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Alla inlägg under juli 2016

Av EvaLena Hallgren - 31 juli 2016 20:39

It's sunny and I'm at the beach and Mom promised we can stay here for 2 nights. We are by the Baltic Sea,still in Germany and Mom is thinking about what to choose, ferry or driving. There's a shorter ferry from here to Denmark and then we drive or we can take the same ferry as the one which got us here..................decisions decisions. 

For now, we are going to enjoy the newly found sun,and we'll write about the bike ride in Lubeck tomorrow ok 

Watch me swim, I had fun until it was time for clean up. I was hosed off like a regular dog at a spot that was dedicated for that purpose. I'm used to warmer water and nice smelling soap ............what IS this?

 


 

Life is good 


Av EvaLena Hallgren - 29 juli 2016 09:55

So it's Friday morning and we're back in Germany. Holland became way to expensive 78 Euros for 2 nights at a campsite, and it's against the law to park just anywhere and sleep. I don't understand that really, truck drivers can park and sleep, why not the same in an RV ? It has been nothing but rain rain and more rain so the plan to stop and explore Haag and Haarlem got scratched. I voted for no more biking around in the rain, and Mom agreed.

   

By the way, Mom was confused as to call the country Holland or Netherland, she asked and got the answer either or is OK, but that wasn't good enough for Mom so she googled and got this information, shouldn't the Dutch people know ?
The Netherlands consists of 12 provinces but many people use “Holland” when talking about the Netherlands.Holland actually only means the two provinces of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland.

Between 1588 and 1795, the area currently representing the Netherlands was the Republic of Seven United Netherlands. The republic was conquered by French troops in 1795 and became the Batavian Republic. Napoleon appointed his brother Louis as king in 1806, turning the country into a kingdom. The Netherlands remained a kingdom after Napoleon’s defeat. At that time, the area called “Holland” made the biggest contribution to the entire nation’s economy and wealth. As such it became the commonly used name to indicate the entire country.

We drove across the big dike, but since it was pouring I stayed inside Lucy and Mom was only out for a few minutes. 

 

It is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1932 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of 32 kilometres (20 mi) and a width of 90 metres (300 ft), at an initial height of 7.25 metres (23.8 ft) above sea-level.The closure Dike is a major causeway in the Netherlands,
It is a fundamental part of , damming off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea and turning it into the fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer.
Work started at four points: on both sides of the mainland and on two specially made construction-islands along the line of the future dike.

 

Previous experiences had demonstrated that boulder clay, rather than just sand or clay, was the best primary material for a structure like this, with the added benefit that till was in plentiful supply in the area; it could be retrieved in large quantities by simply dredging it from the bottom of the Zuiderzee.
From these points, the dike slowly grew by ships depositing till into the open sea in two parallel lines. Sand was then poured in between the two dikes and as it emerged above the surface was then covered by another layer of till. The nascent dike was then strengthened from land by basalt rocks and mats of willow switch at its base. The dike could then be finished off by raising it further with sand and finally clay for the surface of the dike, on which grass was planted.
Construction progressed better than expected; at three points along the line of the dike, there were deeper underwater trenches where the tidal current was much stronger than elsewhere. These had been considered to be major obstacles to completing the dike, but all of them proved to be relatively straightforward. On 28 May 1932, two years earlier than initially thought, the Zuiderzee ceased to be, as the last tidal trench, The Vlieter, was closed by a final bucket of till. The IJsselmeer was born, even though it was still salty at the time.

The dike itself, however, was not finished yet as it still needed to be brought up to its required height and a road linking Friesland and North Holland also remained to be built. On 25 September 1933, the Afsluitdijk was officially opened, with a monument designed by architect Dudok marking the spot where the dike had been closed. The amount of material used is estimated at 23 million m3 of sand and 13.5 million m3 of till and over the years an average of around four to five thousand workers were involved with the construction every day, relieving some of the unemployment following the Great Depression.

