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Travel Notes

Holland by bike-2007 / July 30-August 18

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Thinking of the trip

Friday, July 13

The departure is scheduled later this month, it's nice to feel this joy of starting, have to want, not to escape or detach, but only for starting.

Brum Brum ...

Friday, July 30

The starting point is for 8.oo, but I'm awake for a while ', at six and a half I drink my latte at my kitchen window while muttering Sanzio walks through the village .. is already hot .. I'm happy to leave.

Around 13. 30 we break for lunch, we eat our sandwiches with the omelet in the pitch of a distributor while the coffee is postponed to the next stop. The Road is my own biorhythms and you often have to reload .. well for me.

17:45

We arrive at the campsite Remo which is located near Lucerne in ten hours we went from 40 degrees to the cold of Italy in Switzerland. The campsite is small and is located at the foot of a gorge ... Laura sent me a message, cares for my delegation, which may not do, I worry about the cold and start sneezing.

At 20.30 we have already eaten, but we were really the last of all the camp where guests have finished washing the dishes an 'hour .. the pitch is not .. indeed there really are in the midst of the car, however, even if the campground is small it has all the services.

Our neighbors have locked the dogs in the trailer and give us peace with their barking.

Today we did 612 km

Saturday, July 31

Here is a respectable breakfast: coffee, with mocha! .... The weather is nice again and we do quite a lot 'of highway, we leave Switzerland and move on to Germany, then France, and so we make this day a transfer step that allows us to get close to Aachen. We arrive at the campsite Zumjone-bur (13 euros per night) in the park Nordfeil, which is a wonderful green, the houses in the area have low and large windows decorated with flowers and paper stars that definitely buy my grandchildren. I sit in the sun, at least what is left while Michele takes a shower.

After our spaghetti oil we get a beer at the pub I would go camping and even a plate of french fries, but the lady, who is playing dice, he replies that you can not have them themselves. We should take a dish on the menu, as they say, the rules are the rules here in Germany and the elasticity does not belong to the Germans ... and we salute the pound.

Sunday, August 1

At the campsite there is a supermarket, we do sforniti milk and breakfast Moschau, Michael asks for milk, but you can not ... is not provided in the menu. There's just so funny.

Aachen is a really beautiful city. We visit the cathedral which has the octagonal choir are in the casket of Mary is adorned with figures of Christ, Mary, of Charlemagne and Pope Leo III, of the twelve apostles. Nearby is the Charles is a masterpiece of goldsmith's twelfth-thirteenth century, contains the remains of the emperor died in 812. At half a sandwich with lunch sitting on a bench, a sign as it suggests, is collectible Then at half past two, we file to see the throne of Charlemagne, the guide, which is obligatory, only speaks German .. of course .. is not provided in other languages ​​... Anyway asks us if we have questions in English, but we are content to observe. The throne is stripped and placed in a place that enhances it, we discover that it has never been used by the founder of the Holy Roman Empire

Genealogy

Monday, August 2

This morning the weather is not on our side, at 7:50 it starts to rain and we are shut in a tent, I start reading the book you recommended to us ah Lella, A Thousand Splendid Suns and drags me ... then the rain gives us a bit 'of truce , so we decide to wear suits and go. While I pay the extra day that we decided to stay starts pouring down, but now you go and do it well, because along the way we meet the sun. The city of Maastricht we like just because it gives a sense of Europe, perhaps this is why in 1992 he was chosen to sign the treaty which was passed by the EEC to the EU. Lunch to sign me the name and address to report them to the lonly, to scrupulously control the guide .. and there is already ... of course, is to recommend.

About two o'clock we share, continues to pioviscolare and we walked enough. At the car park we put a little 'too much to get dressed and we have to pay an extra hour (1.90 s) via Then, choose the roads that the GPS shows us that takes us right through the Belgian countryside, cows, corn and still cows. A little 'difficult road for our King, but we make it and go back to the campsite where we expect our spaghetti, I wear all those clothes that I brought a few.

03.07.07

During the journey that will lead to Amsterdam we stopped for lunch at Breda, The speakers Croute is one of the many cafes in the square there are and where you eat good cheese sandwiches. It's sunny and this makes the day wonderful, but I continue to feel well dressed and all have shirts with short sleeves. For them it is the only summer can. The coffee is nice long, but that's okay, our pasta night makes me happier.

