Holland 19 May - 31 May

Thursday 19 May

To those keeping up to date...

We have arrived in Holland this afternoon and have spent the afternoon with Family.

Driving on the Autobahn is incredible, fun but rather difficult!
Oh and Burger King does a good steak king burger! mmmmmmmm

Thursday 19 May

Well this was going to be a special day, because we were going to Holland today and would see the family at last! We were on our way nicely on time, but when William tried to get onto the motor way it was blocked off because of an accident. So we had to take an alternative route, and were fortunate enough to see something of the busy city of Stuttgart. We were soon off along the motorway again to the north of Stuttgart. The Germans do a lot of roadwork, and are building new roads too which is understandable since there are so many cars and trucks using the roads all the time. It’s very busy on the roads. We stopped at a petrol station for some lunch – pay 1.50 to use the toilet and get a voucher for 1 euro to buy some lunch! Anyway soon we were on the road again and before long we entered Holland. Cows and speed limits and Dutch roads signs all around us! We called Auntie Anneke and told her we were near Arnhem. Another 40 minutes later we rolled up outside Abraham Blankaartsingel 177 in Amersfoort. Uncle Kees was there waiting for us and Uncle Johan, Auntie Anneke and Friso.  We had a warm welcome and later Auntie Anja still came by to welcome us also. Lots of talking and hugging etc. Very nice indeed. Of course Johan cooked Nasi for us and we enjoyed it very much. Anneke and I went for a walk in the Schothorster bos, and then it was 10 o’clock already, so we went to bed.

Friday 20 May

After breakfast and coffee with Anneke, we went to see oma Amoraal. She was happy to see us but it didn’t last long, so after half an hour we left her and said we’d come back another time. We went to Utrecht and Hoog Catharijne shopping centre. We wondered around there and then made our way back to Amersfoort. Anneke and I hopped on the bike and went to the house we had rented in the Valkestraat in Amersfoort and Dad and William came a bit later by car.

Ingrid, the owner of the house came out to meet us. She made us a cup of tea and showed us around. She gave us a warm welcome. There was a bag of lollies a box of chocolates, poffertjes mix (pikelets) for us to use, lots of items in the cupboards, and the house itself was lovely. Lots of people who had been there before us were also impressed with this house as a place to stay and had signed the guest book making many positive comments. The house is called the Johan Bed and Breakfast and is in the centre of the stad Amersfoort.

Well we settled in and then walked to the supermarket “Plus” a short distance away to get some supplies and something for dinner.

Remarkable how keen the Dutch are to speak English to us. As soon as they suspect we might be foreigners speaking English they switch to English – very good English too. And the people working in the shops are so polite and accommodating – very professional.

Anyway, we walked home loaded with lovely food and had our dinner. At 9 o’clock we walked to the car and went to Johan and Anneke’s place again because she was celebrating her birthday with some friends. Dad and I sat and chatted with the friends and Will sat inside with Friso. It was a nice evening. We met some people who knew Johan Bolhuis and were asked to pass on regards. They were Jannes and Teuni Jansen. At about 11pm we went home and we headed for bed.

Saturday 21 May

Today was the day that Angela was arriving and we were very excited. First in the morning we had to go to Johan and Anneke’s place because the whole Amoraal family was invited to celebrate Auntie Anneke’s birthday and to meet Angela and us too. It was a beautiful day – the sun was shining and we arrived at Anneke’s house at about 10.30.  Pauline was there and she had made some lovely cakes. Outside the tables had been put ready and lots of chairs.

We couldn’t stay too long because Angela was due to arrive at Schiphol airport at12.35, so at 11.30 Johan brought us to the station and we travelled to the Airport near Amsterdam.

As we walked to the arrivals area, Angela walked to meet us. Nice timing! And how lovely to see her!! We sat and had a dink together and exchanged news. Then we caught the train back to Amersfoort and spent the afternoon at Johan and Anneke’s place. Even Oma Amoraal came to join us. She saw Angela and recognised her immediately, she called William Thomas but later on she called him William and Asked where Thomas was. We all enjoyed Oma’s happy face that day. She smiled and chatted and enjoyed the sunshine. Auntie Joke and Marcel, with Sem and Raf were there, Uncle Andre and Maartje, Uncle Johan Auntie Anneke,  Friso, Liesbeth and Daan, and Pauline, Uncle Kees and Auntie Anja, Roeland and Ryanne, with their three boys Julian, Aron and  Ezra and Menno with his girlfriend Renee.

Angela impressed everyone with her Dutch! And William had to tell of our travels through Europe.

At the end of the afternoon we were very warm in the sun, and had a nice tan. And the fun was not yet over because Dad had organised dinner at the pancake house. I think Angela has already told about that elsewhere. We sat outside and at 10 o’clock it was just getting dark. We were very tired after the long day and slept well that night.

