Hamburg was always suppose to be a ‘pass through’ destination but that wasn’t going to stop us heading out and having a look around. A very old maritime city, we appropriately parked on the riverside of the Port and watched the comings and goings of ferries, container ships and what ever else happened to be on the busy waterway at the time. It was a public holiday so with few things open (and one last currywurst) we decided to head out of town on the second night to shorten the drive to Amsterdam.
We met some of our kiwi friends who are also camping around Europe and pulled into a city camping spot in Amsterdam. With the weather closing in on the first night we opted to stay in and wait for the clear weather the following day, luckily, I had stocked up on Dutch stroopwaffles! If I thought stroopwaffles were good before, I am now well and truely hooked on them. We headed into Amsterdam on the tram and while this day should have been slightly different (the final of the RWC) we managed to face the Poms and watch the match in a bar downtown. Being so close to the UK, the bar slowly but steadily died down as the game drew to a close while we happily drank Guiness and cheered for the Springboks.
Amsterdam was absolutely bursting at the seams with tourists, locals and lots of other things…it felt like you could walk around the canals for hours and not see the same scene twice. We joined another walking tour and were educated about history of the city; from the Golden Age to now, and everything in between.
After two full days in the city we were in need of some fresh country air, we headed south to the Kinderdijk Windmills (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in rural Holland. An early morning walk proved to be a magic time to see the remaining 19 windmills, most of them fully restored to their earlier glory.
Afterwards it was back on the road to a new country, Luxembourg. While not originally on our list, a visit to the fairytale capital was too good to pass up when the opportunity arose. We only managed a few hours before the heavens opened but it was stunning all the same.
The European leg of our journey was almost over but we were intent on making the most of our last few days, and wine not finish with some champagne in Reims, France.
Bonjour (back to crossiants!)
C xx
Damien + Caitlin 