We continued up the coast but unfortunately a norovirus had been brought aboard our ship. There were multiple announcements about the danger, but, after a life in challenging countries, we were confident that our personal washing/sanitary regime would be adequate. We were careful, but we were wrong – it was not enough.
Fred succumbed first. And Denise a couple of days later.
We passed a beautiful range of mountains known as the “Seven Sisters.”
Crossing the Arctic Circle there was an announcement that the northern lights were visible. We joined the crowds on deck admiring and trying to get a photo. The best northern lights photos are time lapse images taken with a tripod on solid ground. Hand held on a moving ship is not going to get you much. But “not much” is still quite spectacular.
It is REALLY hard to hand hold for over a second on a moving ship!There was an excellent pro photographer on board. He shared some of his photos.
The Lofoten Islands are where the world’s larges cod catches are made between January and April of each year. Denise made a visit to Henningsvaer in the Lofoten, a fishing village about 12 Km southwest of Svolvaer.
A brief film in an Art Gallery set the tone and a wander through the village completed it. Quite interesting are the racks upon which the fish is dried before being shipped all over the world.
Bacalao on in the raw!
The village is known for having a flat full sized soccer field – a real challenge in mountainous region. Teams come from all over to play there.
We continued to Stokmarknes, where there is a most interesting Hurtigruten Maritime Museum. The company was founded in 1893 to facilitate postal service to northern Norway. The history of the company was also shown. The Museum includes a full sized ship, MS Finnmarken, which retired in 1956. (https://www.museumnord.no/en/our-venues/hurtigruten-museum/)
Arriving at Tromso, Denise took a cable car trip up to Storsteinen.
There were amazing views of the town below from the viewing area.
She then visited the Arctic Cathedral, a quite spectacular modern church.
Courtesy of the onboard photographer.
Courtesy of Denise.
Our next stop, Honningsvag, should have enabled us to visit the North Cape, however, by now, we were both self isolating due to sickness. Sorry, no photos.
Alta Harbor
By the time we stopped at Alta, we were able to take a walk in the town and to visit the Northern Lights Cathedral.
This is another really spectacular modern cathedral with an exhibition showing how Alta became the epicenter for research into the Aurora Borealis between the 19th and 20th centuries. We also enjoyed the short film about the Northern Lights. The visit to the town was also interesting. It was very modern and amazingly clean.
Northern lights cathedral.
Street scene.
Study in snow removal gear.
The northern lights were visible every night.Another nice pro shot.
We also took the opportunity to walk in the towns of Lodingen and Rorvik, interesting coastal towns.
Lodingen was tiny and we enjoyed a snowy walk.
Denise in the snow.
Pretty sunset.
In Rorvik we visited the small Maritime Museum, which included a fascinating exhibit by a local salmon farm company. We learned all about salmon farming and how Norway has perfected it for maximum sustainability. The fish live in special netted areas known as “acuatraz.”
Like many buildings in Norway, this is very modern, like a miniature of the Sydney Opera House.
Unfortunately our visit to Molde was cancelled due to rough seas and we sailed to Bergen using as many inland waterways as possible to reduce the possible damage to passengers!
This is why they don’t put extra paint on the sides!
Waves were projected to be as high as 16 feet. And they were.
We settled into our small, but comfortable cabin. The bath has a heated floor! Yes! The first night featured some decent rock and roll seas.
The port hole is nice, but there is a walking deck outside.
And so the voyage begins. Our first stop was Kristiansand on a gloomy, foggy day.
It was not actually raining but our color photos look black and white! Visibility was not good but it was most atmospheric. We wandered the town, visiting the oldest wooden buildings in Norway and discovering by accident a wonderful cafe/bakery. We could not take photos inside the church as there was a service, but we peeked in.
Our second stop was in Haugesund. A former Viking center, it is also an important oil town. We did not leave the ship. The stop was very early in the morning (from 7 to 9.30 AM) and it was pouring with rain. We did make some soggy deck circuits on the walking deck as we left.