Sunday 22 May


Well we have just finished with skype with you' but we haven't written on here for a while so some dribble from Ang. I arrived here about 10:30am on Saturday, dad n mum and Will were at the airport waiting for me. We then went for something to eat. Dad and Will came back with some hot chips and some yummy dutch mayo. Mum and I had a Caeser salad together which we ate that rather quickly because we had to catch the train from Amsterdam (which is where the airport is) to Amersfort where we have our house. We phoned uncle Johan to pick us up because we were heading to their house because aunty Anneke had family over for her birthday. This is when we met everyone, they were all very friendly and really wanted to know all about us. Oma arrived to so we got to sit and chat with her too, she was very happy. Oma knew who Angela was straight away but kept calling William Thomas instead. Oma's memory isn't very good any more but it's still nice to talk with her. After some yummy food, lots of laughs mixed with some wine and beer we headed home for a bit before heading out for tea. Our house is very comfortable, it even has a dishwasher :) We then headed to the pancake house for tea where we met Johan, Anneke, Kees and Anja. We looked through the menu; all of our mouths were watering as it was about 8pm by then. It was so light outside still, it felt like it was only 4pm, lots of children were still playing and riding their bikes. Finally our food arrived, these pancakes had bacon, mushrooms, ham, pineapple you name it, it was on there and it was very good. We washed this down with some icecream and advocaat mmmmmmmm very yummy! We were all very very full and ready for bed by then, it was close to 9:30pm. Dad paid for us all, thanks dad!!!! Soo now its Sunday, daad, mum and Angela went to church this morning, but this afternoon we stay home to listen to a tape. Will had quite a sore back this morning so hopefully for him that gets better soon. Now dad and mum have gone for their opa and oma snooze while Will and I are in our room keeping you all up to date on our travels while we share a jug of tea together :) Tomorrow dad is going with Anneke to hospital with oma as she is booked in for a operation, so that will be most of dad's day taken care of. Mum, Will and Ang don't have any plans yet, the shops don't open till 11 or 1:00pm so we can't do much shopping maybe a nice long walk to work off all the extra yummy food and drink :) well I think that's enough dribble for this time, I'm typing this on dads ipad and it takes quite abit of effort, there are probably quite a few mistakes but hopefully you can understand most of it. Till next time, enjoy your day!

Monday 23 May

Today Dad has  gone with Anneke to take Oma to hospital for a small operation necessary to do some investigative surgery. Angela and I get up and do the washing by hand – nice to get it all done and hanging using some innovative methods (no washing machine so washing done in the sink and the shower upstairs) By 11 o’clock we three are ready to go out so we toddle off into town –shops are just round the corner, and we look for shops that open at 11. Some don’t open till 1 pm. Anyway we spend hours shopping and finding our way around, exploring, having some lunch, then Will leaves us to explore further on his own – dress shopping isn’t really his thing apparently :0 and at about 3 pm we head for home. Will has got there just before us. We share experiences and also the chocolate which Ang and I bought at a lovely candy shop.

The operation with Oma is successful and she probably needs to have some polyps (growths) removed at a later date. Dad is very tired when he comes home.

Tuesday 24 May

Today we head for Amsterdam – first we pick up Anneke –our tour guide. We drive to a place from which we can park and ride into Amsterdam because its no use driving into Amsterdam – too busy and expensive parking problems. We take the metro into Amsterdam and arrive at the Central station.

Our first destination is the canal tour – a ride through Amsterdam’s canals by tourist boat. We see lots of famous and interesting things as travel along the canals, and make lots of photos.

After that we meet Joke and Marcel for a drink along the Singel. A man in a little boat plays music and we stand and listen and watch his antics. It’s all on film.

Anneke takes us for a walk through the Jordaan district. Lots of buildings are sagging and we make some photos. The council is making a new tunnel under the city for the metro and many buildings can’t stand the movement under the ground. They need to be shored up with beams.

We catch the metro and end up at the markets. It’s fun to look and buy some items. We are tired and have a drink and a snack, then we take the metro back to the car and home to Johan and Anneke’s place. Johan has made bami for dinner. Yum.

Wednesday 25 May

Well today is going to be very exciting and very long! We plan to go to Enkhuizen, the open air museum, and then we hope to drive to Den Helder and take the ferry to Texel (say tessel) and hire some bikes to ride across the island. Friso and Auntie Anneke are coming with us.

We leave home at about 9 am and drive up to the road that leads straight through the polder and across the Ijssel meer to Enkhuizen. It’s a long drive with water both sides.

At Enkhuizen we park our car and go on a ferry to the museum. There we see and walk into old actual houses with the authentic furniture, into real shops, drug stores where old time remedies are still sold, smokehouses where fish is still being smoked , with  people wearing the authentic clothing from the area. This open air part of the museum also has lots of craftsmen and women busy with their craft, and the workmen demonstrate the old fashioned crafts such as rope-making, sail-making and repairing, and bronze-casting.

