We arrived in Hamburg late afternoon on Monday 2nd November. Reece’s sister and brother-in-law had rented an apartment within walking distance of town, so we were able catch up on washing which was great, and they had dinner organised for us too. Read the rest of this entry »
Nederland Part II
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 11/25/2009 08:01 am by Arcturi
Roadside Snack Stand at Lauwersmeer National Park in the freezing cold wind
After our second night at Monnickendam we headed north and drove along a huge dyke at Waddenzee, then started tiki-touring to to find somewhere for lunch (it was Sunday and everything was closed) and finally stopped at a little roadside stand at Lauwersmeer National Park at the start of another dyke. We climbed up the dyke and had a look along, it was quite high and the wind was absolutely freezing! So we warmed up with frites and hot chocolate from the snack stand before carrying on to Groningen where we were staying the night. Reece ordered a “Big Frik” which made me think of Scrubs and was basically a long sausage with sauces, and not as good as the picture looked either. Read the rest of this entry »
Nederland Part I
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 11/23/2009 06:56 pm by Arcturi
Op De Horsten - our B&B near Amsterdam
After finally leaving Chris and Maurice’s place in Belgium we headed on to Holland, Chris had booked us into a B&B in Monnickendam on the north side of Amsterdam. It was great having her to organise it because she could speak Dutch to them and get it all sorted, their English was a bit limited (better than our Dutch though!). When I’d looked for accomodation on the internet we were going to stay in Amsterdam itself but I couldn’t find anywhere that had free parking included, and Reece had looked at places but not actually got around to booking anything. If we stayed somewhere in the city and had to park on the street it was going to cost the equivalent of NZ$40-60 per day!
Beautiful Belgium – Westmalle and Bruges
Posted in Europe Trip 09, chocolate on 11/12/2009 08:29 pm by ArcturiAfter escaping Brussels we arrived in Westmalle about 5pm to stay with Reece’s friends Chris and Maurice. They are Belgian (or should I call them Flemish? Not sure…) but lived in Australia for a while and are good friends with Reece’s sister in Sydney. They were very welcoming and it was great to sit down and relax. We had tea, put some washing on and then went out to the “Cafe Trappisten” which is basically a beer cafe specialising in beer made by the Westmalle trappist monks. There are only seven trappist brands of beer (brewed by monks) in the world, and six are from Belgium. Read the rest of this entry »
France and Belgium
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 11/02/2009 06:24 am by ArcturiWe got up early in Dover and caught the taxi down to the ferry terminal seeing as we hadn’t booked, no problem getting on the 10am sailing though. Reece had organised a rental car for us to collect on the other side, but when we got there the office was closed for a 2-hour lunch so we had to wait for 1 1/2 hrs anyway, and then they gave us a way bigger car than he’d asked for, but we couldn’t even use the extra size because there was two extra seats in the boot. So we made the guy give us another, now we have a VW Caddy which is perfect 
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Back to London, dramas with my lost luggage
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 10/30/2009 08:33 am by ArcturiThe last few days have passed by in a whirlwind!
On our last night in Krakow Dad texted to say my pack had turned up and would be couriered to our hostel in London, fantastic news! On Friday flew in to Gatwick with Reece then we split up – he went to the Isle of Wight for a family birthday and I headed in to London to meet Mum and Dad. Over the weekend I dragged them to all the places I wanted to see – The Red House and the William Morris gallery (I so love his wallpaper and fabric designs), Wesley’s Chapel, Shakespeare’s Globe, we also walked across the Tower Bridge and saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, although we were only close enough to see them marching in and hear the band, not to actually see them do the changing around inside. Also went to Harrod’s, I didn’t realise how huge it is! Only had enough time for a quick walk through the food market and a look around their Christmas shop, loved their displays but I have to say looking back I prefer the French and German wooden decorations than the fancy sparkly balls.
Krakow
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 10/21/2009 09:07 pm by ArcturiWow… we are in Poland now! Arrived yesterday afternoon and caught the bus into town (although we got off too early and had to walk a fair way, but was cool to see the town a bit on the way) then checked into our hostel. At the start of the bus ride near the airport it all seemed dreary and grey, the houses were like concrete cubes with windows and I guess reflect the Soviet communist domination after the war. The old town though is fantastic – beautiful buildings and atmosphere. We are staying between the old town and Kazimierz (the old Jewish quarter) only a couple of hundred metres from Wawel Castle so we’re right in the middle of it. Read the rest of this entry »
Jane Austen & Bath
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 10/19/2009 09:20 am by ArcturiWent to church this morning with Mum and Dad, then on to Bath where I went to the Jane Austen museum and then Bath Abbey and Sally Lunn’s refreshment house. Bath is amazing – original Georgian architecture the same as it would have been when Jane Austen was living there. The museum was really good, there was a guy in costume at the door to greet visitors and at the end there was a shop with all sort of things including various “I heart Mr Darcy” merchandise. Read the rest of this entry »
Getting there – Sydney & Singapore
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 10/18/2009 09:28 am by ArcturiWell despite all my lists and planning I was still in a rush to get out the door on time on Thursday, but I made it ok and have only forgotten one minor little thing. I thought for a while there I’d left my main credit card behind but I found that today so all is well. Read the rest of this entry »
Where is my bag?
Posted in Europe Trip 09 on 10/18/2009 01:36 am by ArcturiMy pack with all my stuff in didn’t turn up at Heathrow 
Am waiting for them to contact me, the guy I spoke to this morning thinks it will have gone to the transit area instead of out to our carousel to be collected, if this is the case then they’ll find it and courier it to me, hopefully it arrives before we leave for Poland on Tuesday morning as it has my down jacket and all my warm clothes in it. All I have is the one set of clothes I was wearing, my down socks and raincoat and sachets of shampoo etc.
Off to go out and about, will hopefully update later today on how everything else went!