Belgium - France ~ WWI Trail

Once in Belguim we camped again, and left reasonably early to visit Zonnebeke and the Memorial Museum, then Passendale and the Tyne Cot Memorial Cemetry and Visitors centre, where many New Zealand WW1 soldiers are buried or memorialized. We also paid a visit to the New Zealand Soldiers Memorial.

It was astounding to see the many New Zealand headstones in the Commonwealth Cemetry including Australian, Canadian, British, South African, and Scottish graves. The Cemetry was very well tended with every single headstone having a planting in front of it. On the Memorial wall there are over 35 000 names and this is not a finite list, as there is also a research centre and names are still being added. 

From here we went to Dunkirk and went down to the beach at the Bray Dunes and reflected on what has past, and saw some remains of ship wrecks as it was low tide and parts of two ships skeletons were visible.

We then drove over the border to France to the town of Calais. We are staying at a town called Escalles which is close to the coast and the White Cliffs of Dover are visible in the distance, 40 km to the UK.

This area has old fortifications from WW1 also and a beautiful beach and cliffs which we went for a walk along. Looking out to the channel there was plenty of ship traffic between the two countries, some freighters and passenger ships.

We visited a Monument near Longueval for the New Zealand division who fought in the first battle of the Somme in 1916 (alongside the British, Australians, Canadians,  South Africans and Newfoundlanders.)

We also visited Caterpillar Valley Cemetry which was the original resting place of  the Unknown NZ Soldier who was removed and laid to rest in the tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial in Wellngton in 2004. 

1205 New Zealand soldiers named and unknown are commemorated here alongside soldiers from other commonwealth countries. 

The Somme museum in Albert was the next and last port of call; I was surprised at the numerous memorials and cemeteries in the area, though not surprising when you read the information at the museums. The Somme Museum is underground in the basement of a church which dates back to medieval times and was used as an air raid shelter in WWII. 

While driving on to Paris, we also noticed many war cemeteries along the way, some near towns and others throughout the country side. 

Frankfurt - Maintal - Luxembourg

After promising to visit Julia when we were  in Ubud, Bali, we made a trip to her hometown in Maintal, near Frankfurt. We stayed the night with her and her extended family in their home. What a welcoming and lovely family. Julia's parents only speak Polish and German, so Julia played interpreter all night. We enjoyed a meal of saurkraut, stroganoff and a very yummy potato dish. The community where the Kampas live, collectively make a rather nice apple cider from a  traditional recipe and style specific to their area.  They use 200 kg of apples each year and it is stored in the neighbours cellar.

To finish off the evening, Julia took us for a walk around her home town which is near a river and very peaceful.

From Maintal we stopped at a town called Binham next to the Rhine River, with an old castle on the bend of the river, which was strategic for the towns defense back in the medieval days. There were vineyards throughout the valley and also on terraces on the hillsides. 

We passed several similar towns as we headed to Luxemborg on our way to Belguim. We stopped for a couple of hours in Luxemborg City and had a look around the central city area, a very easy city to navigate, a busy inner square and I noticed the prices were quite expensive as I window shopped. Once we left the city we were over the border into Belguim in no time at all.

The drive Denmark to the Netherlands (Holland)

More boarders Marees job to photograph 

A selfie picnic time lunch during the drive

Who would have known the Dutch go to the beach

We had fish for tea from a cart at the beach

Trip to Amsterdam there are canals just like Venice

House boat with built in or on top garden

Maree with new clogs and a tulip 

Some of the tagging opps I mean street art

We found this in one of the book stalls

Even had a letter from the Ministry of Education Wellington still inside 

Canal boats of Amsterdam well some of them anyway

I think this means you have not used you boat for a while

She was a good little nest builder

Buildings from in and around Amsterdam

Yep there are a few bikes this was a bike park near the harbour 

One of the music machines that were playing in Haarlem

This was one of the swimming hole in the park by the dunes very busy

Taking a break on our bike ride

Some deer we spotted in the park

We had to take a photo of a dike this is one of the bigger ones that have

 water on both sides and control gates at both ends

Netherlands - Amsterdam

After rain in the evening and drizzle first thing we have been treated to perfect weather today in Amsterdam. We bused to the city from our B&B in Haarlem and walked the city until about 1pm then got into a hop on, hop off canel boat for about an hour, and did a canel circuit then returned and travelled a different circuit. I still think these are a great way to tour after you have done a bit of footwork first. 

We opted not to visit museums and cathedrals today, firstly it's a Sunday so mass is on, but we are a bit cathedraled and museumed out, need a wee break. But there was so much to see, Amsterdam would be one of our favourite cities. The Anne Frank Museum had queues for miles which was the only one I was interested in, but after Germany we felt we had seen as much as we needed too about the war etc...

