Monday morning we left De Lakens camping heading for Keukenhof Gardens, another lengthy drive of about 22km.
Our time in Zandvoort, the seaside resort just south of the camping, was limited to an early morning drive through. Nothing was open so we weren’t tempted to stop, especially since the coastal weather was overcast, chilly and windy.
We had an uneventful drove on one of the national highways towards Lisse, outside of which lies world renowned Keukenhof.
As its brochure says “Keukenhof is the most beautiful spring garden in the world! More than 7 million tulips, daffodils and hyacinths fill over 32 hectares (that’s 79+ acres in America-speak) with color and fragrance

The pavilions feature spectacular flower shows. Discover the latest trends in gardening and get new ideas from our inspirational gardens.” And boy, they ain’t whistling Dixie!
The name Kuekenhof means kitchen garden and it is on 15th century hunting grounds of a castle once owned by a countess. The garden grew herbs that supplied the castle, thus its name origin. In 1949 the mayor of Lisse established the garden with the idea of presenting a flower exhibit where growers from all over the Netherlands could show off their hybrids and help the Dutch export industry.
This visit was our second and it was as spectacular as we remembered. If ever you are coming to the Netherlands, try to come in the spring and see this wonderful attraction. It is only open for 8 weeks, usually late March to late May, a little early for some tourists, but oh so worth it. And get this – after those 8 weeks, the 7 million bulbs are dug up and the whole garden gets recreated the next year!
After several hours of serious garden envy, we had to decide where to spend the night.
We are toying with a trip theme of visiting as many UNESCO World Heritage sights as we can.
Several kilometers to the south of Keukenhof are the Kinderdijk a remnant of the days when windmills were the major source of power in the Netherlands. They are also UNESCO sights. Along the path to see them lies Delft, that oh-so-famous town known for its blue and white “Delftware.” It is also the home town of Jan Vermeer the 17th century artist who painted, among many other masterpieces, Girl with a Pearl Earring. You may remember it from the movie starring Scarlett Johansson.
We love Delft and we especially love DelftseHout, the camping we always stay at when we are near Delft.

I think we love the camping so much because it was the third one we every stayed at in Europe – the previous two being Berenkuil in Utrecht, and Gaasper camping in Amsterdam – and it had the most welcoming feel. It was clean and compact and the first camping to have all the amenities included in the price: hot showers, toilet paper, laundry and within walking distance of Delft centrum (city center). It is still all those things. Because we like Delft so much we decided to stay three nights.

The weather cooperated beautifully for our stay: sunny clear skies with temps in high 50s and no wind. We walked into town with the specific intent of visiting the fish market and having a lunch of fresh raw herring – a Dutch specialty we were introduced to in 2008. The fish market was established in 1347 and they are still serving a variety of fresh fish. We also tried kibbeling -battered pieces of deep fried fish – another favorite among the locals. Both were very tasty, but being partial to sushi, we preferred the herring.
The great market square in Delft centrum, like so many European city squares, is a large open space surrounded by buildings 200-400 years old. The Nieuwe Kerk, (New Church) completed in 1496 takes center stage in the market square, while the Old Church, a block or two over, was founded in 1246.

Wednesday, 5/10/17
We got bikes! We got BIKES!! We’ve been looking for bikes since we arrived. We thought we’d buy used ones since we would not be keeping them but we couldn’t find any and new bikes are quite pricey, so we didn’t know how to proceed. Today we found new bikes for a price we were willing to pay and…WE GOT BIKES!

It’s hard to imagine how convenient bikes are in Europe. Driving a camper van to a store every time you need something is inconvenient as hell, especially when you are all set up in a camping for the day. Your basic mode of transportation is walking (even to public transportation) and while there is nothing wrong with that – in fact it is a good thing – your range can be limited by distance and time. With a bike your range expands by leaps and bounds. WE GOT BIKES!! Who needs a tow car, we got bikes!
That became the event of the day. We tooled around town on our bikes, delighted with ourselves.
It is supposed to rain for the next couple of days, but Kinderdijk is on tomorrow’s agenda regardless. Then we must find a camping supply store in Eindhoven to purchase and install a new lock on our exterior door. The lock broke and we have no way of locking or unlocking our door from the outside. You should see us entering the driver side door and crawling across the driver seat, sliding between the seats to get through the hallway and back to the door to unlock it so the other person can come in. Very ungainly.

Bruce eating raw herring

Delft town hall in Market Square

Old Church – built circa 1429

Our newest acquisition – BIKES!

