2008TripBlog1

Friday April 25, 2008


Hello everyone!

There has been a long lapse between our last trip letters and these new ones. Last year several things happened to keep us in Connecticut so long that we decided it was too late to go to Europe. But this year we made it.

We left the U.S. on Wednesday night at 9:40 p.m. …no, we left at 10:15 after a long delay on a runway in the back of Logan Airport. About 10 p.m. the captain came on the loudspeaker to say that they had a computer malfunction that had just been fixed, and apparently he was correct, because once we took off we had a trouble free flight.

On the other hand, Ron wants to write to Northwest and tell them that although we do understand that there are big problems in the airline industry, the way to compete is not to buy small planes and put too many seats across them. These were the worst we’ve ever experienced. Also very annoying was the fact that although we asked for two aisle seats in the same row, and were assured that was what we were assigned, we had tickets for the aisle and the center seat. Then a tall Dutchman came along with a ticket to the center seat that Adelle was in! He squeezed into the window, but his long legs bothered Adelle all through the flight.

There weren’t many people on the plane. I believe that we were almost the only set of tiny seats with three passengers. We were certainly more uncomfortable than many on the flight who were all alone and could “stretch out” on their seats! Ron did manage to sleep a little – but though I shut my eyes, I remained wide awake all night. Got into the airport, took money out of the wall and bought a sim chip to put into the new European cell phone that Dick van den Berg (Sjef’s brother) brought me from The Netherlands. Then we called the DeWits (our RV landlords) to say that we were in. Arend came to get us and brought us to our old Dolphin, bright eyed and bushy tailed, standing there waiting for us, all ready to go off and explore some old and new venues. It’s a brave old thing. It has no idea that this next trip for which it is anxiously waiting in all probability will be its last with us in its care.

Arendt and Ineka gave us lunch. Afterwards we went grocery shopping with Ineke in her car, and then to the campground where we unpacked and took about an hour’s nap.

Right off we found that it is really thrilling to be here with the Euro worth $1.59. And there has also been inflation here. The result is that campground fees are in the $40 per night range instead of $25 on our last. And gasoline, at 1.59 +- Euros per liter, nets out at almost $10 per gallon, ( 1.59 x 3.84 per gallon x 1.59 dollars per liter=$9.70 ) instead of about $6 on when we were here last. In short, we get to feel like big time spenders while roughing it. And roughing it is a hell of a lot better than the $300 per night for hotels we hear is normal now for a 3 star.

How did we feel otherwise? Well Adelle was planning to call home at 9 p.m. our time (3 p.m. at home) to give every one our phone number but couldn’t stay up that late! She’s never been so tired when we arrived. Slept from about 8:45 p.m. to 8:30 this morning. And we still feel tired.

We didn’t walk around today. We ran some errands, did a little more food shopping, and worked on various projects on the motor home. Can you believe that it has been in storage for just short of two years and is still dry and comfortable? That’s greenhouse living for you. It was pretty dirty of course, but we have spruced it up a bit. In rummaging around we discovered a third of a bottle of red wine left from the last trip—over two years ago. Wasn’t bad. Wasn’t good either, but it still had some alcohol in it. Also lots of little black flakes! And today we had some instant coffee left from the last trip. Instant coffee does not taste too good when it’s fresh, but it does not taste worse when it is over two years old.

The business on Friday was to check out what needed to be done to conform the Dolphin to European standards before it could be sold here. So we visited a garage owned by Patrick van den Berg—no relation to Sjef—who checked it out. Just one thing—different parking and turn signal lights, which was not problem. But two mechanical things also—ball joint seals, and brake lines in the front. Estimate—700 Euros (=$1113). That’s a good price—for Mr. Van den Berg, but not for us. But then, in addition, we would have to pay an import tax which he estimated at 10 % of the cost when the RV was NEW in 1985! What? How can we determine that? And why when it was new, when it is now 23 years old? We decided to visit the tax office on Monday and discuss this with them.

It is getting to look more and more like we are taking Dolphin home.

We stayed overnight at the campground closer to Schiphol Airport because we’d like to try the new transportation to town. If it is as advertised, it’ll take only twenty minutes more. On Saturday we’ll be at our favorite street market in Amsterdam where we’ll buy too many vegetables and fruits, lots of cheese and beautiful flowers. We’ll also have the chance to put out first letter on our blog from our favorite internet café. Life is good.

We haven’t begun to think about Sunday – but on Monday we have some additional errands to run, so we’ll remain in the Amsterdam area. We’ll move to a new campground on Monday evening so we can go on
Tuesday to Keukenhof Gardens to see what the Dutch planters have planted. Then who knows? If all goes well, our friends will meet us on Tuesday and what is more, join us on Friday in their new camper. See, I told you life is good.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

The season here is much advanced over what it was in Connecticut when we left a few days ago. There are leaves on the trees here, and the first thing we saw when we left the airport terminal building was a large expanse of deep, dark red tulips. Today we passed a chestnut tree with at least six inch leaves. It rained our first day here and the RV was pretty cold on Thursday and Friday nights – but on Saturday morning, after sleeping from about 9:30 to 8:30, we woke to a glorious day. The birds were singing, the sun was shining and the weather is now perfect. Just the right sort of day to go to market, the Albert Cuypstraat open air market in Amsterdam, of course. Besides the fresh olives, fruit and vegetables and candy and nuts, we bought enough cheese for six people (we of course are only two) and beautiful yellow tulips and some other greenery with yellow flowers. Now we can face both the flower and the cheese police. We’re loaded with goodies. Prices seemed about the same as last time, perhaps a little higher. But with the dollar being so much lower in value, everything cost us much more than the last time we were here.

The market on Albert Cuypstraat St. is huge – four very long blocks. We walked then four times up and down before we came home. Ron had his usual lunch of new herring and chopped onions—it is strawberry season so it really is new herring, which means it has been very recently caught and lightly salted-- and a little dish of kibbeling—small pieces of fried fish, with a garlic sauce. Delicious! With all that walking and with the load of cheese, fruits, etc, packed into two backpacks, we got very tired. Called it a day at four, got home at five, and collapsed.

