Homeward bound

Singapore


As luck would have it, we had five hours to waste between our connecting flights. Singapore is a great place to do it. We took a cab to the food court at the East Coast lagoon park and had chilli crab and satays with peanut sauce. It's been years since we've had chilli crab and an excellent way to cap off our holiday.

Holland - Around Almere

Almere is a new area - it was underwater until dykes were built in the 1930s. There is now a modern town, some residential suburbs and a port. It seems weird walking uphill to stand beside the water. (The town is 5 metres below sea level)

Marken
This is a very religious old fishing village of wooden houses. Apparently nothing happens on Sundays.

Broek on Waterland
This is the most expensive real estate around Amsterdam. It was once regarded as an ordinary village on swampy ground, but nowadays has been discovered by yuppies and well-off young families. It's name seems to mean swampy ground in waterland. You can't get much wetter than that.

Wrong Coffee
It's never on the menu, but it seems everybody in Holland is drinking it. If you're after a milky coffee, just ask for a koffie verkeerde (wrong coffee). If everybody's drinking it, how long before it becomes right coffee?

Holland - Leiden and Haarlem

Leiden and Haarlem are both short train trips from Amsterdam.

Leiden is famous for cheese and the university. In earlier years, it was a place of cloth manufacture. In the 1500s it was under Spanish rule until the dykes were breached and the town flooded.

The university was built there as a reward for resistance against the Spaniards.
It is also the place where pilgrims set out for the departed for what is now the USA.

It is a beautiful place with a well preserved old town on the banks of the Old Rhine river. We spent a few hours exploring and drinking coffee by the river.

Holland - Delft

Monday saw us on a train trip to Delft. We left Almere at 09:15 and were supposed to be in Delft at 10:38. It was all going great until the train hit electrical problems in Schipol. We were delayed along the way and then had to take a bus from Schipol to Leiden. In the end our journey consisted of three trains and a bus. We did finally get to Delft at midday.

Our hotel (Hotel Leeuwenbrug) was right on a canal - very picturesque. It was reasonably priced and had nice little touches like complimentary drinks and petit fois in the evening.

It's a lovely old town. We walked around for a few hours and did some shopping. There were three churches within minutes of each other - they must be very religious around here..

Holland - Amsterdam

We stayed one night at the Mercure Hotel near the airport, then on Sunday we did a canal tour around Amsterdam and met our friends Rob and Alexandra who took us for a trip to

Southern England

At the Frankfurt airport, Ingrid joked that our plane to England was a Dash8, like the ones that fly Brisbane to Rockhampton. It wasn't a joke. I was expecting something like a B737. Nonetheless our el-cheapo flight (with Flybe) got us to our destinations without any dramas. We were met by our host at Southampton airport.



We spent three days in Thatcham with some old friends of Ingrid's. They live in a three hundred year old cottage with beautiful gardens in the English countryside. Each day of our stay, we all drove to a different country pub for lunch.

We went to a place called Inkpen. I'm told that it was named such because geese that provided quills for pens came from there.




We also visited a hill with a wooden post called a gibbet on top. This gibbet was used to hang the bodies of executed thieves until they rotted away. It served as a warning to others.












We also lunched at pubs at Marlborough and Lynington. It was a great experience, just sucking in the atmosphere.

Germany - Munich

In Munich, we handed back the hire car and organised a hotel through the tourist info people. Handing in the hire car was a breeze compared with the hassle in Nice.

Our hotel was called Hotel Mirabelle, in the Turkish area, close to the station and the city. It was well priced and very central. The breakfast was very good.
Are all German railway stations surrounded by sex shops?





The pedestrian area of Munich is massive, and dotted with museums and spectacular buildings. Markets in the town square sold white asparagus for under 4 euros a kilo. So cheap.... I wish we had some way of cooking it. We had to make do with buying some asparagus soup at the food markets.





One of the most impressive city buildings is the Residence. It was home of many kings of Bavaria and includes a museum and the treasury. The opulence is mind blowing.






The Opera House was owned by the royals. They must have had a good life.








Of course no trip to Munich would be complete without a visit to the beer hall - the Hofbrauhaus. It was ounce owned by the royals, but they made it public.









A good way to pass some time.







Frankfurt



The next morning we took a train to Frankfurt where we wasted a few hours wandering around before heading to the airport. It seems that the old town of Frankfurt was almost completely destroyed during WW2. Only two old buildings remain in a sea of glass and concrete modern buildings. The one pictured is the Police station