Åalesund saw a great improvement in the weather. (Å is pronounced “Al” as in “alley.”) We actually saw the sun! It was a lovely town, rebuilt in art nouveau style in 1904 after a major fire.
The town is very pretty, dominated by parks working their way up a steep hill.
The Chamber of Commerce wants to be sure that you will not get lost.
Denise supporting the Tourist bureau.
Lots of pedestrian walking/shopping areas.
Odd little ship leaving the harbor.
We enjoyed our walk through town, finishing with a visit to the Art Museum. Part of this was housed in a lovely building which had formerly been a chemist shop.
Old Chemist shop, now museum.
Standing stone half way up the hill – where we wimped out.
The furniture displays were interesting as was the art. The spare Scandinavian style that we think of today was not the mode at the beginning of the 20th century.
Sailing into Brønnøysund, the ship detoured to view the Torghatten, a granite dome with a hole through it. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torghatten ) As one might imagine, there are lots of legends!
While there is a geological explanation, the idea of a troll throwing a spear is more fun!
Brønnøysund was an interesting place. The town is named after the small island Brønnøya (Old Norse: Brunnøy) since it is located on the island. The first element is brunnr which means “well” and the second element is øy which means “island”. The final element of the name is sund which means “strait”, referring to the strait of water that flows alongside the island and town. Islands with freshwater wells were important for seafarers. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brønnøysund) (And the ø is pronounced a bit like the British “oy!) or the French “oeil.” We’re learning.)
A much smaller town than Ålesund, we wandered through the shopping mall and were amazed by the variety of shops and what they contained. The kitchen store would be a find in the DC area. It might help to like fishing but one could live quite comfortably in Brønnøysund. We visited the Trollfjell Geopark, with its displays of the geology of the surrounding area, the Vega Archipelago. (https://trollfjellgeopark.no/index.php/en/ )
Porthole view.
You never know where an old American car will show up!
When we last saw our heroes, they were planning to drive the length of the Norwegian coast. On further consideration, we decided that we had had enough of one lane roads in Scotland and so cancelled the visit to Norway and rebooked as a cruise with the Hurtigruten company.(https://www.hurtigruten.com/en-us/about-us/voyages/north-cape-line) With luck, we might get to see the northern lights and would not have to worry about trying to stud the tires, etc.
After cancelled flights and rebooking, via telephone calls to India, we set off, in February, from Dulles with British Airways. We had a pleasant flight to Oslo, via a painless connection at Heathrow. With three suitcases of both winter and summer gear, and bits for the camper, we splurged for a very expensive taxi to the hotel. in downtown Oslo. The hotel turned out to be lovely and right in the middle of the shopping district – a good thing as Fred had neglected to pack his light gloves or his knit cap. We dropped into a shopping mall and asked about gloves in a store. A lovely young lady wearing a sunn (o))) t-shirt directed us to a sporting/camping store. Want to feel old? Back in the ’60’s, Fred had, and still has, a sunn amplifier, but now, the same logo is used by a drone/drudge/noise rock band that use sunn amps for ear numbing feedback. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunn_O)))) The gear store was excellent and hands and ears are now warm!
Downtown Oslo is quite compact, with an interesting mixture of modern buildings and a few of a more classic, European style.
We hopped a bus to the open air folk museum. A bit like the Weald and Downland Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, and others, this is a collection of relocated historic buildings. (https://norskfolkemuseum.no/en) The stave church was especially interesting as we had actually visited a stave church in, of all places, South Dakota. (https://diplostrat.net/2019/07/07/going-to-the-devil/)
Fred, of course, was most taken by a museum cat who was out enjoying the sun.
The national museum of cultural history, down town, was a surprise as it was highly themed/concept, and not historically or chronologically, arranged. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Cultural_History,_Oslo) Exhibits ranged from Ice Age geology to a model of Temple Grandin’s slaughter house. (!!) It did include the oldest known Viking helmet and other Viking grave goods.
