clock moved forward an hour today when we crossed the Finnish border so it was actually 10am when we got away today. We made our way 70km north to a town called Rovanemei. This is the gateway to the Artic circle and the Santa Claus village, 8km from the town. After a brief visit to the tourist office, we were on our way to see Santa. The Santa Claus village is very commercialised and comprises of a grotto building with restaurant and gift shop, a post office selling all kinds of Christmassy items and Santa’s office where it is free in but one needs to pay €19 to have your photo taken with him (fake beard incl. in the price). All the other things are shops and not a reindeer in sight. One good gimmick though was a letter from Santa sent on the first week of Christmas to a child of your choice whereby Santa mentions talking to the recipient. This cost €6 for each letter and we did it for the 4 grandchildren. Of most interest to us however was the Artic circle. Above the Artic circle at least one day in the year will be in total darkness for 24 hours and one day in the year will have 24 hours of continuous daylight. After that we decided to meander our way 800km south to Helsinki. That evening along the way we stopped at a place with a few trucks and a closed café. We made our dinner and found a sink around the back which we started using. We were cleaning pots etc and making a little racket when this Finnish guy appeared and started giving out to us for being on his private property. We apologised and said we didn’t realise but he kept huffing and puffing. We wrapped up operations fairly lively and moved on to another part of the car park.
Aug 13th Up and out at 7.30am and on the road at 8.15 after a quick shave and brushing of teeth. We decided not to hang around as we didn’t feel too welcome by our host. We drove an hour down the road and pulled into a rest area for breakfast. At this point Dad was starting to feel tired (and perhaps a bit homesick) with life on the road and we decided to take a direct route to Helsinki and not bother with the smaller towns and cities. He said he had seen enough and may change his flight and go home a bit early. We drove to Helsinki and pulled into the main international airport en-route. The cost to change was in excess of €150 so he decided to stay on. We went on to hotels.com and found a last minute bargain at the Crowne Plaza in central Helsinki at €94 per night discounted from €264. At €47 per night each, we checked in for 5 nights. It was a fabulous hotel and we even got two €21 buffet breakfasts each thrown in as the curtain were broken in our room and nobody was available to fix them until the following day. That evening we went into downtown Helsinki for dinner and a walk around. It appears to be a lovely city and will look forward to seeing more of it tomorrow.
Aug 14th We went down for our complimentary breakfast at 9am this morning and boy what a spread. We could have anything imaginable and dad even had porridge with honey and milk. 2 loaded bellies later we went downtown again and got on the ‘Hop on Hop off’ bus for an introductory sight seeing tour of the city. The tour wasn’t great but we got off at the 1952 Olympic stadium and had a look around. It’s still a major sporting and concert venue today and was a superb design for its time. We climbed to the top of its observation tower for a view over the city. We saw a few other sights and after the tour we went to the ferry terminal to book our tickets for a day trip to Tallinn in Estonia. That evening we went into town for a Chinese, where Dad saw a sauce on the table and helped himself to a spoonful. It was chilli and his tongue was out half a mile. He was oohing and ahhing, whoo-ing and jingoes-ing and feck me-ing for over 20 minutes. It was hilarious.
Aug 15th Up and out at 8am for another breakfast and out the door onto the 4T tram to take us to the ferry. We were on the ferry and on the way to Tallinn an hour later. The views of Helsinki harbour were lovely and are littered with islands in the bay. The journey passed quick enough and 2 hours 30 mins later we were there. We walked into town and quickly realised that it’s a magical little place with street vendors all dressed up in their traditional dress selling their wares. Tallinn is a walled city and all the streets within the wall are cobbled with nice little shops, bars, cafes and restaurants everywhere. We went into churches, museums a restaurant and even into the Irish embassy for a look but did not go in. After an afternoon looking around we made our way back to the ferry. We had dinner onboard and were back in Helsinki before we knew it. On the tram back to the city centre from the ferry terminal it was jam packed with ferry passengers. Dad hobbled on with his stick and this young girl of about 7, accompanied by her grandmother, got up and offered dad her seat. Initially he refused but she offered again and he took it. He smiled at her and thanked her. Delighted with her gesture dad reached into his bag and pulled out a big roll of smarties with Pooh bear on top and gave it to her. Initially intended for Beabhin, the girl was delighted with her unexpected windfall. She or her grandmother spoke no English so we think they were Estonians. The grandmother showed no emotion, no smile, no thanks, no nothing. Perhaps she was wary but I feel it was more of a cultural thing of many years under Russian occupation and suspicion. Anyway, the kid was happy and gave Dad a big wave from the platform when she got off. I think it made Dads day.
Aug 16th No posh breakfast for us today so we helped ourselves to the complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby before heading off to Mass. Dad needed his religious top up so with the help of Google and Google Earth I found a Catholic church along the tram line. We were just on time for 11am mass totally in Finnish. At 12.05pm dad gave me the nod to leave as Mass was still going and he had enough religious credit notched up at that stage. Back on the tram into town and had a lovely brunch in the food court in the Forum shopping centre. As we arrived in the food court, Dad went over to this Turkish lad at a kebab stand and asked in his PJ Flaherty accent ‘Have you Porridge?’ Of course the guy spoke good English hadn’t an idea what he said. I explained he meant oatmeal and the guy grinned. We finally settled on having food that was actually sold there. After that we were on the tram again to the bike rental shop and €15 later we were on pedal power for the rest of the day. I must admit I was reluctant to cycle around all day but once I was going I was delighted. We cycled all around the harbour area, through the city and the parks and more or less all on dedicated cycle lanes. It such a shame this is not more widely available in Ireland. One stop was the Sibelius monument, which was impressive. Sibelius was a famous Finnish composer, whom id never heard of but once I heard the music I recognised it straight away. After 4 hours on the bikes we gave them back and went back to the hotel for a swim in the leisure centre. The night was rounded off by a visit to our Chinese restaurant for a feed of barbequed pork and 2 pints of beers. We watched Uncle Buck’ on the laptop before nodding off for the night.
Aug 17th Dad made his porridge this morning using the kettle in the room and oatmeal he soaked overnight. He was delighted with the results and had his little bottle of Soya milk stashed away in the mini bar fridge. After complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby we went downtown to do the laundry. I had two sleeping bags, pillow cases, towel, blanket and all my own laundry to do (a fortnights worth). The launderette used the huge washing machine and a smaller one to do it all. It all came to €28 which I thought was a bit pricey, but was happy to have it done. During the day we went on a tour of the parliament and dad was a great student asking all the questions and even took the tour guide aside afterwards to correct him on his pronunciation. Down to the laundry to collect our stuff, and off to an Indian restaurant for our lunch. In the afternoon we visited an amazing church (Temppeliaukio church) which was built in the late 1960’s. It was built into an old quarry and looks like a flying saucer from the outside than a house of god. Check it out on Google images using:http://images.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=temppeliaukio+church&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=
We then went down to the park on dads request to listen to some music and sat in to listen to a Finnish/Swedish folk band. Dad fell asleep and when he woke up suggested that we go as it was ‘Tripe-ailte’. We meandered our way home through the park before getting to our hotel where we relaxed for a while before going for our evening dip at the hotel leisure centre. Dinner was at our Chinese restaurant again which delighted our waiter and he was all chat, not much of which we understood.
Aug 18th We checked out this morning as it was time for Dad to go home and me to continue on my travels to Eastern Europe. We headed off to the airport about 10.30am in the van with all our bag and baggage on board. We spent a total of 6 days in Helsinki and did justice to such a lovely city. We saw most things worth seeing and had a laugh doing it. We had a great time combining a bit of wildness, adventure, sacrifice and a good dollop of luxury at the end. The holiday was a time of many firsts for me and Dad. We went on our first lads holiday, spent 2 weeks together without other family members, our first day long chats about this and that, and we drunk our first, second and third pints together on this trip too. The occasion will be more significant on retrospect than anything in particular that we did on the trip. No regrets having done the trip with my father, it was excellent. I think of many of my friends who fathers have died, who dads wouldn’t go even if they could and ones that just can’t. They would give their left arms for the chance. For that I am grateful.
