This week we have been through the Netherlands and belgium. After leaving Amsterdam we drove to a place called The Hague which is where the royal family are suppose to live and its ment to be famous for its beaches "the best beaches in the netherlands we were told" we went to the campsite which was the clostest to town and was also closet to the beach, we didn't realise it was a public holiday and of corse everyone in the Netherlands goes to the beach, the campsite we turned unto was fully booked so we went for a drive and by chance found another campsite that was pretty much a field with a toilet and shower block, but it was right on the beach and was pretty busy so we thought why not. The first afternoon / night we were there we went to check out these "amazing beaches", now they were ok they had white sand but down the beach a bit further they were doing some sand pumping and the water wasn't the nicest colour, and there wannest any waves. We went for a walk and went back to hans and had a few drinks, the sunset that night was beautiful the sky was almost fusha pink. The next day we went for a bike ride along the beach front, i think we road for about 10km, after we got back we went down the the beach next to where we were staying, they have cafe's and bars right on the beach, it was funny this one was call "Bondi Beach Club" so we went and had a few beers, its weird here everyone goes to the beach but no one goes swimming. That night was also a really beautiful sunset, its so nice to see the sun set over the water.
The next day we were off to Brugge in Belgium on the way we passed thought Rotterdam. Rotterdam was really different to the other parts of the netherlands it was really modern and had a lot of corporate buildings. We arrived into Brugge around 2pm, and as it was school holidays almost every campsite was booked up, we had emailed about 4 or 5 and they were all booked up we found one that had a vacancy and was only 10km out of the city centre. This campsite was crazy, it was massive it had 2 restaurants, a supermarket, had its own lake with almost every waterspout you could imagine, it even had a man made beach complete with water slide and a massive blow up jumping castle thing in the middle of the lake. By the time we actually arrived it was too late to go into town so we chilled out at the bar at the campsite for the night. The next day mikes cousin Chris and his wife Jane came over from England for the day to catch up with us and check out Brugge. We caught the bus into the city centre, Brugge is beautiful, it's really old with its cobblestone streets and small alley ways, the streets were lined with restaurants and cafes and of course being in Belgium chocolate shops. We explored for a while and found a place to get some lunch, its so crazy that Chris and Jane left England that morning at around 8.30 and after the ferry ride it took them and just under and hour and a half to get the Brugge, after a full day of exploring unfortunalty Chris and Jane had to leave, they had to be back at the ferry but 9pm, we had such a nice day it was really fun to catch up with people you know and as they live in england it dosnt happen very often. The next day mike and i went back into town, we did some more exploring and we walked throughout the little streets and alley ways they are really beautiful we found this really cool bar which was a corner of one of the canals, we sampled some of the Belgium beer, which is really different they each have a different flavour and most of them you can taste some kind of fruit. While we were sitting at the bar we met some people from Greece they were really nice we chatted with them for about 2 hours and when they left we met some english guys. That night we went out for dinner at a little Italian place, when we had finished we released that we had missed the last bus back to our campsite by not even 5 min's, we went started walking home, jokingly i put my hand out pretending to hitchhike, and this guys actually stopped he was suppressing nice and gave us a lift, on the way back to the campsite he show us his place which he was renting out as a holiday apartment and even asked us if we would like to stay the night for free, we said no but we got his details and you never know if were back in Brugge we mite just stay there.
The next day we went to Ghent, which is still in Belgium about 45min from Brugge. Ghent was really nice it was similar to Brugge but had more to see i think, the first day we arrived we went for a ride into town, we were only staying about 10-15min by bike from the centre which was cool. As we were riding we came across a really big castle right in the middle of the city we went in and had a look i think we were in there for almost and hour and a half it was still pretty intact considering it was built in 1180. The rest of that day was pretty crappy it rained and was pretty cold, we managed to find a quaint little pub and had a beer. We spent the whole next day riding around exploring we found this massive church, the ceilings were about 20m high it was crazy. Being in Belgium we had to get some chocolates, we found a chocolate shop and got a hot chocolate, YUM…. it was melted chocolate and hot milk it was delicious, and of corse we couldn't leave without buying a few choccies for later. We couldn't have a day with out a beer so we went and checked out a few little pubs. It was so easy navigating around unlike amsterdam and there was always something to look at, the buildings are so old and quirky. After a full day of riding and drinking we thought we would take it a bit easy so we went and chilled out with a movie and a few scotches, i think we maybe turning into alco's hmmm…..
We are now in paris, we are had a stopover for the night in a place called Cambrai in France which is half way between Ghent and Paris. Its a cool little place not a whole lot to see but still nice.
Paris is amazing, the place we are staying is only about 15min bike ride to the Eiffel tower, you can actually see the top of the tower from the front of the campsite. The only problem with the campsite is that it docent have proper toilets, yes there is a hole in the goring and thats about it ill let you use your amingination, i have managed to find a disabled toilet with an actually bowl so im sticking to that. for the last few days we have been riding in and around the city, i think we have been averaging about 20km a day. its so easy to navigate your way around and the little streets and building are so amazing to look at, yesterday we went and sat in the park under the Eiffel tower and had some lunch its so nice just watching the world go by. we went out for dinner the other night, we managed to find this amazing little french restaurant closet to where we are staying, the food was amazing they only had a few dished that they did and you kind of just have to take a lucky dip to see what you get but they all were amazing especially the dessert. the best thing about france i think is the wine, you can buy the cheapest bottles from the supermarket fro about 2 euro and they are amazing, better than what you would get back home if you were paying $30 a bottle, i think in 3 days we have gone through 4-5 bottles, its just so good. we have got the next few days here which is really nice, we can take thing a bit slower and chill out.
Au revoir (Goodbye)
xx