Ernest Borgnine wore something similar in the 1950’s movie “The Vikings.”
Beautiful craftsmanship. Makes you wonder – was this somebody’s weapon, or merely an ornament?
As might be expected, the museum featured many carved church doorways.
Parts of the museum building itself were simply gorgeous.
The Viking Museum, with its complete ship, is currently closed for renovation. Bummer, but we had seen ships last year in Denmark.
The following morning we were given a short bus tour of Oslo, courtesy of Hurtigruten. We had expected that the “tour” would be a simple drive to the pier, but it turned out to be much, much more. We started up at the skiing complex with the Olympic level ski jump, which was totally scary!
We then went to the Frogner Park, which includes the Vigeland Sculpture Park. https://vigeland.museum.no/en/vigelandpark) This is hundreds of nude granite and bronze statues, all based on the Circle of Life theme. An additional group of statues surrounded a huge fountain, which was obviously not running. Vigeland himself appears to be a most interesting, misogynistic soul. A rather dead rose garden surrounded the fountain – it would be a joy in summer.
We joined our ship the MS Tollfjord and celebrated our departure from Oslo that evening with a small Sail-away toast. Skoal!
— Worth taking a US camper to Europe, and if so, — How do you do it?
The simple answers are that:
— It is definitely worth it, — We prefer traveling in our own camper that we know, and, — There are lots of different ways to travel by camper in Europe.
Herewith, as a starting point, the presentation that we gave at Overland EXPO East. Enjoy!
We started the Euro saga by sea and, thereafter, returned to the US on round trip tickets from UK. But these tickets limit the time in the US, so we needed to break the cycle and have more time in the US. We cast around for options. A one way ticket cost almost as much as a round trip, so we decided to try to go by sea. The obvious choice is the Queen Mary, but having been on her twice, she is not our favorite ship. Then Denise had a breakthrough; she discovered an Oceania ship from London to New York, with stops in Ireland and, of all places, Sainte Pierre and Miquelon. (More on this later.) (https://www.oceaniacruises.com) We had never taken a trip with Oceania, but friends of ours love it. The dates worked and so we signed up.
The ship was leaving from Tilbury Docks on the eastern side of London. With the 917 safely parked, and our bags packed, we took the train from Yatton, to Paddington Station in London. We then managed to meet (always a challenge) the taxi service, which we had prebooked. Traffic was absolutely horrendous and the 45 miles took about two and a half hours. We had a rather uninspiring stay at a hotel near the port, before finding another taxi to take us to the port, the next day.
The Tilbury terminal turned out to be an old port, newly refinished, and perhaps most famous as the landing port for the Windrush immigrants. (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43782241) And we would never had heard of these folks were it not for an episode of Call the Midwife.
Boarding was easy and we sailed that evening, following a car/truck ferry down the Thames.
Click on the photo; it was dark and these things are amazing to look at.
After dark we sailed past a mysterious set of towers in the river. The Maunsell Forts were built to keep the Germans from laying mines and to provide a platform for anti-aircraft guns. It appears that we passed the Red Sands fort. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts)
After the war, they fell into disuse and some were used for “pirate” radio stations back when the UK did not permit private radio stations. I remember listening to “wonderful, Radio London” back in the summer of 1967.
The next morning, we were in Bruges. (OK, Zeebrugge, to be exact.) We chose not to go ashore, as we had visited Bruges a couple of weeks previously and frankly wanted a day to recover from putting the camper in storage, multiple train and taxi trips, and the rest. (https://diplostrat.net/2024/07/24/more-horses/) We caught up with the Yasmine, the ferry we had seen leaving London and watched a nifty dredge busy deepening the channel and, in the process, delighting all of the hungry sea birds.
Dinner is served!
The next stop, Honfleur, in France, turned out to be an unexpected gem. Honfleur is a charming historic town with a lovely old port, right across the river from the much bigger port of Le Havre. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honfleur) It was an easy shuttle ride to town where the bus stopped in the middle of a HUGE aire – campers as far as the eye could see. We, of course, set off in search of coffee and a croissant, which we enjoyed overlooking the little harbor basin.