After dropping off dad, I made my way back to the hotel to resume my free parking for another few hours. There were parking attendants putting tickets on the cars that were illegally parked. They didn’t put a ticket on mine the whole 6 days. Maybe it was because of the Irish reg or maybe it was the Crowne Plaza card I had in the windscreen, I don’t know and I didn’t ask. I booked my ticket for the ferry to Tallinn tomorrow morning and bought a bottle of wine for my host tonight. I will stay with a Finnish girl, Laura that I met in Laos. You may recall in a previous entry the girl who was sitting on a packed Laotian bus beside a bus driver that was looking at her more than the road. The seat was an uncomfortable one and I offered her my seat. She was most appreciative. So that’s where Im spending my last night in Finland.
Aug 13th Up and out at 7.30am and on the road at 8.15 after a quick shave and brushing of teeth. We decided not to hang around as we didn’t feel too welcome by our host. We drove an hour down the road and pulled into a rest area for breakfast. At this point Dad was starting to feel tired (and perhaps a bit homesick) with life on the road and we decided to take a direct route to Helsinki and not bother with the smaller towns and cities. He said he had seen enough and may change his flight and go home a bit early. We drove to Helsinki and pulled into the main international airport en-route. The cost to change was in excess of €150 so he decided to stay on. We went on to hotels.com and found a last minute bargain at the Crowne Plaza in central Helsinki at €94 per night discounted from €264. At €47 per night each, we checked in for 5 nights. It was a fabulous hotel and we even got two €21 buffet breakfasts each thrown in as the curtain were broken in our room and nobody was available to fix them until the following day. That evening we went into downtown Helsinki for dinner and a walk around. It appears to be a lovely city and will look forward to seeing more of it tomorrow.
Aug 14th We went down for our complimentary breakfast at 9am this morning and boy what a spread. We could have anything imaginable and dad even had porridge with honey and milk. 2 loaded bellies later we went downtown again and got on the ‘Hop on Hop off’ bus for an introductory sight seeing tour of the city. The tour wasn’t great but we got off at the 1952 Olympic stadium and had a look around. It’s still a major sporting and concert venue today and was a superb design for its time. We climbed to the top of its observation tower for a view over the city. We saw a few other sights and after the tour we went to the ferry terminal to book our tickets for a day trip to Tallinn in Estonia. That evening we went into town for a Chinese, where Dad saw a sauce on the table and helped himself to a spoonful. It was chilli and his tongue was out half a mile. He was oohing and ahhing, whoo-ing and jingoes-ing and feck me-ing for over 20 minutes. It was hilarious.
Aug 15th Up and out at 8am for another breakfast and out the door onto the 4T tram to take us to the ferry. We were on the ferry and on the way to Tallinn an hour later. The views of Helsinki harbour were lovely and are littered with islands in the bay. The journey passed quick enough and 2 hours 30 mins later we were there. We walked into town and quickly realised that it’s a magical little place with street vendors all dressed up in their traditional dress selling their wares. Tallinn is a walled city and all the streets within the wall are cobbled with nice little shops, bars, cafes and restaurants everywhere. We went into churches, museums a restaurant and even into the Irish embassy for a look but did not go in. After an afternoon looking around we made our way back to the ferry. We had dinner onboard and were back in Helsinki before we knew it. On the tram back to the city centre from the ferry terminal it was jam packed with ferry passengers. Dad hobbled on with his stick and this young girl of about 7, accompanied by her grandmother, got up and offered dad her seat. Initially he refused but she offered again and he took it. He smiled at her and thanked her. Delighted with her gesture dad reached into his bag and pulled out a big roll of smarties with Pooh bear on top and gave it to her. Initially intended for Beabhin, the girl was delighted with her unexpected windfall. She or her grandmother spoke no English so we think they were Estonians. The grandmother showed no emotion, no smile, no thanks, no nothing. Perhaps she was wary but I feel it was more of a cultural thing of many years under Russian occupation and suspicion. Anyway, the kid was happy and gave Dad a big wave from the platform when she got off. I think it made Dads day.
Aug 16th No posh breakfast for us today so we helped ourselves to the complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby before heading off to Mass. Dad needed his religious top up so with the help of Google and Google Earth I found a Catholic church along the tram line. We were just on time for 11am mass totally in Finnish. At 12.05pm dad gave me the nod to leave as Mass was still going and he had enough religious credit notched up at that stage. Back on the tram into town and had a lovely brunch in the food court in the Forum shopping centre. As we arrived in the food court, Dad went over to this Turkish lad at a kebab stand and asked in his PJ Flaherty accent ‘Have you Porridge?’ Of course the guy spoke good English hadn’t an idea what he said. I explained he meant oatmeal and the guy grinned. We finally settled on having food that was actually sold there. After that we were on the tram again to the bike rental shop and €15 later we were on pedal power for the rest of the day. I must admit I was reluctant to cycle around all day but once I was going I was delighted. We cycled all around the harbour area, through the city and the parks and more or less all on dedicated cycle lanes. It such a shame this is not more widely available in Ireland. One stop was the Sibelius monument, which was impressive. Sibelius was a famous Finnish composer, whom id never heard of but once I heard the music I recognised it straight away. After 4 hours on the bikes we gave them back and went back to the hotel for a swim in the leisure centre. The night was rounded off by a visit to our Chinese restaurant for a feed of barbequed pork and 2 pints of beers. We watched Uncle Buck’ on the laptop before nodding off for the night.
Aug 17th Dad made his porridge this morning using the kettle in the room and oatmeal he soaked overnight. He was delighted with the results and had his little bottle of Soya milk stashed away in the mini bar fridge. After complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby we went downtown to do the laundry. I had two sleeping bags, pillow cases, towel, blanket and all my own laundry to do (a fortnights worth). The launderette used the huge washing machine and a smaller one to do it all. It all came to €28 which I thought was a bit pricey, but was happy to have it done. During the day we went on a tour of the parliament and dad was a great student asking all the questions and even took the tour guide aside afterwards to correct him on his pronunciation. Down to the laundry to collect our stuff, and off to an Indian restaurant for our lunch. In the afternoon we visited an amazing church (Temppeliaukio church) which was built in the late 1960’s. It was built into an old quarry and looks like a flying saucer from the outside than a house of god. Check it out on Google images using:http://images.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=temppeliaukio+church&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=
We then went down to the park on dads request to listen to some music and sat in to listen to a Finnish/Swedish folk band. Dad fell asleep and when he woke up suggested that we go as it was ‘Tripe-ailte’. We meandered our way home through the park before getting to our hotel where we relaxed for a while before going for our evening dip at the hotel leisure centre. Dinner was at our Chinese restaurant again which delighted our waiter and he was all chat, not much of which we understood.
Aug 18th We checked out this morning as it was time for Dad to go home and me to continue on my travels to Eastern Europe. We headed off to the airport about 10.30am in the van with all our bag and baggage on board. We spent a total of 6 days in Helsinki and did justice to such a lovely city. We saw most things worth seeing and had a laugh doing it. We had a great time combining a bit of wildness, adventure, sacrifice and a good dollop of luxury at the end. The holiday was a time of many firsts for me and Dad. We went on our first lads holiday, spent 2 weeks together without other family members, our first day long chats about this and that, and we drunk our first, second and third pints together on this trip too. The occasion will be more significant on retrospect than anything in particular that we did on the trip. No regrets having done the trip with my father, it was excellent. I think of many of my friends who fathers have died, who dads wouldn’t go even if they could and ones that just can’t. They would give their left arms for the chance. For that I am grateful.
After dropping off dad, I made my way back to the hotel to resume my free parking for another few hours. There were parking attendants putting tickets on the cars that were illegally parked. They didn’t put a ticket on mine the whole 6 days. Maybe it was because of the Irish reg or maybe it was the Crowne Plaza card I had in the windscreen, I don’t know and I didn’t ask. I booked my ticket for the ferry to Tallinn tomorrow morning and bought a bottle of wine for my host tonight. I will stay with a Finnish girl, Laura that I met in Laos. You may recall in a previous entry the girl who was sitting on a packed Laotian bus beside a bus driver that was looking at her more than the road. The seat was an uncomfortable one and I offered her my seat. She was most appreciative. So that’s where Im spending my last night in Finland.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
(Part 1) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40472893@N04/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/
(Part 1) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.