And we went a whole 66K (44 miles)!! The Netherlands is small and there are many things to see in very short distances.
After a quick sneak peek at the neighborhood flea market just across the canal from Donna’s, we backed out of her driveway, followed Robert, the mechanic, to the Texaco station where he retrieved the dealer license plates and bid us farewell. The Netherlands – and perhaps other nations as well – has a new-to-us ruling that diesel vehicles older than 2001 can no longer drive in town centers, due to the exhaust. Donna tends to sell vehicles older than 2001 but she lives within the “green zone” so to keep from receiving 90 euro tickets as she transports vehicles in and out, she temporarily attaches her dealer license plates to get around the system.

It felt so good to get out on the open road. As accommodating as Donna was, her driveway had a small worldview and we were glad to expand our perspective.
In order to get accustomed to driving the van, we opted to take the A2 freeway on our way towards Haarlem. Normally we shy away from the larger, busier roadways, preferring the national highway systems or even more local roads, but today was day one and getting comfortable driving was paramount.
By the way, we chose a name for our camper. We are accustomed to naming our rigs and needed to come up with one for this guy. Our first VW camper was named Queenie after NL Queen Beatrix because we arrived on Queen’s Day 2000. Our second VW camper was named Lily because she was white. This van was masculine – our first – and, since we arrived on King’s Day, we’ve named him Willem Alexander after the king. We’ll call him Willy – or if he pisses us off WILLEM A!!
Originally our idea was to go to Lisse where Keukenhof Gardens is, but Donna suggested the roadways would be horribly busy because of the holiday, so we altered our plans.
We have joined the ACSI camping club – which gives a considerable discount for camping in the low season

Studying the ACSI books, we found a camping (as they are called in Europe) near the beach (the Netherlands face the North Sea) and about 6k from Haarlem.

Its called Kennemer Duincamping De Lakens and I swear it is the same camping we stayed at on our first trip in 2000!! It has gotten a lot more sophisticated than when we were last here but the location is correct, it looks the same and the name is the same except for the addition of De Lakens. The low season rate is 19€ night; half the nightly rate without the ACSI card.
European camping is a bit different than camping in the RV parks in the states. It is more like camping at state campgrounds with partial hookups.There are no water hookups or sewer, but there is electrical. There are shower and WC blocks, usually a restaurant, a grocery store and a laundry. Campings are everywhere, I used to say the middle class European uses campings like Americans use Motel 6 or 8.
De Lakens amenities includes 16A electric (plenty for European standards). It has free hot showers that last as long as you want. If past trips hold true, most showers at campings cost 1€ for 3-6 minutes (I learned to wash body and hair fast, a trait I didn’t forsake once back home), so free showers are a luxury to be enjoyed to the fullest. Toilet paper is included. Don’t look shocked – toilet paper is often missing in campings, everyone carries the little packages of tissue just to be on the safe side. (A fact we had forgotten even though I packed them in Willy – they do one no good if one don’t bring them to the toilet.)
Duincamping is just as the name says; camping in the dunes. Our area is shared with 4 other campers in a flat space surrounded by bushy dunes. The whole campground has well over 500 pitches (campsites)
We paid for two nights but we think we will make it three

Today we washed ourselves and our clothes. Tomorrow we will go into Haarlem and Sunday we’ll visit Zandvoort, a beach town that reminded us of Santa Cruz, CA when we last visited it. Monday we’ll go in search of the tulip fields, which happen to be about 20K away. I said this country is small!

5/6/17

Saturday we took the bus from the camping into Haarlem. Because it was Saturday, the weekly open air market was going. Europe is the originator of farmers markets. For centuries markets and fairs were the way people traded goods. I don’t know how often markets were open in the Middle Ages but today every town has market day once or twice a week.
All sorts of delightful offerings were on display today including vegetables and fruits, cured meats, cheeses, breads and pastries, candies, brick oven pizzas and to-go meals as well as dry goods from shoes to handbags to clothes.
The Haarlem market is in in the Grote Markt a large open square flanked by beautiful historical buildings and the magnificent Grote Kerk van St Bavo (what a mouthful!) a cathedral with a pipe organ that is 30 meters high (98ft) and has 5068 pipes. The church was consecrated in 1559, the organ was built in 1735 and Handel, Mendelssohn and a 10 year old Mozart are among the famous musicians who have played the organ. The famous artist Frans Hal is buried in the floor of the church.
We are still getting used to marathon walking and I wanted to find an Aldi store (owners of Trader Joe’s, by the way). We were looking for one of those magnet screen doors for Willy and an advertisement said they were for sale Saturday only at Aldi.