The trip into town took a bit longer than it does from the other campground, but it was quite convenient and we decided to stay where we are for now. Another thing we left in the RV was a strip of tickets for busses and the metro—enough for the trip into town. The bus driver noticed that it was old, but allowed it. Had to buy another set for the ride home. Tomorrow and Monday we need to remain in Amsterdam.

We still don’t have a real itinerary. You’ll know when we do decide where to go! Till then, good night.

Ron and Adelle

Last letter, 25, from Europe RV trip

We’ve had a wonderful trip. And it ended on an up note.

Our last day in the Netherlands was an unexpected pleasure. It has been as hot in Europe as in the U.S. so we had stayed close to our motorhome and did not plan to go back to downtown Amsterdam. But on Tuesday morning, we moved from our campground to a spot just outside the storage greenhouse. The DeWits had arranged a wonderful day for us. First stop was a tour of a rose growing greenhouse that produces 3,000,000 roses every year. Plants are grown in what looks like pallets of fiberglass insulation, not earth. Sensors monitor the amount of liquid nutrition and water needed and computers control the flow. There were millions of plants in huge greenhouses with automatic lighting and watering and tanks of carbon dioxide. The latter is pumped into the greenhouse atmosphere to help growth. Flowers are cut by hand, brought into a different area, and a person goes through every rose to make sure it will pass the criteria of size and shape that the flower auction requires. If it is good, it goes onto a hook on a conveyor belt and into a machine that automatically bundles them by size of stem. They are then wrapped in cellophane and placed in a small amount of water in plastic boxes in the refrigerator. In the middle of the night, a truck comes and takes the blossoms to the auction to be sold. Flowers that are too far open or otherwise not acceptable, are thrown away. There was a huge dumpster filled with rejects!

After lunch under the arbor, we went to visit a historical garden in the town of Aalsmeer, that is, a garden which still has plants that were brought to the Netherlands hundreds of years ago and are no longer grown. Ron’s favorite was a rose that came to Holland from China in the 1500’s. There was also a display showing how the Dutch dug up the peat at the bottom of the huge lake in Aalsmeer and deposited it behind bulkheads, making hundreds of little islands. Truly, as the Dutch saying goes, God made the world but the Dutch made Holland.

Next stop was a canal in Aalsmeer where the DeWits uncovered a run-about, and we began a several hour journey through the canals and the huge lake named Westeinderplassen, past those man-made islands which the lilac growers still use. How? They put row after row of one year old lilac bushes into the rich soil, and allow them to grow until they are mature. Then, in the fall, the lilac growers dig up the bushes, put them into greenhouses, and force growth during the winter. In the spring, they harvest the lilac flowers for sale and as soon as the ground is ready, replant the bushes on the islands. They stay there until the fall, and then the process is repeated. And there are literally thousands of bushes!

Last stop on our wonderful last day was dinner at a lovely lakeside restaurant.

In the morning, we got ready to fly home. The flights were fine, but in some ways, we had a pretty awful homecoming.

We went through security in Schiphol Airport and were very impressed with the way it was done. Every gate had an x-ray to walk through and a crew to do the checking. Therefore, there were no long lines at security checkpoints.

When we’ve done this in the past, we were sent directly from our Amsterdam to London flight through a closed off area in the airport to the bus service that takes you from one terminal in Heathrow to another. This time, they sent us through another security check before we were allowed to get onto the airport terminal bus. Since there were several hundred people ahead of us – all “in transit” – we were held up about a half hour. There was no attempt to manage the screening process. No matter what time your connecting flight was, you waited in that huge, slow line. The result was no surprise. We missed our connection, although there was an hour and a half between flights.

When we finally arrived at Terminal Four, we went directly to British Airways Customer Service Desk. There a pleasant young lady was ready to put us on standby onto a flight that left after eleven, instead of the 4:35 flight we had been scheduled to take. She had no problem with the fact that Jennifer and Glen had to pick us up in Boston and such a plan would have required them to take a day off work. Adelle, however, did have a problem with that idea and she went into aggressive mode. Lo and behold, suddenly we could fly standby on the next flight, which was at 7:30. Although flying standby was chancy and did not totally solve our problem, it was certainly better. She assured us that our luggage would be on that flight.

So we called Jennifer and told us that if she didn’t hear from us again, she should meet the flight that got in at 9:45, and settled down to wait to see if we really got onto the flight. Think we were a little stressed?

Fortunately, we were able to get onto that plane. Otherwise, we would probably have had to stay overnight at a very expensive airport hotel and then sit in the airport until evening, when it would have been possible for Jennifer and Glen to pick us up.

We got into Boston and were held up in the usual lines for passport control and baggage arrival. Except that our luggage didn’t arrive. In fact, it didn’t arrive until two days later. Most of the things in the luggage were not important – but we were concerned about the huge amount of cheese we had bought in Amsterdam before we left! Glad to report that although the cheese must have been subjected to long periods of heat, there was no problem with it.

So, now we are home. It only took six telephone calls to get our phones working, a situation that defies belief. A digital network indeed. After only a few days, we were back to “normal”!

We’ve had a wonderful trip, and thank all of you for “joining” us. We hope that someday we may even meet some of our readers while we’re in a European campground. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you with any comments, questions or suggestions for future letters, should the spirit move you.

Letter 24 from Europe RV trip

Once in the town of Maubeuge, we were very close to the Belgium border. We happen to be big fans of Belgian cities, but we had a different agenda. This year Ron thought we might need brakes. After all, we bought our motor home in 2000 and we’ve traveled a bit since then. The brakes had never been reworked while we owned this motorhome. As a precaution we bought brake shoes and pads in the US and took these with us just in case such parts for a 1985 Toyota pick-up cum motor home could not be found here.

When we figured it out, we’d done a lot of driving on those brakes. We traveled 11,500 miles across the U.S. in 2001; traveled to Connecticut from Florida and back, driving an additional nearly 3,000 miles; toured the Continent in 2002, a total of 4,500 miles; traveled all over the UK in 2003, another 3,500 miles; were all over the Continent again in 2005 for another 4,500 miles; and we’ve driven an additional 3,000 this year. That makes 30,000 miles that we drove on the brakes and we have no idea how many miles those brakes were used before us!

So, we needed to return to Amsterdam early, so we could make arrangements with the mechanic who always changes our oil to also change our brakes. And since we are leaving so soon, we had better get there as quickly as we can, so there is time to make arrangements. No Belgian stop-overs on this trip.