We had managed to pack one electric toothbrush motor, but no brushes. After a quick visit to a pharmacy to acquire the last brush in the store, we raided a chocolate factory for gifts and set out to visit the very old church.
The bell tower is actually across the street from the church.
St. Catherine’s Church, in the form of a market hall or two ship’s hulls.
Largest wooden church in France, all timbers cut by Norman axemen. No two the same length.
One of my favorites; I love the view of the music and the performance notes.Cow piss. Be sure to sample local treats!
The basin was very scenic.
And the kids were there sketching and painting.
The ship then headed for Ireland where the weather proved to be very Irish, at least in Dublin. The expression is, I believe, “a soft day”. It was a bit misty and moist but we had a super afternoon at the University of Dublin. We had prebooked a visit to the University to visit the Book of Kells. First we had an excellent tour of the university campus.
The Campanile under repair. Legend has it that bad things happen to students who walk under it.
This video exhibit was very pretty. Not sure we understand the point of the decorations floating away, but it is spectacular.
The Library was itself spectacular, even though a lot of the books had been removed so that the library could be renovated. How long would it take to read all of those books? And most are ancient originals. (The dust alone might be fatal!)
But enough books remained in the stacks to give you a good idea of the tremendous scope. The library also contained the harp of Brian Boru. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Boru)
We wished we could have had a second day in Dublin to visit some of the other museums, specifically the emigration museum. We may have to return!
And on to Belfast where we had booked a trip to the Giants Causeway. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway) Denise had long wanted to see the “causeway” and we were delighted to get the chance. We passed on the Titanic displays.
Where the basalt had not yet eroded, the columns looked like stepping stones.
The views from the bus were spectacular and walking down to the Causeway and back to the visitor center was interesting (and good exercise). And it did not rain!
Sailing out of Belfast, we passed a familiar sight, a Viking ship, a twin of the ship that we took to Europe back in 2023.
We first saw these pivoting tugs back in the Panama Canal in the 1970’s. They have a central dive system that allows them to push or pull in any direction. Something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voith_Schneider_Propeller
The final stop in Ireland was in Killeybegs, which no one on board had ever heard of. We certainly had not. We went ashore and found a coffee shop, and enjoyed a walk around the very small fishing town. Small as it was, it made one person very happy; we helped him find a cell phone store which actually had a cable that he had not been able to find!
The Chamber of Commerce went all out, welcoming us with a beautiful rainbow.
The waterfront and the harbor were bustling with activity.
We then set off across the Northern Atlantic. It was a lot rougher than we expected (it was August) and the Insignia, originally designed to sail the Caribbean, did not do well in rough seas. In fact, we were obliged to miss our next stop in St. John’s, Newfoundland because our speed had to be reduced to keep passengers safe. We all regretted this. (We learned that several other ports had been cancelled on the way over to UK.) So we held on tight and enjoyed our days at sea, pleased that we did not need the ubiquitous seasickness bags, scattered everywhere about the ship.
Atlantic Dolphin, pretty but distant.
Obligatory sunset photo.
There is a small archipelago of some eight islands off the coast of Canada and these islands are actually a part of France; a self governing territory that sends a representative to the National Assembly. And the story of how this came to be is even more fascinating and convoluted, turning on wars, Cod fish, Al Capone, and involving one of the largest and strangest submarines ever built. You can’t make this up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon) We skipped the shuttle and walked into town, admiring the views of the harbor.
We were not the first tourists to pass this way.
Memorial to lost sailors.
Cannon on the waterfront.
We wandered the scenic town and had a last galette lunch from a food truck. We also visited the little museum with neat prohibition exhibits. Fortunately, the weather was glorious. And then it was off to the Isle-aux-Marins, a mostly uninhabited island in the harbor. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Île-aux-Marins)
Denise herding school children on the ferry to the Île-aux-Marins.The Insignia seen from the Île-aux-Marins.
