Tue, 11 Nov 2003

author Tim	location Hamburg, Deutschland
posted 17:27 CET 12/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 3 ( all photos )

Still Waiting... ( No photos )
Just under an hour late, the bus arrived heading to Hamburg. We had been standing for too long in the cold (no bus shelter or even seats), and even I with all my warm clothes was starting to feel it quite badly.
Not unsurprisingly, no apologies were forthcoming from the driver, as he grabbed our bag and ushered us upstairs - apparently the heating wasn't working downstairs. Great - half the bus not usable, which of course meant that upstairs was packed.
So packed infact that Liz and I ended up having to sit about ten seats apart - her towards the front next to a huge rude guy who refused to let her have any more than about half of her own seat, while he spread his legs wide in comfort. I fared a little better back in the middle of the bus, next to a quiet girl from who knows where.
Infact, the variety of people onboard was quite interesting, as we were to discover a little later.
The bus pushed on, but neither of us were able to grab much sleep. Liz couldn't even get her seat to go back, not that she would have wanted to fall asleep incase her head rested on her seating 'companion' anyway.
As we passed various stops and people got on and off we looked around for seats together, but there were so many others hogging two seats for their bags or whatever that never seemed to happen.
While I was dozing off, we crossed the border from The Netherlands into Deutschland.

author Tim	location Hamburg, Deutschland
posted 17:20 CET 12/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 3 ( all photos )

Around then out of Utrecht ( No photos )
We awoke to a lovely Dutch day - apparently Penny and Jono didn't sleep too badly, but were quite cold all the same. They can't say we didn't warn them! After doing very little for quite some time, Jono and I eventually dragged ourselves up to the supermarket to grab some breakfast gear. Also there was a large clothing bin, into which we put an amazingly large number of items of clothing that Liz and I had decided were not going to make it home. Quite a score for the recievers of such things as the clothes are still fine, but the task of getting tatty yet warm clothes to the other side of the world was going to cost us too much.
I cooked a bacon and egg breakfast for the hungry masses - much appreciated after so much baguette and bread!
After probably the most touristy photo we've taken in a place tourists probably never get to, we headed into town as we all had things to sort out - Jono and Penny tickets to their next destination Frankfurt, and Liz and I further north in Deutschland, once again back to Hamburg to visit Sebastian and Jessi. This was all done through Eurolines, the big daddy of bus companies over here.
After stopping to sample some local cuisine known as Oily Balls (kind of like donuts with fruit pieces and much oilier, covered in icing sugar), we went further into town, where Jono and Penny went off to check their emails while Liz and I put on a much needed load of washing at a laundromat. We also checked out postal rates for sending stuff home from the van - sea mail is quite cheap, so we purchased a large postpack to fill with stuff and post when we return to Utrecht in a few days.
The town overall was actually much more scenic than I at least had expected - nice canals and old buildings everywhere, even the post office was quite an impressive building inside.
While we were waiting for the laundry to finish, we found a café across from it, staffed by some very friendly locals and a huge cat called Tom Cat. We still miss our animals! Not too suprisingly, we played a few rounds of cards while there, and eventually decided to head back to the van to organise a cheap dinner.
The chosen meal was spag bol, so we got some mince for that and a large serving of frites (hot chips) to snack on, eaten as by the locals totally smothered in about a jar's worth of mayonnaise.
Back at the van, Jono and I did the washing up while the girls prepared dinner, but the 240v light in the van was knocked down (again), blowing the bulb and taking the fuse of half of Donna's house with it! Apparently that's fairly common as her house does support a mechanic's workshop, lots of people and now us sitting in the driveway.
So, we ate our dinner candle-lit, which was rather nice anyway, and everyone pitched in with a big effort to make a dent in our rather large alcohol collection which will never make it back through customs. We had a great night in the van, just chatting, laughing and enjoying the last time we would all see each other until at least August next year, when they return from their round-the-world trip.
Just before eight, Penny and Jono saddled up and walked up to the station to get their bus - it's been great being able to meet up with them here and there, share tales and suggestions. Enjoy the rest of your trip guys!
We convinced Donna's Turkish mechanic to have a look at the blown fuse, and the power was restored. We installed a light-bulb that Penny had generously walked up in the cold and purchased from the supermarket, and then we had light! In retrospect, the candle-lit dinner was cooler anyway.
Liz and I now had some packing to do, and then we read until it was time to head off to the bus stop at Jaabersplein at the front of the station for our turn. The bus was due at 23:55, but by midnight there was nothing but people waiting in the freezing cold.