The outdoor museum is broken up into different areas - at the Haven (or Harbor) you will find the Fish museum for children and sailing on a fisherman's boat. Then comes the Kerkbuurt (the church district) where you find the houses of the sail maker, sweet shop, chapel, smithy, school, forge lab. All of these buildings are authentic and have been moved here to avoid being torn down or destroyed.

The Stadsgracht (urban canal) area is next, and there is a beautiful pharmacy along with a small museum of the "pharmacy heads" or in Dutch ‘gaapers’, a bakery, cheese warehouse, upper class homes, old fashioned steam laundry and more.

In the Polder, you see a  fish curing area. Here, fish is being cured and smoked just as it has been for hundreds of years. You can choose your fish, which is smoking in the smokery in front of you, buy it and sit down and eat it there.

There is also a Visserdorp, or the fishing village. It is set is 1905, and there you will find women in authentic clothing sewing outside, rope making, brush making, households from the 1930's and earlier. Here too are the bedsitters' which are the old fashioned beds that you would climb up into and close the doors. We learnt that a ‘onderdeurtje’ is actually a child who slept in the space underneath the bedstee of his/her parents.
There is also a nature area where you will see hairy brown cows and a beautiful old windmill. There is a very nice inexpensive restaurant here.

We had lunch sitting outside on the dyke and then spent some more time exploring. One lady had just made stamppot and shared it with her visitors. It tasted great.

At about 2 pm we left – there was no time to go into the indoor museum – next time maybe!!

We drove to den helder on the northern point of Noord Holland and caught the ferry boat to the island of Texel. There we hired bikes and enjoyed a lovely ride through the Dutch country side. Friso took the bus and we met him later on for dinner. Auntie Anneke shouted us to a Chinese meal in a restaurant, which we all enjoyed. Then we had to pedal hard to catch the ferry back. Our legs were dropping off  and some had very sore behinds! But we thoroughly enjoyed it. The drive home was long but enjoyable – it was late enough so that the peak hour traffic jams were no longer a bother to us. We got home at about 10.30pm.

Thursday 26 May

Uncle Johan’s parents were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversay today so we had no big plans to go oout today. We wanted to do some shopping so we took the car to Utrecht, and the shopping centre Hoog Catharijne. William was driving and he had the awful experience of haviong a loudly blaring ambulance stuck behind him right near a traffic light and stuck in the traffic. What a hair raising experience. It’s impossible to get off the road and that ambulance siren just keeps on blaring in your ears! Eventually we managed to pull off the road.

We split up and explored the shopping centre. We bought a camera for me (mum) because my other camera kept having problems and we didn’t want to lose all my 2000+ photos. We had a lovely lunch in V&D and William enjoyed some cream and strawberries, didn’t you Will!!!!!

Angela had a call from Cameron and enjoyed a chat with him. All is going well with Tahlia – and with Cameron.

Well getting out of Utrecht was another experience and we managed to take a wrong turn and circle back to where we started! Fun. We then visited Oma again and had a cup of tea with her. She was very happy with her new clothing. Angela and I had fun getting her dressed and trying on her clothes. The skirt needs a slight alteration so I promised to have it done by Saturday. Dad also brought her a big bag of marshmallow lollies which she handed around the whole group.

We said goodbye and went home for dinner. Good fun toepen in the evening!

Friday 27 May

We planned to go to Rotterdam today to see the windmills of Kinderdijk. Anneke knew the way and came along as our guide! Those windmills are sure spectacular and we made some lovely photos. One windmill was open and we had a look inside to see how things worked and how people lived inside the mill. Afterwards we enjoyed uitsmijters at the restaurant nearby! Yum!

There was also a museum with a video presentation showing where the name kinderdijk came from – four versions were presented, and explaining the history and use of the windmills of kinderdijk.

Next we  drove into Rotterdam to see the house where Amoraals lived when dad was a little boy, and where he went to school. We walked around the district and dad and Anneke recalled stories from thier childhood.

After this long day Uncle Johan had a lovely bami dinner waiting for us.

Saturday 28 May

Dad and I visited Oma and brought her skirt. It fitted fine, and she was happy with it. We spent some time visiting with her, and then made a visit at the Veenstra’s. It was great to see them and we enjoyed a cup of tea with them. We told them we were coming to their church on Sunday and they promised to try organise an English copy of the sermon for us. An hour later we went back home. Angela and Anneke went to do some shopping, and William and Friso spent some time at the market sitting in a cafe and having some drinks. Dad and I also explored the market for a while and sis some shoppings. At 4 o’clock we were expected at Uncle Kees and Auntie Anja for dinner. Anja’s father had died on Wednesday night so things were a bit subdued, but nevertheless Ryanne + Roeland and 3 boys and also Elise + Maarten and 1 daughter were there as well to enjoy an evening together and getting to know each other.

We had a good time – enjoyed a lovely dinner and enjoyed the company very much.

At 9 o’clock we went to Johan’s house to watch asoccer match. Anneke had gone out but Kees and Friso were also there. The game ended at 11 and we went home again.