We were met by old friends, Tiger camper owners, and photographers. They swept us up and entertained us all day – lunch, views, history, we did it all! (https://www.stonecoastphotography.com)
Fred’s father had been the officer in charge of the US Navy “armed guards” on a Liberty ship during World War II. They manned the guns. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_ship) Like many veterans, he rarely talked about his experiences, so there is a huge gap in family lore. It was fascinating to visit the site where so many Liberty ships, the ships that won the war, were build and launched.
Replica of a bow, with the forward gun tub.
The display is located right on the site of some of the original slipways where the ships were built.
Maine sea food. Everyone else had the same idea on a pretty day.My horn’s louder than yours. A lot louder! A reminder that the weather can be dangerous in Maine.
Looks so much cooler when a pro does it!Nifty rocks that look just like petrified wood.We had last camped with Knapp and Ella (and hound) in 2016 at the Tiger Rally outside of Leadville, Colorado.
Fred’s take of the classic Portland light.
We stayed on board in Newport and the next day, arrived in New York. We sailed up the river at daybreak to dock at almost the same pier where Fred first left the United States back in 1955. Been a long, strange trip to come full circle.
Manhattan from the Hudson.
Fred first left the US, bound for New Delhi, via Beirut, on one of the Four Aces, the S.S. Exeter. The ship with the yellow stacks in the picture below, is either the S.S. Constitution or the S.S. Independence, American Export Lines ships, tied up at the same pier. The Cook family later used these ships for home leave travel from Naples to New York.
S.S. Exeter
Busy day on the Hudson. Everyone is in town. How many of these classic ships can YOU name>
We hopped on the Acela for Washington and, in a few hours, collapsed at home.
Ypres can be pronounced at least three ways, and spelled at least four ways, in Flemish, French, and Cockney. After the horrific losses in the Great War, the British and the Commonwealth own the town, and so we went with the Cockney pronunciation – “Wipers.” Back in the day, it was probably preceded by at least one unprintable epithet. We went to Ypres to visit the historic sites.
En route to Ypres from Bruges, we stopped at a most interesting Aire in the parking lot of an ice-cream factory/restaurant. Ice cream AND a restaurant AND free camping ? A triple threat! (https://smart-ijs.be) Shows up as a “farm” stay on Park4Night! We enjoyed an ice cream on the day we arrived.
Basic gravel lot, but each site had electricity and the dump station was better than most campgrounds.
The next day, we cycled into the nearby towns of Wingene and Egem.
See food truck to the left.
The Egem church is not on any tourist route, but it is, in fact, very pretty. After visiting the church, we decided to skip the sandwiches we had bought for lunch and wandered over to a food truck. The local butcher was having work done on his shop, and was selling from his truck. We found bitterballen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitterballen), a favorite, and then Fred decided to have a hamburger and of course a few Belgian fries. Great fun! (The sandwich did get eaten the next day – nothing goes to waste!)
A replica of the Albatros aircraft that flew from this field. The US B-17 Herky Jerky II is said to have crashed nearby during WWII.
On the ride home, we stopped at a small monument at the site of a Great War German airfield.
Arriving back at the ice cream factory, we went to the restaurant for a really pleasant outdoor meal. It is always fun to eat out when we do not have to move the truck or head out on bicycles.
Ypres simply drips history and we learned a lot. Fred had a boss who was deeply into the Western Front association, but we have always concentrated on the Second World war. This was new territory for us, literally and historically. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypres_Salient) This map gives an idea. The Germans held to the right, the Allies to the left. And thousands upon thousands still lie in the beautiful fields all around.
We camped in an urban campground, in easy walking distance of the downtown. (https://urban-gardens.be/en/ypres/) We wandered along the river, into the pretty town center. Ypres was essentially flattened in the Great War but has been reconstructed in the original style. We bravely resisted the siren call of the chocolate stores, but stopped for more ice cream. After the cold and soggy start to our trip, it had turned sunny and warm – just lovely.
