Happy Friday in Rotterdam. The sun’s out again and we are finally relaxing. Mic was almost snoring 😴

There are plenty of smiles around today as families and tourists like us are taking in all that this beautiful square Binnenrotte has to offer. It is right outside the Markthal.

This building houses indoor markets, shops, restaurants, four storeys of parking and apartments. The apartments are arched over the food market in a horseshoe configuration. Take a step inside and the artwork is sprawled across the ceiling, it’s known as the “Horn of Plenty”. Feels like something out of “A Bug’s Life”, just beautiful.

And the food it’s all on display to make your lunch choices that little more difficult….

We rode into Rotterdam today from our overnight free camping spot and were lucky enough to find a spot to park our bikes.

How ingenious, double decker storage for bikes and for short people like me it slides out and pulls down.👍

The other highlights of this square are the unusual architectural buildings like the Cube Houses (Kubuswoningen)

The architect wanted to design a kind of village within the city and saw the houses as trees. Imagine living in the “Cube” I wonder what it would be like to live at odd angles.

And this pencil shaped tower designed by Piet Blom.

Cycling down to the Nieuwe Mass River we spot a suspension bridge that spans the river by approx 800m which connects the north and south parts of Rotterdam. It’s nickname is “The Swan” a lot easier to remember than Erasmus Bridge.

There’s no doubt we have enjoyed our time in the Netherlands and today especially exploring the buzzing urban centre of Rotterdam; but it’s time to motor on and see what other adventures are install for MicnSarah.

Don’t forget to smile, as they are always in fashion.😊

Not only is the Netherland’s flag red, white and blue but as we travel south from Keukenhof colours of red (rood), white (wit) and blue (blauw) have become more obvious.

Rood, for Dutch Technology (photo taken for our techno whizz son)

Holland’s Coat of Arms,

the Peace Palace of Den Hague (Internation Court of Justice, the only judicial organ of the United Nations not located in New York) where the first peace flame was placed beside the entrance gate of this Neo-renaissance style building. We didn’t need the warmth of the flame today 🥵 In April 2004, 196 stones were placed on the peace path from 196 countries to demonstrate a strong commitment to peace. The monument bears an inscription, “May all beings find peace”. Australia sent this beautiful stone as its commitment to the Peace treaty.

this stone is amongst other famous stones such as a piece of stone from the Berlin Wall.

The Peace Palace featured above won an architectural design competition in the early nineteen hundreds (which is an interesting fact for our accomplished daughter)

White (wit) for the rowing boat,

the ice cream van just on the outskirts of the Binnenhof (we know how much Mic loves his ice cream),

the pillar Prince Willem stands on and the nonchalant seagull about to take a dump (wonder who looks more regal…I know my jokes are corny)

And for my favourite colour blue (blauw), the icy blue waters of the Scheveningen coast line,

the kid’s lips after they have a surf,

the pretty delicate blue and white pottery of Delft,

the funky architecture of the bluey-green rooves in Den Hague.

And Mic’s shorts….(no beany today)

It has been a great couple of days and not to forget to mention the food for thought at the Happy Tosti. This is an ideal lunch spot that is different to all others for all the right reasons. The food is great, the staff are friendly and the owner employs staff that have a labor disability.

So as the sign says, never look down on someone unless your helping them up!

We leave our campsite tomorrow and will be heading further south. I’m on the hunt for Belgium chocolate. 😋

Well Sarah has me doing this blog to explain the speed bump. Basically, we discovered we have been traveling around the Netherlands in an unregistered and uninsured motorhome. So not happy! 😡 As such, we drove the vehicle back, got our money back, Sarah left old mate with a parting gift and we purchased the new vehicle above. All good this time!

The new vehicle (above) is 3 years older, same 2.8 diesel, 0.7m shorter, combined larger shower and toilet, with a bed over the cab (2.5 bum widths between bed and roof I can confirm 🥰) and no garage. With no garage, we upgraded the bikes to collapsible electric bikes (120km range). However, $17k Aus cheaper and really happy with this layout / alternative to date. 🤑 Now we are heading south, towards the Hague, Delft and Rotterdam. This is our campsite tonight, right on a dyke watching all the boat traffic going back and forth. And they have their own bakery for breakfast – choc croissants and apple turnovers. 🥐🥧 Over & out!

Well, since my last blog you might be thinking what’s happened to Mic and Sarah?? Have they forgotten the promise they made to keep us involved in their journey of a life time, well to all our wonderful friends and family I hope this blog won’t disappoint. So, to cut straight to the chase we have celebrated our wedding anniversary at a Japanese restaurant….

taken in the perfumes and colours of exquisite blooms at markets for Moeder’s Dag (Mother’s Day),

got acquainted with some old friends,

tempted fate by joining the largest queue for some patat frites (large potato fries with mayonnaise),

Voted the No 1 fries in Holland (we thought about you Warner as we ate these as we know how much you 🥰 fries) in our case we ate them with mayonnaise laced with truffle how decadent,

Refueled the mind at “Beans and Bagels”

then spent the afternoon at the Rijks Museum appreciating the wonderful collection of Rembrandt’s art that explored his tempestuous life and work,

And then jumping on a train to travel to the old town of Haarlem. The city like Amsterdam is full of history, museums and churches. It takes about 20-30 mins to get there and you will have no problem exploring the city in a day as it is less crowded than Amsterdam which is very appealing.