We drove directly from France, through Belgium and into the southern part of the Netherlands beginning about 11 a.m. We stopped on the side of the road for lunch, and to buy gas, but that was all. We were entering the Ring Road around Eindhoven by three o’clock, but that was too early to stop. If we stopped then, the motor home would be very hot and uncomfortable, since the heat was so intense. Those of you who have followed our travels or read our book know that we lost the air conditioner early on. So we drove on, choosing a campsite just off the Ring Road of another Dutch city, S’Hertogenbosch, which was even closer to Amsterdam. It was a very nice facility, loaded with Dutch families on holiday and lots of children in the playgrounds or in the pool.

By the time we drove in, the heat was less intense – and it did cool off somewhat at night. On Wednesday morning, we set off for Amsterdam. Instead of driving directly to the mechanic, we stopped off a few blocks away at DeWit Caravan Stalling, where we store our motor home. We wanted to ask the DeWits to call the mechanic for us, so that there would be no language problem. Nearly everyone in Holland does speak English, but not everyone can discuss all the sides of this situation. Fortunately, Ineke and Arendt were able to discuss the problem with the mechanic, and the result was that we got an appointment for Monday morning. In the meantime, we were free to drive to our favorite Amsterdam campground, Gaaspar Camping.

We thought we should mention that in all the time since the day in 2002 when we broke our roof top air conditioning unit by driving under an overpass that was less than three meters high, we have not missed it, except for two days in Italy last year. This year, the extreme heat has forced us to think kindly of that unit, although we still don’t think the electricity available would be able to run it!

So ends our 2006 trip. We took the metro into the city Thursday, Friday and Saturday, partly to visit internet centers but mostly to go to street markets to pick up some things we want to have in the RV for the next trip – and to buy cheese to take home. And, of course, to eat lunch. Ron is a big fan of the fried fish (a.k.a. kibbeling, lekkerbek, and heekfilet) that is sold all over the Netherlands. And don’t forget the herring that is almost brand new now that it is just after the strawberry season.

During our Saturday excursion, there was a big thunderstorm, and the heat wave seemed to have broken. By Saturday evening it was comfortably cool.

On Sunday, we’ll move to a campground only about half a kilometer away from the mechanic, and in the afternoon, we’ll do our laundry. On Monday, our day will be spent hanging around while the brakes are replaced and the oil changed. Fortunately, we have an invitation to sit in the DeWit’s backyard under the umbrella if needed. On Tuesday, we have a date to take a boat ride with the DeWits. And on Wednesday, we are heading home.

We have had another great trip with no major mishaps. Our old but faithful chariot-home had taken a terrible beating on some very rough roads, and in the awful heat that has plagued Europe these last few weeks and has stood up to it, never complaining or acting up. We are extremely lucky to have this motorhome. The way things are now, we can look forward to it being ready and anxious to get on the road again next year. We hope that that we also will be in as good shape as the motorhome come Spring. If we are we will return. Indeed, when we started out this trip we had made no plans to return for another year. As we did last year and the year before, we postponed that decision until we experienced being on the road again. This year, we made the decision in about the fourth week of our trip to try to make another one next year because we felt that it was still fun, and that we would not run out of interesting places to visit. Europe is replete with places whose history has shaped our own, and are beautiful and a joy and privilege to visit. One never knows how we will feel when next spring actually rolls around, but if we decide that we had better not go, we would deal with returning the motorhome then. The fact is that we both feel better now at the end of this fine trip than we did when we started. This kind of travelling seems to be very good for our health.

We would like to thank everyone who has been traveling along with us – especially those who have contacted us either to say hello or make a comment or to ask questions. It is always a great feeling to know that other people are interested. Indeed we feel that you are a presence on our trip, sort of lurking in the background, expectantly waiting for us to tell you what new things we encountered every day. It is because of your presence that we always try to notice things that are interesting to us and that you might also like to know about.

We’ve been unable to send pictures for many letters, but all will be remedied on July 27, when we are home!

Letter 23 from Europe RV trip

We had stumbled into a very nice campground after having been turned away from several we found while we drove away from Calais. Most of the campers were “statics”, but there was at least one other transient. Actually, we really thought that we two were the only transients. There was a café-bar-restaurant that was so busy that the proprietor did not have the time to check us in. Told us that we could do that the next morning.

Saturday morning, of course, we checked in and out simultaneously. We had decided to visit an area of France that was quite far away and would require a great deal of driving (for those of us who think 100 miles is very far!). So we started off, watching the supermarkets signs that usually appear just before the “centre commerciale”. Neither of our favorite markets appeared, so we opted for a Geant Supermarche with an attached less expensive gas station in a town called Wizernes. Never heard of it? Neither had we – but we know that Geant is a good supermarket. In fact, it is embarrassing but true, that we spent a full two hours there.

Then we put everything away, had our lunch, and left to drive to a city near our objective, the town of Giverny, on the Seine northwest of Paris, where the artist Claude Monet lived and where his garden still flourishes. We had begun our journey after ten in the morning – and had spent all that time shopping. We didn’t start out again until after 2 p.m. After driving for a few hours, we found our way to a campground near Beauvais. When we got there, there was a big sign: “Ferme”(Closed)! That’s not the word a couple of tired travelers want to hear. But we consulted our book again, and found that there was a campground in a nearby town called Dangu, just outside the town of Gisor which claimed to be close to Giverny. Not only was it a really nice campground, right on a beautiful lake, but it really was a short drive to Monet’s Garden.

Despite the fact that it was only 10:30 when we got there – and the place didn’t even open until 10 – the complex was jammed. We stood in line about twenty minutes to get tickets to the garden. We had seen the house in May 2002, so we were more interested in seeing how the garden looks in July. Except for the famous water lilies, the garden was not as beautiful as Adelle had hoped. It was quite overgrown and in need of some care. The water lilies had not been open when we were last there, and that part of the garden was really beautiful. We spent a couple of hours there and then were on our way again.

We had decided to stop in at least three more places in France. The town of Chantilly is famous for its chateau and its incredible horse stables (of which more later), and is within ten miles of the town of Senlis whose cathedral and ancient buildings are also justly renowned. Last stop would be the city of Reims with its enormous cathedral.