04 Aug Up and out this morning and on the road for 9am. Dad wanted to see the hippy commune ‘Christiana’ which was on our way. We had a walk around and although there were a few people around I think most of them were in bed. We continued on and drove across the Oresund Bridge to Malmo in Sweden. When we arrived at the toll gate on the Swedish side, Dad started talking a mixture of English and French in an Italian accent to a Swede. As he chatted away to the teller the queue was getting longer behind us as Dad was in the throws of describing where we came from and where we were going. Of course dad didn’t mind a bit. We went into Malmo for a look around and it was nothing special except Dad got charged €2.50 to use the toilet in the train station. I told the lady taking the money that it was a rip off and a bad reflection on her city as it was 10 kroners (€1) to use the toilet if you had Swedish money or €2.50 if paying with euro. We spent an hour looking around and by then we were back on the road on our way to Gothenburg.
We pulled off the motorway into a roadside service station along the way and standing by the van eating our hotdogs a man in an English reg. Volvo pulled up alongside. He was Swedish and told us he thought there was a dead man in the van a few cars up and would we mind accompanying him to check it out. Dad went with him and they opened the van and there was nothing in it. This lad told us it had been there a week and nobody moved it. I asked him was he involved with the management and he said no, they are idiots and don’t care he added. At that point I thought he was a gobshite and he went back to the van and started searching through it. He came back to us again and started preaching about the evils of women and at that point we made our excuses and left.
We finally arrived in Gothenburg, looked around its main st and square. We went on to the docks and visited a huge sailing ship converted into a hotel and then to a ship museum where a warship and a submarine were the highlights. We climbed down into the submarine and had a look around. It was so cramped; it’s not a career I would have liked. We left Gothenburg about 6.30pm and headed in the direction of Stockholm. We stopped at a service station en-route for the night.
05 Aug Up and out at 8.30am, had showers in the service station, Dad made porridge for us both (which was a bit watery so Dad had mine too) and we were on the road to Stockholm by 10am (but not before Dad tried to fix the McDonalds lawnmower). Asides from a stop for coffee we were driving non stop to Stockholm. We got there about 1am and had trouble finding the campsite we had selected. We stopped and asked a lady if she spoke English and she grunted ’no’ and turned her back on us. We then asked a taxi driver and he told us to follow him. We drove around after him for about 10 mins until he finally apologised and said he couldn’t find it. Fair play to him for trying anyway and would not take any money for his trouble. We reckoned it was gone, had bowed out to progress and we set course for option 2.
Stockholm is a lovely old city with lots of narrow cobbled streets but driving around it and adding the modern additions of tram lines, bicycle lanes and all kinds of unfamiliar junctions we had traffic blowing at us for going when we should be stopping. Stopping when we should be going but anyway finally got to the second campsite and discovered they were full. Done with driving we parked in the car park beside it and headed into town, 10km/40 mins away by ferry-bus. It was a lovely day, about 28C and was a great day to see Stockholm. The beauty of the place beggars belief. We went into city hall when all the pomp and ceremony of the Nobel peace prize goes on each year and was like a scene from Venice. We arrived in town about 3pm so after a few hours looking around decided to return the following day and got the train back to the van. Parked outside the campsite we went in to the campsite restaurant and had dinner. That evening (still in the car-park) we put on the movie ‘Who’s Harry Crumb’ but the battery died mid way as we had been running the fridge all day keeping dads porridge milk cool.
06 Aug Up and out at 7am and after Dads swim and porridge we were on the train into town at 9.30. We first went back to the City hall to do the tour as we were particularly interested in seeing where the Nobel peace prize was granted. We were bored to tears on the tour only to find out toward the end that the prizes were handed out at a conference centre somewhere else in town. As Dad says; ‘we were done’. After that we went for a walk along the shore looking at the fabulous boats and buildings. Prices were astronomical along the shore so we popped into a 7-11 convenience store and bought coffees and sandwiches and sat on the shore amongst the expensive eateries eating them. After lunch we went to the ‘Vasa’ museum. The Vasa was a battleship built by the king of Sweden in 1650. It had so many guns and adorned with carvings etc it was so overweight and unbalanced that it sunk in the harbour 1 km from its launch site. It was raised about 30 years ago and took 7 years to restore. Its an ugly ship but fascinatingly big and a real symbol of Swedish arrogance in Scandinavia at the time. By this time we had seen at lot of Stockholm and got the train back to the van. We headed off after Dads swim and another meal at the campsite restaurant. Dad had a beer with his dinner which added to all our walking that day allowed him sleep most of the way. By 9.30 we stopped off at a roadside rest area and after the remainder of the video, went to sleep.
07 Aug Up at 7.45am and Dad for the first time plugged into the vans power supply to shave. He walked around in his pyjamas amongst the truckers with no bother. It probably would have bothered me at one time but I didn’t care. We made up breakfast and off we went. We drove on for a couple of hours and pulled into a shopping centre for groceries and diesel before crossing into notoriously expensive Norway. Norway is not as wealthy as Sweden and much more mountainous. Before long we were in Oslo, went to our campsite and it was a dump. The Turkish owner had about as much charm as the potholes in his campsite so we parked across the road in the car park which serviced the beach along the Oslo fjord and local bike/walking trails. We had a look around, Dad went for a swim and we then drove into Oslo for the afternoon. Oslo was a surprise. I expected a glamorous city with blondes walking around but what we saw was a scene one would expect from Istanbul. It was full of immigrants and in the central square drug dealing was openly being carried out. It was not a well planned city in the centre and things were all over the place. We took a tram to a park called the Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park which was filled with naked statues in all manners of embrace. After that we were back on the tram and on the way to see the opera house. That was an amazing building and the roof was sloped from top to toe so that you could walk up and admire the views of the harbour. We drove back to that same beach car park and camped there for the night.
08 Aug This morning we went down to the fjord for a swim and rinse under the tap afterwards. We both decided our time would be better spend elsewhere than Oslo so we hit the road that morning bound for Bergen on the west coast. We were no more than 30 mins on the road when I spotted an IKEA. Dad had never been to one so I suggested that we have a look around, he readily agreed. We had a walk around and he was very impressed and all that was followed by a hearty lunch in their subsidised restaurant where we had a meal of sausage balls and potatoes. Dad found it hilarious when the guy serving the food described them as ‘balls from the pig’. We continued on again stopping for coffee and groceries but the best stop on the way to Bergen was the Gorge (don’t know the name) that was a mile deep with a roaring waterfall. The scenery changed dramatically as we left Oslo and entered the countryside. It was initially very forested and gradually as we climbed into the mountains it became very cold and barren with snow still visible. Along the roads where mountains are everywhere the Norwegians have tunnelled. As dad said ‘There must be six million tunnels!’ some of them 15 kilometres long and driving at 120 kmph through them was exhilarating. As Norway became more rural, the bridges across the fjords became ferries and we were boarding ferries every 50 kms at €10-€15 a go. We reached Bergen about 9pm and the campsite was full so we did our car park routine once again.
09 Aug We had about 10 hours sleep last night and were up and out at 8am followed by a swim in the nearby fjord. We headed into Bergen centre, stopping off for breakfast along the way, about 10am. Bergen is a beautiful low rise city of about 500,000 people. It rains there about 275 days a year so we counted ourselves lucky that we had one of the 90 good days. After a good look around we were on the road again heading north to the main fjord region. We hopped from Ferry to Fjord to tunnel and all over again driving at a snails pace with all the tourist traffic slowing down and looking at everything but the road, even dad complained of the slow driving! It was a Sunday in Norway and nothing was open. We must have driven through 3 villages and 2 towns looking for fresh bread for our lunch but no luck. We eventually found a place but don’t rely on buying anything Norway on a Sunday.
