TravelStream™ news feed for member chooks on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/chooks en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:36:50 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1177605360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1177605360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1177605360/tpod.html Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:36:50 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Dublin, Ireland

For the ones interested here follows the story about our fabulous trip to Dublin. My brother Frans brought us to the airport "Eindhoven" from where we flew to Dublin on a cheap flight. 1 euro 49 (+extras!!) In all not that cheap but still cheap.! We arrived safely and took the bus to our hotel that was booked by Trinity College. Fabulous location on St Stevens on the green (Beautifull park) for those of you that know Dublin. We had dinner and a pint at the local pub where there was ofcourse someone singing irish songs. Next day I went shopping while Michael finished his paper. At 12.30 we met "Robbie" the professor of Social work and Social Policy. He took us out for lunch in the staffclub of trinity College that was built in 1759 (or something like that) The lunch was a few notches above what we would have ordered and we really enjoyed it. Robbie was a very easy going guy with an office where there was so much chaos you wonder how he ever is able to do any work. Books and piles of papers everywhere. Michaels paper was at 4.30 so while he went to talk to a few people I resumed my walk through Dublin and looked at some interesting sites. The paper was very well received and I also thought it was very good. There were about 60 people which is quite a good number. After this we went to an famous irish Pub, Long Hall, where we had drinks and then to a nice restaurant, this still all paid for by the university. I don't think they are that generous in Australian Universities. Thanks to the EU there seems to be more money around there for research etc. The people we were with were very nice and we got along really well. Next day time for sight seeing, We went to see the Book of Kells, a bit more of Trinity College, lots of walking and the Art Gallery which turned out fantastic with lots of fantastic paintings of Dutch, Flemish and Spanish Artists. After this we made our way to the bed and Breakfast which was about 10 minutes out of the centre. Clontarf, a suburb on the beach. Another pub dinner after a long walk along the sea, no music here but cricket on TV. The Bed and Breakfast was excellent despite the fact it was the cheapest we could find. The lady told us by being just a bit cheaper she was always full. We were so lucky. She only had 4 rooms and the other guest were also very nice. Getting a bit sick of all the sight seeing we decided to go to Howth, a fishing village just North of Dublin.We managed to take the wrong bus and ended up somewhere else nice, made a long walk along the beach there and then took 2 other busses and ended up where we planned to go. We walked there also along the headland and light house but didn't have enough time to do the long walk as planned. We had tickets for the Abbey Theatre that night were there was a play called the Cavalcaders by the Irish writer Billy Roche.It was a funny but yet serious play about 4 guys who had a barber quartet and worked together . There was even singing in the play. Very lucky for us that it was such good play that night. We also saw the Modern Art Gallery where again we were lucky to see an exhibition of Georia O'Keeffe, who is an American Modernist and eventhough I didn't know her turned out to be really worth seeing. I thought she was fantastic she really touched me, there were some other things , an exhibition by Alex Catts (New york) and a sculptor exhibition with works by Miro and Calder. All these museums are for free and yet so fantastic.Such a treat. Next day we went to pick up the car. We rented something small but ended up with a brand new automatic Toyota Corolla. very Nice. We went down south to County Wicklow. We got to Glendalough at about 3 after a beautifull route through the country side. Ireland in spring when the sun shines is so beautifull. We still had stacks of time to visit Glendalough, the valley of the 2 lakes, a magical place with very ancient monastries and gravestones and a tower dating from as early as 700 . A priest called Kevin decided to start a monastry there . Very impressive and very peacefull. It is all part of a national park. It is light here till about 9 o'clock which is very handy. When we started looking for a B&B the first one we tried was full but had an appartment which turned out not only cheaper but very nice and big. The little shop in the village was still open and it was lovely to be able to do a bit of home cooking. The local pub had music we were told so we went for a "pint" to find the music was country and Western. Still it was fun for a bit. Due to big blisters on Michaels feet we had a car day the next day and travelled through the high lands to the coast. 2 highlights before we got to the coast were the place were 2 rivers met where a poet made a poem that was engraved there on a stone and one of the other tourist that happened to also be there spontaneous started singing.Very moving.The otherone was Avoca were ballykissangel was filmed. The coast line was also very beautifull with wild headlands and pebbly beaches and little villages. Lucky for us the weather held out and the rain that had been forecast stayed away.We also went to a museum about jails and Irish freedom fighters being transported to Australia, but that was pretty boring. The next day was allready the end of the holiday but not till we made the trip over the mountain over the Sally Gap pass. It cut right through the turf bogs and to our great suprise quite a lot were smouldering and created a lot of smoke. As we later heard it is impossible to stop the turf burning and one just waits till a lot of rain falls. it was pretty scary to see and gave a very spooky feeling to the place. The country side here is very wild, no villages, it feels like very high country but I believe it is under 1000 km. I have made over a 100 photos so anyone who really is interested in old ruins, stoned walls, beautifull fields , quaint villages etc. only has to ask one day....... I could write so much more but you probably allready bored with our Ireland trip so will leave it here. Back in Holland now and the good weather still continues with over 20 degrees and again hight expected.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1183545540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1183545540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1183545540/tpod.html Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:46:19 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Genneville,Sainte Martin, near Honfleur, France

