It's all Dutch to me.....(Kinderdijk and Delft).

Think of Holland......or to be more correct....the Netherlands and what springs to mind?
Windmills, Tulips, Clogs, Canals, Bicycles, Cheese.....to name but a few and most of these we have encountered in the last couple of days.....except for the tulips - we're slightly put of season for tulips.
When visiting Rotterdam, the best place to take a look at Windmills is a place called Kinderdijk. You can get there by bus, tram, car or bike....or you can take the waterbus, like we did.

(Photo above - Waterbus leaves from near the Erazmus Bridge - Waterbus number 202 is the one for Kinderdijk)
The waterbus leaves from the Erasmus Bridge every two hours and costs 4.00 Euros one way. The journey is about 30 minutes long and if you have a bike, you can bring it along for free. It's easy to get the bike on and off the boat, no lifting is involved, you just wheel it on.
On arrival at Kinderdijk, follow the crowd up from the boat dock to the road and the obligatory gift shop and from there continue straight over the road and down toward the queue at the entrance to the Kinderdijk project.

 (Photo above - Lizzie biking past the windmills - Kinderdijk)

(Photo above - Tourist boat passing windmill)
If you want to see inside the two windmills which have been turned into a museum, or want to book a ride on a boat which takes you past the 19 windmills here.....get in the queue and be ready to pay. However if all you want to do is to wander, or bike the canal paths to see the windmills and take photos (as we did) it doesn't cost anything. Go straight past the usually long line and if you can beat the hoards of tourists you can have the canal paths to yourself for a while. These windmills are hundreds of years old and are still in working order - they built them to last in the old days. Most of the windmills here are now peoples homes. We saw the owners out and about mowing lawns and doing other daily chores.

Kinderdijk is the only place in the world with so many windmills so close together in an authentic polder landscape. The nineteen mills, pumping stations, low and high 'boezems' (storage basins - not to be confused with certain parts of the female anatomy), ditches and sluices together form an ingenious water management system in the low-lying polders. This is a typical Dutch, world-class landscape with delightful views, overwhelming cloud formations and stunning nature.

The seventeen windmills that were used for water drainage were built between 1738 and 1740. Before then, the area already had polder mills, two of which can still be seen dating back to the 1600's. For many years, these windmills kept the low-lying, peat land of the Alblasserwaard dry. This land was continually threatened by floods and soil compaction. In Kinderdijk, the almost one thousand years of 'battling the water' is still visible in the polder landscape. It’s with good reason, that the Kinderdijk-Elshout windmill complex was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997.
After a couple of hours here we were all "windmilled out" so rode our bikes back to the water bus dock. We should have checked the departure times earlier but didn't. Finding we had a little over an hour to kill for the next boat we had a look in the gift shop and then retired to the restaurant/bar next door for a refreshing ale.
The Grand Café Bueno Vista is part restaurant, part bar and part museum piece. It's a little treasure trove of old things.....and not just the clientele.....with vintage pieces throughout the interior. Old valve radios, ancient cigarette machines and the like await your discovery. The beer's not bad either.
We sat outside under a monster sized umbrella and Lizzie had a refreshing Radler beer while I went for a Westmalle Trapist Tripel with an alcohol content of 9.5% . Needless to say, after the exercise of biking around the mills in the warm sunshine I had become a little dehydrated so the beer went straight to my head.

The ride back on the boat blew the cobwebs off and by the time we docked back at the Erasmus Bridge I was ready for the bike ride back to Delfshaven.
After a brief respite we went out again along the canals near where we are staying and called in to Gommers' Bar. This is a "locals" bar, not a tourist bar. It's small, old and a bit battered, but what attracted my attention were all the large format black and white photo's hanging from strings throughout this small bar. The photos are all portraits taken inside or outside the bar - of the patrons and the bar staff. I thought that they were worth a closer look so we called in for a glass of Heineken on tap.

 (Photo above - some of the photos hanging in Gommers' Bar, Delfshaven)

(Above 2 photos - interior and exterior shots of Gommers' Bar - Thought I'd try for the arty Black & White shots).
At 4.50 Euro for two glasses I thought that wasn't too bad. It was even better when the lady behind the bar brought us a bowl of salted peanuts and followed that up with a bowl containing pieces of cheese.
There was a large format clearfile on a table, containing all the photos that were on the walls so I sat there, sipping my beer and feeding my face with peanuts and cheese while turning page after page of good quality portraits. I thought it would be rude to leave after only one beer so bought another to show my appreciation and sat back savouring the atmosphere.
All too soon my beer glass became empty and we called it a night.
The following day we decided to pay the town of Delft a visit. Home to Delft Pottery - the blue and white pottery - Lizzie was keen to have a "look".....(code for "wants to buy something").
We set off firstly on the Metro, using our "Chip-Card". This is a credit card sized card which you pre-load with money to pay your transport costs on buses, trams, the Metro and trains.