10 Aug Up and out at 8am and onto a ferry again. More tunnels, fjords, uphills and downhills. The roads were so twisty, one particular bend was so sharp that my 25 litre water container broke free from its position and smashed one of the containers next to it. No serious imposition and we continued on. We visited two towns; Allsund and Trondheim where dad paid €21 for a mediocre dinner in a café which I flat refused to eat at that price. I went across the road to a petrol station and had a €5 hotdog. We decided not to travel any further north as we had seen much of what Norway had to offer, going was very slow and expensive and time was running short. We headed East to the Swedish border and my when we arrived in Sweden the pace took off. We drove about 500 kms today and once over the border we found a lovely rest area with swimming, café, toilets etc. Norway is stunning but rob a bank before going there and don’t spend too much time in the capital.
Aug 11 Up and out at 8am and dad had a swim. We had a coffee and pastry breakfast in the café as a thank you to the owner for providing such a lovely facility free of charge. We were on the road 90 mins later and drove westward to the Baltic Sea. At a town on the coast called Ornskoldsvik we turned north and headed to the Finnish border along the coast. We drove 630 kms today and finally made the border about 8.40pm. We drove on a bit to a roadside rest area for the night
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40472893@N04/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/
(Part 1) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.
04 Aug Up and out this morning and on the road for 9am. Dad wanted to see the hippy commune ‘Christiana’ which was on our way. We had a walk around and although there were a few people around I think most of them were in bed. We continued on and drove across the Oresund Bridge to Malmo in Sweden. When we arrived at the toll gate on the Swedish side, Dad started talking a mixture of English and French in an Italian accent to a Swede. As he chatted away to the teller the queue was getting longer behind us as Dad was in the throws of describing where we came from and where we were going. Of course dad didn’t mind a bit. We went into Malmo for a look around and it was nothing special except Dad got charged €2.50 to use the toilet in the train station. I told the lady taking the money that it was a rip off and a bad reflection on her city as it was 10 kroners (€1) to use the toilet if you had Swedish money or €2.50 if paying with euro. We spent an hour looking around and by then we were back on the road on our way to Gothenburg.
We pulled off the motorway into a roadside service station along the way and standing by the van eating our hotdogs a man in an English reg. Volvo pulled up alongside. He was Swedish and told us he thought there was a dead man in the van a few cars up and would we mind accompanying him to check it out. Dad went with him and they opened the van and there was nothing in it. This lad told us it had been there a week and nobody moved it. I asked him was he involved with the management and he said no, they are idiots and don’t care he added. At that point I thought he was a gobshite and he went back to the van and started searching through it. He came back to us again and started preaching about the evils of women and at that point we made our excuses and left.
We finally arrived in Gothenburg, looked around its main st and square. We went on to the docks and visited a huge sailing ship converted into a hotel and then to a ship museum where a warship and a submarine were the highlights. We climbed down into the submarine and had a look around. It was so cramped; it’s not a career I would have liked. We left Gothenburg about 6.30pm and headed in the direction of Stockholm. We stopped at a service station en-route for the night.
05 Aug Up and out at 8.30am, had showers in the service station, Dad made porridge for us both (which was a bit watery so Dad had mine too) and we were on the road to Stockholm by 10am (but not before Dad tried to fix the McDonalds lawnmower). Asides from a stop for coffee we were driving non stop to Stockholm. We got there about 1am and had trouble finding the campsite we had selected. We stopped and asked a lady if she spoke English and she grunted ’no’ and turned her back on us. We then asked a taxi driver and he told us to follow him. We drove around after him for about 10 mins until he finally apologised and said he couldn’t find it. Fair play to him for trying anyway and would not take any money for his trouble. We reckoned it was gone, had bowed out to progress and we set course for option 2.
Stockholm is a lovely old city with lots of narrow cobbled streets but driving around it and adding the modern additions of tram lines, bicycle lanes and all kinds of unfamiliar junctions we had traffic blowing at us for going when we should be stopping. Stopping when we should be going but anyway finally got to the second campsite and discovered they were full. Done with driving we parked in the car park beside it and headed into town, 10km/40 mins away by ferry-bus. It was a lovely day, about 28C and was a great day to see Stockholm. The beauty of the place beggars belief. We went into city hall when all the pomp and ceremony of the Nobel peace prize goes on each year and was like a scene from Venice. We arrived in town about 3pm so after a few hours looking around decided to return the following day and got the train back to the van. Parked outside the campsite we went in to the campsite restaurant and had dinner. That evening (still in the car-park) we put on the movie ‘Who’s Harry Crumb’ but the battery died mid way as we had been running the fridge all day keeping dads porridge milk cool.
06 Aug Up and out at 7am and after Dads swim and porridge we were on the train into town at 9.30. We first went back to the City hall to do the tour as we were particularly interested in seeing where the Nobel peace prize was granted. We were bored to tears on the tour only to find out toward the end that the prizes were handed out at a conference centre somewhere else in town. As Dad says; ‘we were done’. After that we went for a walk along the shore looking at the fabulous boats and buildings. Prices were astronomical along the shore so we popped into a 7-11 convenience store and bought coffees and sandwiches and sat on the shore amongst the expensive eateries eating them. After lunch we went to the ‘Vasa’ museum. The Vasa was a battleship built by the king of Sweden in 1650. It had so many guns and adorned with carvings etc it was so overweight and unbalanced that it sunk in the harbour 1 km from its launch site. It was raised about 30 years ago and took 7 years to restore. Its an ugly ship but fascinatingly big and a real symbol of Swedish arrogance in Scandinavia at the time. By this time we had seen at lot of Stockholm and got the train back to the van. We headed off after Dads swim and another meal at the campsite restaurant. Dad had a beer with his dinner which added to all our walking that day allowed him sleep most of the way. By 9.30 we stopped off at a roadside rest area and after the remainder of the video, went to sleep.
07 Aug Up at 7.45am and Dad for the first time plugged into the vans power supply to shave. He walked around in his pyjamas amongst the truckers with no bother. It probably would have bothered me at one time but I didn’t care. We made up breakfast and off we went. We drove on for a couple of hours and pulled into a shopping centre for groceries and diesel before crossing into notoriously expensive Norway. Norway is not as wealthy as Sweden and much more mountainous. Before long we were in Oslo, went to our campsite and it was a dump. The Turkish owner had about as much charm as the potholes in his campsite so we parked across the road in the car park which serviced the beach along the Oslo fjord and local bike/walking trails. We had a look around, Dad went for a swim and we then drove into Oslo for the afternoon. Oslo was a surprise. I expected a glamorous city with blondes walking around but what we saw was a scene one would expect from Istanbul. It was full of immigrants and in the central square drug dealing was openly being carried out. It was not a well planned city in the centre and things were all over the place. We took a tram to a park called the Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park which was filled with naked statues in all manners of embrace. After that we were back on the tram and on the way to see the opera house. That was an amazing building and the roof was sloped from top to toe so that you could walk up and admire the views of the harbour. We drove back to that same beach car park and camped there for the night.
08 Aug This morning we went down to the fjord for a swim and rinse under the tap afterwards. We both decided our time would be better spend elsewhere than Oslo so we hit the road that morning bound for Bergen on the west coast. We were no more than 30 mins on the road when I spotted an IKEA. Dad had never been to one so I suggested that we have a look around, he readily agreed. We had a walk around and he was very impressed and all that was followed by a hearty lunch in their subsidised restaurant where we had a meal of sausage balls and potatoes. Dad found it hilarious when the guy serving the food described them as ‘balls from the pig’. We continued on again stopping for coffee and groceries but the best stop on the way to Bergen was the Gorge (don’t know the name) that was a mile deep with a roaring waterfall. The scenery changed dramatically as we left Oslo and entered the countryside. It was initially very forested and gradually as we climbed into the mountains it became very cold and barren with snow still visible. Along the roads where mountains are everywhere the Norwegians have tunnelled. As dad said ‘There must be six million tunnels!’ some of them 15 kilometres long and driving at 120 kmph through them was exhilarating. As Norway became more rural, the bridges across the fjords became ferries and we were boarding ferries every 50 kms at €10-€15 a go. We reached Bergen about 9pm and the campsite was full so we did our car park routine once again.