Our trusty TomTom GPS (henceforth to be called Tomy) directed us the long way to the store. We walked along a canal with a working, or at least moving, windmill.

There were no screen doors, but an Action store was nearby and we scored the door and several other items we needed for the van. We’ve been wracking our brains trying to think of an equivalent U.S. store, but we’re stuck. The best I can say is it’s a store with cheap prices and lots of inventory.
We almost got lost returning to the train/bus station but finally made it back to the bus stop. By the time we returned to the camping, our backs and feet were very sore. Thank goodness for ibuprofen 800s.

These houses with their distinct gables are typical of Dutch canal houses.

Historically this former meat market was the only place where meat was allowed to be sold right up into the 19th century. Now it houses Haarlem modern art museum.

Bucolic neighborhood

Neighborhood flea market parking lot.

In celebration of Liberation Day this proud owner of a 1944 WWII messenger HD motorcycle felt the need for speed!

Netherlands Day of Remembrance

If I understand it correctly, today is the national day of honoring the dead (of WWII I think). There will be vigils and services held everywhere. Tomorrow is Liberation Day and instead of solemn vigils there will be concerts and festivities as the Dutch people celebrate their freedom from German occupation during WWII. Its interesting to me that there is still an obsession with the war that ended 72 years ago. Certainly it was a significant event in the history of the Netherlands, but the country’s history goes back many centuries; I wonder if there are other holidays commemorating other significant historical events. Seventeen years ago, on our first trip, we were in Amsterdam enjoying the commotion and excitement of the week long celebration between Kings Day and Liberation Day.
We are still at Donna’s, finishing up the last tasks on the van: installing 12V interior lights, finding a safety triangle and filling a second propane tank. Our new departure day is Friday. We’ve been at Donna’s place for a week now and its time to get going. Because of the holiday, we’ve changed our plans a bit (you can do that on an open-ended trip). We are heading to Haarlem for the weekend. The tulip fields and Keukenhof Gardens are postponed to next week.

The water leaks were repaired on Monday much quicker than we anticipated. We were breathing sighs of relief until we opened the bathroom cabinet beneath the sink and found more water lying on the shelves. It looked like our departure was to be delayed a bit longer. That was ok though because we needed to purchase a GPS with European maps and we had to find a store that sold them.

Donna, our temporary landlady and businesswoman extraordinaire, had us over for dinner Sunday night. We enjoyed a good meal and great conversation. We also learned where we could buy the GPS: Media Mart, a store that makes Best Buy look like amateur hour. Tuesday we walked several blocks to the mall Hoog Catherijne where Media Mart was and bought a TomTom Start 62 loaded with European maps. Between our printed maps and the GPS we’re pretty confident we can’t get ridiculously lost. We walked home in the rain getting chilled, but once we dried out and the rain stopped we walked to the local Aldi and Nettorama grocery stores where we started our food stock up. I feel much better when we have food in our rig, especially when stores are closed on Sundays and one forgets to prepare for it.
In the meantime, Donna’s mechanic made repairs to (hopefully) the last of the water lines. If all is working properly, we will leave Donna’s hospitality tomorrow and head for Kuekenhof Gardens, about 59km away. Hopefully the tulip fields are in bloom – imagine acre-sized squares of flowers stretching as far as the eye can see. Even if we miss the blooming tulip fields, Kuekenhof Gardens will turn the most masterful gardener green with envy. You’ll see!

After 2 months of preparation – from getting the house ready for our absence, to settling our cat in with our neighbor, who so graciously agreed to cat sitting, to final packing (Bruce) – departure day was finally upon us.
Our darling son drove us to Spokane International Airport, dropped us off and after a flurry of hugs and kisses told us to call when we needed a ride home.
Our trip was three legged: Spokane to Seattle, Seattle to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Amsterdam. The longest leg was ten hours and was surprisingly uneventful. By that I mean our economy class seats were not the most uncomfortable seats we’ve flown in and it was an overnight flight so we had the opportunity to sleep some of the flight away. One of us did, Bruce did not.We had our first view of Germany’s beautifully kept farmlands from the plane as we approached Frankfurt airport. There was an hour layover between flights to Amsterdam and we needed that hour to go through customs and find our departure gate.