So, off we went. We readily found signs indicating non-toll roads to Chantilly, and started driving. It seemed to us that we were being routed around Robin Hood’s barn but we were committed and continued. As it turned out, that was the most direct way to Chantilly. We entered the city on N16 from the south, drove a little way, and saw the signs for the Chateau and stables. We followed the signs and found ourselves on a cobblestone road around two of the most fabulous buildings we’ve seen. But the parking spaces seemed to be all taken, and we found ourselves out of the complex onto a city street with absolutely no idea of where we were or how to get to the campground. After taking a short scenic tour, Ron sensibly figured out in which direction we should head, and within a couple of blocks the name of the town we wanted to find appeared. It was quite a name: St. Leu d’Esserent.

As we drove across the bridge as directed, we saw what looked like an Abbey with gothic circular towers. That was a good sign! We followed the instructions for the campground, past houses, through fields, and up a steep hill – and eventually our patience was rewarded with a reception building. It took a while for us to find a space since the campground is on the grounds of a former quarry and it is up and down hills and into forest. It was brutally hot, and Adelle was moaning that she would have liked to be back in her air-conditioned house, when Ron said that we had to move our chairs. Why? He wouldn’t say. But he did guarantee all would be well. So we moved across the path and down the road – right next to an actual quarry site from which emanated really cool air. Natural air-conditioning.

Those few hours spent reading in front of that man-made cave were the only hours that we have been really comfortable for weeks. It is terribly hot in Europe. It was miserable in Britain, hot in Sweden and then very hot in France. This is not the usual weather pattern. Global warming, anyone?

Next morning we went into the village and looked at its 13th century church, but didn’t bother to go in. Then we drove back in Chantilly and turned into one of the parking areas. It listed prices: one euro for a car, two euros fifty for a van. We figured ourselves for a van, but when the lady appeared, she pointed out the bottom price category: ten euros ($12.50) for one hour for a camping-car. Of course we left, but Ron managed to get some photos of a really fabulous chateau. And the stables. The man who built those stables gives new meaning to the phrase “eccentric rich country gentleman”. He decided that after he died he was going to come back to life as a horse. And being used to luxury, he therefore wanted to build the most enormous, beautiful and elaborate stables in the world for his future comfort! He certainly succeeded in doing that, but we don’t know for sure if he ever lived there as a horse. We did not go in so we did not have the chance to interrogate the horses living there about their ancestors.

So, we were off to Senlis. Would you believe that we not only drove into the center of a really old city, but turned a very tight corner lined with concrete posts, drove one block and found a place to park. We did just that. We saw the cathedral, walked around the town, declined to visit the Royal Chateau and left – although leaving was a lot harder than getting into the center of town. We missed the correct road that would take us onto the ring road and it took a while before we found another exit. Nevertheless, we were on our way to Soissons and then to Reims.

Got there without a problem. Found the sign for the cathedral right away. But when we tried to park at Cathedral Parking, we found it was a three story garage and not suitable for us. As we stood waiting for the light to change, a policewoman walked over – only to ask us where we were from and to tell us that her friend lives in Jacksonville, Florida. She suggested a parking place, but it was too far to walk in that heat. So Ron turned around and came back to the cathedral area and found a parking place on the street only a block or two past the regular parking! We fit exactly into the white lines.

What a huge Cathedral! Imposing, beautiful and vaguely familiar. Ron pointed out that we’ve owned a framed print of that particular cathedral for more than forty years. No wonder it was familiar.

When we had visited the cathedral, we stopped at a restaurant and asked if they could make us a glass of iced coffee. Indeed they could, and we cooled off as we got hopped up by drinking a large iced espresso each, and began our drive out of France.

Shunning the fancy (and expensive) autoroutes, Adelle picked out a local road. It went through miles and miles of beautiful farmland without either villages or services. All we saw were the green and tan carpets of crops on all sides. Our destination for the evening was a town called Maubeuge, which is only a short way from Mons in Belgium and therefore on our way back to Amsterdam. The instructions to get to the campground were from the north. It said that the site was on Route N2 just north of city center. We were south of the city on Route N2, so that looked very promising. Only when it came time to get into the city center, Route N2 disappeared. We took another route in, and couldn’t find the right road. We finally stopped at the equivalent of a Home Depot and asked the cashier about the site, and she told us to reverse direction, go the first round-about and take the third road. We were there in ten minutes, somehow back on Route N2 on our way to Mons.

Of course, we spent the night in the campground first, and of course, stopped at the Carrefour Supermarche to buy the last things we can buy in France. You wouldn’t want us to go hungry, would you?

Letter 22 from Europe RV trip

We had no high hopes for the city of Rochester, and were we surprised by it! There was a castle, a cathedral and lots of interesting buildings. One of the things that caught our attention in the cathedral was a plaque commemorating the deaths of English military men killed in campaigns in India and in Khartoum.

The buildings were interesting not only because of their architecture, but because Rochester’s buildings figure heavily in Charles Dickens’ work. He lived near this city as a boy and close to it once he became a major literary figure. Many of the stores bear names from his books, of course, but even more than that, some of the buildings he described in his books are still there. Since Ron is a great fan of Dickens, this turned out to be a great day.

We saw was the mansion, Restoration House, that served as Dickens’ model for the mansion owned by the demented jilted bride, Miss Havisham, in “Great Expectations”. Down the street was the huge house, named Eastgate, that was the model for Westgate House in “The Pickwick Papers”, and also for the Nun’s House in “Edwin Drood”.

The Guildhall Museum had a very nice exhibit of Victorian life and artifacts, and , in a separate wing, it also had a very extensive collection of neolithic and later artifacts, including a 200,000 year old huge flint axe head that one could actually touch.! The edges were still very sharp.

We had a late lunch “at home” and headed for the small market town of Faversham, which we know to be a lovely town with 500 buildings interesting enough to be “listed” as historical. We found the campground without a problem and settled in. It was on a farm with a farm house dating from 1547. That campground had many cherry trees with ripe cherries still on them. You were not supposed to pick any, but we can tell you that they were delicious.

On Friday morning we’d go into town. The proprietor of the campground said that we could park the motor home in town and gave us directions to a lot that she thought could accommodate the RV. But when we did go into town, we found that there was no place where we could put the motorhome while we walked around. That was partly because spaces were too small, but also because it was market day.