 

 

We drove for many hours and stopped to make supper and take a nap. The Dutch people seem to cover all their meat in some kind of breading, and since this looked like it would be spicy Mom bought it but it had no taste at all. Good thing Mom had lingonberries to up whatever flavor this had.
After the nap, Mom looked in her German book for a place to park and sleep and found one that looked interesting not too far away.
Anyway, in this book about rest stops for RVs they give you coordinates, not addresses, so Mom gives Alice the numbers and off we go.

     

 

Every time we pass a border, there's nothing but a small sign telling you and that feels so strange to  Mom since in the past you had to stop and get a stamp in your passport.Now it's like going to different states in the USA except here the language changes too. 

The name of this town reminded us of a politician .............;-)

 

This time, we came to the town pretty late, it was dark, and Alice told Mom to make a right turn and she did. It was a narrow cobblestone street right on a canal, and then it ended ? after a frightening 3way turn around, Mom noticed all the RVs parked on opposite side of the channel.
No problem she thought and went around and made a right turn on opposite side, and that street ended too.............damn Alice, but it's dark and Lucy will fit between those busches and nobody's around so what the hell .................but wait there's a bump but that's no problem said Mom as she downshifted and went for it.

 


Holy shit!!! that was a bar on the other side, people sitting on both side drinking. Good thing the chain wasn't there so ...............well people looked very surprised, but didn't miss a beat, they just kept on drinking ..............damn Alice

 

Luckily there was one spot left, and we quickly parked and then Mom started to laugh so hard and I never thought she'll stop. I on the other hand, was extremely embarrassed and told Mom not to do that again .........

In the morning we noticed the signs, but we didn't see them in the dark, this clearly shows one way street and no outlet.........hahaha

and lucky for us, the chain was put to the side.......

   

 

 

 

 

 


This morning there's a few glimpses of sun, and we went for a walk to see if this place is worth staying another night. 

   


it's already clouding up, so will keep going north to find another RVparking, hopefully, Alice knows the correct numbers this time 

Here in Germany you only pay between 7 to 12 Euro for a night, and if you need electricity another Euro. Sometimes they charge for water and showers too, but it's a lot cheaper than in Holland.

 

 

hold hands

 

 

 

 

   

Av EvaLena Hallgren - 27 juli 2016 22:48


wow, what a day we had.the lighter sky fooled Mom it's not better weather here it has been pouring all day. That didn't stop us, so on the bike and get going we will not melt.

The artist of this was seeing a flamingo instead of a heron 

 

 

Delft is a gorgeous city and we spent the entire day there and is known for its historic town centre with canals, Delft Blue pottery, the Delft University of Technology, painter Johannes Vermeer and scientist Antony van Leeuwenhoek

East Gate, was built around 1400. It is a lightly built gate with a high-ceilinged area on the ground floor. Shots could be fired from this room through loopholes.

 

 

all the canals are covered with a bright green goo, water is blooming

 

   

Not sure if this is something from a ceremony or if it's speed bumps, or just to look pretty , any ideas anyone ?

 

 

In an alley I found Betty Boop serving steak 

 

 

 

In 1618 the town hall burned down - only the tower and some bits of the wall remained standing.
Architect Hendrick de Keyser was commissioned to rebuild the town hall. By using the old tower and the wall remnants he managed to design a new town hall with a symmetrical design. In 1620, the reconstruction of the town hall was completed.

 

 

opposite to the City Hall is The Nieuwe Kerk ( New Church) is a Protestant church located on Delft Market Square

 

 

if you wanted to you could climb up the church tower, there's a balcony just above the clock...........we weren't even tempted

 

 

 

this market square is awesome with all the restaurants and shops. On Saturdays,we were told, there's always a green market in the square. Would be fun but not sure we stay here that long

 

       

 

Of course, there's also those souvenir rip-off shops, but not as many and gaudy as in some places.