By the time we disembarked at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, 17 hours after leaving Spokane, Bruce’s back was aching so badly he was having difficulty handling his 13 lb carry-on bag. Our 50 pound rolling duffle bags were way beyond our desire to lug onto and off of the train, so we opted to take a taxi to Utrecht, the neighboring town where Donna and our future “home” resided. While expensive, at 120 euros, the taxi ride was a solid investment in time and pain management.
Late Friday afternoon we had our first look at the Hymer camper van which was to be our rolling home for the duration of the trip. Larger than the VW campers we had used on our past trips, it has a rear kitchen, actual bathroom with a hand shower, 5 sleeping berths and not quite as much storage as we had hoped.
A past owner was evidently in love with all things English because they had permanently decorated the interior in a British motif. The cabinet doors were painted Union Jack blue, walls were painted white and the sides of seating areas have a London landmarks wallpaper. Its rather jarring at first glance (and at second glance) but we had been warned in advance and as long as the mechanics of the van are sound we can live with (and perhaps tone down) the cosmetics.
The previous owners had also left the van a mess. We don’t know if they left in a hurry or didn’t give a damn, but there was a lot of stuff in it.

Clothes, canned foods, extra bedding, toilet paper (toilet paper by the armload – they found a Costco and loaded up!!). The cabinets and under benches had so much stuff in them we spent the weekend emptying them just to see where we could put our stuff.

Saturday we discovered our whole water system has leaks somewhere between the freshwater holding tank and the bathroom. Turn on the kitchen faucet and water drains out onto the bathroom floor – and the toilet holding tank is full. That means no wash up water and no toilet – but we do have lots and lots of toilet paper! We cannot get on the road until it can be repaired and repairs won’t begin until Monday due to the weekend.
Current thought is the previous owner did not empty the tanks before they departed and the water lines froze during the winter.
Thankfully Donna has facilities we can use as repairs are made, but we want to get on the road. We have places to see and the clock is ticking: we are in Schengen territory and can only stay for 90 days before we must leave the Schengen Agreement countries for 90 days. It appears the refugee crisis has help reinstate border crossings and casual long-term tourists are caught up in the crackdown.

In brief – the Schengen Agreement of 1985 says non-EU visitors may stay in Schengen countries for 90 out of 180 days. If your trip is longer than 3 months you must spend the rest of the 180 days out of Schengen countries. Then the calendar resets for another 90 days within the Schengen borders.
We have traveled Europe long term two times since the Schengen Agreement was enacted and have never had any issues: in 2000 for 13 months and in 2008 for five months. This time all we are hearing is how we must respect the limitations. Our itinerary will be affected by those limitations. We have until July 26 before we must get outta Dodge for 90 days. We’ll have to decide where we shall go. Our choices outside of the Schengen area are the UK (always a favorite) and Croatia and surrounding countries.

The countdown has begun.
We are returning to Europe – and all the lovely countries within – for our third extended visit. Like our previous two trips, we will be camping our way across multiple countries by purchasing a used camper van in Utrecht, NL.
Now though, we are making lists and checking them twice, trying to cover all our bases as we prepare to be gone for an indeterminate time.
Our baggage allowance per person is 50 lbs for check-in and 13.222 lbs for carry on. We bought 2 rolling duffle bags and own two smaller carry-ones. I have been googling how to pack for longer trips using only a carry-on bag: Use packing cubes and take 7 tops, 4 pants, a dress or skirt, 3 pairs shoes, sweater and coat and make sure they can all work with each other.
I have been packing and re-packing my bags trying to eliminate frivolous clothing and necessary misc. items, but I am going to be gone for far longer than these websites suggest, and I NEED A GREATER VARIETY OF CLOTHES TO WEAR!!!! I have 12 tops, 8 pairs of pants (skort/jeans/capris), leggings (winter/summer), 4 prs shoes, 4 outer wraps (2 sweaters, rain and 2 jackets), one dress and a bathing suit.
We bought 2 large and 2 medium sized packing cubes from Amazon which have been of immense help. I’ve packed all my tops in the medium cube and pants and leggings, bathing suit and sweater in the large one.
We also have a variety of electronics and accessories as well as items to help supply our camper van that must come with us.
The bottom line is this: my duffle bag weighs 48 lbs and my carry on bag weighs 12 lbs. I have a 3 lb. cushion!
Bruce hasn’t begun to pack yet and I can’t wait to see how he does.