We didn’t have a lot of time because we had tickets for a Friday ferry back to France. We simply got back on the road and drove to Canterbury. We followed signs for parking that showed a coach (bus) and a motorhome ikon– and we found that there really was a parking lot where we could park. It was very close to the Cathedral. We’ve been in Canterbury before, so when we saw the cost of touring the Cathedral, we passed. It would have cost nearly $18 for us to walk into the Cathedral! Good thing we saw it in 2003.
Apart from the impressive and very old architecture, this Cathedral also was where Thomas Beckett, then Archbishop of Canterbury, who defied his long-time friend King Henry II, was murdered at prayer by four Knights who may or may not have been ordered to do the dirty deed by Henry himself. The exact spot is identified in the Cathedral.

We walked around and then read the Tourist Office information about Canterbury. There was a Roman museum just a few minutes away from the center of town. We opted for that. The cost was only about two pounds just under $4.00) each, for OAP’s (Old Age Pensioners), and we qualified.

It was very interesting even though we’ve seen lots of the same stuff before. This museum had a couple of tricks up its collective sleeve. First, they have a very good idea, from excavations, of how the town looked in A.D. 150 and how it looked when the year A.D. 300 rolled around. There were excellent illustrations showing how the town had grown and prospered.

Second, many of the artifacts that they found were incorporated into displays showing people in their shops. Mannequins were dressed appropriately, and the craftsmen’s wares were shown. Then we came to what is called “the Roman villa under your feet”.

It turns out that while everyone has known for a very long time that Canterbury was a Roman town, the big impetus to finding the remains of a villa was the bombing of the city in WWII. When repairs were being made, they discovered the villa under the modern buildings that had been destroyed. The town then put a building up over the villa, and that is the main display in the museum.

Finally, the museum used a computer program to show how the house had looked at its beginnings, and how it looked 300 years later when it apparently was abandoned when Canterbury was no longer associated with Rome.

We left after seeing the museum. It seemed to us that if we just showed up at the ticket office at the ferry to Calais early, they might get us onto an earlier sailing. Otherwise we had tickets for a six o’clock ferry which got in an hour and a half later. To make matters worse, English time is one hour behind European time. That meant that we’d be getting in at 8:30 p.m. It is still light then, but finding a campground so late at night would be much more difficult.

There was some difficulty, but the charming man at the check-in counter arranged for us to take the ferry that left at 5 p.m. Now we reached shore at 7:30 p.m. – much better! We decided to try for a campground only 30 minutes away. We got to the town of Ardres at 8:15 – and were turned down at five different campgrounds – all of which were full. We had realized that there might be a problem since July 14 is Bastille Day – France’s biggest holiday – and the beginning of a week-end, but five turn downs seemed like a lot. It was after 9 when we finally got to a suburb of St. Omer and saw a sign that said that the Mayor welcomes you to the municipal campground that can be found at the Café. We drove on, following the signs for what we thought was a long way, and were convinced we’d either missed it or it was closed, when a campsite sign appeared. We had found our safe harbor for the night.

Letter 21 from Europe RV trip

There’s really no way to describe the two museums,(The Natural History and the Pitt-Rivers) except to say “Wow”. We stopped at the Natural History Museum first because we wanted to see the Stonesfield Meglasaurus. Yes, it was found in the village where Nicky and Harry live. Long ago, that town had been the source of very fine slate for roof tiles. The fossil bones were found in the early 1800’s but not named for another decade or so. It was, in fact, the first set of fossil bones to be called with the identifying “saurus”. At the time, no one knew what it was or how old it was.

Coincidentally, Ron just read a book about the amateur scientists who collected these specimens in the early 1800’s. (The book is called “The Dragon Seekers”) For quite a while these discoverers tried to fit the fossils into the Bible’s view of the origins of life by theorizing that God had made the most primitive animals first, progressing ever onward through the reptiles and then the mammals until His crowning achievement of man. But later, when the bones of a human were found in a layer that also contained the bones of a mammoth (indicating that they were alive at the same time), people were forced to rethink the ever onward and progressive theory of the creation of life. The bones of both the human and the mammoth that made up the challenging find were also there in the Natural History Museum. All this was pre-Darwin.

There were a lot of great exhibits of dinosaurs, geology, mineralogy etc. and a great description of the meeting of the Royal Society of Geographers in the 19th century when Charles Darwin’s ideas were expounded. It was apparently a very raucous meeting. That’s no surprise!

Then we wandered into the Pitt-Rivers Museum. This is an experience, not a visit. Pitt-Rivers was an archeologist and he collected things. Lots and lots of things. So many things that his collection alone numbered 20,000 items! Now the museum owns over half a million items! What kinds of things? Musical instruments, canoes, sleds, religious artifacts, things pertaining to death rituals, war items, clothing, paddles, crafts to name just a few. Theses came from all over the world. It was overwhelming. We’ve never seen such a huge collection of material. It was displayed in glass cases, each containing similar items and there were hundreds of cases. We agreed that you’d need a week just for that part of the museum.

When we were getting really tired, at about 3:30 p.m., we took the bus back to the Park & Ride where we had left our motor home and Nicky’s car, and said good-bye to Nicky, who returned home in her car. We got into the motorhome and left to drive to Henley-on-Thames, where we knew there was a campground. It wasn’t a long drive, and we could relax a bit after a very hot day touring Oxford.

In the morning, we took the RV to the parking lot of a large supermarket and paid the fee to stay in the lot for two hours. We have found this is a new wrinkle in England. Many supermarkets have combined with the town authorities, and made their parking lots into “Pay & Display” lots. You pay for as long as you want – and the supermarket gives you credit for an hour’s free parking if you actually shop. Then we walked the short distance into town.

It was a very pretty little city on the Thames above London. We walked down to the river. There were some nice buildings, and the river (even without the regatta sculls) was lovely. On the street, we saw a very rare, Ron thinks, Jaguar sportscar with a raised backfin in back of the driver’s seat, took some pictures, got back into the car and headed east for the city of Rochester.