Arial photo from winter of 1917. Taken from an observation ballon?
This photo is a map you can still use today. The Menin Gate is at the top center with Hellfire Corner beyond, out of the picture. Our campground was off to the top right. You can see the ruins of the towers in the central square. The Flanders Fields Museum (https://www.inflandersfields.be/en) is in the building at the center bottom. The Flanders Fields Museum is large and intense – it even has a section dedicated to all of the colonial troops, French and Commonwealth, who came to fight. There is a lion of India up in the memorial gardens on the city wall.
Picture taken across the open square in the photo above. Note the ’50’s Thunderbird, but one of the many classic American cars that we encountered.Happier scenes today.
Pretty shrine to the Virgin, along the river.
Hellfire Corner So called as the German artillery had it dialed in. Today the only challenge is drivers who don’t know how to negotiate a roundabout.
Denise admires a shell outside of the Museum. Yes, that is a marine caliber projectile.
We attended the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate War Memorial. This takes place at 8:00 PM each evening. The Last Post is the British equivalent of Taps. The Belgian police have performed the ceremony every night since 1928, stopping only during the German occupation in World War Two. (https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/the-history-of-the-last-post/) Our European brothers and sisters have never forgotten the Anglo-American sacrifices in the wars. The Menin Gate is currently under reconstruction but the Last Post on three bugles is still poignant – listen to the video below.
Denise with poppies.
The gate building was built in the 1920’s as a war memorial.
What with the duration of the war and the power of explosives, many bodies were never recovered.
People still bring pictures of family members to place inside the gate. It is hard to avoid tears – an entire generation lost in Flanders Fields.
Then we took our bikes and set out to visit sites outside the city. Cultural difference – the United States makes an extreme effort to repatriate or at least consolidate remains. After the Great War, most of the bodies were buried in dozens of cemeteries scattered all around. Far too many for us to visit all, but each was remarkably well tended. (Some even had the odd German body as well.)
At a hotel, just out of town, you can still visit the remains of trenches and bunkers. One bunker was built by the British and then captured by the Germans, who promptly built a wall in front of it, as the entrance now faced the wrong way!
The bunker is to the right.
Looking at the water, you can understand trench foot.
Lots of shell casings and a lot of duds as well.
The whole scene is achingly beautiful today.
Just to the east and south of Ypres is Hill 60, the site of some insane fighting over the course of the entire war. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_60_(Ypres)) With the help of a bunch of maps, we set out to visit. Our first stop was the Canadian memorial atop what is left of Hill 60.
Ypres from Hill 60.
Sadly, the museum in the Sanctuary Woods was closed, but once atop Hill 60 it was easy to see why it was so important; you could see all the way back to Ypres. The other side of the railway line was the Caterpillar, where you can still see traces of a mine crater. When all of the mines were fired, some 990,000 pounds of explosives went off. German casualties were estimated at 10,000 dead. Said to be the largest non-nuclear explosion, loudest man-made noise (heard in London), and any number of other grisly superlatives. Ominously, one of the mines only exploded in 1955, when struck by lightning and one is said to be completely lost. And, it gets worse – this area saw many successful (??) gas attacks.
It is hard to believe that during the Great War there we absolutely no trees left standing for miles around. Today much of the area is preserved and the woods are full of the detritus of war and monuments to brave men and the stupidity of war.
Every ditch is a former trench.
It was a great, if sobering ride, so we enjoyed this quixotic roundabout.
We headed next for Bruges, a very short distance. We stayed at another hotel/camping aire, surrounded by horses again! Including a cute foal! We have stayed with lots of horses on this trip!