Sunday 29 May

William and Angela stayed home and listened to a sermon on the ipad. Dad and I went to the new Vrijgemaakte church. We listened to a reading sermon from Rev OJ Douwma. Very nice sermon –  though written years ago it is appropriate to today. There were about 50 people in church – mostly older people. We talked to the elder who read and he promised to send some sermons to us via email.

We went home for coffee and lunch, skyped with the family back home and then went for a nap. Uncle Kees wanted to come to say goodbye to us so we enjoyed a cup of tea with him and a chat. When he left we sat down and listened to a sermon in English together.

We then drove to Hoevelaken and visited the house and town where dad loved when he  was a teenager, and where we visited after we were just married. We paid a visit to Opa Amoraal’s grave and then toured around a little till we reached ‘het bos’ and went for a walk through the forest. So dinner was late but that’s ok. We had a good Sunday.

Monday 30 May

Well what do you do on the last full day in Holland. Some washing, tidying up, visit oma, and then dad and Will joined Johan on a trip to the brewery in Ermelo and Anneke Angela and Mum went for a bike ride to Spakenburg – 24km up and back.

Well the men were successful and bought some brew kits and glasses for the boys back home. The ladies enjoyed riding to Spakenburg even though it was warm – 30 degrees and the sun was hot. We enjoyed an icecream and found some nice souvenirs. Some men were doing road works – laying road bricks, walking around with no shirt on and on clogs, radio blaring –old and new Holland!

We went into the Spakenburg klederdracht museum and had alady in klederdracht lead us around explaining how important the dress used to be. But its dying out and the museum is sll that’s left to tell how things used to be. We took some pictures and watched a short cideo presentation. Very interesting. Then we rode home again on our bikes. Once again Johan had dinner waiting for us. Macaroni!

We went home and packed our bags. Angela and William decided to walk around the town or into town!

Johan and Anneke went to Kees and Anja for the condolences, then they joined us again at 9 o’clock. We had a lovely last evening together playing cards and chatting!

Tuesday 31 May

Today is the day. We look forward to going home again. Dad and mum visit Oma for the last time. We clean up and pack, weigh our suitcases again and again to see if we have too much weight. At 1 o’clock we leave our lovely house and go to Johan and Anneke’s place. There we have a drink and soon we have to leave. The car has to be brought away first and a shuttle bus takes us to the airport. It goes very smoothly. At the airport we have some croquettes on bread for late lunch. Yum! Then Johan and Anneke join us.

The last hour goes by very quickly and we say goodbye. There are some dramas with our luggage – the brew kits hold us up in Schiphol, the weight of the luggage causes some hold up in London and the pistol causes some upheaval in Kuala Lumpur. But we arrive home safely at 5 am Thursday morning. Thomas and Mark are there with happy faces to greet us. It soooo good to see them again. We go home and at 7 am Emily Hanna-Lee and Steven come out of bed and greet us. It’s great to be together again. Together we give thanks to our Father in heaven who has made all things well and has answered our prayers. We are safely together at home again. We had a most wonderful holiday, all things went well at home as well. We are truly blessed.

Stuttgart 18 May

Wednesday 18 May

Wake up, shower, pack, eat breakfast, and again we are on our way. 7 hours travel to Stuttgart. Through Italy, then Austria and in to Germany. What a lovely trip. Lots of vineyards, castles on high peaks, valleys, mountains. The sticky bit is Austria because the roads are not freeways.

In Austria we got stuck behind a tractor on a narrow windy road through the mountains so that took some time. The scenery was beautiful so we enjoyed that, till we got to a tunnel and when we got out we were in Germany and on the freeway. So from there to Stuttgart we raced along at incredible speeds. There is apparently no speed limit on the motor ways in Germany so people establish their own speed limit and honestly we were time and again astonished at the speed at which other cars overtook us. Dad managed to get his speed up to about 150 km per hour but cars still went whizzing past and disappeared into the distance before you hardly saw them. Over 200 km per hour!!?? Must have been!

Well we got to Stuttgart in good time and found Flair Das Apartment House in no time since it was just off the motorway. We had a lovely room, a bedroom for dad and mum and a living room with sofa bed for Will. The lady of the house was very friendly and accommodating and could not speak much English. Fortunately dad can speak some German and had no problem communicating with her. We had a lovely room with cooking facilities so we went to the shop just down the street and bought some food for dinner, and some beers!! 30 cents for a can of beer in the supermarket, and then we walked back to our room cooked dinner. We sampled the German beer and ate dinner. We then went for a walk. Once again it was light till quite late.