We arrived at Saskia's and Pieter's little cottage at about 9 pm. The ferry trip was only 1.5 hr. and smooth after that a lot more driving then we realised but we made it. Saskia is my niece and only 12 years younger then me and we get on very well with her and her partner. The cottage is an old cow shed but completely modernised and looks like a typical small house Normandy style in a fantastic location. There is even a natural swimming pool with water from 2 natural springs. Still cold but it makes your skin feel very soft and beautiful.They cooked us a fantastic meal and lit the open fire....
Next day we walked to the boulanger , eat, talked, walked, swam and enjoyed ourselves.
Friday Saskia and Pieter left but we took the offer of staying and decided to stay the week and forget about going to LaRochelle. To much driving. We explore Beuzeville, have dinner in the local creperie and feel lazy.
Saturday not much different but we decide to go and see a concert in the church in Beuzeville.Sunday a trip in the car to Trouville and Deanville sur la Mer. These are lovely old fashion tourist resorts, big old houses, little tents on the beach, just like in "Mr. Hulot en vacance". We even managed a swim in the ocean.
The weather is OK but not fantastic but we manage to walk and do things in between showers but we also do a lot of nothing and enjoy the peace fulness of the place.
We did manage a trip to Houlgate where there is a lot of beach where you can find fossils, we walked at "La Vache Noir" steep black rocks, eat "Moules and frites" right at the beach and watched the sunset.
Time flies and it was Wednesday before we knew it and had to leave this little paradise.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1182877860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1182877860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1182877860/tpod.html Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:31:37 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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NewCastle, Bristol, Oxford, York and Leeds, United Kingdom

to follow
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1184635680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1184635680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1184635680/tpod.html Fri, 10 Aug 2007 02:18:40 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Nijmegen, Netherlands

