Day Fifty-Four: End.

This morning we had to get up early to get on the ferry, but all we had to do was drive around and through the checkpoints and then line up for a while and wait to get on. Then we went on the ferry which was cool, we could actually see stuff this time unlike last time when it was totally the middle of the night! For ages it was just sea but then we could see the 'white cliffs of Dover' which I had always wanted to do.

We had some breakfast on the boat, just tuna baguettes, but there was too much mayo for me. We also had cups of tea for the first time in so long since we hadn't taken any with us on the trip, it was so good! When we got to Dover we had to wait to get off and then go and find the station to meet Mum and Malcolm. First we went to the bus station but that didn't seem right so then we went to the train station to wait there. When we met them we went and had coffee at a cafe there (Mum and Malcolm were heading over to Europe that night) and then went for lunch at the pub across the road.

At the pub I got a big breakfast because I hadn't had anything like that in Europe and I miss brunch! It came with toast, egg, bacon, sauage, beans, black pudding, tomato and hash browns, all for 4 pounds, so much food! I gave the black pudding to Malcolm, I don't think I could bring myself to try that, gross. Quentin got peas, pie and chips. The pie was really yum and he got about a million chips but the peas were no good. No big loss though! We couldn't finish all the food although we gave it a good shot. I love pub food.

After lunch we drove up the country to Quentin's aunty and uncles house at Banbury where they kindly said we could stay for a few days while we looked for a flat in London. We wanted to come and drop off all our stuff (not that it is that much) before dropping off the van so that we didn't have to take it all with us on the train. Their village is super cute and old like most English places. There is a little pub we went past which is hundreds of years old, maybe we will go to it while we are here.

Anyway I think this is where I will end the blog because all that happens now is that we drop the van back and start looking for work! We also need a place to live so I will get back to looking for flats and jobs now. I hope everyone has enjoyed the blog, and that I didn't bore you too much!

View of Dover

I'm on a boat! (again)

Day Fifty-Three: In Bruges

This morning we had planned to go and get Belgian waffles for breakfast since we were in Belgium so we headed into Bruges and had a look around. There were a lot of places open, like cafe's and stuff but they all seemed to sell waffles and pancakes only from 2-5.30, super weird, I don't know why that is the time for waffles. Anyway we went into a different place and got some other stuff for breakfast, I had a chicken wrap and Quentin got vege pizza and croque monsieur (which we probably should have had in France, and is a ham and cheese toastie) and we shared this pastry which looks like a samosa but isn't. They have them everywhere here and with all different stuff in but this one had some kind of berries and was yum.

After that we went and looked around the town some more and also went into this super old church which was really cool. They had some tombs there that they had only found in the 1990s which is pretty crazy! We walked further into the town and found a big square where all sorts of stuff was going on. Heaps of people were going on horse and carriage rides around the place, and you could go on boat rides in the canal too. They had a big bell tower there which Quentin said was from the movie (I fell asleep in it twice so I can't remember it) but we didn't go up because there was a mega line and it smelt bad there.

In this town there are soooo many chocolate shops, lace shops and beer shops! We saw them everywhere, I don't know if people buy that much lace or not? Anyway before we left we thought we better try the waffles even though we weren't hungry so we found a place that did only waffles so it wasn't stuck in the timeframe that everyone else was. We got one with chocolate and chantilly cream and it was so extreme. It seems like they cook masses of sugar into the middle of the waffle and then when you add melted chocolate and cream it is a bit over the top! But we have tried it now anyway. It was yum but for about 2 bites and then it is just sickly.

After that we headed back over the border and into France to find the ferry terminal where we planned to stay the night since we were getting the 8am ferry and you have to be there around 6.30am I think. We drove to Dunkirk and then realised that the ferry place was actually further on so we went and found it. There wasn't really anything there like shops or anything so we went back to the town and got some salads for dinner and some snacks before we went back.

We just hung out in the ferry area for the evening, there were a lot of other campers there as well, maybe getting the sailings in the night or the same morning one as us. They had showers there as well which was cool, although the pressure was so exteme I thought it might take my skin off! I think because it was near the sea it wasn't as hot as everywhere else which was awesome, I could actually sleep properly! Totally sad that the trip is almost over though :(

Inside a sweet church

Stained glass rules!

In the square

More of the square - love these buildings!

At the canals

Waffles! Super rich.