Sounds simple......but isn't. It was easy enough using the card on the Metro and on trams. You just swipe on and then swipe again as you get off and it takes the requisite amount from your card. BUT try and use it on the train.......!
First off, we couldn't even get onto the train platform. You have to have a minimum of 20 Euros of credit on your card before you can use it on trains. This is so that the railways don't miss out on a 15 Euro fare when you only have 2 Euros left on your card. We had pre-loaded 25 Euro on our cards so knew that we had more than enough credit to travel by train. But, when we swiped our cards on the turnstile to get into the station. RED light....your card has not been activated. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 (sorry Monopoly moment).
The question is how does one ACTIVATE a card? We looked around for help and saw a button and a speaker system labelled "information/assistance". We pushed the button and had a pointless chat over a speaker system, with a man who told us to ring the 0800 number. Tried the number beep....beep....beep. Not a lot of help there. We flagged down a local who, bless him, tried to help but ended up being more confused than we were by the big yellow machine that is meant to activate the card. Scratching his head he went off leaving us "unactivated". Trying another tactic we finally found the ticket booth.....only to find that today being a Sunday....it's not manned.
We had a few more goes at trying to activate our card using the big yellow card zapping machine. Becoming more frustrated and more animated, we were starting to attract the attention of the locals who were wondering who these people were who were swearing in English at an inanimate object - namely the big yellow card zapper machine. Eventually another gentleman attempted to come to our aid and when the machine defeated him he went off in search of a railway employee. Moments later he returned with a man in a hi-viz vest who had been mending one of the turnstiles. This guy - the one in the vest - turned out to be a true hero. He attempted to use the yellow machine to activate the card and failed, but refusing to admit defeat he went to the information/assistance button and pushed it. I tried to tell him he was wasting his time, but surprise, surprise he did not get the unhelpful man that I got.....he got "the woman who knows how to fix things".
A brief chat later, he had another go at activating our cards and this time it worked. YAY !!!!
Totally thrilled at being able to use our cards to board a train, we jumped up and down a bit and thanked him over and over again - to the point where I think he was starting to get a bit worried that we were more than a little unhinged. He beat a hasty retreat back behind his broken turnstile - making it clear that we were NOT allowed on his side.... and we were finally on our way to Delft.
On arrival at Delft station another helpful lady gave us a map and pointed us in the direction of the Delft Pottery Factory. I've said it before and I'll say it again - The Dutch are very helpful and friendly folk.

(Photo above - Lunch in café Huszar)
Our walk to the Pottery Factory was interrupted by coffee, tea and lunch in a café called Huszar. The café is in a building that was once a plumbing supply business so it has an industrial look about it. We liked it though and the food was very good. I had the open BLT sandwich on wholegrain bread and Lizzie had a goat's cheese salad. The menu was in Dutch and since we don't speak a word of it we pointed at a couple of things on the menu and just got lucky.
For the food and 2 hot drinks and 2 cold drinks came to 18 Euros. Quite reasonable.

When we left the café a crowd was gathering.....we wondered if word had got around about the English speaking crazy people....but no...there was about to be a parade of sorts.
I guess the word should be a flotilla as it was about to happen on the water. Lots of small boats all decorated with flowers and blaring music followed one another along the canal cheered on by the gathering crowds. I'm not sure what it was all about, but it made a colourful sight.

Eventually we got to the Pottery Factory and realised that we would need to either call off our big trip of Europe OR re-mortgage the house in order to buy some of the pottery items on sale here. I kid you not it - is not cheap.
Lizzie had it in her head initially that she'd like to buy some plates. How we were going to backpack around Europe with expensive china plates doesn't bear thinking about......in the end she settled for a couple of egg cups (praise the Lord!).

We then headed for the middle of Delft town where there is a huge ancient, cobbled town square and tall spired church. It's very impressive. We saw a lady in traditional Dutch dress and a gentleman making clogs in front of a barrage of cameras.