09 Aug We had about 10 hours sleep last night and were up and out at 8am followed by a swim in the nearby fjord. We headed into Bergen centre, stopping off for breakfast along the way, about 10am. Bergen is a beautiful low rise city of about 500,000 people. It rains there about 275 days a year so we counted ourselves lucky that we had one of the 90 good days. After a good look around we were on the road again heading north to the main fjord region. We hopped from Ferry to Fjord to tunnel and all over again driving at a snails pace with all the tourist traffic slowing down and looking at everything but the road, even dad complained of the slow driving! It was a Sunday in Norway and nothing was open. We must have driven through 3 villages and 2 towns looking for fresh bread for our lunch but no luck. We eventually found a place but don’t rely on buying anything Norway on a Sunday.
10 Aug Up and out at 8am and onto a ferry again. More tunnels, fjords, uphills and downhills. The roads were so twisty, one particular bend was so sharp that my 25 litre water container broke free from its position and smashed one of the containers next to it. No serious imposition and we continued on. We visited two towns; Allsund and Trondheim where dad paid €21 for a mediocre dinner in a café which I flat refused to eat at that price. I went across the road to a petrol station and had a €5 hotdog. We decided not to travel any further north as we had seen much of what Norway had to offer, going was very slow and expensive and time was running short. We headed East to the Swedish border and my when we arrived in Sweden the pace took off. We drove about 500 kms today and once over the border we found a lovely rest area with swimming, café, toilets etc. Norway is stunning but rob a bank before going there and don’t spend too much time in the capital.
Aug 11 Up and out at 8am and dad had a swim. We had a coffee and pastry breakfast in the café as a thank you to the owner for providing such a lovely facility free of charge. We were on the road 90 mins later and drove westward to the Baltic Sea. At a town on the coast called Ornskoldsvik we turned north and headed to the Finnish border along the coast. We drove 630 kms today and finally made the border about 8.40pm. We drove on a bit to a roadside rest area for the night
Monday, August 3, 2009
(Part 2) Dublin to Copenhagen.
August 03rd 2009
European Leg of the world tour
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/
24th July After an 8am breakfast kindly prepared by Maiike we were soon on our way to Utrecht. It turned out to be my favourite Dutch city with traditional Boutique shops, canals full of activity with wildlife, stunning cruisers and timber speedboats. It had a real stereotypical Dutch feel. A couple hours later we headed to Rotterdam, an hour down the motorway. Rotterdam is a new city and lacks the charming centre of the other older Dutch cities. Its an interesting place however and boast the largest docks in Europe and has many strange architectural creations. A couple hours later we drove another 30 mins down the motorway to The Hague. It too was a beautiful city and although its not the capital its the home of the Dutch royal family, many foreign embassies and the Government but didn’t match Utrecht. We headed to a campsite in a town nearby called Delft for the night.
25th July We headed into Delft this morning and as expected was a lovely spot, typically Dutch with cobbled streets for pedestrian and cyclists. I think the Dutch have a great life balance with work, family, socialising and exercise all built into normal life. After Delft we headed off up the coast to Haarlem, a suburb town of Amsterdam. It was a really cool place with a huge café culture around the canals. After a couple of hours there we were in the van again heading up the coast. It was strange driving along the coast during the day and not being able to see the sea. This of course is because of the Dikes block the view as sea level is level with ground level and the Netherlands otherwise would be liable to serious flooding without them. A couple of hours later we were in a town called Dan Helder. This is a gateway town to an island called Texel off the north coast of Holland. We took the car ferry and arrived there 30 mins later. It’s a nice island, very clean and well kept with lovely little postcard towns. We bought food in the supermarket and headed to a place called Cocksdorp which was a peninsula with a lighthouse. We cooked up there, had a couple pints in the local pub and slept like lords.
26th July We toured around the island a bit stopping at towns, villages and beaches before boarding the ferry to the mainland in the afternoon. Making our way toward the German border we crossed the ZuiderZee enroute. The ZZ is a 32km long causeway built to connect 2 provinces and as part of a huge land reclamation project. It now separates sea water in the North from fresh water to its south. It was great driving over it as I had learned about it in national school and always wondered about it. That evening we arrived in Groningen, the most Northerly city in Holland. It wasn’t great there and went to a campsite on the outskirts of the town.
27th July We left Groningen this morning bound for Bremen. New roads around Groningen were giving Mary (the Sat Nav) a hard time which delayed our departure from the Netherlands. It took us about 3 hours to get to Bremen. I particularly wanted to get there to meet up with Jorg, our 70 year old friend from Me and Fiachras Antarctica trip. He had given me his address and Mary brought us to his door. Unfortunately he was not in and we walked the 1.5kms into the city centre to have a look around. Like most cities, Bremen is not without its rough edges but had a very pretty centre. We intended to head to Hamburg today but after stopping at a very nice service station we decided to make the most of their green areas and relaxed for the rest of the day.
28th July Woke up this morning and there was a Cork car parked beside us. Inside there was a lad and a girl fast asleep with the seats rolled back. On my way back to the van after my shower he was up and about and I asked him if he had a good nights sleep. He muttered something and it turned out he was Polish. Later on our way to Hamburg we battled tailbacks miles long due to huge Autobahn upgrade works. Hamburg was lovely (descriptions sounding familiar?) we went to this café and asked for 2 Americanos (Black Italian coffee) and the waiter brought us out 2 cocktails (at 11am!) He got into a right strop when I told him that we did not want them. He said ‘you are not in America now, you are in Germany’ and americanos are cocktails here. I told him Americano is an Italian invention and we were Irish. I think he lightened up then and was quiet amicable after that. After a few hours in Hamburg we set off on the long journey North to Denmark. We drove through the Jutland island province and across the bridge to Odense island province. We camped at a service station outside Odense city for the night.
29th July We made the short journey into Odense city this morning. It’s a nice town but not much in the way of historical buildings. While walking along the main street, I heard a familiar tune. A street busker was playing Galway Bay and singing it in Danish. I gave him a big cheer but got a blank look back. I think he just wanted money. We soon headed off to Copenhagen. We went into the city centre but couldn’t get accommodation so before we headed out onto the motorway for a service station, we went to a place called Christiana. It’s a famous hippy commune in the city that the Government want to close down and there is a lot of resistence to it. Deciding to see for ourselves, I reckoned Christiana was a low life drug den and the whole hippy thing was a cover up.
30th July Back to Copenhagen and we checked into the Cabinn hotel where I had booked for myself and dad. We checked in for 2 nights before going on a self guided tour of the city visiting the National Museum, royal palace, parks and Hans Christian Andersons Little Mermaid statue. Copenhagen is a fabulous city and we walked around for 6 hours before returning to our room completely knackered.
31st July We went to Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park in the city centre) and hung out there for most of the day. I went on the roller coaster which was great but was over in less than a minute. It cost €8 and had to queue for 40 mins to get on, don’t think I’ll be going on it again. The Tivoli complex is a great spot with restaurants, free concerts, man made lake with a galleon complete with fish and ducks. It’s a great place for children with all kinds of sweets, chocolates and ice cream available. That evening we went back to Tivoli to see a concert by this Danish lad who is very popular in Denmark. It was shite but still hung around for a few drinks and soaked up the atmosphere anyway as Tivoli is totally different at night when all the lights are on.
01st August Up at 6am this morning and the end of a short era, Eilis was leaving for home and we both checked out of the hotel. I walked her to the train and thanked her for her company, wished her well and she was gone. I met up with a guy called Rene later in the day. Me and Frog had met Rene in the Gallapagos in March. He showed me around some amazing buildings and gave me a locals viewpoint of the town. We decided to have a beer by the Opera house and 2 small beers cam the hotel e to €17, I nearly choked. He had to leave early and we arranged to meet tomorrow. I went back to the huge National Museum for another look. There is a Gay Pride festival ongoing in Copenhagen and there are no shortage of eccentric characters knocking about. There was a huge open air concert in the city centre which I went for a look tonight. Johnnie Logan was playing too.