Day Fifty-Two: Belgium sightseeing - old and new

This morning I didn't wake up until 11am! I think that is basically the latest I have slept this whole time. I went and got us some coffee and pastries for breakfast from the petrol station (which has a cafe inside) but I didn't know what I was getting since it is in Dutch. It turned out that one pastry was filled with cheese and one had a sausage inside. The cheese one was better but the sausage was pretty good too. We had them with some mayo (called fritesauce here because they always put it on their frites), some curry ketchup (which was actually really yum) and some mustard which was just normal. Good breakfast.

After that we got on the way to Antwerp which was about an hour away from where we had stopped. It didn't seem like that big of a city even though it is the second biggest in Belgium but maybe it was just because of the area we were in. There are some really awesome old buildings there, and a massive cathedral which is really cool too. We were going to go in but didn't have any cash at that point so we had to go find an ATM. It seemed like there was some kind of festival going on because we saw a parade of people all dressed up in old timey clothes and they had some guys setting up to do archery in the square and there were heaps of musicians around as well.

After we walked around the town for awhile we found an ATM so we went to get lunch. We went to a kebab place and got a mixed plate to share which came with chicken, beef, kebab meat, chips, salad, corn and sauce. It was probably the first time we had eaten proper meat (ie not McDonalds or sausage or something) in years. It was yum but I don't think I will miss it when we go back to being veges. I am actually looking forward to it! After lunch we walked through a bit more of the town and found an awesome shop with all different kinds of beer so we went in and got some so we can try them later. We got 4 kinds and two are ones which are brewed by monks, awesome.

Now we are on our way to Ghent which is apparently a cool old medieval town. When we got to Ghent we were really confused because heaps of streets were blocked off and we couldn't get around very well. We found a park and walked into the centre and then we realised that we were in the middle of a massive festival/fair of some kind, it was crazy. They had heaps of food and drink stalls (even one with Jacobs Creek wine) and heaps of performances going on. They had stages with bands and also street performers. There were a bunch of people dressed up like monkeys in a cage and one got out and ran away and was chased by people dressed as cops.

Anyway we had a good look around there, it seemed like it would be a really cool thing to go to if you were staying around there, I think it would have gone on all night. But all the things like the churches and castles and stuff which we would have otherwise looked at were closed. Oh well. We also saw probably the first vegetarian food stalls we had seen on this trip! Too bad we weren't hungry. After Ghent we planned to find somewhere close to stay but it turned out that Bruges (tomorrow's destination) wasn't that far away so we ended up staying near there.

Cathedral in Antwerp

Festival in Ghent

Cool old building in Antwerp

Monkey people

In Ghent

Castle in Ghent

Day Fifty-One: Worn out shoes, worn out people!

This morning we were both a bit hungover but not as badly as you would expect luckily. We really wanted to just sleep all day but we had to leave the camp and go into Belgium unfortunately. We managed to leave around midday with some chips and juice for breakfast and got on the road. We seem to be driving on the same road which we came in on from Germany so that's a bit weird. We should get to a new bit at some point though.

We stopped after an hour or so to get some McDonalds for lunch and got 10 burgers, some for now and some for later. I only managed to eat 2 so far but hopefully I can have some more for dinner. I have just been catching up on this blog while driving, and sorting out our pictures. It will be nice to get to our destination and be able to have a nap and watch a movie or something.

Oh I forgot, there was a massive thunderstorm while we were driving, it was raining the hardest it ever has since we have been in Europe, I saw some lightnings and they were hitting the ground, I have never seen that before! Also when we stopped to get petrol we think a lightning hit the petrol station! I was in the car while Quentin was inside paying and at first I thought a car near me had exploded but it was just lightning, super crazy! It has stopped being a storm now though. I wouldn't mind if it kept raining, it might cool everything down a bit!

We drove until we were almost at the border with Belgium and then stopped at an overnight park near there so we could relax and read and stuff. We both had an afternoon nap and then ate some more burgers. Later we had some vegetable soup and mashed potato and watched the new season of Arrested Development. It looks like Portia De Rossi has had some major face surgery because she looks way different! They even made a joke about it in one of the episodes. It's still a good show though.

This is what happened to my shoe on the pub crawl, destroyed!

Bag of burgs!

Rainy time on a big bridge

Day Fifty: Sightseeing, drinking, brewery, drinking...

This morning we were a bit slow to get started again, even though I had wanted to leave earlier. We didn't get into the city until about midday so we got some snacks on the way because we wanted to go on a bus tour first of all. I got some edamame which I hadn't seen for aaages and we got some foccacia as well. They have sushi here and it's not even super expensive but it all has salmon and like fake crab and stuff in it so I don't want it. I will make my own in the UK.

