Apr 21, 2018 - Vincent and Rest

Thankful for a rest day while on vacation! Ben and I had about a 15 minute walk to the Van Gogh Museum for a 9:30 entry. I had read that going early to the museum was best — that noon or after was very crowded. Well, it was Very CROWDED!! We spent about 3 hours enjoying the beautiful paintings of Vincent Van Gogh and some of his painter friends. There was a special exhibit of his Japanese paintings even though he never visited Japan. He studied art from there and painted his vision of the country. Many of his painting were of peach trees—a...

Apr 20, 2018 - Tulpomania

I love flowers and plants, so seeing Keukenhof Gardens in Holland has been on my list of things to do before I die. Today, I can mark that one off and they did not disappoint!! We had an 11hour day of tours and I walked 16,811 steps. Facts I learned today: 1. The population of Holland is 17 million and they also have 17 million visitors per year. 2. You can drive all the way across Holland from Belgium to Germany in 2 hours. 3. Despite its long association with the Netherlands, the tulip actually originated in the Tian Shan mountain...

Apr 19, 2018 - A 33 Hour Day

A LOOOOONG day!! Ben and I got up at 7:00AM on Wednesday and it is 4:00PM home time on Thursday (10:00PM here in Amsterdam). We slept very little on the flight over and arrived on time at 7:30AM. The time here is 6 hours ahead of Lexington. The airport in Amsterdam is the busiest in Europe and we had to walk about a mile to luggage claim, caught a taxi and arrived at our cute hotel on Vondelpark, The Parkview. Of course since it was 9:00AM our room was not ready so we stored our luggage and took off to see Amsterdam. We got our Holland...

Apr 3, 2018 - An enjoyable walk around Epen

We had a domestic morning before heading out after lunch to a road we had driven before in the rolling countryside above where we were staying. At the village of Epen we stopped and got a local walking map and headed out on a lovely walk through the surrounding countryside. As we walked the sun started to shine which made the walk even better! We finished our walk at a lovely café just outside the village which suited Tony to a tee!

Apr 1, 2018 - Valkenburg

Today we headed 10 miles north into the Netherlands to the small town of Valkenburg. While Tony was paying for parking, Heather got a phone call from her sister to say she had been called into the hospital as Mum was very poorly overnight with not only a chest infection but had sepsis. It was unclear what would happen. We nearly returned to the motorhome, but decided there was nothing we could do at the moment so we would enjoy our day. We first explored the old town, walking the old streets which were dominated by row upon row of...

Jan 26, 2018 - A long long day

After Trevor dropped us off in Norwich our holiday started. Awake at 4am to get ready to walk to the airport. We struggled with Irene’s suitcase as we went to the airport as it seemed so heavy. We arrived to check in with about one person in the terminal and the departure lounge not open yet. We checked our bags in and noticed that one wheel was not moving hence why it was so difficult to pull. Went through to departure lounge when the lady turned the lights on and opened the gate. Easiest check in I have ever had. Flight delayed due to...

Dec 15, 2017 - Wet in Amsterdam

We woke to another wet day in Amsterdam. The streets were awash when we opened the drapes. We went for breakfast and decided to head into town to do the last minute shopping. It was damp but not quite raining when we left the hotel. The tram service is fast and frequent. We had just crossed the road when one came along. After you have purchased your ticket - which we did yesterday at the hotel - you scan your ticket at the entrance to the vehicle. The pad has the instructions in Dutch "Houd uw Kaart Hier", which approximates to the same...

Dec 14, 2017 - Old Masters

We woke to a brighter morning, though rain was threatened. We had breakfast, during which it did rain. We got ready and purchased tram tickets and museum tickets from the concierge. We were able to get a tram to the Centraal Station and change to one t the Rijksmuseum without getting wet. We went into the museum and spent the morning n one of the floors, examining paintings and a few sculptures. We stopped for a snack at lunch time at a small coffee counter that we came upon, then went up to another floor where we spent most of the...

Dec 13, 2017 - Rain and Ice

We woke to a miserable wet day in Amsterdam. It was a mixture of rain and sleet making the sidewalks very dangerous. We were glad that we had made the decision yesterday to take a cab the short distance to the hotel almost next door to where we were docked. We got ready and closed up our cases then went for breakfast. We saw several of the people whom we had befriended and were, like us, leaving the ship later. We went back to our room and put our luggage out then took our hand luggage and went along to the lounge. I checked out and asked...

Dec 12, 2017 - Amsterdam

Note: If you have already read yesterday's entry, check back as there are now more photos. The WiFi stopped as I was uploading We had a later start today and after breakfast went by coach to a pier by the Centraal Station where we slid through the ice and snow to a canal boat. When we looked out this morning, it was to a very white world. In our anticipation of Amsterdam we had expected fairly mild weather compared to that which we have experienced, but we heard on the news that the airport had been closed due to snow and a storm, Caroline,...

Oct 12, 2017 - Almost There!

Day 32 - Thursday 12th October Still windy but dry as we wandered down the coast to the ferry terminal at the Hook of Holland. Arrived mid afternoon with lots of time to spare before our 10pm ferry departure. Time for a couple of geocaches & a last meal along the promenade by the terminal. Boarded at 8 pm & straight to our cabin. Fortunately the winds had dropped so we had a quiet crossing. Mileage Today - 93 Mileage To Date - 4,074

Oct 11, 2017 - West Holland

Day 31 - Wednesday 11th October Got a swim in at this camp yesterday & a walk up through the nearby village. Had to stop as a funeral procession made it's way along the road from the church to the cemetery, led by a woman walking in front of the hearse. Also came across a memorial for an RAF bomber that crashed in 1942 whilst on a raid to Bremen. Made our way across the twenty mile long causeway across the North of the IJsselmeer that closes it off from the sea. Still windy along the way especially along the exposed causeway. Another large...