Antwerp - Zeeland

14th – 16th July 2007 Antwerp - Zeeland

To see photos, click on this link...http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/14th16thAntwerp

We left the rowers, runners and cyclists to it and moved on towards Antwerp, along the typical Belgian flat, dead straight and concrete roads (all with cycle routes, of course). Antwerp’s highly complex road system did for my navigation skills – and that was with Autoroute and gps!

We spent 2 free nights on an enormous cobbled carpark, on the waterfront (River Schelde) in the middle of Antwerp – yet more fab views of water and land activities - large container ships, jet skis, very giggly people smoking joints, couples getting close to doing whatever. Rick’s greatest entertainment stemmed from discovering a hotspot accessible from the van – oh joy! - although the varying signal strength occasionally meant sticking the laptop out of the roof window!

We found a super pedestrian tunnel, with cycle lifts, under the river, 0.5 km long, built in 1933 (when was the Greenwich one constructed?) and cycled into Antwerp centre – yet more impressive medieval Flemish buildings. We also discovered the Eurogames - we should have realised the pink logo was significant…..the gay games was certainly well attended; the city was bustling with life, music, entertainment. Great atmosphere. By now, it was 36 deg C.

We visited the Diamond Museum; although flashy, information was rather random and disappointing. The impressive station building (see picture) overlooks a busy square. Although not quite up to Sheaf Square standards, it did include the Zoo entrance, with camel landmark sculpture and life-size driftwood elephants!

Left Antwerp in amazing thunder and lightening and drove to Zeeland in southern Holland. We found ourselves in the Dutch Costa, with huge, beautiful sandy beaches, campsites everywhere in lovely scenery and a superb network of cycle routes. Hot and sunny - who would believe British weather is just over the way? (I keep hearing about rain on the radio, just before I hear the Archers!).

We cycled round Vrouenpolder (an inland lake that once was the sea) and admired the fascinating feats of engineering, from water drainage, to wind turbines and dams, to a sliding road on a lock-gate and the tidal barrage.

On to Rotterdam next…..

Black Forest to Munich

9th - 13th August 2007 - East to Munich

More photos at: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/MunichAndBavariaBlog

We've travelled through some beautiful Bavarian countryside and via some rather picturesque motorways, stopping off to admire scenery and the Zeppelin Museum at Lake Constance. We finally arrived at Munich. Founded in 1158, it’s clearly had time to develop into the bustling, lively city it now is – there’s so much going on here, museums, parks e.g Englisher Garten (see pic), galleries, the odd beer hall or two…. We saw the temporary buildings going up for the Oktoberfest - a huge steel and timber estate built for 16 days - and could only boggle at the thought of the quantities of beer and people and rubbish ……

Rick was really in his element in the Deutches Museum, reputedly the largest science and technology museum in the world; we could only to a bit of it in 7 hours. He enjoyed the high tension lab (see big spark opposite), just as he remembered from when he was a lad 40 years ago, and the lightning exhibition was suitably loud and impressive. We saw endless wonders, including the Wright brothers first aeroplane and a U1 sub. I also found a giant motor neuron cell, (below) and thought of sticking pins in to it, to get my own back…

I had my first experience of a German Beer Keller – at the 400 year old Hofbrauhaus – well, you have it to do…. It actually caters for a staggering 2300 people. We had a great time – litres of beer, an oompah band, men in leather lederhosen, sausages and sauerkraut – what more could you want? To complete the picture, it was Saturday night, it was raining and Bayern Munich had just won. All I can say is that after 1.5 litres of nice beer, it’s all very entertaining. Even getting lost cycling back to the van seemed funny at the time. Aren't tram tracks tricky on a bike!


We seem to have the knack of finding ‘pink’ celebrations. This time, it was a music and beer festival in Munich Altstadt , with an excellent live band, (some clad in only pink or blue very tight-fitting shorts and balaclavas) doing their thing in the pouring rain. They and their audience of umbrellas were having a great time.

Our waterpump gave up on us, so we stopped at a Hymer place to replace it – at the wonderfully –named Suzlemoos. It’s almost as good a name as where we now are – Dinkelsbuhl. This is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany, with its 4 towers and walls intact, still protecting its beautiful timber-framed houses. However, not all is ancient - we’re actually staying in a field, with a wifi connection....... After exploring the surrounding villages we'll be off to Berlin for another City Break.