We leave the parking lot was safer than I thought it must wait for the opening of the gate. Along the journey we arrive at - 2 slm. We get to Flushing, where the first camp is complete, but we find in the second place, we are at 1.8 km from the sea that we walk to the ocean. Poor Dutch! A strip of beach and a few tower block at Rimini. From Rajmondo us ordered beer and leave us to wait. I'm hungry and starts to get cold. Then we order the fish and drink white wine, I exaggerate a bit ', and so the climate will start to talk, talk ....

04.07.07

Dismantle the tent and look for a place to do colazion take a road at random and to eat a restaurant De Pelgrim Wijnkeart.: An egg, cheese and ham, cooked, of course, butter and jam and vrucheten colored grains of sugar to put butter on bread, The flavor is that of Big Babol, breakfast is breakfast! In addition, the village and cute.

At 13.30 we arrive in Amsterdam, the campsite is large and two boys at the entrance control who has come in, give us a sheet to the front desk that we would receive otherwise.

Then there sistemiano, the other guys around us are disassembling the tent while playing ball, and then fold a mattress, all with a great calm.

August 5

We are in Amsterdam about ten o'clock in the morning, it's Sunday, the city is turned off and so dirty, the streets still empty bottles and litter. A guy walks and laughs but has the blank stare God knows where, is another bike with his hands raised, singing their hearts out and then there are those who sleep on the bench. Amsterdam is as if one should expect, is the city of transgression, abandonment, destruction ... beautiful, the city-port.

In the red light district girls featured call the attention of everyone, young and some are really nice, so who knows if they're happy. The flyer stuck on light pole gives us a picture of a young Italian man missing since July 28 that impress us much.

Council in the Coffee Corner Pris hendrikkade centrum. Then we walk is still warm and we stop for a coffee. We arrive at the campsite, hot and I think the face of someone who told me we were crazy to leave because we found water and cold.

August 6

Van Gogh is wonderful, then I choose to go to the Heineken Museum, I wanted something lighter.

August 6

We leave for Halee where just arrived in camp we know some guys from Rome with whom we exchange a few words and then invite us in for coffee. The city is beautiful, full of great shops full of goods. Then we visit the cathedral, admire the majestic organ that Mozart also played with the bike and then gironsoliamo nearby which are a rather seedy area of ​​the sea, we believe that the Dutch love Italy. Let's go get coffee just below the cathedral., Then I go to the supermarket where it dominates the color blue and the temperature is maintained at -10, a guy throws me a shout from the car, to be alone for a woman is always a different world or maybe it will look like Amsterdam. I went back to Michael who is waiting for me to andiamoo bike and camping, we accept the invitation of our countrymen who offer us coffee while we talk about the traffic of Rome, travel., Clean water of Naples ....

August 7

During the night it rained, but it's just cloudy this morning, we breakfast and within minutes we have dismantled. We leave for Texel.

INSERT_MAP

When boarding we discover that the ticket is much cheaper than we thought, the two of us and the bike only 8 euros, but the cars cost much more .. the stroke is short and soon we landed and we call the information office which gives us a list of campsites, choose the five-star De Krim After a nap we go to visit the island, go to the lighthouse which is wonderful, from ' ocean comes a cold wind. At five in the afternoon someone eats the soup

August 9

We follow the directions of the guide and go to the museum of orchids, it excites us to see birds in cages. Very nice but the eco-museum where the seals wounds are accepted. We can go along the grass covered dunes, the water level indicator indicates the level of an environmental problem 'Rain water is too low (should be one meter, and is already a meter and a half, puts at risk the life of the surface vegetation. five o'clock we go to Oudeschild, the harbor is nice, we sit facing the ocean, the concrete ramp to the end that made me a little 'impression, but the' Ocean has a charm the ocean. cafeteria where two Dutch ladies sit, but they are not going to eat and the waiter gently lift it. Captain here. When we pay the waiter asks us where we came from "ah Italy, and because you are on vacation in Texel? We remain puzzled .. why? ... Why people are nice. The restaurant is advised.

August 10

At about 9.30 we leave the campsite. Farewell Texel, let's take the ferry, the bikes have a preferential way, plus the 8.10 euros which we paid also include the return leg.