Venice 16 May - 18 May

Monday 16 May

Well its time to leave this lovely place so we pack up and start our trip to Venice. Our trusty Tom-tom tells us to use a mionor road so of course we follow its instructions and follow a lovely mountain road, climbing higher and higher until after an hour or so we are up in the snow.
The car thermometer tells us that the temperature has dropped to 4 degrees. We stop and have a drink and a bite to eat, but Will thinks its time to throw snowballs. Dad cops it and I grab the film camera. Then Will makes a mini snowman and we make lots of photos. Soon we are on our way again, higher and higher lots of tunnels and lots of hairpin bends. Beautiful views and very cold.
We put the heater on as we oooooh and ahhhh about the scenery. However as we come around a sharp bend, a boom gate bars our way and we come to an abrupt stop. What now? Dad gets out and goes in to the house/hotel/restaurant which we see near by. Sure enough we have to go back because the mountain pass is too dangerous with falling snow and rocks.

Oh dear. All the way back. What a waste of time!!! But NO. Not a waste of time. We would not have missed it for anything!!
Anyway our tom tom finds us another way and two hours later we are on the Gotthard pass into Italy. The roads in Italy are very busy with lots of trucks and trucks and more trucks.
We get to Venice late in the afternoon and find our bed and breakfast place, Villa Teresa. Its a nice hotel **cough** and we settle down and then make our way into Mestre to find a place to eat. We walk and walk and walk to a nice Italian square and see a restaurant. We sit outside, and William eats pasta, dad and I eat pizza. And we have a beer of course!!
Then we walk all the way home again. Wow! our legs are ready to drop off. We tumble into bed and sleep.

Tuesday 17 May

At last the day arrives when Dad gets to realise his long held dream of showing off Venice! After breakfast, we walk to the station and buy a ticket to travel all day. We then catch the bus into Venice, and wander off to the water bus. No traffic is allowed on the island, except near the entrance where the buses stop and trains stop and cars park in a big massive car parking tower. The water bus takes us down the grand canal to Marco Polo Square. There we get off and wander through from place to place, buy some cards and send them off at the post office, then we go on through alleys and over bridges. We buy some souvenirs, some presents, some food, pay to use the toilet!!! everywhere. It seems our droppings are worth money - hah ha ha.

William finds some beautiful souvenirs which he buys. We make lots of photos and when our legs have had enough we plonk down and buy some lunch. Will buys some terrific Tshirts, and we talk to a young man who lives on Venice. He tells us about life on the island. We then catch a water bus and we head for Lido, another island where they have a beach. The sign points us to the Free beach -what? are the other beaches not free??? Anyway we end up on the beach - yuk the sand is black - well close to black. People are lying on their towels, or have hired chairs, sunbaking. Some people are more naked than others!! No further comment!!

We stop on the main street and have  a drink, then back on the water bus to the main island. Once again our legs have had a good work out. We head back to out hotel and then find the square in Mestre where we ate the night before. This time we take the bus. We go a lovely shopping centre called Cento le Barche! and buy some shoppings for the trip the next day, then we eat pizza for dinner. We catch the bus home and once again are glad to rest our weary legs.

Lauterbrunnen 13 May - 16 May

Saturday 14 May

At the sound of pounding on the door dad and mum woke up. Will had set his alarm and we jumped out had a shower then breakfast and armed with coats umbrella lunch and most important, Cameras!
We walked to the little station of Lauterbrunnen. At 6.59 the little train pulled out of the station and headed uphill. We were very skeptical as to whether or not the weather would be good for a good view when we got up there. This was the early morning train and cheaper than the next rides but we thought it was worth getting up for.
The morning was absolutely beautiful, whereas it had been raining a bit through the night. We passed through Wengen, then got up to Kleine Scheidegg. There we had to change trains, and wait for the next train to take off. This was more luxurious but both trains had heating under the seats. We stood near the windows and took photos left right and centre.

At Eismeer we were let out for 5 minutes then again at another station Eigerwand, and again there were beautiful sights to feast on.
Amazingly the train was tunneled right through the rock of the mountain, and the station at the top was also right in the heart of the mountain. We got out and made our way into the building at the top of Europe.
After a cup of hot chocolate we feasted our eyes on the beautiful scenery. Amazing, awesome, wonderful beautiful scenery, which is impossible to do justice to with words. Took the lift to a lookout called the Sphinx and could see far in all directions.

Ow our hands were freezing, so cold! Then we went down the lift and through a long tunnel and outside onto the snow and our eyes had to adjust to the glare. We walked some distance along a path, and took photos. The sun was shining and we felt warm but then we turned the other way and the wind cut right through us, soo very cold. Soon after we went back in and once again our eyes had to adjust.

The other side of the building also had an area where we could walk outside near the Swiss flag. From there we could see the top of the Jungfrau. Due to the warmer weather and the sun on the snow it was also very icey. Mum slipped and fell and she reckons her hand hurt for the rest of the day!

Next we went tot the ice palace where figures had been carved from ice. Once again we made lots of pictures. By then it was 11.30 and we were ready to go down again. The train ride down was once again magnificent.
We walked back to our little chalet at Camping Jungfrau. After a bite to eat and a rest, Will and mum drove to get some shoppings. Dad had to have a rest, and then we booked a ticket for the Trummelbach Falls.

