Monday, April 17, 2006

Roadtrip!!!!

For Easter I went on a roadtrip with Paul and Danny. We left Thursday night and caught the ferry from Dover over to Dunkerque in France. Remember to rollover the pics for descriptions, I've even linked a couple of the places to Google Maps so you can see exactly where we were - looked for underlined place names.

This was how the trip looked:
On the ferry the inside of a glass

After staying the night in Dunkerque we headed north to Brugge. Unfortunately the weather was a bit damp so we spent most the time in a cafe eating mussels and drinking Belgian beer. Great beer by the way. Those Belgians certainly know how to brew.

Besides the weather Brugge was a really nice little town, with lots of old buildings and cobbled stone paths and also paved stone paths that were specially made for cyclists. Where you would receive a hefty dose of abuse if you were found walking on when a bike was coming. Here's Brugge:
Belgian beer more Belgian beer Mussels Mussles close up

Me doing my very best Belgian mussel eating impression A square A tower Inside the church

A path Nice houses in Brugge Canals in Brugge Chocolate!

more Chocolate Paul and Danny Danny An old wall A church tower

On the road to Maasland:
The sign for Gent Fuzzy windscreen

We finished up Good Friday at Paul's Oma's place in Maasland(Netherlands)which is where we were staying and also where the 4 boxes we were transporting back to London resided.
In the lounge The canal out the front of Paul's Oma's house The other way up the canal The front of the house

Paul and his bling Me watching TV Oma Sonneveld

Saturday we drove into Amsterdam to see the sights. Most of the time was just spent wandering around, window shopping. However when I say window shopping in a certain area almost all of the shops it seemed sold lingerie and the manequins were incredibly lifelike. So much so they that it they moved and winked and made other intriguing gestures that successfully managed to lure men into the shops. I'm guessing it must have been their wife's birthdays or something and they were buying her something special. Anyway, besides window shopping we saw some canals, and some bikes, and some more canals and some more bikes and even some canals. Thankfully the weather was quite nice so we were able to just wander around and look at things. These are some of the things we looked at:

Amsterdam Bikes and a canal - typical Random shot Weed!

Canal and bikes Anne Franks house. She wasn't home. The view from Anne's front door Anne's front door

No wonder she was found a thing on a wall another canal Amsterdam

Drinking and Eating Random dutch girl Paul Bikes

Nude dude Near the Reich museum The museum Danny on the grass - no not that grass

Van Gogh museum same again and again The other museum The Opera house

Driving pics:
In the car A fire station Danny driving On the road again

A plane Driving Me In a tunnel

Modern windmills Funky Dutch hairdoos

Easter Sunday in Maasland:
The canal by night The canal by night The Canal Easter morning The church in the background Fishing

Paul was spending the day with his Oma and some other family so Danny and I headed off to explore. We found ourselves in a town called Delft, which is of some historical significance. Of note was the fact that the royal family are buried there, well the dead ones are anyway.
The main square The other end of the main square An 'o' on the ground A tower?

One large clog The side of a church Some old building A girl statue

What the sign says One of them A canal Hugo

After Delft we headed to Den Haag which was one the beach, after eventually finding out way through the city we made it to what was quite a reasonable looking beach. After a little wander we stopped and had lunch at a very funky beach cafe on the beach - here - zoom out to see the beach.

On the beach On the beach Beach restaurant Lighthouse door

Danny and the lighthouse My foot Me Inside the beach restaurant

Me and Danny Nice decor same place

Like any good holiday it always has to end so here are some shots of the trip home:
A proper windmill Nice old dutch houses Private moats A windmill

The same windmill - I think Just a roadsign A bongo! Bongo, bongo van, I want to drive a bongo van.... Our ferry

into the ferry Cartoon castle looked a little like a prison Like ships passing in the night


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