Zipping Through Benelux

A couple of geeks all dressed up for winter in Benelux

Benelux, otherwise known as Belgium, Netherlands (Holland) & Luxembourg earned its name when they joined Germany, France and Italy to form the European Coal and Steel Community, then the European Economic Community and today the European Union. We start our tour of Benelux in Shwebsange in the far south of Luxembourg and spend a grand total of three nights in Luxembourg travelling just 95 miles from bottom to top. The first night we spend wild camping in a marina on the Moselle River, a busy waterway that sees row boats, fishing boats and tug boats passing up and down at all hours of the day and night. We take a walk to Wellenstein, the next village along, a busy agricultural area that used to be popular for wine production. The locals have kept a lot of the old grape press machinery as focal points around the main square. The main road into the village is lined with allotments housing all sorts of vegetables carefully guarded by giant rabbits and guinea pigs. The village offers an interesting mix of houses, some coverted from old farming buildings and others modern blocks of marble with floor to ceiling windows making it an interesting walk. The locals certainly make the most of their land, selling homemade jams and preserves, wine and fresh fruit & veg at the end of each drive. There's a real sense of independence here and certainly no need for a village store, they have everything they need right in their back garden. Or their neighbours.

The following morning we are woken early by two men repairing and cleaning a boat right next to the camper, not that it matter as we intend to head into Luxembourg City for the day. We eventually manage to find a car park without height restrictions and Jac, after a few attempts negotiates the van into a rather tight spot before we skip off into the city. Its a bustling city centre like many others although here the streets aren't lined with delicious smelling cafes and restaurants and people aren't meeting socially to chat over coffee like many other European city's. Here the atmosphere is serious and professional and we are carried in a sea of business men and women heading to and from work with bulging briefcases. Strangely, at times I kind of miss the formality.   

We walk to Luxembourg Central Station and along the high street fighting temptation all the way from one end to the other. The high street here, like most others is lined with shops all advertising a sale and I just cant help myself. I whizz in and out of a few looking for a new coin purse after I managed to loose mine at Oktoberfest, thankfully Jac had managed to spend all of the money in it prior to this. Jac manages to drag me away and we leave the high street to get some sight seeing under our belts.  We cross the Passerelle Viaduct over the Petrusse River Valley and head for Place Guillaume where a large food and flower market is held every Wednesday and Saturday. There are stalls upon stalls selling local produce and an impressive collection of fresh flowers is on offer. After making our way through the old town we come across the Houses of Parliament linked to the Palace of the Grand Dukes. The whole place is patrolled by armed guards pacing up and down along the perimeter, some of which barely look old enough to be out of school. Further along our route we reach the Luxembourg City History Museum, the entrance is lined with metal bollards and these are dressed in brightly coloured knitted woollen warmers as part of the current exhibition.

Shwebsange, Luxembourg

Shwebsange, Luxembourg

Passerelle Viaduct

Luxembourg City

Luxembourg City

Place Guillaume Market

Place Guillaume Market

Palace of the Grand Dukes

Luxembourg City History Museum

 

We head back to the camper and out of Luxembourg towards Belgium. We cross the border and its noticeably different, firstly the quality of the roads are much better here and somehow driving a 22 year old van suddenly isn't so bad, Jac even likens it to a Range Rover (it's the little things). They also take great pride in the appearance of their houses here which has us both gawping out of the windows.  99 km later we reach our first stop in Belgium and our first opportunity to try actual Belgian chocolate. Being avid chocolate eaters this is pretty exciting.

Bastogne, a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the Ardennes, a region of forest and rough terrain around the Ardennes mountain range and the Moselle river basin.  Bastogne is best known for its WW2 history, something which we have learnt a great deal about in the last few months. Bastogne was attacked by German forces when Hitler was looking for control of the Ardennes, it was later liberated by English and American allies, evident by many memorials placed around the town. We leave our wild camp (a car park in the centre of town) and head out on a walking tour that takes us to 17 points of interest around the town. The tour takes us around an hour although we struggle to understand the significance as all the information is in French and German.  We pass the 101st Airborne Museum, the Bastogne Barracks and the Bastogne War Museum before taking a slow bimble around the numerous chocolate shops the town has to offer.

Our next stop is Barrage De La Gileppe, otherwise known as Gileppe Dam. An arch-gravity dam on the Gileppe river built in the 1870's to supply water to the wool industry in a nearby town. We consult the map and agree on a 3.2 km walk around the National Park. We spend a couple of hours walking through the forest before heading back to the camper for lunch. We hadn't planned to stay here overnight but after seeing the dam and exploring the national park we decide we'll walk here again tomorrow and settle in the car park for the night.  After an incredibly quiet if not eerie night in the national park we decide to head off to another in search of some more dried leaves for Oscar to roll around in.