Mom really wanted a few of those wooden tulips but at 10.00 Euro a piece ............forget it

 

     

 

Mom was in total awe at how the Dutch people parallel park ? I suppose they climb over to the passenger side to get in and out of the car ? No way no how will Mom park Lucy like this she says

 

 

here's a happy crowd  sharing war stories while having a shot or two at noon............

   



On the 3rd of May 1536 the great fire broke out. How it started exactly is not known, but it is likely that the wooden spire of the Nieuwe Kerk was hit by lightning and flying sparks set the surrounding houses on fire. Some 2,300 houses went up in flames. More than a hundred years later, in 1654, an explosion destroyed part of the city. The cellar of the former Poor Clares convent on Paardenmarkt was used to store gunpowder. This central warehouse for the region Holland contained some 80,000 pounds of gunpowder. The consequences of the explosion were enormous - two hundred houses were razed to the ground, and roofs fell in and windows were smashed in another three hundred houses. In 1660 a new gunpowder house was built about a mile outside the center.

so when rebuilt there was no wooden houses allowed.

       

we went for one of those tourist boats around the canal, it was ok, but would have been better if we knew Dutch. The guides English was limited, but he did his best.

There's really water under this green stuff

 

   

a diamond ?

 

 

 

This beautiful town had so much more to show us, but we were getting wet and cold, so we pedaled back to Lucy to dry, and now Mom spotted the birds on the field. They were too far away for any decent pictures, but now we see they are spoonbills and a stork and some kind of geese 

 

   

Time to sleep, tomorrow is another day

goodnight 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Av EvaLena Hallgren - 27 juli 2016 11:05

Leaving the last camp site in Germany Mom had to negotiate this road, a little scary but as long as she meets no one it'll be ok

 

 

 

There was a family of swans living there, and the Dad was a real mean guy, he hissed at me as soon as he saw me. I was doing nothing I swear,I don't understand but Mom tried to explain it was because he had babies and she would hiss too if she thought anyone would threaten me. Good to know. We do have each others backs.

 

   


Back on the road again Jaaaay, at a price of 474 Euro Naaaay. The reason it got so expensive is I had to change both pads and disk because it was nothing at all left of the pads and you could see the metal scraped up.
oh well, another lesson learned, which is don't break down in Germany it's impossible to get help there.
While we were waiting for Lucy we went to a type of a Diner and sat outside on a very nice patio. Mom decided to order lunch, but since she didn't understand one word of the menu she told the waitress "surprise me", and boy did she ever. Out came 3 balls and a fat sausage. The balls were brown and had some kind of brown sprinkles ? hard as a rock, but in the middle, there was a gray slimy stringy soft mush. The sausage was dark brown and had a very hard shell, the inside had the same gray slime but not quite as soft. Mom gave me some and I thought it was ok, but she was afraid I get sick if I get too much.The french fries with mayonnaise was ok. Well, Mom says if this is Dutch food, she'll be living on bread and cheese and sticky cookies.

Mom left the camera in Lucy ??? so there are no pictures from the town close to the German border named Landgraaf. It seemed so depressing, every single house was built of dark brown bricks, and their front doors are directly out in the street. Mom walked by and looked into people's homes, how they had decorated and that's rude I think.


The countryside looks just like Florida minus the palm trees. It is flat and a lot of swampy waters everywhere. I do think this must have been the week to fertilize the fields because it sure smelled yummy all the way, Mom said it smelled like shit. Again we're driving towards the brightest spot on the sky.

 

 

We passed Rotterdam not wishing to spend any time in a big city we continued on, and the sky looked a lot brighter out west.
All of a sudden Mom saw the sign for Antwerp, "it's only 30 miles, we can go to Belgium" I said NO and NO, stick with the plan for a change and she did.