 These waterfalls (10) in all, tumble from a great height in a series of corkscrews and thunder down to ground level, 20,000 litre per second. It's terribly noisy inside the rock caverns. While we were there it started raining.
We were so pleased and thankful that we had gone up the Jungfrau mountain in the morning and conditions had been so good for us. The Lauterbrunnen Valley is so beautiful with many waterfalls everywhere.

Sunday 15 May

How wonderful to have lovely sleep in. We woke to the sound of rain, and the waterfalls pouring from the top of the mountain cliffs, tumbling hundreds of meters down to ground level.

After breakfast we listened to a beautiful sermon from Rev Bouwman about Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira. We had coffee and lunch, then skyped with Thomas Emily Hannalee and Steven. Will and Krista also had a talk with us. Great to hear all the voices once again. So clear, so close, still so far away. But we are happy and thankful that they sounded happy and all is going well.

We took a trip in the car to Grindlewald, another valley nearby, also very beautiful. It was raining a bit. The river from there is called the Black Lutschine, and the river from Lauterbrunnen is called the white Lutschine. We could see why, the rivers are actually that colour.

We followed the road into the Lauterbrunnen valley and on to the Schilthorn cable cars. There we had a walk  and saw another beautiful waterfall. Also hang gliders were in the air having been dropped from helicopter. That must be a huge thrill ride and we, due to the distances being so deceptive, thought occoasionally they were going to crash into the rock face!
Once again it started raining and we made our way home, had a cup of soup, oh and courtesy of dad baked beans through our soup! Mind you it didn't taste too bad..., and listened to a sermon from Rev Hart, about Matthew 5:4. Blessed are those who mourn for the shall be comforted. Beautiful sermon. We had pizza for dinner, then looked outside. And saw that it had been snowing on the mountains. Beautiful!!!!

We are all blown away by the beauty of this place. If we ever come to Europe again we think we would want to come here.

Paris 11 May - 13 May

Wednesday 11 May
The day we left England. We woke up earlish in order to get to our train on time that departed at 8am. We had breakfast and walked to the station all inside 30 minutes.... Amazing!

We said goodbye to our hostess/waitress from Lithuania. While explaining to her we were going to France she seemed to not understand a word we said. She spoke about 4 phrases we figured, including "good morning, tea or coffee?, English breakfast? And goodbye".

Getting to the station was easy. However a security check is done before you get on the train so we had to go through that. Dad had some magnetic balls (neo magnets) in his luggage which also gets scanned there, the airport doesn't seem to do this. These set off the scanner so dad had to pull all his luggage out. After figuring out that the neo magnets had set off the scanner, the security guard also pulled out an egg from dads bag. He looked at Dad questioningly. You can imagine his face when Dad grabbed it and dropped it on the desk. Now this egg had some special properties mainly being that it was rubber. This caused quite some amusement as the guard then picked it up and also dropped it but on the floor. He and dad then went scurrying around trying to find it:-)

The trip on the train was good. The novelty wore off pretty quickly that we were traveling at 300+kms per hour.
On the Eurostar

Upon arrival we encountered a rather untoward sight as a lady came up to us under the guise of being deaf and mute and asking for donations, for all purposes begging, as a security guard came up and abruptly ripped the paper out of her hands and sent her packing!! Perhaps she was trying to rob us?

Arrival in Paris


After a rude awakening at the train station we had another one when we figured out that there are few escalators in Paris!!! Luggage in these situations is no-good. Finally getting to the hotel we promptly fell asleep.

After being refreshed.... to some degree, we went off to the Eiffel tower and went all the way to the top! This was brilliant! Looks a lot worse from the ground up. Even met an Aussie up there. We again made some wonderful photos. What a fantastic view over Paris!

The hawkers below were unbelievable. I believe it would probably give Bali a run for its money in that area!
We then had dinner and it remained light outside till about 10pm!
Headed back to our hotel and crashed out.

Thursday 12 May

Thursday was a rather relaxing day where we did very little. We wrote our post cards, did some shopping at a lovely littles supermarket, skyped with the boys back home, and then we walked up the hill to find an ATM. The main thing of note was going to Sacre Couer de Mont Martre which was an old RC church. This was the church that didn't get bombed during the war and apparently had monks praying 24/7 the whole time and even now has a 24/7 schedule for praying. we walked through Place du Tertre where the artists sketch and paint all kinds - also portraits.
We walked down a very steep hill and found a post office to mail our cards and finally an ATM. The tube station nearby had us walking down many flights of stairs and we wondered how deep we were inside the earth. Anyhow we had a trip in the underground to Porte de St Cloud and found the office where we had to be the following day to rent our car. Coffee at McDonalds!! then back to our hotel. We had dinner right near the red light district called the Moulin Rouge. At least it makes a nice photo.
Coming back to the hotel we organized our breakfast and lunch for the following day and then watched some tv shows.