The square is surrounded by cafes and small shops - some of which were selling the famous Delft Pottery at prices somewhat cheaper than the factory. Lizzie, to her credit, refused to be tempted by the pottery shops and instead we called into another café for apple cake with lashings of cream plus a tea for Lizzie and a large cup of cappuccino for me.

(Photo above - Lizzie with our apple cake feast outside Coffee & Zo)
Coffee & Zo is a bit of a hippy, funky café and I can heartily recommend the apple cake. It's also one of the few places I have come across which offers you a choice of different sized coffee cups.....so for once I could enjoy a generous sized cup of coffee.
It's on the corner of Peperstraat and Wijhaven in Delft. Do yourself a favour and call in.
Just one full day left here in Rotterdam area and then we're off to Amsterdam.

More photos will be posted on my facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/malcfrost

First step into Europe.......Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

We had a very smooth crossing from Harwich to Hook of Holland on the Stena Line Ferry. The ferry hardly rocked at all which was good news for me. It takes me ages to get my sea legs and when it's rough I can be found slumped over the side of the boat "feeding the seagulls".
All went well until we arrived at Dutch customs and passport control. They asked, how long do you intend on staying in mainland Europe? Our reply "until the end of November or early December".
This seemed to throw the official in the booth a little. He regained his composure and told us that the limit is 3 months....and then we have to leave or be considered overstayers. I started to explain that New Zealand has bilateral agreements with several European countries meaning that IF we chose to, we could stay in each country for 90 days before moving on. He started to argue but was corrected by his co-booth occupier who told him we were correct. He then said - yes, but we had to have sufficient funds to stay for that long......we showed him that we did. He stamped our passports and said he'd give us a total of 18 weeks in the EU. Just about right I think.
From baggage collection we had about 100 metres to walk to catch our train (sprinter number 4169) to Rotterdam Centraal Station and then about another 100 metres to find the correct tram stop (for tram number 4 toward Marconiplein). This tram runs every 5 minutes so it wasn't a big deal if we missed it. Thirteen minutes later we were getting off the tram, right opposite our accommodation. It couldn't have been more perfect.

(Photo above - one of the many different kinds of trams running here in Rotterdam)

Once again we have chosen to use Airbnb to book our accommodation. We have a shared apartment in historic Delfshaven - the only part of Rotterdam to survive the German bombers in WW2.
Our room is modern and clean. As is the shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. The young lady who looks after the property, Kim is friendly, very pretty and extremely efficient. We couldn't have wished for a better host. She showed us where everything was in the apartment, gave us maps and leaflets and information about what to see and where to go, answered all our questions, gave us the use of 2 bicycles for the duration of our stay, offered to do our dirty laundry and gave us a welcoming gift basket with assorted fruit, croissants , jam and butter. Kim runs the place with her mother with occasional help from her sister. It's less of a home stay bed and breakfast and more like a boutique hotel.

(photos above - Our room and bathroom)

The only thing that wasn't perfect was the weather. It was raining when we arrived and has been grey and overcast with the odd shower ever since. A bit of sunshine has occasionally broken through, but it's been rare and short on staying power. But being here still beats working for a living!

(Photo above - an overcast day in historic Delfshaven)

We went for a walk into the city to find the Markthal. This is a huge modern building in the shape of an inverted U which contains market stalls and shops and supermarkets over many floors.
Opened on 1st October 2014 this is an amazing building. Construction began in November 2009 and they have created something quite special. Artist Arno Coenen created his "Horn of Plenty" a colourful painting which covers the walls and ceiling of this huge arch of a building. It covers an area of 11,000 square metres and is known as the Sistine Chapel of Rotterdam!

(2 x photos above - the Markthal - There are stores in the outer walls and several floor under ground as well. Its a vast place!)

(photo above - one of the hundreds of stalls in the Markthal).
It's a great place to shop for food or indeed eat food - as some of the stalls cook and serve their produce on site.
We bought meat, salad, bread and cheese and since it had taken about 40 minutes to walk there, decided to take the tram back to our apartment. BUT the tram never showed up. Above the tram stop is a digital readout showing the expected time of the tram. It was counting down nicely from 10 minutes to 9, to 8, to 7 and then jumped back up to 12 minutes to wait. So we set off walking. There must have been some major problems with the tram system because we were almost "home" when the tram finally passed us. It was hard on the feet and knees walking there and back, but it gave us the excuse to call in to 2 separate patisserie's to firstly buy savoury pastries which we ate along the way and in the second shop, sweet treats to have with our coffee when we got back to our apartment. They were very tasty - I could get used to this!
We found a nice café/restaurant overlooking the canal and only five minutes walk away - café-restaurant Soif. Most of the places we have encountered on our trip so far for eating have been good. This was no exception. The food tastes good, good sized portions and the staff are friendly, helpful and do not hurry you. You can take your time and savour the food and the atmosphere. Prices are mid range. We had dinner there one night and enjoyed it so much that the next evening we went back for dessert.