 

   

We finally arrived in Delft the city Mom had in mind, and now Alice in the box had some fun with Mom. We saw a sign to a campsite, but then it was gone. Alice took over and lead us on a scenic tour, but we finally arrived. Mom made a note of a lake we passed that there was a lot of birds, and she saw several storks. Not the ugly wood stork we have, this was the pretty one with red legs.

We don't read Dutch but the picture says it all 

 


Early morning even before coffee we went for a bike ride to see if the storks are up yet, but they weren't. There was hundreds or thousands of Canada geese and lots of ducks but  not as exciting to see as a stork would have been.

 

 

 

this is one strange tent? camper? trailer ?

 

 

 


Now we're going to bike into town, looks very pretty here. No sun but at least it isn't raining

 

 

 

see you later ...............

 

 

 

 

   

 

Av EvaLena Hallgren - 23 juli 2016 22:00

In Lorelei, we found a great parking space right by the river so we stopped and went for a walk.

 

You really don't expect and cars on these narrow cobblestoned streets, but they're driving both ways on them and bikes and pedestrians, dogs altogether good thing it isn't very busy .Most cars here aren't very big and I suppose there's a reason for that.

   


Whoopi woohoo, I found a store I recognize. There was an entire wall of wine for sale in there

 


what tomato grows in perfect strings like this?

 

 

When you're driving along and you come to a sign with a red cross, it's a detour so Alice in the box goes stir crazy, and Mom are telling her to take it easy we'll get back on track eventually, but it is annoying

 

 


The Lorelei is a 132 m (433 ft) high, steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine.
The translation of the name Loreley (in German) would be: "murmuring rock". The heavy currents and a small waterfall in the area created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces to act as a sort of amplifier, giving the rock its name. The murmuring is hard to hear today owing to the urbanization of the area.

   

The rock and the murmur it creates have inspired various tales. An old legend envisioned dwarfs living in caves in the rock.In 1801, German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine. It first told the story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lore Lay, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way there , accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and thinking that she sees her love in the Rhine, falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterward.


 

In 1824, Heinrich Heine seized on and adapted Brentano's theme in one of his most famous poems, Die Lorelei. It describes the eponymous female as a sort of siren who, sitting on the cliff above the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks. In 1837 Heine's lyrics were set to music by Friedrich Silcher in the art song Lorelei that became well known in German-speaking lands. A setting by Franz Liszt was also favored and over a score of other musicians have set the poem to music.
There's countless of artists that are inspired by Lorelei and one is the composer Felix Mendelssohn began an opera in 1846 based on the legend of the Lorelei Rhine maiden for Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. However, he died before he had the chance to finish it.

Mom decided she really wanted to take a boat trip on the Rhein, and so we did. Such a gorgeous place still 95 F (34C) so here again Mom decided to order a beer while we waited for the boat to take us up the river and back. 

 

 

 

The girl in charge of tying up the boat couldn't stop cuddling with me in between the stops, and I didn't mind one bit.

 

 

This trip took us 4 hours and was well worth the 15 Euros but Mom was so stupid she forgot her spare battery for the camera, and of course she ran out of juice......oh well lesson learned

       

 

It was an awesome ride

Mom has been noticing that Lucy may have a problem with her brakes but had no luck in Germany.

We are now just over the border in Holland (we didn't even notice when we crossed the border)

and we have two repair shops that may be able to help so we are  staying at a campsite for 2 nights in a row. That hasn't happened in a long time. Feels good for a change, and Mom thinks so too.