105 km north we reach the Hoge Kempen National Park, the first in the Flemish Region in Belgium. The park opened in 2006 and covers 5700 hectares of woodland and heathland, just about enough space for an adventurous, disobedient little Beagle. We embark on a 7.7 km walk which takes us though woodland, farmland, equestrian land and a couple of quiet residential areas. This walk is a sure sign autumn is here, the ground is thick with golden brown leafs, the air is crisp and the sun is doing its best to shine. The warm cosy feel of autumn is soon shattered as we make it back to the camper just as the heavens open. We pay 5€ for water and electricity and spend the rest of the evening shouting over the torrential rain which makes being in the camper sound like the inside of a baked bean can.  

Another day another nature park. In case you haven't realised, at this point we are living on our last few euros for the month and are awaiting a care package containing the next months budget from home. We stop at a recreational park in a town called Boom 16 km south of Antwerp. The park is home to the Tomorrowland Festival, the largest electronic music festival in the world. Since the start of Tomorrowland there have also been other editions of the festival created in America and Brazil.  Arne Quinze, a Belgian modern artist created a bridge in the park 600 metres long with a central statue symbolising freedom. The bridge is imprinted with thousands and thousands of messages from Tomorrowland festival goers so we spend a considerable amount of time here reading them whilst Oscar waits impatiently.

WW2 memorial, Bastogne

WW2 memorial, Bastogne



Barrage De La Gileppe

Barrage De La Gileppe

Barrage De La Gileppe



Always making friends




Even Oscar is feeling the cold




No.1 priority, keep warm. Even if you do look like a red grape!

Tree warmers, Boom (Tomorrowland)

Boom, Belgium



The Arne Quinze Bridge

After a week of outdoor activities, cheap food and free accommodation we head into The Netherlands and our first campsite in a long time. We spend two days in Oosterhout making our way through weeks and weeks of dirty laundry and enjoying hour long showers. After a couple of quiet days we begin to make our way north towards Amsterdam. We make stops at Oud Beijerland, Vianen and Huizen. Four days later we check into a campsite in Amstelveen 10 km outside Amsterdam. Later that evening we catch a bus to Schipol Airport to meet my mum and Sophie who have booked last minute flights to spend a week with us.

The following week is spent making almost daily trips into Amsterdam city centre, we do a crazy amount of sightseeing, eat a disgusting amount of fast food and spend a silly amount of money considering our aim is to see as much of Europe on as little as possible. There is far too much about Amsterdam to fit into one post so I'll make it short and sweet and summarise the best bits.

We arrive for our first morning in the capital, the streets are crawling and the smells are amazing. The pavements must be 8 people deep for a far as the eye can see and we run the risk of losing someone. Probably Sophie, at 10 years old she is far wiser and more aware than I ever was. its worrying and I hold her hand so tightly she asks me to let go. We make our first mistake by stopping for lunch at a pizzeria. Next to the Amsterdam Sex Museum. Sophie is unable to eat due to her hysterical laughing fit so we quickly finish up and head on. Next we reach Dam Square lined on three sides by the Royal Palace, Madame Tussauds, Nieuwe Kerk (15th century church) and THE largest H&M I have ever seen. Dam Square is popular with street performers drawing large crowds, we arrive to a brass band and stand taking it all in for a few moments before heading down to the Anne Frank House.

Conveniently Sophie is doing a module on WW2 at school so she is desperate to see the Anne Frank House. After queuing for around two hours we eventually make it inside. We spend hours making our way around each room reading all of the information and watching every video guide there is. Sophie answers every question I have and I can tell she is feeling pleased with herself for being so knowledgeable.  Next we head to the Amsterdam Cheese Museum leaving mum and Jac in a bar whilst Sophie and I try every kind of cheese known to man. Sophie pockets a few squares and saves them for Oscar.

We decide to take a boat trip along the North Sea Canal. We pay 8€ each and excitedly jump on to find our seats. Sophie's half term homework is to research a waterway in England and another elsewhere in Europe. Naturally she choses the River Amstel so this is fitting. This is more of a field trip than a holiday!! The boat trip lasts around an hour and we are shown the smallest house in Amsterdam (2 meters wide), the smallest canal in Amsterdam, the dancing houses of Amsterdam, the Mayors House, an entire street of houses owned by one wealthy Italian family and the Seven Bridges.

Amsterdam is probably the most vibrant city we've experienced yet. The 'aromatic' coffee shops, the X-rated window displays and the availability of absolutely any kind of food you could ever wish for puts it first on my list of places to revisit. We've been invited to visit extended family in west Germany so after waving goodbye to Mum and Sophie we begin our drive to Wachtberg, 268km east of Amsterdam.