The Fietserpad (cyclist's path) is a 574 kilometre-long bicycle route from south to north , straight across the Netherlands, We cheated and started in Nijmegen as that is where we were staying, we also had only 5 days , not enough to do it all and enjoy the trip. .We will finish in Groningen, appr. 370 km. from Nijmegen. The route follows small bicycle paths as much as possible, avoiding roads that have cars on it. The route goes almost entirely through scenic areas, polders, fields, forests along canals and rivers. It comes through Gelderland, Overijsel, Drente and Groningen ad twice visits Germany.I also have to tell you about "Vrienden van de fiets" a wonderful organisation where people rent out their room for the night like B&B, the prices are very reasonable and the places are close to bike routes and for people that walk or ride.Everyone we tried was wonderful and interesting.
The first day NIJMEGEN TO AALTEN
We go along the river "Waal" to Millingen, a route well known to us as we did this several times while living here. We crossed the river by ferry at Millingen, and went right to the German border were the Rijn enters the Netherlands. (TOLKAMER,LOBITH) did a bit of Germany, Hoch Elten which was tough as the hills there were quite steep. Went through s'Heerenberg , where there was a beautiful castle.We had lunch and further again. At about 7 o'clock we got to Aalten where we booked a B&B on a farm.
As it is summer there are no worries about getting somewhere late, it is light till 10.30pm. We found a Chinese take away and decided to sit outside at the farm and watch the swallows while talking to some fellow travellers on the same bike route.
Day 2, AALTEN TO LOSSER
Next day after a big breakfast Dutch style (Bread and cheese and meat and an egg, ) we started later then planned. And within the first hour stopped at Bredevoort a very nice small old village complete with church and windmill and known as the book town with lots of bookshops and stalls. Again the trip was very varied with riding through Vennen with wooden bridges, lots of heather, little forest tracks, crossed the river Dinkel several times and made our way to Losser where we booked our next night. We stayed with the family Berton, a couple in their 70 who recently cycled from Holland to Santiago de Compostela, very inspiring! We bought some meat ,salad and yoghurt at the supermarket and had dinner in the middle of town on the village square watching the sun go down.
Day 3, LOSSER TO SCHOONEBEEK
This proved a tough one. The route was nice as always but easy to get lost and offcourse that's what happened. It is not easy to follow a route from instructions by book specially without a kilometre counter that really is a must for this sort of trip. We had to go along a river, The Vegt, but it warned you that that was difficult after rain so we didn't, we also got lost in Ringe and Gross Ringe. We had a huge rainstorm that lasted for an hour but we had a good shelter with some other people. As always when meeting people it is fun talking with them about holidays and we are aleways suprised how many people have visited Australia.We als had a fight.....(the only one) to be expexted when lost but Thank goodness we finally picked up the route again near the Coevorden Picardie canal. Before we got back to Holland we went through this German landscape full of "JA KNIKKERS" I am not sure of the English word but they get oil out of the ground. Germany still exploits it, the other side of the border Schoonebeek stopped as they reckon it is not worth it .We got to our accommodation which we booked the night before and again the people were friendly and everything was OK . This time we had dinner at the local restaurant in the centre of town, sitting outside . Trying to make a phonecall I got a German provider, that is how close it was to the border.
Day 4, SCHOONEBEEK TO ZUID LAREN.
A 90 km day through lots of forests which was good as it was quite windy. The people we met at our last B&B Rinus and Wilhelmina kept going past or we went passed them which was fun and always a good excuse for an extra stop. We stopped to inspect the HUNNEBEDS, enormous stones put together were they buried their dead, Its lots of years before BC. It was a long day and beautiful as it was we were glad to get to our place and thrilled it was right on our route. Zuid Laren is quite nice and they had a very good Italian restaurant with nice pizza but that's all really.
Day 5 ZUID LAREN TO GRONINGEN
Not much to go, even so we managed to get lost.We are just a bit short of time as we have to be home tonight. We would have liked to go right till Pietersburen. Anyway now we had time to see a bit of Groningen which is a wonderful old town, a bit like Nijmegen but as there was no damage during the war it kept its original features better. Martinie Toren is the highest church tower in Holland, there are canals and beautiful parks and the station is absolutely fabulous.
TRAIN BACK TO NIJMEGEN, 3 hours which took us 5 days on the bike.
We stopped to see the 4-daagse last day . They were very unfortunately as the just had a huge thunderstorm. The 91st Four Day Marches were walked and finished by 34000 people.This is a huge event every year with also lots of festivities in town itself as well every day and night. Dinner at night with the family and packing the next day.

Sunday 22 July back to Sydney After a good flight with Korean Air we landed in Sydney at 6am and it was cold. However during the day the sun warmed up the day , we reunited with our 3 sons and it wasn't so bad to be back
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1175706000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1175706000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1175706000/tpod.html Wed, 08 Aug 2007 03:37:23 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Nijmegen, Netherlands

Back in our little flat and with our bikes. Lots of bikeriding as the weather stays beautiful.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1182877440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1182877440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1182877440/tpod.html Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:05:53 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Lillehammer, Norway

8th of June, Our trip with Rolf and Liv who promised us to see the west coast. We take the E6 to the north and at Dombas we turn west towards Andelness.We are very excited to see the first snow on the mountains and all the waterfalls and start making photos despite Rolf saying it will get even better.We pass the Peer Gynt Valley and imagine grieg writing his beautiful music here. Then we hit the Troll Road.(Trollstig ferein) I am so glad I sit in the back of the car.The road is unbelievable, very steep, very long, very windy, very narrow. Spectacular views and mountain peaks with snow. Again lots of stops and photos. Rolf and Liv are good company and we get on well.We take a short ferry trip to Eisdal and after some more windy roads get to Geiranger where we find a nice "Hutte" (Cabins) overlooking the Geiranger Fjord which we will go on tomorrow. Still Rolf did not think this was enough excitement for the day and after dinner in town he took us on the road/path to the top of the Dalsnibba, 1465 meters high with high walls of snow on either side and an onforgettable view of mountain peaks in snow and fjords. On the way back the brakes started to make a noise and back in the hutte The boys decided it was a stone in the brake and they would fix it. They put the car up, something went wrong and the car fell of the jack, thank goodness no lasting damage was done.The problem was fixed. It occurred several other times but generally the stone would fall out by itself.
saturday 9th of June
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1180889700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1180889700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1180889700/tpod.html Wed, 27 Jun 2007 06:50:37 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Gotheborg, Sweden