   

 


that's all folks

Buttons

 

 

Av EvaLena Hallgren - 23 juli 2016 08:04


once again up early and this time it's even earlier than usual. Mom woke up to a very strange noise and at first couldn't figure out what it was. We had to take into a camping site since all the RV parking places were already filled up, and a guy in a tent next to us is snoring really loudly. ahhing, this is one of the reasons we don't like campsites, but it's illegal to wild camp in Germany. That on the other hand, could be questioned in an RV, since you're allowed to park it, who says I'm camping? it's a technicality,but Moms German is not good enough to argue that point with a cop, so here we are.
Anyway, the night before we stayed at a farm, way up on the mountain .Lucy really had to work hard in second gear all the way up, and Mom started to worry about next day driving down, which we also did in second gear by the way.
This was a playground and it's terrific for little kids and doesn't have to cost $60 000 like the American safety restrictive places. I'm sure an old tractor leaves much more to the kids imagination than a slide and a swing.

 

We are now continuing our drive following the river Rhein (nowhere close to Munich or a mall)


The Rhine is a river that begins in the Swiss canton of the southeastern Swiss Alps and forms part of the Swiss-Austrian, Swiss-Liechtenstein border, Swiss-German and then the Franco-German border, then flows through the Rhineland and eventually empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe (after the Danube), at about 1,230 km (760 miles) with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s (100,000 cu ft/s).

     

The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the northern inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days, the Rhine has been a vital and navigable waterway carrying trade and goods deep inland. The many castles and fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire. In the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism.
We are at the Middle Rhine which flows through the Rhine Gorge, a formation which was created by erosion. The rate of erosion equaled the uplift in the region, such that the river was left at about its original level while the surrounding lands raised. The gorge is quite deep and is the stretch of the river which is known for its many castles and vineyards. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site  and known as "the Romantic Rhine", with more than 40 castles and fortresses from the Middle Ages and many quaint and lovely country villages.

            

Every turn we make is offering another gorgeous scenery. The amazing fields of grapes growing in a pattern that makes you think of a quilt. So many castles on the mountain tops make you wonder how in the world did they manage to build like that.

        

There's a lot of vines made here, and even a museum, but we were too early it wasn't opened yet, and besides Mom are not allowed to taste any since she has to care for Lucy.

     

 


The roads are narrow and the speed limit way to fast for our taste, so we stop and let others pass as soon as it's possible. We pass so many cute little towns there's no way we can stop and explore them all because the parking is very sparse.

   

   


The internet is really starting to act up, guess more people are awake now.

I'll continue later when I get better connection ..............until then 

no worries 

 

 

 

Av EvaLena Hallgren - 21 juli 2016 07:55

All night it has been pouring rain and thunder and lightning, I was so scared I curled up real close to Mom and was shaking. Mom felt so sorry for me so she held me tight despite it getting very hot.

It's 8 am now and it looks like it's clearing up in some directions, I hope we're going that way, but according to Mom we really need to start heading North now......................ok

To continue from yesterday..................

The Heidelberg castle is a ruin and landmark. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps.

The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demolition in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is located 80 meters (260 ft) up the northern part of the Königsthul hillside and thereby dominates the view of the old downtown. It is served by an intermediate station on the funicular railway that runs from Heidelberg's Kornmarkt to the summit of the Königstuhl. We paid 8 Euros to ride up and was told walk into the castle was included, but it wasn't.

This guy also wanted money to show us around and got a little annoyed that Mom took his picture

 

     

That ticked Mom off, since they wanted more money to get into the courtyard, and an additional ticket to get inside. That was a ripoff, so we didn't bother. Besides it was too hot to really walk around anyway.   

The view of the city from here was pretty cool.  

so many awesome looking houses on the hillsides, they must be rather hazardous to get to in the winter I think, and having to run down to get something from the supermarket that you forgot, aren't done so easily either

   

 

The earliest castle structure was built before 1214 and later expanded into two castles circa 1294; however, in 1537, a lightning-bolt destroyed the upper castle. The present structures had been expanded by 1650, before damage by later wars and fires. In 1764, another lightning bolt caused a fire which destroyed some rebuilt sections. See so much lightning in this area, of course, I'm afraid.

Mom zoomed in at some balconies that she would like to have her afternoon tea......................not sure we'll get invited, but they do look real neat    this is her first choice

top balcony here is pretty good too, we could have supper there in the evening and watch the sunset over the mountain.........