02nd August I slept in the van last night in the car park across the road from the hotel. I was popping in and out of the hotel to my hearts content using the bathroom, TV lounge and wifi. I supposed they recognised me from staying there and didn’t realise I’d checked out that morning. I went to Rene’s apartment this morning for breakfast and a shower. He had laid on a lovely Danish breakfast complete with Danish pastries with little red and white Danish flags. I met with Brigette his girlfriend, whom Id met on the Gallapagos aswell and was great to meet her again too. Fair play to Rene, he had taken my sleeping bag and washed it too. We headed off sightseeing to the lakes around Copenhagen where the Danish Olympic rowers train and even met one of them (well, I actually just walked by her) and walked around the royal gardens that overlook the lake. We later visited one of the most upmarket areas of Copenhagen and saw the Swiss and Polish embassies.
For the afternoon we went to the supermarket and bought a whole load of Danish food and Rene made lunch for the two of us. It was fantastic except I didn’t like the Pork Pate. On a full belly we went to the Carlsberg museum which was extremely impressive. Mr Carl Jacobsen started the brewery in the 1850’s and currently produce an equivalent of over 15 billion bottles per year worldwide. That evening we went to Rene’s fathers place and his other sons girlfriend (who is Moroccan) put on an amazing Moroccan meal. The family were very friendly and hospitable and I had a great evening. I left a couple of hours later and headed to the airport to collect Dad. He was late coming through due to a huge number of arrivals but we were in the hotel by 11.30pm when Dad discovered he had locked his suitcase and taken the wrong key. With a lend of a Pliers from reception we soon had that problem out of the way.
03rd August Up and out at 8am for breakfast in the hotel. It was a lovely buffet and we stuffed ourselves. Due to the high prices in Denmark we made our lunch from the buffet too and off we went to city hall to get the sightseeing tour bus around the city. It rained all day which hampered proceedings and most government run museums are closed on a Monday which didn’t help but we still managed to see the city, the Hans Christian Anderson Little Mermaid Statue, Rosenburg palace, St Pauls church (Dads favourite) and went around on the bus for a second time just to make sure we got all the info. That afternoon we went off to a town called Roskilde, 30km from C’hagen to see a Viking museum. It was a very impressive complex with indoor and outdoor exhibits, Replica Viking ships, salvaged ships, ships under construction, workshops for kids who want to make their own Viking shield and the Glendalough; a replica Viking ship that sailed from Denmark to Ireland return a few years ago. It was a great day out and good craic, despite the rain.
European Leg of the world tour
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/
24th July After an 8am breakfast kindly prepared by Maiike we were soon on our way to Utrecht. It turned out to be my favourite Dutch city with traditional Boutique shops, canals full of activity with wildlife, stunning cruisers and timber speedboats. It had a real stereotypical Dutch feel. A couple hours later we headed to Rotterdam, an hour down the motorway. Rotterdam is a new city and lacks the charming centre of the other older Dutch cities. Its an interesting place however and boast the largest docks in Europe and has many strange architectural creations. A couple hours later we drove another 30 mins down the motorway to The Hague. It too was a beautiful city and although its not the capital its the home of the Dutch royal family, many foreign embassies and the Government but didn’t match Utrecht. We headed to a campsite in a town nearby called Delft for the night.
25th July We headed into Delft this morning and as expected was a lovely spot, typically Dutch with cobbled streets for pedestrian and cyclists. I think the Dutch have a great life balance with work, family, socialising and exercise all built into normal life. After Delft we headed off up the coast to Haarlem, a suburb town of Amsterdam. It was a really cool place with a huge café culture around the canals. After a couple of hours there we were in the van again heading up the coast. It was strange driving along the coast during the day and not being able to see the sea. This of course is because of the Dikes block the view as sea level is level with ground level and the Netherlands otherwise would be liable to serious flooding without them. A couple of hours later we were in a town called Dan Helder. This is a gateway town to an island called Texel off the north coast of Holland. We took the car ferry and arrived there 30 mins later. It’s a nice island, very clean and well kept with lovely little postcard towns. We bought food in the supermarket and headed to a place called Cocksdorp which was a peninsula with a lighthouse. We cooked up there, had a couple pints in the local pub and slept like lords.
26th July We toured around the island a bit stopping at towns, villages and beaches before boarding the ferry to the mainland in the afternoon. Making our way toward the German border we crossed the ZuiderZee enroute. The ZZ is a 32km long causeway built to connect 2 provinces and as part of a huge land reclamation project. It now separates sea water in the North from fresh water to its south. It was great driving over it as I had learned about it in national school and always wondered about it. That evening we arrived in Groningen, the most Northerly city in Holland. It wasn’t great there and went to a campsite on the outskirts of the town.
27th July We left Groningen this morning bound for Bremen. New roads around Groningen were giving Mary (the Sat Nav) a hard time which delayed our departure from the Netherlands. It took us about 3 hours to get to Bremen. I particularly wanted to get there to meet up with Jorg, our 70 year old friend from Me and Fiachras Antarctica trip. He had given me his address and Mary brought us to his door. Unfortunately he was not in and we walked the 1.5kms into the city centre to have a look around. Like most cities, Bremen is not without its rough edges but had a very pretty centre. We intended to head to Hamburg today but after stopping at a very nice service station we decided to make the most of their green areas and relaxed for the rest of the day.
28th July Woke up this morning and there was a Cork car parked beside us. Inside there was a lad and a girl fast asleep with the seats rolled back. On my way back to the van after my shower he was up and about and I asked him if he had a good nights sleep. He muttered something and it turned out he was Polish. Later on our way to Hamburg we battled tailbacks miles long due to huge Autobahn upgrade works. Hamburg was lovely (descriptions sounding familiar?) we went to this café and asked for 2 Americanos (Black Italian coffee) and the waiter brought us out 2 cocktails (at 11am!) He got into a right strop when I told him that we did not want them. He said ‘you are not in America now, you are in Germany’ and americanos are cocktails here. I told him Americano is an Italian invention and we were Irish. I think he lightened up then and was quiet amicable after that. After a few hours in Hamburg we set off on the long journey North to Denmark. We drove through the Jutland island province and across the bridge to Odense island province. We camped at a service station outside Odense city for the night.
29th July We made the short journey into Odense city this morning. It’s a nice town but not much in the way of historical buildings. While walking along the main street, I heard a familiar tune. A street busker was playing Galway Bay and singing it in Danish. I gave him a big cheer but got a blank look back. I think he just wanted money. We soon headed off to Copenhagen. We went into the city centre but couldn’t get accommodation so before we headed out onto the motorway for a service station, we went to a place called Christiana. It’s a famous hippy commune in the city that the Government want to close down and there is a lot of resistence to it. Deciding to see for ourselves, I reckoned Christiana was a low life drug den and the whole hippy thing was a cover up.
30th July Back to Copenhagen and we checked into the Cabinn hotel where I had booked for myself and dad. We checked in for 2 nights before going on a self guided tour of the city visiting the National Museum, royal palace, parks and Hans Christian Andersons Little Mermaid statue. Copenhagen is a fabulous city and we walked around for 6 hours before returning to our room completely knackered.
31st July We went to Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park in the city centre) and hung out there for most of the day. I went on the roller coaster which was great but was over in less than a minute. It cost €8 and had to queue for 40 mins to get on, don’t think I’ll be going on it again. The Tivoli complex is a great spot with restaurants, free concerts, man made lake with a galleon complete with fish and ducks. It’s a great place for children with all kinds of sweets, chocolates and ice cream available. That evening we went back to Tivoli to see a concert by this Danish lad who is very popular in Denmark. It was shite but still hung around for a few drinks and soaked up the atmosphere anyway as Tivoli is totally different at night when all the lights are on.