The daily train ride to Amsterdam City Centre

The River Amstel

Mum, Oscar and I

The River Amstel

The North Sea Canal boat trip

The North Sea Canal boat trip

The North Sea Canal boat trip

The North Sea Canal boat trip

Captain Jac'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Travel Companion - Oktoberfest

Following our long awaited reunion with Spike we decided to head straight out of Austria to Germany’s largest federal state, Bavaria. We crossed the border with no formalities, hoping to catch the last couple of days of the world famous beer festival Oktoberfest. We packed in 330 km before arriving at our campsite in the state capital Munich. We wasted no time and as soon as we were registered and parked in a pitch we headed to the bar. A typical wooden lodge type affair full of long benches packed end to end with rowdy lederhosen wearing men glugging beer by the litre and eating chicken like it was their last meal. We sat down and ordered 3 steins, 4 shots and 2 half roast chickens and before we knew it we too were glugging beer by the litre and eating chicken like it was our last meal. The atmosphere was excellent and it got us excited to see the real thing the following day. We stumbled back to the camper and settled down for the night. Excited at the prospect of another person in the camper Oscar decided to sleep on Spikes chest, breathing directly into his face. Realising that he had 10 nights like this ahead of him Spike nipped it in the bud and directed Oscar to the bottom of the bed to keep his feet warm.

Oscar, excited at the prospect of a cosy nights sleep

The following morning brought a slow start, Spike and I bimbled around in the camper whilst Jac threw up the entire contents of his stomach from the night before outside. After breakfast and a shower we attempted our journey to the Theresienwiese Fairground. We paid 11€ for a metro ticket and walked to the nearest station. Our train arrived shortly after we did and after making it 3 stops down the line Jac needed to vacate to throw up again, this pattern repeated itself for most of the morning. As Spike and I professionally diagnosed Jac with a 24 hour sickness bug we decided not to waste our day riding back and forth on the underground and to try again the following day. We had paid an astonishing 50€ to stay at the Oktoberfest Campsite the previous night and although we were there for a blowout we decided to save some of the fun tokens and wild camp at the Allianz Arena 11 km down the road. We arrived at the wild camp and were pleasantly surprised to find that there was free electricity, we settled in and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun with fairly unusual surroundings. The stadium was pretty spectacular, a grand spherical structure comprised entirely of large glass bubble effect panels and as night fell the stadium lit up white, red and blue.

The Allianz Arena, Munich

The following morning Jac woke feeling right as reign, we set off for the metro and our second attempt at Oktoberfest. It took us around 20 minutes to reach Mozart Street and as we climbed the steps to the street the cold hit us, it was freezing however the cold weather was no deterrent, for anyone. The pavements were a sea of men, women and children all wearing traditional clothing and huge smiles heading for the festival. The three of us were hugely excited and what greeted us when we reached the gates took our breath away. This was short lived as a police officer approached us and told us we weren’t allowed in with Oscar. Feeling defeated and like nothing was going our way we stood dumbfounded for a few minutes. The police officer took pity on us and  explained that there were cameras monitoring this entrance so he could not let us in but that there was another entrance 200m down the road where we would stand more of a chance. We followed the path along the perimeter of the fairground until we reached another entrance, there didn’t appear to be anyone there so we took a brisk walk through. No sooner than Oscar’s first paw was over the threshold we heard loud sirens behind us and were ready to give up when an ambulance sped past us into the fairground to tend to a casualty. Nothing like a bit of paranoia to get the adrenalin pumping.

Oktoberfest 2014

Oktoberfest is held for 16 days from the penultimate Saturday in September. It is described as an orgy of beer drinking spiced up by fairground rides that are so hairy they’re banned in the U.S. The fairgrounds are divided along four main avenues creating a city within a city heaving from morning till night. The event began as a fair held to celebrate a Bavarian royal wedding in 1810 and proved so popular it’s continued ever since. It’s now so popular an astonishing 6 million people visit every year. There were people as far as the eye could see, mostly in traditional clothing but lots of people were in fancy dress. Avenues were lined with beer gardens, food stalls and games. We crept into the first beer garden we reached not wanting to attract too much attention to ourselves and Oscar. We found a table and ordered three beers and a couple of bratwurst. Before long we were joined by two families, one from Cologne and one from Munich. They spoke very good English and spent the afternoon educating us on Oktoberfest, traditions, food and beer. Both families were so kind and invited us to visit them at their houses after Oktoberfest.  We haven’t been able to yet but hope to visit in December.