In Friesland and Groninger to assemble the tent camping According to the park, a huge park, the weather is beautiful so I have a little 'of shadow, we get to read in a tent and I sleep I do not know how can I be so tired. Our neighbors are two Dutch families with three children each, the first bike and all arrived with luggage in tow, even the children. Later come two Italian gentlemen, of Milan, we always say they have found water and water, we were lucky and we cross our fingers. further two Italian guys with a tent by the beach.

Nothing, and so begins the book by Oriana Fallaci is:

You do not know why I laugh so hard when I laugh and cry so full when I cry and I'll settle for so little when I'm happy and I demand so much when I demand.

11. 08.07

This morning you get up with the sun, and if we are fortunate hours we carry around. Let's Pieterburen where is the hospital for seals that remain trapped in fishing nets. At half past twelve p.m. we choose the most urfido cafe there, I eat a sandwich with cheese Michael orders a Dutch specialty .. sausage bread with mayonnaise and where? Laugh, almost as in Spain .. However, there is the sun, everything else is fine.

At the back we find the wonderful village of Eenrum. Beautiful houses built around the church and the old windmill still in operation which can be visited free of charge. Inside the mill two ladies cook biscuits shaped like a wheel or a windmill that can be bought for 2 euros. Inside the wheels are original and spin the blades you can climb to the top and make great pictures. Around there are cafes and small shops consigliarne a useless, they are all very cute .. We arrive in camp and is really nice with the sun. The neighbors were up finally and is drier. Internet Control, 22 we were all called together, I acted a bit '.

12. 08.07

Even this morning the sun is wonderful, the family of elves that are near us prepare to leave, too bad I liked their laughter and their tears. Let's Bourtage, but excites us, we pay 5.5 to enter. The town was rebuilt, not restored, but rebuilt. We walk and I'm still a little 'melancholy, in the square in costume to initiate a shooting blanks. Do not expect the three to fire the cannon, but let's Groninger, stroll through the city, we pass the museum is very modern and highly criticized. A guy asks us if we smoke, no thank you .... And she cries after us ... that even if a vaff in Dutch, we understand immediately. The type of bar, a tall and friendly, there's a hurry to pay. At the campsite we shop, but the gas is over and we can not do our spaghetti, eat yogurt and fruit, in all these days has happened once. Our neighbors in Milan telling us of their day and we ours, then the lady speaks of her daughters, the universities, traveling, so all Italian mothers.

13 .08.07.

Dismantle and greet our neighbors in Milan, Padua and new, go in search of a cafe for breakfast, at eleven o'clock we walk into a hotel where for a bit 'of sour milk and a slice of cheese we pay 16 euros, and is now headache for the lack of sugars. The weather is cloudy but not raining. The camp is on Lake of Maastricht, a rarity, and we find even the gas cylinder, so we refer the walk into town.

14.08.2007

In the morning we remain in camp and after lunch, we go to the city center is beautiful but there was most impressed with, is that today we are here for shopping and to visit. Library to check the Internet for free. Let's go back hungry, devour chips, beer and cheese sandwiches and drink turns into dinner.

15.08.2007

At 7.30 we are awake, our breakfast is the most frugal, the latte is as always excellent, but the cookies seem to be the military biscuits, in fact, Michael and I sometimes think we are at war. I have many miles to go. We arrive in Lucerne at about seven o'clock, I recognize the city as we cross the bridge, the casino and the church, I'm glad to see her again.

16.08.2007

In Lucerne we sleep late, we read, The Book of Fred Vargas is ridiculous, but is now finished. Let's go to town on foot, cross the bridge, we visit the church we walk along the lake, just an elegant city.

Then I make camping a good sleep and take a late afternoon beer and

Tomorrow we leave.

Friday, August 17

Leaving Lucerne, this time we see good Gotthard, but it is colder the first leg, we see the lakes and we stop for a photo. Gironsoliamo for the city of Lugano, the center is nice, eat a sandwich of cold cuts in the classroom in a small square, the day was a bit 'sad because I really want to go.

At half past five we leave Lugano and after a few hours we find the sun ... Bibbiena seems deserted, walk to the center with my suitcase, so to speak, any parcel, meeting a friend who reminds me of "you're crazy", I would say What time are quite dirty, run to take a shower .... Really a nice trip!

Manola