01st August Up at 6am this morning and the end of a short era, Eilis was leaving for home and we both checked out of the hotel. I walked her to the train and thanked her for her company, wished her well and she was gone. I met up with a guy called Rene later in the day. Me and Frog had met Rene in the Gallapagos in March. He showed me around some amazing buildings and gave me a locals viewpoint of the town. We decided to have a beer by the Opera house and 2 small beers cam the hotel e to €17, I nearly choked. He had to leave early and we arranged to meet tomorrow. I went back to the huge National Museum for another look. There is a Gay Pride festival ongoing in Copenhagen and there are no shortage of eccentric characters knocking about. There was a huge open air concert in the city centre which I went for a look tonight. Johnnie Logan was playing too.
02nd August I slept in the van last night in the car park across the road from the hotel. I was popping in and out of the hotel to my hearts content using the bathroom, TV lounge and wifi. I supposed they recognised me from staying there and didn’t realise I’d checked out that morning. I went to Rene’s apartment this morning for breakfast and a shower. He had laid on a lovely Danish breakfast complete with Danish pastries with little red and white Danish flags. I met with Brigette his girlfriend, whom Id met on the Gallapagos aswell and was great to meet her again too. Fair play to Rene, he had taken my sleeping bag and washed it too. We headed off sightseeing to the lakes around Copenhagen where the Danish Olympic rowers train and even met one of them (well, I actually just walked by her) and walked around the royal gardens that overlook the lake. We later visited one of the most upmarket areas of Copenhagen and saw the Swiss and Polish embassies.
For the afternoon we went to the supermarket and bought a whole load of Danish food and Rene made lunch for the two of us. It was fantastic except I didn’t like the Pork Pate. On a full belly we went to the Carlsberg museum which was extremely impressive. Mr Carl Jacobsen started the brewery in the 1850’s and currently produce an equivalent of over 15 billion bottles per year worldwide. That evening we went to Rene’s fathers place and his other sons girlfriend (who is Moroccan) put on an amazing Moroccan meal. The family were very friendly and hospitable and I had a great evening. I left a couple of hours later and headed to the airport to collect Dad. He was late coming through due to a huge number of arrivals but we were in the hotel by 11.30pm when Dad discovered he had locked his suitcase and taken the wrong key. With a lend of a Pliers from reception we soon had that problem out of the way.
03rd August Up and out at 8am for breakfast in the hotel. It was a lovely buffet and we stuffed ourselves. Due to the high prices in Denmark we made our lunch from the buffet too and off we went to city hall to get the sightseeing tour bus around the city. It rained all day which hampered proceedings and most government run museums are closed on a Monday which didn’t help but we still managed to see the city, the Hans Christian Anderson Little Mermaid Statue, Rosenburg palace, St Pauls church (Dads favourite) and went around on the bus for a second time just to make sure we got all the info. That afternoon we went off to a town called Roskilde, 30km from C’hagen to see a Viking museum. It was a very impressive complex with indoor and outdoor exhibits, Replica Viking ships, salvaged ships, ships under construction, workshops for kids who want to make their own Viking shield and the Glendalough; a replica Viking ship that sailed from Denmark to Ireland return a few years ago. It was a great day out and good craic, despite the rain.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Dublin to Copenhagen
August 01st 2009
European Leg of the world tour
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/
Dublin to Copenhagen
15th July After 8 weeks of preparation and the van finally ready, I set off from Galway at 10pm bound for Dublin. I arrived in Lucan Co. Dublin (Home of Eilis, my first travel buddy). Whilst driving slowly through her estate after dark looking for her house the local Gardai spotted me in a white unmarked van acting in a suspicious manner after midnight. They pulled me over. After a long chat about my name being similar to a jockey and about living in Galway, the Garda did one last Giraffe neck impression trying to smell my breath as he had me talking, they eventually sent me on my way. Hoping this was not a start to a series of rendezvous with the Law and order of Europe, I pulled in to the side of the road and went to sleep.
16th July I knocked on Eilis door at 6.00am and after a quick shower we were on the road at 6.40. We arrived at Irish ferries and the check in lad gave me an ear full for booking the van as a car online in an attempt to save a €100. I gave a feeble defence about vehicle height and weight and it being my first time so he let me go ahead on the promise I wouldn’t do it again. Arriving in Holyhead later on, we drove another 300 miles to my sister Louise’s flat in Putney, London. We got there after 7pm having battled the London rush hour traffic. Fair play to Louise, she had beds made up & dinner and dessert on the ready. She was a great host and despite being dragged into a couple of DIY jobs we had a lovely evening.
17th July After a great nights sleep we left Louise’s after 10.30am. I was greeted by a parking ticket on my van which I responsibly rolled up into a ball and put into the first recycling bin I could find. We headed for Dover, it was a lovely day and after a couple of hours were joining the queue to board the ferry. Dover is a very busy ferry port and by the time we got through the queue we had missed our ferry. We were put on the next one and despite the delay arrived in Calais at 5.30pm without incident. My biggest concern at this point was driving on the right with a right hand drive vehicle but it was fine and got used to it quickly.
We drove onto Brugge which was quiet easy thanks to the clear directions given by Mary my sat nav. We found our campsite and settled in for the night after a quick trip to the supermarket. We watched the movie ‘In Brugge’ on the laptop as a preview to our exploration of the town tomorrow. Sleeping beside a stranger that night for the first time was going to be more difficult for Eilis than me (as I had done this camper-vanning in Australia before) but with a little assurance and preparation, both agreed all went well.
18th July Up and out at a respectable 11am and off into Brugge city centre by foot by a fairly direct 2.5km walk. One thing is for sure, Brugge is beautiful. One old period building is more impressive than the next. We saw fabulously ornate churches, religious art and went to the Basilica of Blood where a few coagulated drops of Jesus’ blood on his shroud are on display. I queued up and went up to the altar where this woman was overseeing the proceedings, touched the glass container it was in and pretended I was having an amazing experience. Eilis was going on about feeling ‘Energy’ in the place but all I felt was a bit hungry. We went to another church to see a Michelangelo statue of the mother and child (only one outside Italy) and enjoyed seeing the scenes from the Colin Farrell ‘In Brugge’ movie. After a long day walking we went to this nice little Belgian bar and had a few lovely Belgian brews and a meal for under €17 each.
19th July Up and out at 10.30am and set off for Ghent. It’s a beautiful town with amazing buildings, cathedrals and canals and like Brugge in many ways albeit on a smaller scale. There seemed to be a festival being prepared for that evening so we were treated to warm up acts of traditional singing and dancing in full dress rehearsal and an excellent Scottish police band with drums and bagpipes.
That afternoon we headed for Brussels and was a nightmare to navigate around despite the sat nav, and proved all too much for Mary who was more confused than I was. We abandoned the van and got on the Hop on Hop off tour bus and saw the sights that way. Brussels is incredibly beautiful with palaces, cathedrals, museums and Boulevards galore. We saw the EU HQs and it must contribute hugely to the local economy. That evening after dinner we headed to Antwerp and arrived at a full campsite. The lady in charge suggested we park in the car park across the road and walk over whenever we wanted to use the facilities. She wouldn’t take any money… great Belgian hospitality.
20th July In order to get into Antwerp city centre as a pedestrian one must cross the Shelde river, but there were no bridges. They had tunnels! There were also tunnels for cars and trams too. The history on why they went down the tunnels route rather than a bridge was on display with photos of its construction but sadly only in French and Dutch. I gathered it was to do with bombing of vital links during the war and that was a way around the problem. Antwerp had a lovely town square but was business as usual after that. We left Antwerp later that afternoon and headed 2 hours south to the Ardennes, a hilly countryside region with picturesque villages and scenery in the Walloon region. We set up at a campsite in a village called La Rochelle en Ardenne and it was a lovely village set in a valley on a river. There was a festival of some sort ongoing and enjoyed a great fireworks display that night.
21st July We hung around La Roche en Ardenne for the morning and that afternoon headed for Maastricht in Holland though the Ardenne forest. On arrival in Maastricht there was a load of road layout changes and Mary sat nav got all confused again. Getting frustrated we decided to get out of the town and take the bus in. Our first accommodation choice no longer existed and was gone for the last 4 years (was listed in the latest Lonely planet guide to Europe) and we headed a little further out to a campsite. It was getting late in the day so postponed Maastricht until tomorrow.
