13 June - 26 July
Arrival back onto the continent.
You will laugh but the first couple of days whilst I was in England I actually missed the continent and it is great to be back!
After meeting up with Anita in London and spending some time in South England, we travel together over to Belgium and the Netherlands where we will meet with other members Anita's family. I have been utterly spoilt having the opportunity to hang out with the Hendriks family and their friends.
And as you will read I'm sure you will think so to.
They say that Brussels is The Poor Mans Paris - but we certainly did not believe this to be the case. It is absolutely gorgeous from the Grote Markt to the skate park by our hostel. Chocolate, Beer brewed with what ever fruit or hope you can imagine, the famous Manneken-Pis the emblem of the rebellious spirit of the City of Brussels. Cool and I will return here later in the piece. Right now we will pop over to the Netherlands where.....
I have been very spoilt - the Hendriks family have sorted me out for two week(s a tough task to do
) - the conditions - don't worry about what your doing for the day we have it all planned out for you and will ring with instructions in the morning. Just have fun and enjoy!!!!
and enjoy I have
I'm being hosted in the south of Holland in a town called Bladel which is close to the Belgium border. Ad, Anita, Stacey and Vicky are a tidy 10 minute bike ride down the road in Reusel where they used to live. So they have a lot of connections, family and local knowledge of the history and culture as you can imagine. Pretty stoked to have been invited to spend time with them as I have seen parts of the culture and definitely parts of Holland that I would not have visited.
Every day is on the bike and I love it, the ease of jumping on the Fietspad (cycle path) with no cars or pedestrian's - the way you sit upright and don't have that crink in your neck and a change from walking! Its a part of life here and you will find people of all ages on their bikes. It is very common for most people to have two bikes one as a town bike and a Sunday best. In fact I saw a piece in the London Times
that the London Council has asked for help from the Dutch with creating a safe cycling culture in London. Most trips are local visiting places and friends or family of the Hendriks clan (some who I have met when they have they visited NZ) We have popped over the border to Belgium on our bikes to check out Postel Abby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postel_Abbey and have a quiet beer (9% alcohol) brewed by the monks, visited the local swimming hole a fresh water bore with play area etc - which did have me impressed - 2 euros to enter (for up keep) very different to NZ - no life guards - keeping the responsibility with the users - no mamby pamby.
Cycling from Reusel to Chaam (30km) checking out Baarle Nassau which has the Belgium and Netherlands border crossing through it and understanding the fact that a border may run through a shop/business and that they pay half their taxes to The Netherlands the other half to the Belgium. Pretty cool place. One lesson learned - stay on the right hand side of the road or fiest pad and always follow Ad when on a bike unless he wants to take you mountain biking......
I have also been lucky enough to catch up with a Uncle from New Zealand who was in the South of Holland on business and had a neat day out catching up on gossip from home.
From the south of Holland we parted ways and I have travelled to the north of Holland to visit a friend who lives in the Drenthe district and helped out milking for the week (100 cows). The family have a sheep business and it has been interesting to see how they manage their sheep as they graze a national park (with peat) which is run by a group similar to DOC. Again I have been spoilt with my visit and have visited Westerbork which is/was a transit camp from WWII and spent time visiting a local museum town where they had traditional folk dancing. Departing from Nieuw Amsterdam in Drenthe I popped up to Groningen to check out a smaller town for a day before heading back down to Belgium!
Mussels in Brussels was had and I have managed to catch up with another friend from New Zealand for a week who is also travelling via house exchange through out Europe. It has been brilliant to have some down time and catch up on their travels and experiences.
The month has been pretty cool, and the awaited trip to Turkey starts on the 28th July!!
Will catch you up soon on the travels through Asia Turkey but will let you digest this late update.
Arrival back onto the continent.
You will laugh but the first couple of days whilst I was in England I actually missed the continent and it is great to be back!
After meeting up with Anita in London and spending some time in South England, we travel together over to Belgium and the Netherlands where we will meet with other members Anita's family. I have been utterly spoilt having the opportunity to hang out with the Hendriks family and their friends.
And as you will read I'm sure you will think so to.