We went and got tickets for the tour bus and went to get one but there were a million people waiting. Quentin asked a worker and he said to come back after 2 because there was a cruise ship in with 10,000 people and they were all going on the tours! We didn't mind since we weren't in a hurry so we went and got some fries and Quentin ate the bread and then we went on the train to the area which has a bunch of museums. We wanted to go to the rijksmuseum but the line was out of control so we went over to the Van Gogh museum and it was the same story. We don't like to waste time waiting in lines when we could be doing something interesting so we changed our plans and went to the Heineken brewery instead.

We got straight in at the brewery and did the tour which was pretty interesting, they even have stables with horses there which they use for something (I can't remember). You got to go through and see all the things they use for the brewing and people did some talks about the ingredients and stuff. There is also a sort of ride you go on which takes you through the brewing and bottling process. Then they do a beer tasting and at the end of the tour you end up in a bar and get some free beer there so it was a good activity!

Since we had given up the idea of being cultured we decided to go to the ice bar after that. It's a place where everything is made from ice, the walls, the bar, the seats, the cups and everything! They give you a sexy silver poncho to put on and some gloves and then you go into the bar and have a couple of drinks and watch a '4D movie' which seemed actually to be an ad for LG and it was hilarious how terrible it was! It was mega cold in the ice bar (maybe negative 18 or something) so I was glad to get out of there after not too long! It was fun though, and something you wouldn't do everyday!

After the ice bar we went to go get the bus but it turned out we had just missed the last one for the day so we went on a different tour bus which I assume is actually the same route etc but this one was one you could get on and off of whereas the other one wasn't. When we were going around we realised that we had actually been to most of the places we were seeing already which was cool. The commentary on the bus was pretty rubbish but it was good to see the city anyway.

After the bus tour we went and got some big beers and some dinner from the supermarket and sat down by a canal. I had a bacon, egg and tomato sandwich and it was actually pretty good, better than you would expect from a supermarket. After we had our beer we went to find the place we would be meeting a bit later for a pub crawl and once we had done that we went and had a cider by the water while we waited. The pub crawl ended up being a bit late to start because someone had messed up something and noone came to pick us all up for a while.

Once they did we headed to the first bar and had some shots and beer. We ended up going to I think 5 places but we didn't leave until around 2am and we were definitely ready to go home by then! We had had so many shots and all sorts of drinks and talked to heaps of interesting people so it was cool. There were people from all over the world on the pub crawl, like from Scotland, Wales, Australia, Norway, England, Germany and probably heaps of others but I don't remember. The pub crawl was all through the red light district so we saw the prostitutes in the windows as we went past as well. They were much better looking than I expected! And quite popular! When we went to get the night bus home we accidently got the wrong one at first and went a bit out of town before we realised and had to come back in! We got back to camp eventually though and had a good sleep.

Inside the Heineken brewery

Quentin in the brewery where you can get your name on the bottle if you want

In my poncho at the ice bar

Hanging out by the canal in the afternoon drinking big beers

The pub crawl has begun!

Running through the park in the rain, exciting!

 

Day Fourty-Nine: Cheese! Beer! Fries! Friends!

This morning we had some cheese and tomato on toast and went through some more brochures and decided to get a 'holland pass' which gives you entrance to 5 attractions/activities and also some transport. We went to get the train which is just down the road from the camp and it turned out we had to get one train, then another train, then a bus to get into town since they are doing some construction on the line or something. It ended up taking about 45 minutes when it is supposed to take 15 but oh well.

We went to the tourist office at the central station and got the passes and then went to do out first activity, canal cruise! The place it leaves from was just near to the central station too so that was cool. We got on a boat straight away and went all around the city. It had commentary as well so we learnt some facts, like the houses are all tilting and leaning on each other because the soil is so soft that they sink, and they are built on piles which rot. Lots of other interesting stuff too. It was awesome to see everything from the water!

After the boat tour (which was about an hour or so) we were hungry so we went for a walk around the city to find somewhere to eat. One of the first things I saw was a fries place which said it was the best in the country or something so obviously I had to try them. I think we have better chips in New Zealand though! Also the fries are always with mayo here which would be great for Ganny but not so much for me since I don't like mayo very much. I got them to put ketchup instead though. Then we went to this place where you can do a cheese tasting and booked that in for later.

