Category Archives: Europe

May 22 – Wednesday

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Woke up several times during the night attempting to keep the tent up and dry – kept it up but not dry!

It is the end of the day now as I write this. The kids are in bed –finally after causing problems and not going to bed (their usual routine). We are in a campground not on any list, guide or map. We found it by chance. People that are here are all Dutch pleasant but not very friendly. They just seem to tolerate us Americans. Theresa struck up a friendship with a little boy right away that couldn’t speak english. But they go on fine for a couple of hours. Aren’t kids great! The other 3 were not as fortunate, the spent most of the afternoon fighting and playing. An interesting thing happened in this campground. I started up the Volkswagen so we could use the air pump to pump up the air mattress for the tent. It made a lot of noise. Guess what happened, the camp owner came over and asked us to turn it off and to not make so much noise! So we did.

Making friends

two young children looking at the camera

Had dutch pancakes for dinner made from a mix that Marsha had bought in Gouda. They were heavy but eatable. Campground is out of Gouda on Reejeekee lake. It was hard to find, but a nice spot. We camped under a willow tree.

By the time we got to Gouda this morning the market was over. We missed it by 15 minutes. Roozboom told me market was from 9:30 to 10:30 am but it was from 9 to 10 am and we got there at 10 am. The market square was big and empty. Dad did a good job of telling us what was supposed to happen there. Spent most of the day looking around Gouda. There were a couple of farmers still there; they were selling cheese and a street market was going on. These farmers did not sell to individuals but to wholesalers so we couldn’t buy a wheel. The very old scale house (built 1668) was still in use. In fact they still use the old scale. An interesting array of shops at the market but the most interesting part was the fish! There was fried fish, smoked fish, and raw fish for sale. Lots of herring ready to eat, raw or pickled. To eat the herring, it was dipped in a number of flavorings, onions, spices, etc. The herring was then eaten on the spot. Cheese, cookies, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, you name it and you could find it.

I can now understand why the Dutch have so many windmills, the wind blows here constantly. Plus it is chilly in Holland it hasn’t been warm since we arrived. Filled the stove tank with lp gas today – finally! Just one more thing to get working and that is the refrigerator. Will probably have to wait until we get to Germany to get it going. Also got the tent up properly today and it looks twice as big.

Goodnight!

Arriving in Luxembourg, helpful sales ladies, and picking up Cheddar, at last.

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family with their luggage standing by their orange camper

May 18, Saturday – Arrival Day

Finally arrived in Luxembourg at 8:30 am, Luxembourg time. We did stop in Iceland for 30 minutes. The airport a real tourist trap all though the prices in the tax free shop looked good, did not buy anything. I had set it up with the Volkswagen dealer in Luxembourg to meet us at the plane and take us to the Holiday Inn and then pick up the camper. Since we were many hours late in arriving no one showed up to pick us up? Everyone was very tired-including me! Jet lag affected all of us. The lady at the auto agency booth was into a big argument with a French woman returning a car when we found the agency. We were supposed to check with her about the person from Volkswagen. I did after she and the French woman finished hollering at each other. She told me that the man from Auto, Martin Loesch was expecting us yesterday. She called someone and then I talked to him, he indicated that he would pick us up at the Holiday Inn at 11 am. So we took a taxi to the Holiday Inn. Registered at a typical Holiday Inn, the pool was not functioning. Everyone upset about no pool! Everyone very tired and went to sleep. I showered and shaved and waited for the man from the Volkswagen agency. He arrived at 11 am as promised. He was very nice and helpful. We went to the agency and I picked up the camper. The delivery was uneventful but no international registration papers, which we were supposed to have with us. We made arrangements to have them sent to us in Amsterdam.

What a long day! The first time we ever experienced no night, 24 hours without darkness, a disturbing experience-nobody wanted to sleep, but they did!

I drove back to the Holiday Inn about 2 pm, finally got everyone awake and then we had a lousy lunch at the motel. We then piled into the camper and headed down town to find a camping store to pick up needed equipment. The car man recommended a camping store “Stenbergs”. Couldn’t find it but stumbled onto one after driving around, parking and walking. Purchased cooking equipment and a one-burner stove for extra use until can get ours in the camper hooked up. The sales lady at the store insisted that we get saucers with the cups. Every once in a while she would mention, “having to buy saucers”. Marsha liked the butter dish.  We walked back to the camper and discovered a street carnival. We all had sauerkraut and bratwurst for dinner. Found “Stenbergs”, but it was closed. Then we discovered that we were only parked three blocks away! We turned the wrong way when we left the parking lot.

We returned to the motel, a tired bunch. Palmer and Esther unbelievably overtired and could not get to sleep but they finally did. Paul and Theresa slept well as did everyone else when we finally got to sleep – what a long day!

Good night.

A night in Chicago, Don’t eat the pie!

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In which we camp out in a couple of hotel rooms waiting out the weather and unhappy travelers.

May 17, Friday – Second Departure Day

Everyone slept extremely well; girls in one room, boys in the other. Since we did not have our suit cases had to buy a toothbrush (1) and small tube of Colgate $1.50. I wonder did we all use the same toothbrush that morning? No shave, no change of clothes, everyone showered so we don’t smell yet! Looks like our scheduled stop over in Iceland is out for now, maybe on the return trip. Morning uneventful in a motel, hotel in suburban Chicago; what else can one say? Had a nice breakfast and lunch courtesy of Icelandic Air. Bus took us back to O’Hare at 1:30 pm. The schedule for the plane had been changed so only a short stopover in Iceland and we will arrive in Luxembourg at approximately 6 am on the 18th. The Icelandic people were extremely helpful and nice. Plane was loaded at 3 pm; we spent about 1 hour on the runway and finally took off at 4:10 pm – 19 hours late!

It is amazing the difference a good night’s sleep makes on one’s disposition. Last night while waiting in the plane the crowd was hot, mad, unruly, ornery and tired.  Today everyone is happy and relaxed and they have graciously accepted the delay. Many applauded when the plane finally took off. A case of musical chairs occurred in the row in front of us. The 2 toughies mentioned earlier turned out to be quite nice. They were at the same hotel as we. They had made arrangements to change seats and the flight attendants had also made arrangements to change their seats. That added a little humor to the departure. One lady refused to go back to her seat because she had just had stomach surgery! Never did figure that one out!

A side note: while walking around the hotel, we noted that the staff was setting up for a big luncheon. We all noticed one employee standing next to a large cart full of pieces of pie; he was busy picking small pieces of pie off of all of the pieces of pie set up for the banquet. Glad that we weren’t eating at that luncheon!