3th of June, We left Nijmegen at about 10 o'clock in the morning, not bad for us. We used the Tom Tom that was kindly lend to us, to get out of the maze of roads that seem to exist in Holland , so no problems what so ever. Nice day, good driving but at about 5 o'clock we had enough and decided to find a camping spot which was very easy once you got of the expressway. We stayed at Bad Segeberg, a nice litlle town on a lake, with forest and fields, close to Hamburg. We set up the tent, (pretty small) did some cooking and went for a nice walk.Good camping weather and light till late. 4th of June Breakfast of fresh german breadrolls,ordered the night before, lovely.....Up to the ferry. We did have some trouble with the trustworthy tom tom as we don't have any instructions and wanted to change the route, after a lot of indescision we finally decided to take the ferry from Puttgarden to Rødbyhavn. The ferry trip was 1 hr. We now were in Danmark. For both of us the first time, how exciting. Our first stop was Køge, a nice small town with lovely old buildings and a church. Some of the buildings were from 1650! painted in yellow and other interesting colours with lots of wood beams and often build around a sort of a court yard. There were also lots of teenagers looking very strange, dressed up with lots of mud and shaving cream on the bodies. I had to ask and found out it was the last day of school for them. A Danish muck up day. We then decided that Danmark was woth wile staying in for the night and therefore would have time to see Copenhagen. The city was easy to find, parking a bit harder but we found a spot and couød pay with our credit card.(So much better then Holland) We walked around for about 2 hours and saw enough of the town to have an impression. We did miss the mermaid as we would have to walk another hour at least. We stopped for the night close to the ferry that we were going to take the next day.The place was called Nirva, a charming camping ground with goats, rabbits, on the water, lots of boats, camp kitchen and very friendly owner and still good weather. 5th of June We took the coastal route that was more pitoresk and would take the ferry from Helsinger to Helsingborg(Sweden) Helsingborg also proved to be a lovely city to vosit with Slot Kronborg, The Casle /Fort build in 1585 (and rebuild a few times I imagine) were Hamlet the prince of danmark lived. Every year they perfom the play here, would be fantastic.... St mary's church build 1430 with a beautifull organ where Danmarks famous composer Dierich Buxtehude played and composed. I have to admitt I was quite ignorant of this but Michael ofcourse knew his music.Lovely harbour, lighthous, old quaint houses just like the other place we saw. Danmark proved to be more interested then I ever thought. I always imagined it was a bit like Holland but that is so in the counryside maybe but the towns are very different. Ferry to Helsingborg took only 20 minutes. Our first Swedish town so we decided again to have an explore even though we hadn't done any driving. It gets boring as again this was a very nioce town with another Forte, "Slott Sofiero" on top of the hill, overlooking the sea,not as old as the one in Danmark but obviuosly also build for strategic purposes. There have been quite a few wars between Sweden and Danmark, and those two agains Norway and Scotland against them etc...We decided not to go to far that day and look for a campingground. We picked one out of the tourist book given to us by te touris information and it was called FUN CITY and quite small. It proved to be a funpark with a small campingground among the trees were we were the only guests apart from the polish and othereast european workers who were there for the function next day were 3000 people were expected. Luckily they didn't come till 11 and we had left by 10 , so it turned out perfect for us. 6th June First stop Varberg,We found a supermarket were we were able to buy another Thermos, very important in our camping routine and the one we had had fallen out of the car and broke, but we were unable to get musquito repellent that was needed as we discovered the night before. The town was so quite and soon we realised it was a public holiday.The celebration of the beginning of Sweden or something like that. We had a nice walk, climbed the castle (yes every place has one and always on the top of the hill overlooking water. Next stop Gothenburg. Here we ran into a parade, quite strange, first a flat top truck with lots of beautifull girls and birch twigs and white dresses draped around them, then a Mexican dance group, belly dancers from Libanon and some other multicultural groups. As over 4 years the International sociological conference is going to be here I had a good look, went to the harbour, shopping centre etc. but allready decided that it is pretty boring to be for more then a day or so. But for a short time like now it was interesting. Just out of Gothenburg we found a campsite, "Stenungsund" on the water but also on the road and noisy, still it was small , friendly and had a beautifull view, beautifull sunset, nice walking tracks, a kitchen and friendly owners who had been in Australia last Xmas. 7th of June Thursday, the day we are to get to Lillehammer. We took the advise of the owner of the campsite and made a detour over the new bridge and Swedens 3rd largest Island. The bridge was new as about 10 years ago a big boat had wrecked it in the mist and about 10 cars fell of the bridge not knowing this just happened and because of the mist not seeing the cars fall down. (The sell postcards of this "famous " event!!)We are now in bridge territory and they all are long and beautifull, going over lots of inlets everywhere. I would call this fjords allready but they probably have their own name for it. First stop in Norway at Halden. Arrived at Lillehammer at 8 o'clock. We went up for a swim in the lake at 10 o'clock, lovely warm day, had dinner on the deck at 12 o'clock at night and still light enough.....Good start of Norway.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1178384520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1178384520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1178384520/tpod.html Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:03:54 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Nijmegen, Netherlands

back home again and with all that comes with it.
details will follow
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1173697140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1173697140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1173697140/tpod.html Tue, 29 May 2007 16:28:14 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Nijmegen, Netherlands