22nd July We got the bus into Maastricht this morning and had a good look around. It’s a lovely town with great cobbled streets and nice upmarket shops. That afternoon we visited the towns of Aachens and Vals. In Vals there is an Obelisk in the middle of the town marking the meeting of the borders of Belgium, Holland and Germany where we posed for the essential photos whilst being in the 3 counties at once. That evening we showered and changed at our campsite and headed for Monshau over the border in Germany. We stopped at a motorway service station along the way and camped for the night for free amongst the trucks.
23rd July Up and out at 7am we started our journey from the service station en route to Monshau. Along the way it was lashing rain so we pulled into a national park car park along the way and climbed in the back for a snooze while waiting for the rain to pass. A couple of hours later we made coffee on the gas stove and we were on our way again into Monshau. It’s a beautiful quirky little town that has been caught up in a time warp. It has lovely little shops selling little bits and pieces with no multinational influence. Apparently during WW2, retreating German soldiers refused a direct order from Hitler to occupy the town as they felt that it was such a magical little place that it would be destroyed by the advancing allies if they did. Lucky Monshau. After that we headed for Venlo in Holland, a town near where my friends Stephanie and Maiike live. We arrived there that evening and Maiike had put on a wonderful dinner and filled us with wine. We had a great night and a call to Fiachra (my brother whom they had met in South America) was a highlight for the 2 girls. We slept in the van in their driveway that night refusing their kind offer of a bed for the night.
European Leg of the world tour
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/
Dublin to Copenhagen
15th July After 8 weeks of preparation and the van finally ready, I set off from Galway at 10pm bound for Dublin. I arrived in Lucan Co. Dublin (Home of Eilis, my first travel buddy). Whilst driving slowly through her estate after dark looking for her house the local Gardai spotted me in a white unmarked van acting in a suspicious manner after midnight. They pulled me over. After a long chat about my name being similar to a jockey and about living in Galway, the Garda did one last Giraffe neck impression trying to smell my breath as he had me talking, they eventually sent me on my way. Hoping this was not a start to a series of rendezvous with the Law and order of Europe, I pulled in to the side of the road and went to sleep.
16th July I knocked on Eilis door at 6.00am and after a quick shower we were on the road at 6.40. We arrived at Irish ferries and the check in lad gave me an ear full for booking the van as a car online in an attempt to save a €100. I gave a feeble defence about vehicle height and weight and it being my first time so he let me go ahead on the promise I wouldn’t do it again. Arriving in Holyhead later on, we drove another 300 miles to my sister Louise’s flat in Putney, London. We got there after 7pm having battled the London rush hour traffic. Fair play to Louise, she had beds made up & dinner and dessert on the ready. She was a great host and despite being dragged into a couple of DIY jobs we had a lovely evening.
17th July After a great nights sleep we left Louise’s after 10.30am. I was greeted by a parking ticket on my van which I responsibly rolled up into a ball and put into the first recycling bin I could find. We headed for Dover, it was a lovely day and after a couple of hours were joining the queue to board the ferry. Dover is a very busy ferry port and by the time we got through the queue we had missed our ferry. We were put on the next one and despite the delay arrived in Calais at 5.30pm without incident. My biggest concern at this point was driving on the right with a right hand drive vehicle but it was fine and got used to it quickly.
We drove onto Brugge which was quiet easy thanks to the clear directions given by Mary my sat nav. We found our campsite and settled in for the night after a quick trip to the supermarket. We watched the movie ‘In Brugge’ on the laptop as a preview to our exploration of the town tomorrow. Sleeping beside a stranger that night for the first time was going to be more difficult for Eilis than me (as I had done this camper-vanning in Australia before) but with a little assurance and preparation, both agreed all went well.
18th July Up and out at a respectable 11am and off into Brugge city centre by foot by a fairly direct 2.5km walk. One thing is for sure, Brugge is beautiful. One old period building is more impressive than the next. We saw fabulously ornate churches, religious art and went to the Basilica of Blood where a few coagulated drops of Jesus’ blood on his shroud are on display. I queued up and went up to the altar where this woman was overseeing the proceedings, touched the glass container it was in and pretended I was having an amazing experience. Eilis was going on about feeling ‘Energy’ in the place but all I felt was a bit hungry. We went to another church to see a Michelangelo statue of the mother and child (only one outside Italy) and enjoyed seeing the scenes from the Colin Farrell ‘In Brugge’ movie. After a long day walking we went to this nice little Belgian bar and had a few lovely Belgian brews and a meal for under €17 each.
19th July Up and out at 10.30am and set off for Ghent. It’s a beautiful town with amazing buildings, cathedrals and canals and like Brugge in many ways albeit on a smaller scale. There seemed to be a festival being prepared for that evening so we were treated to warm up acts of traditional singing and dancing in full dress rehearsal and an excellent Scottish police band with drums and bagpipes.
That afternoon we headed for Brussels and was a nightmare to navigate around despite the sat nav, and proved all too much for Mary who was more confused than I was. We abandoned the van and got on the Hop on Hop off tour bus and saw the sights that way. Brussels is incredibly beautiful with palaces, cathedrals, museums and Boulevards galore. We saw the EU HQs and it must contribute hugely to the local economy. That evening after dinner we headed to Antwerp and arrived at a full campsite. The lady in charge suggested we park in the car park across the road and walk over whenever we wanted to use the facilities. She wouldn’t take any money… great Belgian hospitality.
20th July In order to get into Antwerp city centre as a pedestrian one must cross the Shelde river, but there were no bridges. They had tunnels! There were also tunnels for cars and trams too. The history on why they went down the tunnels route rather than a bridge was on display with photos of its construction but sadly only in French and Dutch. I gathered it was to do with bombing of vital links during the war and that was a way around the problem. Antwerp had a lovely town square but was business as usual after that. We left Antwerp later that afternoon and headed 2 hours south to the Ardennes, a hilly countryside region with picturesque villages and scenery in the Walloon region. We set up at a campsite in a village called La Rochelle en Ardenne and it was a lovely village set in a valley on a river. There was a festival of some sort ongoing and enjoyed a great fireworks display that night.
21st July We hung around La Roche en Ardenne for the morning and that afternoon headed for Maastricht in Holland though the Ardenne forest. On arrival in Maastricht there was a load of road layout changes and Mary sat nav got all confused again. Getting frustrated we decided to get out of the town and take the bus in. Our first accommodation choice no longer existed and was gone for the last 4 years (was listed in the latest Lonely planet guide to Europe) and we headed a little further out to a campsite. It was getting late in the day so postponed Maastricht until tomorrow.
22nd July We got the bus into Maastricht this morning and had a good look around. It’s a lovely town with great cobbled streets and nice upmarket shops. That afternoon we visited the towns of Aachens and Vals. In Vals there is an Obelisk in the middle of the town marking the meeting of the borders of Belgium, Holland and Germany where we posed for the essential photos whilst being in the 3 counties at once. That evening we showered and changed at our campsite and headed for Monshau over the border in Germany. We stopped at a motorway service station along the way and camped for the night for free amongst the trucks.
23rd July Up and out at 7am we started our journey from the service station en route to Monshau. Along the way it was lashing rain so we pulled into a national park car park along the way and climbed in the back for a snooze while waiting for the rain to pass. A couple of hours later we made coffee on the gas stove and we were on our way again into Monshau. It’s a beautiful quirky little town that has been caught up in a time warp. It has lovely little shops selling little bits and pieces with no multinational influence. Apparently during WW2, retreating German soldiers refused a direct order from Hitler to occupy the town as they felt that it was such a magical little place that it would be destroyed by the advancing allies if they did. Lucky Monshau. After that we headed for Venlo in Holland, a town near where my friends Stephanie and Maiike live. We arrived there that evening and Maiike had put on a wonderful dinner and filled us with wine. We had a great night and a call to Fiachra (my brother whom they had met in South America) was a highlight for the 2 girls. We slept in the van in their driveway that night refusing their kind offer of a bed for the night.
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