Bruges was a Hanseatic city and the trading hub between the Hanseatic cities of the far North, England and Germany, and the main trading centers in France, Spain and Italy from the 13th to 15th centuries. The Hanseatic League is actually a fascinating institution and did much to shape the modern history of Northern Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League
Medieval architecture abounds in the main square and there are extensive canals. We cycled in on the first afternoon so as to get our bearings and have a quick look at the town. It was a rather cloudy, dark afternoon but we were able to explore a little and enjoy an ice-cream in the main square. The next day was very wet so we stayed in the camper and enjoyed a quiet day. We were parked in a large field and we could not believe the number of campers that came and parked right beside us, leaving the rest of the field empty! Magnetic personalities? Prurient interest? Who knows?
The next day dawned sunny and warm so we headed into the town to begin our visit at the Church of Our Lady, which is also a fascinating museum. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady,_Bruges) It has a tall brick church tower, the second tallest of the world, which illustrates the craftsmanship of the Bruges builders.
A LOT of bricks!Note the bricks in the ceiling.
High altar.
Steps to an insanely ornate pulpit. Amazingly, this is Protestant, not Catholic.
Wood carving detail.
Inside there is a selection of art, including Michelangelo’s world-famous Madonna and Child.
There are also numerous paintings, 13th and 14th century painted crypts, and the 15th and 16th century tombs of Mary of Burgundy and Charles the Bold.
Amazing detail.
The iconography puts images like the cruxifixction at the head of the deceased.
We have never seen such ornate confessionals and, of course, there was an astronomical clock.
We also saw books of music, written in medieval format. Try sight singing that!
We then headed for a canal cruise as the number of tourists was quickly increasing. It was very pleasant and gave us an overview of the town.
We attempted to go to the Chocolate Museum but were turned away as too many tour groups had already booked entry.
Saved from the calories of chocolate, we made our way back to the Markt to admire the crowds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markt,_Bruges) and enjoy the rest of our visit. We even survived being stopped by the police for cycling the wrong way on a one way street. Should have believed Google maps!
The garden near Ghent was on a horse farm. More horses! However these horses were mares undergoing artificial insemination. Once confirmed to be pregnant, the mares go to the farms of the future owners of the foals. After the foals are delivered and thriving, the mares return home to repeat the cycle. Never seen that before.
We settled in and the next day we unpacked the bikes and set off for the 40 minute ride into Ghent. We chose the sightly longer route which took us along the river. The downtown was heaving!
Ghent is a port city in northwest Belgium, at the confluence of the Leie and Scheldt rivers. During the Middle Ages it was a prominent city-state. Today it’s a university town and is known for medieval architecture.
We knew that Ghent was having its annual festival but we could not believe the number of tourists in town. We at once felt the need for sustenance when faced with a mass of stages, tents. sound systems and live music in some of them, so we stopped for coffee and a cream and strawberry waffle (the wafting cooking smells were irresistible). Yes, it was the very end of strawberry season but these were some of the best strawberries we have ever eaten!
Thus fortified, we parked the bicycles and set out to explore a little. The narrow, medieval streets led us to the river and a boat cruise on the river, the best way to see the sights given the hordes of tourists.
We passed under the St. Michael’s Bridge, which is famous for the statue of St. Michael and the Dragon.
Note dragon.
We also saw the twelfth century Gravensteen Castle.
Musicians performing at a balcony cafe.
Yes, that is a pink elephant, the mascot of the well named Delirium Beer.
Lunch was at a Nepali restaurant on a side street with charming waiters and, most important of all, available tables. We enjoyed dosas, momos, and a platter with a variety of dishes which we shared. Doesn’t everyone go to a Nepali restaurant in Belgium?
If you have been following, you will remember the picture of Mons Meg, an enormous (25 inch) bombard (cannon/mortar) at Edinburgh Castle. (https://diplostrat.net/2023/06/23/into-scotland/) Her sister, Mad Meg, is in Ghent, at bit closer to home. The third bombard has been lost. And, if you were wondering, the IJN battleship Yamato had 18 inch guns; the USS Missouri, 16 inch. Amateurs! The stone cannon ball weighs over 375 pounds.
