Amsterdam

Doing these entries retrospectively is a challenge - I'm sure that I will miss something important, but hey...

So much to say about Amsterdam - what a place! I enjoyed it immensely, and am determined to return at some point. There was so much to see (and I'm not talking about the Rijksmuseum). We stayed at a camping place named Gaasper Camping - on the edge of the city, but close enough to get in easily by train. They sell 24 hour tickets at the site for 7.5 euros  - which is a good thing to do because they give you unlimited travel in the city on everything except the boats.

The campsite itself was great - with free wifi that worked really well. My only gripe was the cost of the laundry facilities - eight euros for one load of washing is a lot, and the drying was four euros, and that wasn't enough - it came out damp. I know - petty aren't I ? There is a supermarket on site that sells fresh bread and lots of other stuff including booze of various types, and it's not overpriced. 

We bought our tickets for seven and a half euros each and started our five minute walk to the train station. Heard strange cawing sounds - then saw these parakeets eating berries from the bush next to the path - weird!

The train took about half an hour, and we had to change once at 'Man with a Mad Hat Wig' station - that's how I remembered it, but it was really 

We arrived at the central station and emerged right next to a load of boats. We had promised ourselves a boat trip - so we perused the tariffs. They were all basically the same for your standard hour trip - fifteen euros. Except for one very well turned out Captain type fellow, who was offering his trips for only eight and a half euros. We put thoughts of cruising to one side and decided to try the trams. This is where having the all day pass comes into it's own - because it doesn't really matter which tram you get on!! Anyway - we gave up trying to make sense of things and jumped on one. You validate your ticket by offering it up to a reader (machine, not person) as you get on to trams etc. and are massively encouraged to effectively 'sign out' by doing the reverse as you get off. We ended up at the flower and bulb market - spotting it from the tram we leapt off at the next stop.

Amazing selections of bulbs and flowers - lots and lots of stalls, and the prices were pretty much the same in all of them. Some of the biggest Amaryllis bulbs I have ever seen. The flower stalls were on the river (literally - see them from behind). Facing them were bars, coffee places and cheese shops (Python fans all take a few moments here to recite the cheese sketch). Lots of free tastings to be had - not just lots of cheese, but crackers and types of relish too - yum! 

We walked right to the end, over a bridge (in Amsterdam, who'd of thought?), K had a look in the Delftware shop under the tower whilst I loitered outside watching the passers by. We made our way back into town to find a tram. This was just the start... more later

Antwerp - Fashion, Printing and more Buildings

Apologies for the lack of blogging. We have been oh so busy, and playing with computer has been quite far from my thoughts. We awarded ourselves a 'day off' today - so I thought that I would begin to catch up....

In previous days.......

From Bruges we headed for Antwerp - on the promise that there would be free(ish) parking in an Aire. Giving over full control to the Sat Nav we headed there and, remarkably, arrived in exactly the right place - which was the Antwerp Expo centre. It was getting on a bit in hours, so I found a place to park and took my shoes off. On the way in we had noticed a smallish hut, but no obvious signs as what to do (at least not in a language that I understood), so we went and parked.

Shortly after I had removed my trainers there was a knock on the door and a man enquired as to whether I was going to come to his place to pay, now. I answered that I would come immediately, and looked for my crocs to put on. I left the van and he had gone. I assume he cycled to me - seeing as I had driven straight past his hut. I found him, paid, gained information on transport into Antwerp and returned to the van. 

The site had no toilets or water, but did have chemical toilet emptying facilities and free wifi (odd). The cost for the site was 8 Euros - which wasn't too bad I thought. The surroundings were not too great - but it was fairly quiet and close enough to the centre to catch a tram.

Antwerp itself was interesting - but much like any other large city, except for the 'old town' - which seems to be the case in a lot of these places. Pictures of the 'Old Town'-

Whilst looking through attractions for Antwerp K had seen the Fashion Museum and Printing Museum ads. We had to go there of course - I must admit that the printing museum was good and very interesting, but I don't think that I would go back to the fashion place - it seemed mainly to be a retrospective of the famous fashion designers that had been produced from the Antwerp College.

 The printing museum was the base of the Plantin-Moretus printing empire:

All set in a rather splendid building. I will publish links to the various things here when I have a better connection.