Letter 20 from Europe RV trip

We arrived at the summer house in late afternoon on Friday, were given a tour of the house, and then had dinner. That night, we watched a movie the modern way – on a home entertainment screen. On the schedule was the new version of “Pride and Prejudice”. Verdict: two approvals (from both men) and two disapprovals (from both women). Those two women of course are big Jane Austin fans – and they weren’t happy with the so-called “modernization” of the story. Still aren’t! Too many extraneous “art movie” scenes! Some people are never happy.

Saturday morning was spent in the house, working on letters and pictures on the computer. Afterwards, we went just a short distance down the road to a museum. The barn red farm buildings dated from as long ago as 400 years. There were 6 or 7 buildings, including barns, and one out-house that seemed to be communal since it was a five holer. (Incidentally, Swedish barn red color is derived from paint with cuprous oxide, a very good preservative and anti-foulant. In the US it was used to mix in paints for boat hulls when boats were made of wood. That’s why the norm for houses all over Sweden even now is a red brick-colored wooden house with white trim and a reddish-orange tile roof). Once there had been a farm village on the site, but the government had decreed that villages had to break apart because there were too many fires when the houses were close together. So farm houses were built fields apart. These were then used for many years by employees of the local iron mill. When the mill closed, the buildings were turned over to a local preservation group. Mats and Helena had walked around the grounds of this museum several times. This time, as we looked in the windows of the houses, a lady approached us and asked if we’d like to see the inside of the buildings.

Of course, the answer was yes, so she went into the main building and returned with a bunch of huge, antique keys. The oldest house had belonged to a poor farm family. One was fixed up as a cobbler’s home. Another was newer and the residents had been wealthier. The museum’s collection included lots of donated artifacts – such as the pole with a neck manacle at the end of it that had been used by a resident policeman to control perps. It had a metal circle that could be positioned on a prisoner’s neck to keep him from escaping. There were dishes, pots, beds, and everything else people owned, including musical instruments. Perhaps the most interesting artifact was the nail violin. This was a board with nails in particular patterns. It was held close to the body and played by pressure from a bow against the nails. Never heard of such a thing before.

One house had a series of paintings made by a local artist whose name is still well-known in Sweden. Some of them were illustrations of bible stories, but others were more about life at the times. Even less wealthy people used wall paintings to decorate their homes. There were decorations in all the buildings. The entire complex was very interesting, and we enjoyed seeing it, but it really reinforced our basic thankfulness at being born at a good time in a good place! The Swedish peasant had a very hard life.

Another house had two beds built into a curtained inside wall for adults and several small window seats on the outside wall. The children slept in those window seats, snug as a bug could be sleeping against an outside wall that had very little insulation.

Before we left the museum, we had coffee and ice cream. Gotta keep up traditions (especially about ice cream). Then we returned home, had dinner and watched another movie. This one was a French movie about World War I. It was called “A Very Long Engagement”. It is a very interesting mix of a war movie, a love story, a mystery, and a historical account of WWI, both funny and sad. Very nice.

Sunday did seem a bit cooler and Mats and Helena offered the possibility of a flea market after Ron brought up the subject. So off we went in search of a few good fleas. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any markets open. In Sweden, flea markets apparently are open on Saturday, but closed on Sunday. But we did find an abandoned iron mill that had been made into an industrial museum. After that visit, we went out for pizza! As a matter of fact, the Swedish pizza made by an Iranian immigrant was very good. Afterwards, we went shopping in the supermarket next door to the pizza parlor, and then returned to the summer house. After dinner, we decided to walk through the national park just across the street.

It was also an abandoned mill site. It consists of a large collection of really beautiful buildings and including the remains of the steel mill, the remains of a flour mill, stables, a mansion and more. Most had been built on the river in the 1800’s. They were rescued from deterioration, repaired and painted white and now are a busy conference center. Very nice, indeed. The only untoward note was the presence of large numbers of mosquitoes and other flying insects. They didn’t bother us, because we had sprayed ourselves with anti-insect spray, but they sure were a nuisance. It’s not at all surprising that there are so many. There are rivers, lakes and other bodies of water everywhere in Sweden. There is no way to avoid standing water.

By the time we had finished our tour of the mill area, it was late. We knew we had to go to bed early, because we needed to leave for the airport at 6:30 A.M. so there was no movie that night. Of course, we didn’t go to bed early because we were talking, but we did try. Our week in Sweden had been even more enjoyable than we had expected, We are going to miss our Swedish friends.

Getting back from Sweden was quite easy. Mats and Helena drove us the long distance to the airport. On the way, Mats had to fill the gas tank on his VW sedan. The pump stopped at 800 Swedish crowns because that is all the credit the pump allowed. That is over $100 in American money and it was not enough to fill his tank! Talk about a thrilling experience.

We had time for coffee before our plane, and went through both security and passport control easily, although Adelle set off the buzzers as usual. That is an unanticipated result of two knee replacements. When we handed the passport to the Swedish official, he remembered us from the flight from England, and he asked how we had enjoyed our week! The plane took off on time and landed at Luton Airport on the dot. Then we walked forever to get to the English passport control officer. English airport designers seem to be excessively fond of long corridors leading only to more long corridors.

We didn’t have too long a wait for the bus that would return us to Oxford, but it was ten minutes late. When the driver made his announcements, he said that the highway situation was worse than usual and he expected to arrive in Oxford about forty minutes late. As it happened, he was only thirty minutes late, but before we figured out where to catch the bus from Oxford to Stonesfield, the correct bus had left the station. We had a cup of coffee and waited for the next one, and arrived back in Stonesfield at about 5 p.m. We had spent an entire day traveling.

We had dinner with Nicky, Fay and Lily, and then talked for a while about what we’d done while we were away, what they’d done in our absence, and what we planned to do in the morning. Nicky took us to task for not mentioning the most outstanding part of our visit to the ruined manor house that we mentioned in Letter 18, and so we are going to describe the dovecote of what was once called Minster Lovell.

We only remembered the name of this place after the later conversation. While sitting in the living room, we looked up information on the ruins – and this time, the name stuck at least for a while! Perhaps that’s because at least one of the owners of the house was described in the booklet as a powerful and well-known “lord”.

The dovecote was the only part of the complex that was not in ruins. We’ve always heard the term “dove cote” but never had any real knowledge of what it is. This one was an enormous stone and brick circular building with nesting spaces—literally holes in the walls-- for probably 1,000 birds on the inside. There was a roof but it didn’t close the space off. The birds could certainly fly out. The size of the whole thing was amazing. We still can’t get our minds around the idea of “keeping” so many birds. We assume that they were raised for food – but for how many people?