Monday morning, we got the key to our little flat. Its small but importantly for us it has internet , phone and cable TV. There is a very tiny bedroom and the bed takes up the whole room. When we tried to move it it fell apart and it also had a pretty bad matrass. We decided to dump it and buy a new one. There were another few little problems but with a bit of help from the family it was all pretty good and livable. We enjoy being by ourself and do the things we like to do or not like to do. Michael goes to University every day, he got a nice room there with a computer no phone unfortunately but he seems happy and hopes to get a lot of work done.
The first weeks we spend doing the every day things, shopping, seeing family, riding our bikes along the canal or vennen or Maas , we went for a nice walk "op de Moker Hei" after which my brother invited us for a wonderfull dinner in "t Swaantje"
The weather has been exceptoionally good with temperatures most days over 20 degrees. very unusual for this time of the year.
Spring time ia spectacular. First just branches, then you see the buds forming and all of the sudden blossom and very light green everywhere. As there was no rain the blossom stayed extra long on the trees and we had several fantastic bike rides to admire it all but also around our little house it is very nice with lots of little birds coming and going to eat from the little seedballs I hang in front of the window. Specially the "Meesjes" seem to like it here and there is also a "roodborstje" red robin coming often to visit me. I put up a little house for them to nest in but it must have just been to late.
Behind our little garden is a manege where there are several horses walking around and often you hear their special noises. We are very close to the canal and often I pass there on my way to and from and it is always fun to look at it. Lots of boats, students rowing, ducks etc. In the evening we often go for a walk to watch the sun go down.
It is now light till 9 oclock which gives you so much more time.
I have also joined aquarobis for 50+, I am the youngest and I really should go to a different group, however you can have half hour before where i do my laps and you get a cup of tea or coffee afterwards and the total is less then just going for a swim plus it is fun to meet all those people and hear their stories.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1175110020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1175110020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chooks/holland-2007/1175110020/tpod.html Tue, 29 May 2007 16:15:17 -0400 Holland , Nijmegen and side trips to Barcelona and Dublin with a campingtrip to Norway, England, france and Belgium to finish off 5 month of Long Service Leave.

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Barcelona, Spain

Holland is really nice. Spring is such a special time. As I said before the weather is perfect. However we decided to take one of the cheap flights to Barcelona and go and see Julian, who had been travelling in South America for 6 month and would arrive in Barcelona on the 29th of march.It worked and he was there!!! We stayed for 6 days. It was nice to see him but after 2 days we managed (as always) to have a fight about nothing. it was like he hadn't been away. Barcelona is a great city, lots of things to do and see and very many tourists. Flights are so cheap people really go here for a couple of days. We saw the Picasso museum and also the museum of Modern Art (mainly catalonian artists)which was really fantastic. We visited all the buildings by the moderniste architect Gaudi , specially the Sagrada Familia, A sort of church/ cathedral that some people wanted to demolish but which is being finished. It is quite amazing. He is pretty famous and big here in Barcelona, but I am not sure if I really like what he does. Pretty weird over the top stuff.We also saw a fantastic concert, Beethovens 5th symp. and the Carmina Burana in the Palau de la Musica catalana build by another over the top architect.I think they build it together. They call it mordernist architecture but I find it hard to place it. Very detailed , more renaisance with lots of gold and horses and religion also very surrealistic with a fairy tale feeling about it.. Anyway definetly fantastic to see. Barcelona has so many land marks , parks and of course cathedrals and churches they started building some in the 12 and 13th century. How absolutely amazing. Ans the lovely narrow streets etc. It reminded me a lot of Paris but I suppose it is another old European city with a long history, very different from Amsterdam or London though even though they are also old. The weather was not as it was supposed to be, it was cold and we had a fair bit of rain. Here I was with shorts packed and only one pair of long pants.Anyway despite the rain we had a fantastic time and of course made 150 photos of which most are pretty bad. Thats what happens with the digital camera.
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