author Tim	location Hamburg, Deutschland
posted 18:09 CET 12/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 3 ( all photos )

Re-United with Rosie! ( No photos )
The first ones out of bed, we packed our gear and trudged to the nearest Metro station, using up some of our already-purchased Metro 'strips' in the process. Plus, it would have been quite a long walk to get there.
Emerging once again in Rotterdam Centraal, we had a quick look around the place but generally settled on two train tickets to Utrecht Centraal, electing to get there sooner rather than later to see our beloved bus.
As it happened, the train that we picked was an infamous "Stoptren", meaning it was an all-stations one, stopping at every little no-horse town along the way. No real matter, we weren't in that much of a rush and we both have books to read now, although the scenery is always interesting in the endless flat Dutch landscape.
It shuddered us into Utrecht, and we started to get our strange sense of deja vu - this is where our trip 'started' when we first picked up Rosie all those months ago. We half-remembered the way out of the station, and the GPS did the rest, and before long we were walking along the beautiful canal-lined street with windmills and fold-up bridges that leads to Krugerstraat, Donna's street. This walk was quite scary, ramming home the fact that we are really coming to the end of it all after so long.
We rounded the corner, and there our big bus was! The elation was pretty amazing, seeing her safely parked in a back street, not a scratch on her. Liz gave her a hug to say hello, and then we checked and noted that inside nothing was even slightly out of place. Amazing. The thing has been towed half-way across Europe and with no hassles at all. Such a relief!
The rest of the day was spent organising all of our belongings into various categories based on whether they are definitely coming back to Sydney with us, maybe, or were going straight to the bin. There were also plenty of clothes we put in bags to take to a nearby clothing bin.
It was so weird to be in the camper once again, and we both temporarily wanted to do it all again - driving over mountain passes, stopping wherever we wanted, camping when we felt like it and cooking whenever, wherever it took our fancy. But then reality hit us - running out of gas to cook with, the cold weather now with no working heater, and of course the fact that the engine is cracked somewhat in half combined to make us once again happy to be packing our things, heading for home.
After a while, Donna's mechanic came out and put a spare battery in Rosie, started her up and drove into Donna's driveway. We didn't think it would start at all, but it did, albeit with some truly horrible sounds to let us know all was not right. The mechanic's English isn't that good (although, as always I have to say far better than my Dutch), and we thought perhaps he wanted to work on it, but it turned out he just wanted us off the road, safely inside. That also meant that we could connect the electrical hook-up cable up, giving us light!
No need to find a supermarket, as we had so much food still left in the van. Starting on the long process of using up as much as possible, Liz cooked risotto and we got stuck into the Czech beers.
Just before the final scene in the DVD of Saving Private Ryan, the mobile started ringing. Very strange - it turned out to be Jono and Penny, back at Utrecht Centraal station! They were supposed to stay with a friend but she wasn't answering the phone, so they wandered if they could use our Lonely Planet to look for hostels.
I rugged up against the bitter cold, and walked up to the station. Seeing them in the third city around Europe was great fun, and we attempted to work out some accommodation for them. They tried once more and were able to get through to their friend, so madly we dashed around, found the bus stop to get there, dashed for the last bus stop and I waved them farewell, picking a meeting spot for the next morning.
I was just about to turn off the canal street into Krugerstraat when my mobile rang again! Apparently the bus had just gone back to the station and sat for ages, and they wouldn't make it to their friend's place in time. So, only remaining option was one we had discussed a little earlier - they came back to sleep with us in Rosie!
It was a bit cramped, but we made it work. After a bit of manouvering, all four of us fitted in - Liz and I in the bed (although the wrong way around as it was on a slope), and Jono and Penny on the floor. They had sleeping bags, but even in them and with beanies, scarves, jackets and gloves fully deployed they still felt the cold overnight.

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 09:52 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 3 ( all photos )