Then the conversation turned to the next morning, and Nicky offered to accompany us on a tour of Oxford. We gratefully accepted. Good thing she came with us. We’d never had had time to see all we did if we’d been on our own. Oxford is crowded, confusing and beautiful. We walked past some of the many colleges (which were handsome); saw the Oxford Camera (a circular building open only to students); and the Bodleian Library (probably spelled wrong), which was enormous. The buildings were old and beautiful. We couldn’t help feeling that they added panache to the education. We went into the Cathedral that had been the original Oxford College, now St Mary’s Church. As it got bigger, so many centuries ago, “new” buildings were added and the Cathedral returned to being a place of worship.

This Church played a very important role in the history of modern Protestantism. John Wesley first preached about his conversion in this church after which he became persona non grata here but still managed to found Methodism. John Keble started the Oxford movement here. It moved the Anglican Church closer to Catholicism by preaching the return to the orthodoxy of the “old church” and a renewed authority of the priesthood, both things that had been anathema to the thinkers and doers who had produced the Protestant reformation.

A person would need a week to see everything in Oxford. We only had one day, so we only visited the Natural History Museum and the Pitt-Rivers Anthropology Museum, since they are housed in the same building. We’ll try to describe that experience in the next letter.

Letter 19 from Europe RV trip

We didn’t get into Vasteras Airport until 9:30 p.m. Swedish time – which is one hour later than English time. We’ve been in Stockholm before, but we had come by ferry. We had never seen the green fields, huge stands of trees and frequent bodies of water from the air. The landscape looked very much like flying into Minneapolis.

We flew in on RyanAir, an airline that provides a new and pretty good definition of “no frills”. The plane had only coach seats and these were leather but did not recline at all. And there was no pocket with an airline magazine on the backside of the seat in front of you. You bought any food or drink you needed. But it was extremely inexpensive—about $250 for the two of us round trip for a two-hour and 10 minute flight. Almost half of that price was tax! And everything was on time—check in, and take off and landing was 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

Our Swedish host, Mats, was there to meet us, and we drove the 10 Swedish miles to his apartment in Stockholm. What’s a “Swedish mile”? A metric mile or ten kilometers, which is really 6.2 miles! That means this remote airport is about 60 miles from the city! Although it was 10 p.m. by the time we started driving, there was still ample daylight for us to see the heavily wooded area that we drove through. This part of Sweden is farther north than England.

Mats and Helena had arranged for us to stay in an “overnight room” owned by their apartment complex for the use of house guests of the tenants. This was part of an apartment that had been turned into a multi-use conference area for the tenants’ use. We’ve never seen a common room like this one. It had a fully equipped kitchen, including matched dishes for at least thirty guests, a full line of glasses of all kinds for a large group, and everything in-between. We had use of these other rooms as well. Our bedroom had a lock on it, which came in handy when we left for the day. After arranging to meet Mats at his apartment in the morning, we opened the dinner we had bought in Marks & Spencer in the Luton airport before we left England, ate in the kitchen and went to bed. We got up next morning to find that summer had really come to Sweden. It was very hot all the time that we were there—in the nineties.

Mats and Helena live in a suburb of Stockholm, about a 30 minute subway ride into the city center. Their apartment has a balcony and overlooks a lake that is open to the Baltic Sea. The view from the balcony where we sat after dinner is very pretty and also interesting due to the boats traffic, both recreational and commercial, that is almost constantly passing by. The evenings were cool and very pleasant. We would sit there talking until 10 or 10:30-- and it never got very dark. Then we would take the short walk back to our room at the other end of the apartment complex.

On Tuesday and part of Wednesday, Helena had to go to work, so Mats was our tour guide. On Tuesday morning we set off with Mats to catch a ferry that would take us to Birka – a Viking settlement on an island not far from Stockholm that once had been a thriving trading community but had been abandoned a very long time ago. Our fare included an English speaking guided tour, the museum and anything else that the park offered. The guided tour began at 1:15, and it lasted for about an hour. It started out to be all up hill – but of course, the way back was much easier – all downhill. The guide explained about Viking burials, walked us up a steep hill to several mounds that are really burial mounds on the hillsides, talked about the known history, pre-Christian and Christian. There was also a Viking village on the site, with costumed interpreters making (and selling) Viking goods.

Although we had already heard many of the things that the guide talked about (such as Viking burial practices where the deceased and his goods, including even a ship were cremated), there was a lot that was new to us. One of the most interesting of the things that we learned was that only a very small percentage of the Nordic people could be called Vikings. Ron remembers a 2 or 3% figure. Vikings were really only the warrior class – but they sure made their presence felt. Most of the people in Scandinavia were just like anyone else – farmers, carpenters, artisans, etc.

Much of what is known about the society that the Vikings created in Birka comes from the written descriptions of an Arab traveler. He was clear that they were barbarians, citing such practices as their morning ablutions. The chief got the bowl of water for cleaning faces first – and he cleaned his face, spit in the water, sneezed in it and passed it on to the next man who did exactly the same thing. The last Viking in the row didn’t exactly get a clean bowl of water! We also learned about their slow conversion to Christianity and were able to view a large number of really beautiful artifacts that have been uncovered.

On Wednesday, we took the subway into Stockholm so we could walk around Gamla Stan – the old city on an island. First stop was the basement of the palace where there is a museum about the kings of Sweden. We learned a lot about them, and about the wars that Sweden participated in. Then we walked to a square that we remembered from our last trip. We were just in time to see the equivalent of the changing of the palace guard. It was a hoot. Music was provided by a terrific military band. The uniforms of the soldiers were antiques, and the marching in double time and goose stepping was fun to watch. Then, lunch time.

Before beginning our long walk along the waterfront into the modern city, we had what would become our daily ice cream break. A little after three, we met Helena as she left work to begin a four week vacation. Next stop was a museum that had been willed to the city by the wealthiest woman in Sweden in the 1930’s. She gave the city the enormous building and all her collections which included porcelain, weapons of all kinds, paintings, a Steinway piano with a specially built box with gold trim, remarkable marquetry on walls (one beautiful composition in one corner of a room consisted of over 40 different woods) and furniture, painted ceilings and walls, etc. It was a palace without a queen! After a cup of coffee to revive ourselves, the four of us went “home” by subway.