Friday 13 May
Friday we lugged our luggage from our hotel to the car rental place. Fortunately we had worked out a route that had escalators so this was not too bad this time. Having gotten our brand new car which had about 5kms on the clock we used our Tom Tom to navigate out of Paris and along the way to Switzerland.
We arrived in Switzerland at about 5pm so having left at about 9:30/10 this equated to about a 7 hour trip. Beautiful scenery along the way allowed us to not be bored. Our chalet was wonderful. Will had his own bedroom with a door that closed - luxury at last, and we had our own cooking facilities. Of course we had to go to the local supermarket and stock up on food for dinner and goodies. Behind the chalet the highest waterfall in Switzerland tumbled down th ecliff face. How beautiful. We could stand and watch it for ages. The ,mountain peaks were covered in snow and the valleys were beautiful and green, the ground covered in flowers. It reminded us of the story of Heidi. Will and mum went for a walk along the Lutchine River. Our valley had the White Lutchine, and the Grindlewald Valley had the Black Lutchine. Later we saw that the rivers indeed had different colours due to the rocks and soil in the bottem of the rivers. later they joined together to end up in the lakes near Interlaken. The water was freezing cold as result of the melting snow high on the mountains. We looked forward to our mountain trip the next day.
Having booked our trip up the Jungfrau we went early to bed as we were getting up at 5:45 the next morning.

London 6 May - 10 May

Friday 6 May

Landed at Stansted airport at about 9.30 pm London time which was about 4.30 am Perth time so we were really tired. Didn't sleep really on the trip so we took a taxi to Greenways Lodge in Bishops Stortford, just 10 mins away, and tumbled into bed. Woke at 7 and went for a walk. Saw some very old houses and a nice

old church. Also this lovely, ancient, very English, red phone booth!

 Then back to the airport, had breakfast, Good! English breakfast! Toast, sausages and eggs and bacon and baked beans. Then by bus to London, and by tube to our hotel. Booked in, dumped the luggage and caught the tube into the city, and went to Churchills War museum.VERY INTERESTING.


 

So then we walked through St James' Park and walked to Buckingham Palace. The weather was hot. We wore shorts and Tshirts. Lots of people were sitting and walking in the park! We sat at stopped for a tea and coffee and then checked out the bus station for our trip on Monday.

 We ate at a pub called The Iron Duke at Victoria Station. Great food, good beer and cider! On the way home we stopped at Paddington station and were treated to an open air concert. We still tried to do some emailing and blogging at McDonalds but the signal was not very good so we went back to our room and went to bed. It was still light at 9 o'clock. Wow!

Saturday 7 May

 Saturday we caught the tube to Picadilli circus and Trafalgar square. Got the hop on hop off bus and did sightseeing. Then went to Greenwich via the boat. Now there starts an interesting story.

Boarding the hop on hop off bus - a bit of drizzle!

 
 


 As we were boarding a group of rather pushy tourists... Oh wait no not us.... Asian tourists pushed us around trying to get onto the boat first. Then while on the boat completely disregarded the captain reading the safety instructions and the like. Getting somewhat of a rather shoddy commentary out of the captain dad went and spoke to the guy.

A few parting words from the captain included the following "I have been shanghaied in shanghai but I've never yet been hijacked on my own boat".

Poor guy. He was completely put off his commentary. What with a woman standing on a seat and "perambulating" around while he was trying to explain things, he was really put out. Several times he found those Asians doing things he did not approve of.

Oh and by the way Harrods department store truly is astounding!!!!!! Seeing is believing and even then I'm not quite sure I do yet :-) Had a lovely dinner at Victoria Station in a pub. Good beer and good food. Chilli con carne and Beef stew and mum had acider. It was great!

Now back to the hotel room for for some  peace and quiet. Listening to froggies in the background is kinda a put off.

Sunday 8 May

Well today is Sunday and we plan to go to church in  London - The LONDON CITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This church is held at St Botolph’s -Without-Aldersgate, Aldersgate St, London. It's close to  St Paul’s Cathedral. The services start at 11 am and 6.30pm and the website is www.londonfreechurch.org.uk

We take the tube and go to church. We are early and sit outside the church in a small park, on a bench in the shade.

Soon people start to arrive and we go inside. The people are friendly and we take a seat. There is no use of instruments but a woman stands at the front of the church and leads the singing. Later we are told that a recent synod has approved the use of instruments but their are also people who are upset about this decision and plan to leave. The preaching is Scriptural, the message simple.
We stay for drinks and talk to some people, then we head for Hyde Park where we planm to meet with Greta Blohuis and Hester Bax. We have taken our lunch and we sit down on the grass to eat. Its warm and sunny. Somehow our messages seem to cross and it takes a while before we see Hester and Greta arrive, so we are very happy tosee each other at last. We walk to the river near Westminster. On the way we see a parade of British grenadiers with their bear hats on, playing the band as they march along. We stop and dad films the parade. At Buckingham Palace we make some photos. We walk accross Westminster Bridge and see the London Eye. Greta has never been here yet. Hester leaves us and we make our way to St Paul's Cathedral designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is a very beautiful cathedral. We go inside and listen to a half hour concert.
Then we say goodbye to Greta and take the tube back to our hotel.  In the kitchen we use the microwave to heat up some dinner.
we eat and go on time to bed. the next day we need to be up early for our planned excursion.