We found a place that looked pretty promising for lunch and had dutch food which we wanted. Everywhere here has heaps more seats out on the footpath than they have inside and noone sits inside, probably because it is so hot! Anyway one of the foods that the guidebook said to have in the Netherlands (apart from fries which it also said) was croquettes and luckily they had them at this place so I got them and Quentin had a cheese, pesto and tomato panini. The croquettes were awesome but I have no idea what was in them and probably don't want to know!

After lunch we had an hour or so before the cheese tasting so we just walked around the city checking out all the interesting stuff. We went into a really amazing church which had tonnes of awesome stained glass and all sorts of wooden sculptures and stuff. It was super cool. The whole city is full of places to eat and interesting shops and other stuff like sex museums! It is a really interesting place to walk around anyway. Oh and the coffee shops where people go to smoke pot are everywhere as well so the whole city sort of smells like it.

For the cheese tasting we went to a cheese shop whhich had heaps of different cheeses including massive wheels of cheese which looked delicious. Downstairs they had set it up like a classroom with desks for two people and each desk had wine glasses and cheese boards with all different cheeses. The lady in charge told us about some of the history of the company and the cheeses and we watched a video which was a bit ridiculous and not informative but funny with how serious it seemed. Then we got to taste all the different cheeses which were matched with wines (and one with port) and we had to write down information about each like the smell and the texture and the taste and everything. At the end we all got certificates to say we were cheese tasters, it was so much fun, and delicious!

After the cheese tasting it was time to go and meet some friends of Christines, Anna and Josh, at a bar near the central station. We totally got lost on the way and had to go into a hotel to ask for directions but we got there in the end and were only 15 minutes late! The bar was really cool, it was right on the water and had heaps of picnic tables outside and people were just sitting on the edge of the canal and some people had brought their boats over to hang out at the bar! Anna and Josh were super nice and easy to get along with and it was awesome to hang out with some people again after being alone for so long!

We ended up staying there for about 5 hours drinking beer and eating dutch croquettes. Apparently it's quite normal to eat horse here so I didn't ask what was in the croquettes! It seemed like there was a little bit of meat in there but I just tried not to think about it! We had some nachos too which was awesome because I hadn't had guacamole in ages. We had to leave the bar eventually since Anna and Josh had work the next day and we didn't want to keep them out too late. We walked back to the central station and got the bus then the train then the other train back to where we were staying and went straight to bed because we were tired from all the beer!

Central Station

I'm on a boat!

Apparently there are seven bridges in this picture

FRIES!

Mmm deep fried goodness!

This is actually a shopping centre!

Inside the awesome church

Cheese tasting!!

Day Fourty-Eight: Just eating and driving

This morning we were woken up by a guy with a leaf blower going all around the area we were parked which was quite annoying since it was only about 8am but what can you do. We had some coffee and got ready before going into Cologne to get some breakfast and do some supermarket shopping. I got a massive bucket of popcorn which I am excited to eat.

For breakfast I went into a bakery and got a few things. I couldn't tell too much what they were but one ended up being a tomato, mozzarella and rocket panini, one was a meatball bun, one was a tomato and pepper pastry and the other was a giant biscuit type thing. They are all really yum! We couldn't eat it all so maybe it will be lunch as well. We ended up driving through most of Cologne to get back to the motorway for Amsterdam which was pretty cool. There were gondolas which went over the road at one point but we weren't sure where they were coming from or going to or what they were there for.

We didn't stop for lunch, just ate more of our breads and snacks which were yum. It turned out that my massive popcorn is sugar flavour instead of salt! I added some salt which made it better but still too sweet. We noticed when we got to the netherlands that they are the first country we have been in where they actually have cows and sheep and stuff in the countryside like we are used to in New Zealand. All the other countries seemed to just have crops. Also there seems to be about as much water as there is land, there are canals and lakes and rivers everywhere here which is pretty cool.

We didn't see many windmills yet but quite a few wind turbines. Maybe when we are driving through the rest of the country we will see some more windmills. It was late afternoon by the time we got to the campsite so we just hung out there and started planning what we wanted to do in Amsterdam so we would be prepared for the next day. I had a yum salad for dinner with beans and corn in it and Quentin had a sandwich, boring! It is a bit cooler here but only like in the 20s rather than the 30s. It's still nice to be a bit cooler though!

Giant cookie!

Tomato pastry you are delicious!

Cologne in the rain

The Netherlands!

First Windmill