They say that Brussels is The Poor Mans Paris - but we certainly did not believe this to be the case. It is absolutely gorgeous from the Grote Markt to the skate park by our hostel. Chocolate, Beer brewed with what ever fruit or hope you can imagine, the famous Manneken-Pis the emblem of the rebellious spirit of the City of Brussels. Cool and I will return here later in the piece. Right now we will pop over to the Netherlands where.....
I have been very spoilt - the Hendriks family have sorted me out for two week(s a tough task to do
) - the conditions - don't worry about what your doing for the day we have it all planned out for you and will ring with instructions in the morning. Just have fun and enjoy!!!!and enjoy I have
I'm being hosted in the south of Holland in a town called Bladel which is close to the Belgium border. Ad, Anita, Stacey and Vicky are a tidy 10 minute bike ride down the road in Reusel where they used to live. So they have a lot of connections, family and local knowledge of the history and culture as you can imagine. Pretty stoked to have been invited to spend time with them as I have seen parts of the culture and definitely parts of Holland that I would not have visited.Every day is on the bike and I love it, the ease of jumping on the Fietspad (cycle path) with no cars or pedestrian's - the way you sit upright and don't have that crink in your neck and a change from walking! Its a part of life here and you will find people of all ages on their bikes. It is very common for most people to have two bikes one as a town bike and a Sunday best. In fact I saw a piece in the London Times
that the London Council has asked for help from the Dutch with creating a safe cycling culture in London. Most trips are local visiting places and friends or family of the Hendriks clan (some who I have met when they have they visited NZ) We have popped over the border to Belgium on our bikes to check out Postel Abby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postel_Abbey and have a quiet beer (9% alcohol) brewed by the monks, visited the local swimming hole a fresh water bore with play area etc - which did have me impressed - 2 euros to enter (for up keep) very different to NZ - no life guards - keeping the responsibility with the users - no mamby pamby.
 |
| Kinderdijk |
Cycling from Reusel to Chaam (30km) checking out Baarle Nassau which has the Belgium and Netherlands border crossing through it and understanding the fact that a border may run through a shop/business and that they pay half their taxes to The Netherlands the other half to the Belgium. Pretty cool place. One lesson learned - stay on the right hand side of the road or fiest pad and always follow Ad when on a bike unless he wants to take you mountain biking......
 |
| Belgium and Netherlands border Baarle Nassau |
I have also been lucky enough to catch up with a Uncle from New Zealand who was in the South of Holland on business and had a neat day out catching up on gossip from home.
From the south of Holland we parted ways and I have travelled to the north of Holland to visit a friend who lives in the Drenthe district and helped out milking for the week (100 cows). The family have a sheep business and it has been interesting to see how they manage their sheep as they graze a national park (with peat) which is run by a group similar to DOC. Again I have been spoilt with my visit and have visited Westerbork which is/was a transit camp from WWII and spent time visiting a local museum town where they had traditional folk dancing. Departing from Nieuw Amsterdam in Drenthe I popped up to Groningen to check out a smaller town for a day before heading back down to Belgium!
Belgium.... The land that invented the French fry (friet), Belgium chocolate and a lot of different beers the best a triple trippiest (which is around 10% alcohol) and the most interesting beer I have tasted - banana..... not quite sure about the banana but a kriek cherry beer is definitely rateable! I have meet some cool people from the common wealth and we have had great evenings out in Antwerpen, Bruges, Leuven and Brussels. Burges is a very touristic city but has a lot of history. The most random place visited was the church of the holy blood which has housed a fragment of cloth stained with what is said to be the coagulated blood of Christ, wiped from his body after the crucifixion by Joseph of Arimathea.
Mussels in Brussels was had and I have managed to catch up with another friend from New Zealand for a week who is also travelling via house exchange through out Europe. It has been brilliant to have some down time and catch up on their travels and experiences.
The month has been pretty cool, and the awaited trip to Turkey starts on the 28th July!!
Will catch you up soon on the travels through Asia Turkey but will let you digest this late update.
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| Westerbork - each tile represents a person. |
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| Antwerp |
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| Manneken-Pis |
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| Brussels |
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| Amsterdam |
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| Church of the Holy Blood |
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