Monday 9 May

Back in Australia we planned to go on a guided bus tour out of London. This tour should take us to Oxford University, Stratford on Avon, through the Cotswolds and to Warwick Castle. We have our lovely English breakfast and make our way to St Pancras, where we buy some snacks for the day. Then we catch the tube to Victoria Station. From there we walk to the bus station. We discover that we are a bit late. It is peak hour on the tube and so things move slower than normal. We end up running along the road to get to the bus station on time, but then we discover that the bus driver has gone to pick up people fron the London hotels and is running very late. We have time to catch our breath and end up waiting for the driver. 
The bus finally does leave and our guide is a lady who likes talking. She is also quite humourous and we have lots of laughs. We look at the architecture of the buildings as we leave London and see that houses were built differently at different time periods.
Oxford University is the place where lots of students have recived their education in Britain for centuries. The buildings are old but well kept. There is ongoing work to keep them in good condition. We see Christchurch Hall where some of the Harry Potter movie was filmed.
Christchurch Hall


We see Alice in Wonderland in the stained glass window and hear how the book was conceived here by Lewis Carroll when he was working here. We walk through the town and see the many buildings which are scattered here and there through th etown, and together make up the university.
At Stratford on Avon we explore Shakesspeare's birthplace. Then we move on to Warwick Castle. We travel throught thr Cotswolds - the sheep paddocks - and at the Castle, we go exploring - up the castle walls. Dad gets dizzy going round and round first up then down again. Maddame Tussaud owns this castle and many wax figures illustrate life as it used to  be in the castle.
A young man demonstrates bow and arrow skills.

We make photos and buy some souvenirs.
By now it is after 4 pm and we make our way back to the bus. Its quiet in the bus on our way home. Everyone is tired. The bus drops off people at their hotels if they are on the way. We get off at the end point. We catch the tube and go to Oxford Circus. There we find a cosy pub, order our dinner and beer, then we make our way home. We are tired, have a drink and go to bed.


Tuesday 10 May

We got up later this morning. Had a rather relaxed breakfast.

After breakfast we went to the laundromat to wash some clothes. Dad and Will went to check the tickets for the Eurostar the next day.

Once done we jumped on the tube and went to Leaden Hall markets. The markets weren't on so it was quite quiet. A bit disappointing that there didn't seem to be much resemblance to the Harry Potter movie.

Moving on from there we walked down toward the gherkin building. This was the site or at least very close to the site where one of the IRA bombs went off. We walked on further and while taking a photo of an old church we got a surprise when on old lady opened the door and offered to let us in for a look around.

We tried to get into one of the tall buildings but were told that in order to do so we had to purchase at least 10 pound each of champagne from their bar.

We jumped on Liverpool tube and went to Westfield shopping centre. This place was big. Not huge but big. Lots and lots of the brand names shops like guess verdasco Hugo boss Armani Calvin klieg etc.

We had lunch and sat at an Internet cafe for a while after which we went back to the hotel and watched some tv.

Went to O'Neils for dinner at a different location this time. Had some very tap waterish beers and steak and guiness pie. The pie was good, but the beer was the worst we had tasted yet!

Back to hotel. Will and Dad to maccas to download apps for wills iPad.

Sleep before we leave tommorow. We look forward to our ride on the very fast Eurostar train - under the English Channel and into Paris!





KL Airport 5 May

Thursday 5 May

Well we left home with faithful Mark driving us to the airport. We were very excited. As you can see we are looking very cheerful. The food however leaves something to be desired. A budget airline proves to be just that. We decide we need to buy some snacks to top up our menu. Dad in particular is hungry. a warm meal for breakfast doesn't really excite us!!



In the plane



It's warm and humid when we arrive at Kuala Lumpur. The ground staff are slow and we have to wait in a long line to be checked. Hand in your water and buy more seems to be their motto!

We have arrived! The next leg is likely to put me off flying forever apparently :-)



Just off the plane at Kuala Lumpur airport





I hope not because that would mean we ain't coming back. After 2 hours we are allowed to board. We have 13 and a half hours of flying ahead of us. Dad spends a lot of time dozing. Will and Mum do puzzles, watch a movie, and play on the ipad. Its a very long trip.  We are very happy to arrive at Stansted airport at 9.30 at night. A taxi takes us to Greenways Lodge in a little town called Bishop's Stortford. We have a room with asmall kitchen  and can make our own coffee tea, etc. We sleep well but are awake quite early in the morning.



Our first night in England we spent at Greenways Lodge



Leaving

Only one night to go!!
Leaving on a jet plane @ 6 .50 am

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The night before! What do we still need to take?

Will

our schedule

The travelling Team

William

Mum Ann

Angela

Dad Willem