John and Suse started their travels early having decided to do Europe On The Line.
The idea came about mainly as a result of our desire to reduce flying time, both for our long awaited trip to New Zealand and for future holidays. Having left Europe, we found it not so easy to find information about ‘inter-railing’ in Europe but once we got the hang of it booking proved straightforward and inexpensive. Our strategy was to reduce the stress of moving on every day, carrying luggage and changing accommodation. Making sure there was a parkrun wherever we landed on a Saturday was also part of the plan. The feeling was that we would immerse ourselves in culture in the cities, broadening our limited knowledge of history and the arts, preparing ourselves for a more family-centred experience in Australia and New Zealand.
New Zealand was, of course, intended to be a celebration of Emily’s 40th, a rare time to share experiences as a family, and for us, the joy and expectations were built around that.
The Netherlands
It all kicked off after a series of minor domestic problems, on Wednesday 16th April. The trusty 926 took us to Glasgow for a night in the flat and a meal in Babbity Bowsters prior to catching the London bus to Newcastle on Thursday. John’s enthusiasm for the subway meant a walk to the ferry at the Newcastle end and the start of our reliance on Google maps, but having pre-booked a cabin and a buffet dinner as well as breakfast, we relaxed into the trip and enjoyed a smooth crossing, arriving in Ijmuiden on Friday morning.
As parkrun tourists we aimed to get to the Hague for the Zuiderpark run on Saturday and the only way to get to the Hague was via the shuttle into Amsterdam. We made it just in time. Being a kind, thoughtful wife, I sought out gluten free bread for John’s breakfast, only it must have been contaminated as no sooner had we purchased our train tickets than John began a two hour stint in the toilets (at 70cents a time!) Eventually we were able to board a train and made it to Central Station in Den Haag. The twenty minute Google map walk to our accommodation at the Social Hub, came as a bit of a shock as there was a station 5 minutes away that we could have jumped off at. We played safe with a meal from McDonalds for dinner.
Multi journey citywide train and bus tickets became our friend and got us everywhere we needed to go. The Zuiderpark run involved a litter pick which gave me a good excuse for a slow time. The park itself was very attractive and featured a huge multi sports centre where we had coffee later. The ‘athletes’ were pretty much all English park run tourists and the event was staged by English people. We walked back to our accommodation via a huge market offering everything imaginable. After showers, we ran out of time to do anything other than take the tram to Schveningen for a walk along the windy prom, calling in at the Peace Palace on our way back. As the Social Hub where we stayed couldn’t help with gluten free food, we ventured out at night into the city and a rather cold restaurant near the opera where it rained and had to be closed.
Sunday was taken up by a visit to Madurodam (even John was impressed!) and a meal in an Eazie restaurant where they had noodles and veg.
On Monday we moved up to Amsterdam and a quaint b&b in the red light district, 5 minutes from the station. Again we made use of multi day cards and went to the Rijksmuseum. The Vermeer exhibition was fully booked. We decided to feed John up and went to an Argentinian steak restaurant along from the b&b where I had a Grand Marnier and chatted to the Croatian waitress who pretty much ran the place.
Tuesday was more cultcha at MOCO which we both found refreshingly innovative and very high quality, followed by the Stedelijk (also modern art) but which was boring after MOCO. Our Amsterdam card also gave us a discounted canal cruise so we took the night time one and spoke to an Iranian tourist who ended up chatting up a Russian lady who was on her own. Good luck to them! Before leaving on Wednesday, we visited the Maritime Museum and enjoyed seeing the old maps.
Deciding to up sticks and move to Lisse so that we could get to Keukenhof for its opening was probably a mistake. Although the hotel let us leave the bulk of our luggage there were day trips from the city that would have spared us the move. Amsterdam to Lisse is not a journey that was meant to happen. You had to change buses at the airport but then be dropped off on the edge of town. Our accommodation was rather posh and we ended up ordering breakfast for simplicity with gluten free bread on demand. We ordered up Domino’s pizzas at night and bought lots of cider from the local convenience store. Keukenhof was walking distance away and we had a lovely day for our visit after the rain of the previous evening. The journey back was simplified by switching to the tube at the airport, which took us back to our hotel for our bags.
