Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Delft - Netherlands & Brugge - Belgium
Sam's & Libby's Highlights & Impressions
•The spectacular tulip beds full with colours - particularly red & orange
•Playing 'spotto' with windmills
•Our very long family bike ride into Delfland
•Observing different currencies & cultures
•Delicious Belgian chocolates
•Collecting football world cup player stickers (Sam)
Hi All from the Netherlands & Belgium
We are on our way around Europe on the next (& most significant) part of our family adventure ... Yehaaaaaa!
Our Barclay's bank cards never showed up despite us staying put at Dave & Kate's another 2 days and assurances of guaranteed courier delivery by noon Thursday @?!*#%?! ... in the end we have pushed on without them and will have them couriered on to us in Paris ... a healthy overdraft will help us through until access to our European money eventually arrives ... the threats of having to work our way around Europe doing dishes just doesn't seem to wash as a legitimate threat with our kids anymore.
Our overnight ferry sailing from Hull to Rotterdam was pleasantly calm and introduced us to the very limited confines of a four bunk berth which was remarkably tighter than the space we have in the camper.
Our arrival in Europort (Rotterdam) early morning had us again navigating on the right (wrong) side of the road but our GPS navigation system (Tomtom) again alleviates all manner of stress around making decisions of which spaghetti junction to take or avoid.
With spring time just on our side we drive toward Leiden and Holland's infamous tulip fields of Lisse and Kerkenhof ... we were not to be disappointed as we meandered small roads and alleys in search of vast colourful fields ... reds, whites, oranges, yellows and purples were splashed across the immediate horizon and provided a stunning outlook and backdrop for those 'must have' photos.
By night we had backtracked to Delft and set up camp for the weekend. Delft is a special place for us, Opa was born nearby and lots of his wider family live here - we have visited here frequently in the past and always enjoy our time here. Saturday morning we visited Delfts' bustling market place and in the afternoon spent time with Tante Toos & Ome Jan (Steven's aunty & uncle) for coffee, later joining them at Manuela's (Steven's cousin) for a BBQ dinner. Libby & Fleur (Manuela & Wims 9 yr old) just got on roller blades and bikes with language posing no barrier.
The kids are blown away by Steven's apparent handle of the Dutch language however all positive endeavours were blown away in his translation of a family crisis where the family rabbit was lost in the garden - his translation was "the canary had been eaten by the neighbours cat" ?? ... he reckons he's still good for ordering a Heineken though which of course is very important.
Sunday is a day out and about Delfland on hired bikes ... out to Schipluiden where Opa grew up and on to Maasluis near Rotterdam, across acres of park and farmland, over canals, under motorways and of course compulsory stops for ice creams, Heineken and photo stops at wind mills along the way. Annnnnnnnnnd nothing like getting lost when one's butt is already raw with sitting on a bike seat all day ... needless to say we were all very ready to put bikes away indefinitely at the end of this long day's ride.
Many of you will be pleased to learn that our first indulgent purchase for our camping experience has been an expresso coffee machine that we also use for making kids hot chocolates (incl marshmellows) and which we plan to get plenty of mileage out of.
We have pushed on from the Netherlands, travelled down thru the major engineering accomplishments and dyke systems of Zeeland and along the great canal ways of the south and now find ourselves in Brugge across the border in Belgium where we have today wandered the old streets rich with architecture and history, sampled Belgian chocolates (of course) and simply enjoyed the sunshine.
Naturally travelling with kids is always bound to have it's moments but the perspective of it all keeps coming back with the priceless gems that they impart with us along the way like this entry from Sam's diary ... Bike crazy!All we could see was country side. Glimpses of colour scattered continuously in my eyes. Tulips danced to the wind mills twist and our bums try to get that one nice position before they fall off. Our hands black and sticky shedding the grip and the old cottage houses seemed still, down deserted streets and cattle shouting as we speed past. The grass shades of green and yellow dead and dry moving frequently to the winds thrust and the trees stood tall stretching to the sky ...
Tomorrow we move on ... our destination Paris!
Till our next blog ... it's over & out from this Family on OE!
- comments