We then decided that we had had enough of the madding crowds and retrieved our bicycles and headed for the camper.
We remained an extra day as the weather was decent and Fred wanted to finish the painting of the roof rack, which he had begun in Denmark. Our host loaned us a ladder and the painting was successfully completed. We even had two dogs to supervise.
It is easy to find fried potatoes in Belgium. You can even get them with mayonnaise. (Don’t know why you would want them that way, but that is another discussion.) And don’t call them French Fries – it tends to annoy Belgian folks! Places to camp for the night, on the other hand, were a bit rare. We were coming up on a weekend and the Belgian national day and the options were few.
So we abandoned our faithful Park4Night and turned to iOverlander (https://ioverlander.com ) And thus we ended up on a pig farm an hour or so north of the Waterloo battlefield. The hosts were charming, super helpful, and we enjoyed chatting to them. (They even had geese.)
Our kind of campsite!
The Battle of Waterloo was “the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life”, according to the Duke of Wellington, and he ought to know, he was there. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo) We have never been great Napoleonic Wars students, but they set the stage for much of modern Europe. So we had to visit the site.
The best formula appeared to be to drive to the battlefield, visit, and then continue on to another iOverlander site near Ghent. After some GPS futzing around, we found a large, legal lot. We took the path to the new underground Visitors Center so as to learn some of the history of the battle. It was very well done and very informative. (https://www.waterlooassociation.org.uk/resources/visitor-guide-to-waterloo/) After lunch in the restaurant, we went to work off the calories by climbing the 265 steps to the Butte de Lion, the artificial hill in the middle of the former British lines.
The view from the top was quite spectacular. It made the step climbing worthwhile!
Denise, watching for the French advance.
We also visited the huge diorama. These were a big thing at one time; there is a similar diorama at Gettysburg.
The farm, La Haye Sainte, was a critical part of the battle. Today it is a private farm, with signs requesting tourists not to enter.
The building housing the diorama.
We concluded our visit with a cannon firing.
Then on to Ghent, to another I-Overlander site, this time the garden of a fellow overlander, who had just completed a multi year trip to Saudi Arabia in a Mercedes even older than ours. But before we left we had to give a tour to two highway patrol officers who stopped when they saw me climbing into the camper, not using the steps! They loved the tour and could not understand why the GPS had marked the road to the parking lot as restricted. Sigh. GPS – can’t live without it, but occasionally it gets a bee in its bonnet about something.
Next stop was a Fred stop, the Bridge at Remagen. The bridge was built during the First World War to speed supplies to the Western Front. The war ended before the bridge could make a difference. During the Second World War it was famously captured intact by the US Ninth Armored Division. There is an excellent fictionalized film about the capture, The Bridge at Remagen. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_at_Remagen) Much less reported is the tremendous efforts by the Germans to destroy the bridge after the US captured it – V2 rockets, Arado jet bombers, frogmen, etc. and the successful effort by the US forces to protect it. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Remagen)
Fred had tried to visit the bridge ruins once before, in the 1980’s while on temporary duty in Bonn. He got off the train in Remagen, but unfortunately ran out of time and did not actually find the ruins because of the need to make a flight from Frankfurt. He did manage a great lunch in Remagen. This time around, we were not rushed; we found a Stellplatz right beside the bridge and settled in. The Stellplatz is on the site of a huge POW camp to hold German soldiers at the end of the war.
Look through the trees on the right – that is the bridge! Camping in history.
Once on our bikes, we went to admire the bridge. We then cycled along the banks to the restaurants and enjoyed an ice cream as we watched the odd barge going by.
Beautiful view of where the bridge used to be.
We continued to cycle towards Bonn along the bank for a pleasant bike ride.
The following day we visited the Bridge museum.
Site of the anti-aircraft battery on the other side of the river.
The museum is in the iconic towers.
Denise admires the ruins of the approach road.
After Remagen, we traveled back into the Netherlands and stayed at a Stellplatz in Maastricht.
DiploStrat 