Duinoord Vrouwenpolder

This morning, we checked out of our hotel in The Hague and headed out to the airport where we climbed aboard our helicopter to head down to Vlizzingen, The Netherlands. There isn't a lot in Vlizzingen aside from what looked like what was once a huge ship yard. We landed near the water front at the Amels shipyard. They make some of the best quality yachts on ...

... terrible noise, we still go forward, I am to slow to react and to put a fender, and boum, we hit a boat in front of us. The noise and the shouting brought people around, I throw the ropes, they tear us back into our berth. My heart is beating like hell, I wonder, what is THIS now?? Frank stays calm, turns the engine off, opens the floor and goes to look at the engine. Comes back, "ok, all set, no problem, I need some new bolts, since I seem to have ...

... hear a strange noise...seems to come from the propeller... Frank, who did dismantle the complete engine starts to imagine all kind of scenarios and looks quite worried... At last, we go past Zeebrugge, see the Blankenberge lights, reach the breakwaters, and finally, are in calm water to do the few last meters towards our berth. I feel exhausted. Tomorrow, no clock in the morning, we will rest and to Frank check will get into the water with his diving mask and fins to check the propeller.

We leave! Frank and I, and also his friend Johanna, who will join us for this first trip. Fine to me, since, having no sailing experience at all, I can use all the help! I start by taking a pill against seasickness, since I have no idea if I am to be sick or not, so I prefer to anticipate! Frank and Johanna are a good team, I let them activate themselves while I enjoy the trip. Weather is nice, not a ...

So, it's the 5th of June and
we are in Belgium. The ferry was long and there was very little to
do, so we decided to sleep for 15 of the 18 hours we were at sea. We
had avoided getting diesel in the UK in order to make the most of
cheaper European prices, so refuelling was our first priority. Once
fully loaded up with fuel and crisps, we powered on through north
east France, planning to cut across Switzerland and enter Italy just
above Milan.

(60 miles) We road along the ocean between Rotterdam and Middelburg; then continued across the Channel by ferry to find camp just on the other side of the water: The trip actually looks alot cooler on the map. There really wasn't a ton to look at. Some occasional ocean vistas and some heavyduty levee machinery. I guess two ...

We made it to Bruges! It is lovely here. Cold, but not as rainy as Amsterdam so we are thoroughly enjoying the sunshine. We're at an internet cafe, so this will be a short entry since I have to pay... The first thing we did after arriving and checking in to our hotel was going to a place called "Pickles" for some deep fried goodies. We split an order of fries with mayo, and we both ordered corn dog type things too ...

Jacek picked me up from amsterdam airport around 9am, my flight got in around 7.15 am (45 minutes early) so i waited reading a book at the juice bar in the airport, we had arranged to meet there. it took jacek 4 hours to make the 2 hr drive to amsterdam because of snow and ...

... flooded. The Dutch decided to do something about it, including blocking mouths of major estuaries and building artificial islands to change the water flow and prevent future disasters. With over 10,250 miles of dikes (1,500 miles designated as primary dikes and 8,750 miles as secondary dikes) and 300 structures, the project is one of the most extensive engineering projects in the world. Today was an ...

It has been a good couple of days. I spend all of yesterday and all of this morning in Brugge. Its a really cool town. Saturday, Brad and I got up around 8:30 and decided to go on a day trip. We were going to go to flounders(sp), the WWI monument, but you could only go on guided tour and it was 50 Euro...screw that! We then decided to head towards Ostead. It's a city on the west cost of Belgium. We headed for ...