The canels are busy with all sorts of boats from water taxis to private boats and canoes, and many people live on house boats even in the inner city canels, some are also for accommodation . Everyone bikes or walks everywhere in the city, so not much inner city traffic which is really nice, And it's also a Sunday, and not so busy, however the whole inner city had a real buzz too it with various street performers. 

I must mention that we did look along a couple of side streets and saw some very interesting window displays. 

Monday 

We hired bikes today from the train station and biked around Haarlem streets, many are dedicated to cyclists or pedestrian traffic only.  We saw several Dutch Street Organs being played. Explanation  below.

Dutch street organs (unlike the simple street organ) are large organs that playbook music. They are equipped with multiple ranks of pipes and percussion. As originally built the organ was operated by the 'organ grinder' turning a large handle to operate both the bellows/reservoir and the card feed mechanism. Almost all examples in the Netherlands have now been converted to belt drive from a small battery powered motor or donkey engine, allowing the organ grinder to collect money.

From there we biked to the Zuid Kennemerland National Park close to Haarlem city which is walking or biking only. There is a mixture of forests and then sand dunes out to the beach. Most of the area is flat so excellent for biking, though it was hot here today, 28c.  In the park there are wild horses and cattle which they introduced here to help control the weeds in the dunes. 

After dropping our bikes back we stopped for a beer, in one of the many places around the cathedral in the centre of Haarlem, and again it was busy as it is a public holiday today for Pentacost Monday.

We have also spotted some of the traditional windmills, but most are not fully working anymore and have been converted into homes, cafés, souvenir shops and so forth. 

Drove to  Denmark from Berlin on the 5 6 2014

Stayed in the south of the country just for a quick look

Bit of a rest day and drive in the afternoon on the 6 6 14

Still light well after 10pm 

A bit wet and windy by the sea again

Plenty of churches and grave yards Loretta 

The old Sonderborg Castle and Museum

Good to have a look for an hour or two

View of the town and harbour entrance from the castle

And then the sun came out driving home

Two photos of the farmland around the b&b where we stayed

Everyone was keen on flags this one was at the b&b

Fur trees planted for Xmas we think

Not sure what the little shiny propellers were for

Maree at the Berlin Wall at the Memorial Site 

At another part of the Wall near the War Museum 

Parts of the city side walks before the wall was built and some of the early 

wall preserved in historic excavation sites

This photo below shows the Berlin Wall in the foreground and the German Air Force building from WWII

Remarkably the building survived and is being used by the German Government today

Checkpoint Charlie one of the only places people could cross from West to East during the Cold War

The solders there now are actors for tourists to get a photo

This was the same site during the Cold War 

Very tense American and Russian tanks in a stand off

The Jewish Memorial in Berlin 

The War Museum in Berlin

Very well done making no excuses

The Spree River in the centre of Berlin

The German Parliament in the background with a transparent roof

This is to reflect now a transparent government (or so they say)

A front on view of the German Parliament

The Brandenburg Gate and below two other views of the gate from the past

The Brandenburg Gate at the end of WWII

The Brandenburg Gate during the Cold War with the Berlin Wall

Other building and monuments around Berlin

The 15 euro a night hostel great accommodation

A photo for Marisa from the Museum you recommended

The German countryside driving north 

Three photos from the Ravenbruck Concentration Camp Memorial

We came across this by accident and we spent a few hours here

This site is extremely well maintained and the information is displayed expertly

Makes you think and wonder how it all happened   

The camp office from the 1940 that now hold displays

The German officers housing also holding displays about these men

Denmark

After a huge drive and no accommodation booked it was looking like we would end up in the tent on the side of the road, and it was raining, not ideal. We finally found a B&B on a farm, down a country road, lucky it doesn't get dark til 10pm. We had called into a lovely looking lodge but it cost an arm and two legs! Shame, as I would have been the perfect guest. 

Skyped the Crew this morning who were at the J's for news and wine... Very exciting news, congratulations Cat & Phil. Time to start knitting my Peggy squares. We then skyped Nic, Abby & Todd and I felt a little homesick I must admit. Was great to see and chat to everyone.

We are having a rest day today and went for a quiet drive to a couple of small towns in the south east of Denmark called Sondonborg and Augustenborg, both are seaside towns or on the fjords which are big inlets from the sea. Very nice residential buildings and seaside apartments in each of the towns in colourful pastel shades. The marinas in both towns would be busy places in the summer months. The weather today was very overcast and windy after very heavy rain last night, we have been pretty lucky with the weather so far. 

Went for a walk tonight and there is what looks like a couple of fields growing Christmas trees commercially, next to the farm where we are staying.  Very nicely shaped trees that look like Douglas Fir, they had little windmills on top to keep away the birds. 

That is our small taste of Denmark, heading to Amsterdam tomorrow via Germany. We go in and out of Germany a couple of times, again when we go to Frankfurt. 

Passing through Hamburg today via the motorway so we didn't venture into the city, it has a huge port, wind farms very close to the port and a massive road system and suspension bridges.