027 Germany - Castles

Germany: Castles -Marcsburg, Heidelburg, Rastall, Friedrichbad, Neersburg, Neuschwanstein, Haburg, Hohemschweinsaw

and not necessarily in that order!

and this isn't all of them and doesn't include palaces! We visited about 10 castles (Frank says seemed like 100!!!!) The definition between a  castle and palace eluded us a bit.

at this point I realise we have taken far too many pictures and if I wait until we have left the country before I write up the blog that I've forgotten a lot. We even struggled to remember a town we actually stayed in overnight!

 

026 WARNING the following content may shock some viewers

Frank drinking white wine!

 

We stopped at a roadside stall and they were selling their own wine, made within a 2km radius of where we are sitting. They let you try their 4 varieties of Riesling, you just helped yourself. It was E4.70 a bottle. If you wanted to drink it there, cold, in their glasses, sitting at their table overlooking the Rhine, the cost was E4.70 per bottle.

The sun was out, we bought a bottle. Had a glass each and it was delicious. Then they gave us a cork so we could take what was left without spilling it in the car. Now that was service :)

025 Germany part 1

Germany: Koln (Cologne) , Koblenz, Cochen, Rubenstein

Frank climbs 570 steps in Koln to get to the top of the Cathedral. It is showery. He finds the climb quite claustrophobic and as he passes the bell tower hopes the bells don't ring!

We visit the 4711 shop and are informed that the cologne got its name when the French introduced street numbers and their place was simply number 4711.

The Rhine meets the Moselle.

View from Burg Eltz. We've been taking a few 'selfies' but each time we do another tourist jumps in asks if they can take a picture for us. :)

The Rhine and Moselle valleys are both fantastic. We've seen loads of the river cruise boats. Space is at a premium. You would not believe the steepness of some of the slopes they are growing vines on.

We take a chair lift to the top of the hill and have a lovely walk down. The weather is now hot and we are having more of a holiday time. What a difference great weather makes.

Germania statue: Built by the Germans to look into France. A bit of a finger sign really. The Americans took pot shots at it after liberating France. 

 

 

 

024 Netherlands part 3

Netherlands: Keukenhof, Zandvoort and Eden-Volander

Tulips from Amsterdam :)

As it is raining we decide to drive outside of Amsterdam and the weather lifts. We visit the most amazing garden that is only open in the spring. Not sure why as it has an established arboretum. But the tourist go for the flowers and they are well rewarded

Inside displays that knock our socks off

 

Clogs everywhere.

We head off to the coast to look at the North Sea, which seemed a strange thing to do when we set off in the cold and rain but we were well rewarded. It is an amazing massive beach. Very picturesque. In the summer it must be fantastic. 

 

While these windmills are in a tourist precinct they are all functioning. We saw chalk being ground for paint, a sawmill and an oil mill. Once again these were all thatched.

The grinding wheel inside the windmill

Volander. The sun has come out and we stroll along in this most magnificent costal village.

Close to our accommodation Frank finds a soccer club. He goes off to watch and 'assist' the linesman :)

 

And that was the Netherlands

We just didn't 'get' Amsterdam. Yes it was pouring most of the time we were there and it was full of construction and renovations but it just didn't have a heart. It had various 'sections' each with their own character but it didn't work for us. 

It was amazing that nearly everyone spoke English and we eventually gave up trying to speak anything other than English. 

The landscape is VERY flat.

023 Netherlands part 2: Amsterdam

Netherlands: Amsterdam


Outside of the Ann Frank house/museum. It was just as uninteresting inside. Empty rooms with a few photos of the hiders and the helpers. A couple of two minute videos. A bit about how they died and that was it.

We did queue for this one when the rain stopped but we didn't end up going into any of the other 'famous' museums as all of the queues were out in the pouring rain. It's bad enough queuing but we just couldn't face it in the rain.

A glorious Rembrandt 'statue'.
If you look closely I am there :)

I've always imagined bike riding in the Netherlands as a happy carefree mode of transport. It isn't at all romantic in the rain. Many people just can't afford to drive as parking is very expensive and very limited. 
There are lots of ways you are discouraged from driving anywhere.