Busy, busy little bees exploring many pots of golden glorious honey 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Volendam the heart of Dutch cheese. It is all so delicious Edam, Gouda, Korsil with ham, young (jong) cheese with cumin, stinging nettle and old (oud) cheese looks very dried out but full of flavour. Thanks to Julia our guide for her explanation on how cheese is made. This place is cheese heaven.

And Mic has mastered the art of making Dutch shoes. He realises how versatile they can be. Perfect for some home gardening back in Hervey Bay at least they offer more protection than his flip flops. 😊

To work off all that cheese we jumped on our bikes and headed into town. Our first close up with a historic windmill dating back to 1868. It has been beautifully restored, wish we could have ventured inside to see the moving parts and hear the old wood creak.

Moving on in a haste to keep warm we stopped to take in some salty fresh air in the touristy mecca of Volendam.

This place is a haven for trinkets. And missing my children back home, I’ve taken this cute photo for my beautiful boy Ryan.

Our last stop for the day was Edam. As the name suggests the place is named after the infamous cheese.

What a gorgeous town. There must be a master craftsman in this town that loves to restore both small and large Dutch boating vessels because as we meandered through the streets I got to appreciate some of the recently restored vessels tied up in the canals and witnessed one being brought into the shipyard facility.

If anybody knows me well is that I love flowers. Mic with his navigating skills took me on the “Tulipan Route” through Bandt and Espel. And although it was very tempting to want to walk amongst the tulips, I did the right thing taking a responsible selfie outside the farmers’ fields. Apparently, tourists aren’t so respectful and the damage caused to the flowers is costing them thousands in Euros. They are just as glorious at the flower markets in Groningen as are the pastries.

Groningen is known for being the best bike friendly town due to 50,000 students living there .

Tonight we are staying in Hoorn and have explored this gorgeous sea side village this afternoon. The campervan thankfully made it to the camp site safely as the streets were so narrow it was difficult to navigate with people and cars galore!!! This village became wealthy during Holland’s “Golden Age” as it was an important base for the Dutch East India Company.

It was so cold here today in what they call autumn that it snowed. There is no snow to show because as it hit our front windscreen it melted straight away. Mic and I are thinking we need to find some warmth further south.🥶

Well, Mic has certainly been busy making the necessary running repairs to our new campervan home. I’m now calling him Tim the Toolman.

All that time cooped up in a unit on the GC and now he has a garage!!! Mic’s found the equivalent of Bunnings and it’s called Gamma. We also been to Blokker for a traveler’s washing machine. We have a few new gadgets LED lights and some small greenery to make it feel a little more like home.

And the e-bikes they are amazing; for the first time I am able to keep up with Mic. They’ve certainly made a difference to the distance we can cover.

Who could have thought a visit to the library, Amersfoort Datum, shopping for groceries all possible in one afternoon.

And then the bikes back safe and sound in the garage.

We’re really giving it a good go at doing it the Dutch way.

Yesterday, we left our campsite on the outskirts of Amsterdam and headed off to Amersfoort (which is approx 1hr south of Amsterdam).

Such a friendly and family orientated park. These photos are for my wonderful daughter Sharon who finished her master’s in architecture last year. As you can see the Dutch love being eco-conscious and so inspiringly creative. The green top roof and shape of the barrel like cabins compelled me to take this photo.

Just a short stop on our way to get a little exercise we explored the town of Muiden and witnessed our first automated bridge crossing as we were heading to Amsterdam’s Castle.

Must go we bought e-bikes yesterday and like the sign says….

Well we have enjoyed another Spring day taking in the sights Amsterdam has to offer. Our first stop was the garden outside the Rijks Museum to take in Amsterdam’s most iconic flower the luscious tulips. We then paid to homage to Rembrandt, it’s been 350 years since his death, having studied art in my senior years of schooling I remember learning about his work and completing an assignment that reviewed both the techniques he used and subject matter he liked to portray. We then went to Anne Frank’s House but were unable to get in as tickets must be booked online prior…not to worry we will be back. Coffee and macaroon today for a quick stop saw us having a wonderful conversation with a lovely San Francisco couple (Sarah and Eric) and there beautiful Australian Border Collie. Tired and a little weary we finished off the day visiting the narrowest house and met a couple that had once rented the property for 140 Euro. Oops and for our wonderful friends on the GC Michael and Leone we spotted electric car recharging stations.

* Kings day – Orange party!

* 8 oC – no shorts today

* Magic seeds & red light district

* Cheese, Cheese and more Cheese