Next morning we were off to the king’s “other” palace, Drottningholm (as opposed to the one in the center of Stockholm), the grounds of which are open to the public. We did not even attempt to go into the palace (although it is apparently open). We had all we could do. First stop was a theater that had been built by the king in the late 1700’s. That particular king was really stage struck. Not only did he act (and direct) in this theater, but he organized huge “tournaments” in which members of his court dressed up in costume and played out a rescue-a-damsel-from-a-tower play. There were paintings of such an event in one of the rooms of the theatre, showing large numbers of dressed up courtiers in front of enormous painted scenery.

But that king’s politics was not well liked by members of the nobility. At a masked ball in Stockholm, the king was assassinated. The royal family soon closed up the theatre and it just sat there on the grounds of the palace. As a result, when it was opened in the 20th century, it was a time capsule, a 1760 state-of-the-art theatre, unlike any other. It has never been upgraded, modernized or changed.

They now stage operas and ballets in the theater. As one was in rehearsal, we couldn’t go backstage, but we toured the rest of the rooms, and saw a movie showing how they change the scenery by turning a huge capstan underneath the stage that worked a complicated system of ropes and pulleys. Still works fine! We also toured the rooms in the theater that had been used as bedrooms by various people involved with the theater, from the architect to stars of productions. Wallpaper, decorations, all was more than 250 years old.

The theater wasn’t the only thing on the grounds, of course. They were French gardens (very formal), English gardens (more natural), fountains, a Chinese palace with a pseudo-Turkish guardhouse, thousands of linden trees on paths, and miles of walking trails. By the time we got back to the apartment complex, we were ready to rest before dinner.

On Friday we began the journey to our hosts’ summer home. Our first stop was the largest private palace in Sweden. We didn’t tour the inside, but we did spend quite a while on the first floor where there were very interesting displays of things that the first owners had collected. Most interesting to us were the maps and information about the Swedish Colony in the New World (around Delaware Bay), but there were maps, globes, navigational tools, antique books and more. Then Ron and Mats went to view a collection of antique cars – while Adelle and Helena sat and talked in the shade of the trees.

There was one more stop before the summer home, the Swedish city of Uppsala. After visiting the Cathedral, we stopped for our daily ice cream tasting. The Cathedral had begun life as a Catholic institution, but had been turned into a Protestant Cathedral when Sweden changed its religion. Although there are many ancient tombs in the Cathedral, more modern people were honored, like Dag Hammerskold.
It was quite beautiful but different from any cathedral we’d seen. No damage done by religious extremists and considerably less decoration than others.

Letter 18 from Europe RV trip

Our hosts had a busy weekend planned for us. We got to Stonesfield on Friday afternoon. We had a few hours before dinner, so we got a tour of the village and a look at the scarecrows that had been made by people in the village for a scarecrow contest to be judged the next day. We went with Nicky to see her “allotment” – parcels of land that people in the village were given to grow vegetables. Luckily, Adelle even was able to get a hair cut at a beauty salon in the village. Then, after dinner, we were off to the first planned event – a musical evening at the church. Anna, the Holland’s youngest daughter was going to be playing a cello solo.

We enjoyed the concert. The fact that such a small community (600 houses) was able to provide so much talent was a little surprising. Some of the performers, however, did come from nearby communities.

Saturday was very busy and very hot. We were scheduled to attend the village fete from one p.m. to half past three, and then we needed to hurry home to watch the England-Portugal soccer game of the World Cup Series with Lily, Faye and Anna, all of whom are rabid fans.

The fete was similar to a school carnival – except that different charities and local organizations ran the booths. There were all kinds of games, a barbecue tent, homemade goodies and a booth serving a cream tea. Nicky had volunteered to be part of a booth running a game where there were lots of prizes. At 30 pence per throw, they raised about 58 pounds for a charity which pays to educate orphans in Africa (Cecily’s Fund). Both Lily and Faye helped at the booth part of the time.

We had no “jobs” to do, so we just wandered around with Harry and Anna, ate ourselves silly, watched everyone having a good time at the various booths and talked to people. We were really pleased to have struck up a conversation with a couple from Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire). We had wondered if Hartford, Connecticut, where Ron was born, had a connection to Merry Old England. Now we knew.

The local fire brigade was at the fete so that the children could sit on the fire engine. About an hour before the fete was slated to end, the firemen put on protective suits (which must have been very hot indeed). Then they took out the firehoses and turned them on. With much joy and much screaming and shouting, the kids ran in and out of the showers the hoses made. Then the tugs-of-war began on the wet lawn. Again, much excitement. Everyone seemed to have had a good time. The last “event” of the day was the announcement of which scarecrow had won the contest, and the names of those who had won the various lottery prizes.

By 3:30 we had walked home and were arrayed before the TV set to watch England lose to Portugal in an overtime match that ended up being decided on what amounts to “free throws”. There were a lot of very disappointed young people in that house and all over England.

On Sunday we had planned to spend the day exploring Oxford. We decided not to leave the house after realizing that the temperature was going to be in the 90’s all day. Too hot to be a tourist. Instead, we spent a quiet day at home, only leaving in the evening to drive through some lovely off-the-beaten-path villages in the area, and visit the ruins of a 14th century manor house. We had a drink in a pub overlooking the entire valley and then brought in Chinese food for a very late dinner.

On Monday, we got ourselves ready to use public transit to get to the airport in Luton which is north of London. We had tickets on a 6:40 p.m. flight on RyanAir to Stockholm. Since the areas around the airport are subject to long traffic jams, we planned to get there early. We left Stonesfield at 10:40 a.m. on the bus to Oxford. We had ten minutes to catch a bus (to the airport), and a chance to get the next bus in an hour. After that, the service became less frequent, and we might not have made it to the airport on time. So, of course, we made the first bus and got to the airport at lunch time for a 6:40 p.m. flight! No problem. We had lunch, read our books, etc. and at 4:40 p.m. when RyanAir opened its windows for that flight, we were in line. Then we had to go through the departure process. At 6 o’clock, we were in line for the flight.