There are lots and lost of canals. Mainly clean. Nothing smelly.  This is the main type of 'little' bridge, that opens to allow taller vessels thru.

 

 A street urinal, free, for men. Women's toilets are getting fewer and getting more expensive. While most are 0.50E I had to pay 0.70E for one. Believe me, when you are travelling nearly every day, toilets become a very important part of your life !!!

We visited the red light district, which was far more interesting than I expected. Not at all seedy. While it was only 3 in the afternoon the ladies and their booths were all well presented. Some of the booths were for sale or for rent - bringing it home that it is just a service they are selling.
The 'coffee' shops are simply shops. There is a menu of the things you can buy with their prices. You can roll your own joint, buy pre-rolled joints, buy hashish/marijuana cake. You can sit out at a table in the street while you partake. There is lots of information so it isn't risky.
This was the only shop we saw that had ice cream.

 

022 Netherlands part 1

Netherlands: Middleburg, Delft, Leiden, Haarlem and Durgendam

So we've just arrived in the Netherlands and the GPS has taken us thru the centre of town via the shared pedestrian / deliver trucks precinct. We are slightly stressed as we've been in this situation before and last time the shared area had pop up bollards that came up automatically at 11am. It is 10.45 and as soon as we get out of the area we spot a parking spot - directly in front of a sex shop. Now this is probably wouldn't be funny anywhere else but we are in the Netherlands :)

Our first sight of windmills, but not the type we expected. On the left are a few of the massive structures that hold back the ocean.

Wine by the glass - literally.

Ah, that's better, real windmills. There aren't many left and most are in tourist precincts. I was surprised to learn most are thatched.

We've been having rain most days since arriving in Paris but now it is pouring. Here we were in Delft. This is how they decorate the telephone switch boxes (or whatever they are called - the ones at home that are always covered in graffiti and are rusting)

So Belgium was beer and the Netherlands is cheese. It is mainly many different types of Gouda.

Now this is a really neat machine which was located by the main car park - pull the handle and you get a map. Brilliant. Notice no vandalism. I'd love to see these in Melbourne but I'm not sure how long they would survive before they are vandalised.

We went into a church that has a 'Wurlitzer' exhibition. These two ladies (and yes they were female - we checked ha ha) were singing.

It had been poring all day and as we get to our accommodation the sun comes out for 1/2 hour. There is an idyllic beer garden on the waterfront but we never get to sit in it again.

021 we need to raise some funds

This is costing us more than we anticipated so Frank has a part time job

020 Belgium part 2

 

Belgium: Bruges & Gent

 



I wasn't up to this climb of 366 steps. It was pouring so after a quick walk around the market (centre bottom) I settled in a lovely café for a dark beer. The two Americans next to me asked me what I was drinking and asked for the same. When the bills came my beer was 6E, theirs was 12E plus 6E service tax. The waiter had winked at me, so perhaps I don't look as dishevelled as I feel!!!

These two horses were definitely sharing  a romance. They were very cute to watch and looked like they were having a good old chat :)

This is a small church. We attended a service where they offered the opportunity to touch a relic supposed to contain the blood of Christ. It was a bit to weird for my taste.

 

There is some amazing beer here but you'd have to live here quite some time to be able to really 'test' it all. This shopkeeper was apologetic that he currently only had 630 different beers in stock.

Everywhere you turn there is just amazing architecture/ history.

When we went into the Gent castle there were hundreds of young school children dressed in medieval dress. One teacher had his group enthralled and had them patrolling the ramparts with their pretend pikes. I could have watched them in the torture display for hours as they were so entertaining pretending to put on thumb screws, garrotte each other, stab ... etc.

The small hotel we were staying at has links with the AIS cycling team. The green car is their car that stays here for when they visit. Only one team member was there when we were. A young man who will represent us in Rio. He had been there a month. All expenses paid. He has full board (3 meals a day) plus his washing done. So when I asked if he was missing home I wasn't surprised when he said "not really". This sport is obviously well supported with grants.

 

 

Well that was Belgium and we loved it.

And finally the oldest known oil painting - the adoration of the mystic lamb, painted in 1463. Two bits are not authentic as they were 'lost' when the Nazi's took the artwork during the second world war.