These two wasted no time and headed straight for the bar

Sharing a beer & a kiss

One of the families we met at Oktoberfest

The afternoon flew by and feeling like we had more of an insight in the German way of life we decided to have a look around. We stopped at a food stall for Nutella crepes and pastries before venturing further along the avenues. My sweet tooth honed in on a stall selling the prettiest gingerbread biscuits. They came in every shape and size and were beautifully decorated, I stood admiring them for ages hoping I’d be able to afford a few to keep and take home. At 7€, possibly THE most expensive biscuit I've ever bought I settled for one. I turned to show off my purchase to Jac and Spike but they were nowhere to be seen. Needless to say I wasn’t lost for long; I stumbled upon them at a bar where they were lining up shots of Cinnamon Tequila, Sambuca and Passoa. Inevitably this would be the end of our night.

Oktoberfest 2014

Oktoberfest 2014

The following morning we woke feeling worse for wear, we packed up and left the Allianz Arena and headed for our next stop, via Burger King. We reached the northern edge of Munich and the town of Dachau, the site of Germanys first Concentration Camp. We tagged along on a guided tour although the slow paced tour with hundreds of questions was hard to bear on a hangover so we made our own way around the site. We entered through the main gate where we were greeted with the moto Arbeit Macht Frei, “work sets you free”. We wandered around a large photo exhibition detailing the history of the Third Reich where a strong stomach was needed. The pictures were graphic, some gruesome, showing thousands of malnourished prisoners, some dead some alive, some working, some trying to escape and some that survived until liberation. Next we visited the gas chambers and crematoriums, again this is no weak feat, these places further confirm the atrocities that were carried out here. We walked the perimeter of the camp where the tall fences topped with barbed wire and electrical currents still stand before visiting a Jewish memorial. 

Dachau Concentration Camp

Jewish Memorial at Dachau

 

The perimeter fence at Dachau

87 km away in Gunzburg we relaxed on a campsite for the night. We spent the majority of the following day travelling 320 km west along the Rhine and across the border into France where we arrived at a Municipal Campsite late in the afternoon. We checked in for two nights and spent the rest of the evening playing cards and enjoying a vegetable curry that Jac made.  Molshiem is a fairly small town dating back to the 14^th Century famous for its Bugatti Museum. We started at a café where we tried hot chocolate, coffee and pastries before exploring the rest of the town. We saw The Butchers House, built in 1583 for the Butchers Corporation, The County Court, built in 1906 by Maximilien Metzenthin, The Chapel, The Jesuit Church, a Powder Keg Wall and The Blacksmiths Gate as well as a winery and a house covered in ornaments, statues, tiles and gnomes. Something you have to see to believe (see pictures below). We walked Oscar around 3 km along the River Bruche to the next village. We bought pizza and beer on the way back and spent the evening playing cards.

Molsheim, France

Spike & Mr Bugatti

 

Molsheim, France

An unusually decorated house in Molsheim

Molsheim, France

Walking the dog along the River Brunche

Molsheim, France

Our next stop is Rastatt, 136 km back across the Rhine and into Germany. We found a camper parking area at the back of a sauna car park and went for a walk. We came across a small quiet town with a few shops and the first thing we have seen that semi resembles a pub. We stayed for a couple of drinks before leaving in search of a pack of cards. For the rest of that day (and night) we could be found at a table in the corner of a tiny back street casino playing Benny, breaking up each game with a salami baguette. In the days that followed this routine did not change, we would drive from town to town, do some sightseeing,  find a bar, sample food and drink before moving on to the next one. Numerous pastries, pretzels, donuts and half roast chickens.

Rastatt, Germany

Rastatt, Germany

Drunkenly displaying my excellent photography skills

 

10 games of Benny later.......

After visiting a town named Karlsruhe we travelled 95km to our penultimate stop Bad Durkheim. We checked into a campsite in the middle of nowhere surrounded on every side by farmland and steep vineyards. The campsite was quiet so we took a walk into the town. We saw some beautiful hotels and restaurants and browsed around a few shops to kill a bit of time. We were heading back to the camper later that afternoon when we spotted an Irish bar named Molly Malone’s, the first we’ve seen since we’ve been away. We decided to go in for a drink and game of cards (for a change). We sampled a Pink Panther and a Green ‘somethingorother’ which tasted like a pint of apple sours before running back to the camper in the pouring rain. The rest of the evening involved 2 pizzas, tomato and mozzarella balls, a bit of karaoke and family guy. The following day we passed through Frankfurt on our way to a wild camp near Hahn Airport. We spent the majority of the day driving and had an early night ready for a 4am start the next day. We were up and ready on Spikes last day and dropped him at the airport for 5. We spent an amazing 10 days travelling around a small part of Austria, Germany and France and when the time came we didn’t want him to leave. We had so much fun although it’s now time for a long overdue detox. No beer or pizza for a week.

After waving goodbye to Spike we drove 192 km back across the border into France and headed north to a town called Burton Court. We relaxed here for two days before heading off towards Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, otherwise known as Benelux.