 

   

Next, we went for a boat trip on the river. The boat was solar powered so no fumes or noise. Kapten Karl was very proud of his ship.

 

 


The advertisement for this trip showed some great open sandwiches and since it was lunch time Mom was looking forward to that. Now we found out that was only for groups of 20 or more ? ???

Oh well, Mom ordered a beer anyway ? I'm confused, she never does that at home ? maybe it's because ordering a beer is a sentence she knows fluently in German.......

   

 

 

   

This is a dream car Mom says, or at least she thinks so. She circled it several times and just ooh and aaah, not yodeling thank you very much. 

 

     

 

we passed this window and Mom just stood there salivating, but was good and didn't buy anything. 

As a matter of fact she hasn't bought anything at all ? no souvenir ? strange I thought.  

 

 

so it's time to say goodbye to Heidelburg and return to Ladenburg. it's 12 kilometers about 7,5 miles, not far but deadly in this heat........(34 C and 95 F)

   

Anybody interested in reading more about Heidelberg here's a link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg

The ride home was tough, it's through miles of fields and no shade at all. Our water bottles were getting warm and didn't stop the thirst.

   


corn, wheat and tomatoes on huge fields on both sides of our path

 



This is what I call a duplex, a couple on each end, no stork in sight, maybe he got evicted

 

 

 

here's a pretty cool mural in town...........

 

 

ok so it's almost 9 am now, and it's time to attach the bike to Lucy and get our stuff together and continue our trip..................to where ? I have no clue, and the funny thing is, neither does Mom 

take care all

Buttons

 

 


Av EvaLena Hallgren - 20 juli 2016 21:22

Wow, are we messed up ? TODAY is the real Wednesday, so we gained a day we didn't know we had, and what a day it has been

This is the last picture for the night, last night

 

 



Is it possible that the moon really is made of cheese ?

 

 

 

We were up early again because Mom wanted to get an early start of the bike ride  into Heidelberg

before it got too hot, so we locked up Lucy at 8 am and went on our way.

 

 

the ride was pretty but very very hot, it was 95 F (34C)and absolutely no wind, but it was in the plan soooo ???? no chicken out now.I guess I can't really complain since I was only being a lookout, Mom did the pedaling............

Pedaling along we all of sudden came upon this surprise, good thing there was a thick glass between us

 

   

nice cuddly teddy bear

 

 

 

The last part of the bike trail was right next to the river Neckar, which flows into the Rhine a few miles north west. and it was beautiful, so gorgeous I was afraid Mom would start to yodel (she has practiced in Lucy while driving, you know,but Mom says it's just lalalala to wake her up when road gets monotone)

     

 

Heidelberg is a very popular tourist town and this picture of the entrance is a given

 

    when we got over the bridge there was a crowd taking pictures of the bridge mandrill. Mom waited her turn when all of a sudden I became the attraction, and I didn't mind one bit

   


I did a good job getting people to focus on me so Mom could get the shot

 

 

 

American culture has found it's way here too, 

 

 

 

and Cuban cigars 

 

 

 

Mom really wanted to buy one of these clocks, but the price and the shipping prevented her..........it doesn't fit into our decor anywhere anyway I say, and Mom had to agree on that

 

 

The town wasn't crowded this time of day so we did some exploring, and visited the Tourist office, (and yes they spoke English and were helpful) Later in the day this square was filled with people, several groups, where the leader walks in front of the group waving a flag so the group follows. Does not look like fun.

     

On the church step was a man who introduced himself as a pilgrim, and he spoke flawless English. As a matter of fact, he recited a poem he had written (he said) that was real nice. That cost mom a Euro 

     

 

There's a lot more to this town, but it's getting late and it has cooled down so I can get my evening walk.

I'll finish this story tomorrow.............good night.

 

 



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