Rotterdam ( No photos )
On Saturday morning, it was sunny in Rotterdam, but very windy and cold. Breakfast was provided by the hostel, so we stocked up on lots of food before putting on our warm clothes and heading outside.
We had decided that as we were now so close to the van in Utrecht, we could take our time getting back there, so we thought we would stay in Rotterdam a second night. But the hostel was a bit more than we wanted to pay, so we walked up to the train station and found a place called Use It. It is basically a tourist information centre, but much more helpful than the usual travel infos, and more importantly it was aimed at budget travellers like us. They were really helpful, and found us a much cheaper place to stay, and although it was a bit further from the middle of the city, it turned out to be not too far from the hostel where our bags were.
Once that was organised, we walked through the wind back to the hostel, got our bags and checked out. From there we made our way to the new place, which seemed to be a privately-run hostel. It took us a while to get there, partly because our bags were so heavy, and partly because we got a bit lost. Anyway, we found the place, and were shown to our six-bed room. It seemed like a nice enough place, so we claimed two beds and gratefully put our bags down.
While we were at the Use It office, we picked up a walking tour of Rotterdam guide, so we used that to have really good look around Rotterdam. The guide, which is produced by the Use It people, turned out to be very informative, and I think we say nearly everything in Rotterdam!
We skipped the first part of the tour, because it was about the area around the train station, which we had already seen. Instead, we walked from our new hostel into town, and into one of the busiest earliers, with shops bars and restaurants.
We stopped for some food because we were already quite hungry, and then we started the walk.
The first part took us around the area we were in, pointing out popular squares, the best street for shopping, and a huge square called Schouwburgplein, surrounded by modern buildings and complete with a few huge red lamp-posts. Using some buttons on a stand in the square, you could move the lamp-posts around in different positions - quite bizarre! Nearby we saw The Beurs, otherwise known as the World Trade Centre.
Next was the Hoogstraat, a street lined with shops and on Saturday lots of market stalls. We bought a book from one of the stalls, and then continued on down the length of Hoogstraat. At the far end were heaps of market stalls, and the area was crazy with Saturday-afternoon shoppers.
In this area we saw lots of modern architecture: the city library with huge yellow pipes curving over the roof and down the sides. Then there is the "spaceship", the roof of the train station called Blaak, which looks like a flying saucer that has crash-landed. Next, and most interesting, were the cube houses which were build between 1978 and 1984, and are probably some of the most interesting buildings I have ever seen. They were much bigger than I had thought they would be, and are still used as residences today.
From the cube houses, we walked out to river Maas, where we had the big red Willemsbrug to our left and further up to our right Erasmusbrug, two bridges that stretch across the Mass. We walked along the river-side, up towards Erasmusbrug, with the sun making the bridge a pretty silhouette. Once we reached the bridge, we turned away from the water and walked down a road that has a Rotterdam "walk of fame" with lots of famous signatures, hand-prints and foot-prints in the cement. It was quite fun picking out names we recognised, like Jackie Chan and Tina Turner.
The next part of our walk took us through some crowded back streets, and then through too big parks. The first one was Museumpark, and as the the name suggests, it has quite a few museums around its edges, or in the streets nearby. The second park, called "The Park", was full of lots of pretty autumn colours, with lots of brown and yellow leaves on the ground.
We had to walk a little way along the edge of a busy road, but then we came to a nicer street, where we chose a busy but nice bar to sit in. We had a few drinks and a nice long chat, before deciding that we were quite hungry. It was dark outside, but the wind had died down a little.
We walked a short way to West Kiurskaed, otherwise known as Chinatown for its many Asian restaurants and grocery stores. We found a cheap but nice little Asian eatery, and the food was really tasty and filling.
After dinner we walked back to our hostel, and spent the evening relaxing and watching the TV that was in our room.

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 09:46 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 3 ( all photos )

Back to NL ( No photos )
(Continued from Belgium)
We recognised Dutch signposts and lots of Dutch numberplates as we crossed the border.
We got off the bus in Breskens, and found ourselves conveniently outside the ferry terminal. I went and asked the bemused ticket seller how long it would be until the ferry left, we quickly bought tickets and boarded the ferry.
The crossing took about half an hour, and the boat hardly had any passengers. On the other side of the channel, we were in Vlissingen. We walked off the boat, over the road and into the train station.
We hadn't decided where to go next, so we sat in a nice café and had a cup of tea and a snack, and spent a while working out where to go.
After much discussion, we bought tickets to Rotterdam and then boarded the "Stoptrein". As it implies, it stopped at lots of stations, but the scenery was beautiful - very flat with lots of farmland, canals, villages and towns. I saw pheasants in the fields and a rabbit racing away from the train in fright. We were quite excited when we recognised a spot where we had been before - a huge lock where we had had to wait a long time in the van for the bridge to open. I think this was where we spent quite a while searching for a supermarket.
At Roosendaal, we had to change trains and by the time we made it to Rotterdam, it was quite dark. We didn't have a map of the city, but somehow we found our way to the tourist office, where we were given directions to the hostel, and half an hour later we had lugged ourselves and our bags there.
For dinner, we ate at the hostel, buying our meal at the bar there. After a couple of drinks and a game of pool, we headed upstairs to bed.

(customised)