(photo above - Café-Restaurant Soif - great dining right on the canal)
Today (Thursday) started off quite dull weather-wise so we decided to stay close to "home". We had a stroll around historic Delfshaven looking at the old architecture of Rotterdam dating back to the 1600's. It's your typical Dutch picture. The narrow, tall buildings over several storeys with tiled roofs and windows in the roof. Roofs that step up add to the Dutch look. Of course being along side a canal helps, as does the sight of a windmill in the background and lots and lots of bicycles.

(Photo above - bikes and windmill - it must be the Netherlands!)

(Photo above - the tall, narrow buildings along the canal side)

Along side one of the canals here is the old church that the Pilgrim Fathers worshipped in. Actually it's funny - in a peculiar sort of way - we'd visited the landing site of the Pilgrim Fathers near Boston in the USA 3 or 4  years ago......visited Harwich on this trip...home of the Mayflower ship which took the Pilgrims to the USA.....and now here we are standing outside the church that the Pilgrims used to worship in. Is someone trying to tell us something?

(photo above - the Pilgrim Fathers church is just left of centre with the tower on top.)

After lunch, the sun tried to break through the grey veil that we have become used to seeing. Shocked into action by the sunshine we unlocked our borrowed bicycles and head off for a ride.
The other day when we had been at the Markthal I had not realised how close we had been to the famous Cube Houses. We decided that our bike route would take us back in that direction.

(Photo above - Lizzie with the cube houses in the back ground)
The cube residences are among Rotterdam's icons. 38 conventional piled homes near the Blaak and the Oude Haven were rotated 45 degrees, becoming Holland's first cube residences. Piet Blom designed the cube houses in 1984. His design represents a tree and all houses together make up a wood or forest. That's what they say anyway. I've never seen a tree or a wood like this.....bright yellow.

(Photo above - a closer look at the cubes)
I like them though. They are really quirky. I wouldn't live in them myself, but they look wonderful.
Most of the route along which we biked took us along bike only roadways. These are usually along side normal roads. So you usually end up with very wide streets. Working your way across the street you have a pavement for pedestrians, then a bike lane, then the car lane and in the middle of the street you have the tram line. This is repeated in reverse as you continue to the other side. The bike lanes even have their own set of traffic lights. It's very safe to cycle here as long as you obey the lights. Try to beat them and you'll end up as a hood ornament on a locals car.
We went to suss out the place where the water taxi leaves to go to Kinderdijk (a preserved series of 19 working windmills along the canals in a rural setting). If the weather holds, we'll visit there tomorrow.

(Photo above - water taxi / water bus heading under the Erasmus Bridge)
The water taxi leaves from near the Erasmusbrug (Erasmus Bridge). The cost is 13 Euros each and you can take your bike for free. It also gives you a 20% discount on your entry ticket to the Kinderdijk Project. Full price is 7.50 Euros so it reduces your fee to 6.00 Euros. Not cheap, but not the most expensive day our that I've ever had.
The Erasmusbrug is an interesting piece of engineering - more like a piece of artwork actually.
This stretch of waterway is very busy. Lots of traffic on the water - Cruise liners, water taxies, barges - you name it!

(Photo above - the busy waterways)
Another thing that struck me about Rotterdam is the number of sculptures and statues. they are all over the place. From the very artistic, to statues of famous people, to a dwarf with a buttplug.
I kid you not. Right in the centre of Rotterdam is what's meant to be Santa, but looks more like a dwarf holding a huge ...... well......the name of this piece of "art" is  "Kabouter Buttplug". It by an American artist called Paul McCarthy.....just in case you want to write a complaint.

(Photo above - so what do you think is it Santa or a Dwarf? - a better question would be is it ART?)

It's by no means the best piece of public art in the city, but it's probably the most photographed.

Just to give a little balance - here are a couple of photos of other pieces of public art below.

And on that note I'll take my leave.

More photos of this part of the world will be posted on my Facebook page.....eventually.

The Darling Buds of May - Folkestone, Pluckley and Tenterden

We've now travelled almost the full length of the south coast of England to arrive in Folkestone. Why Folkestone? -  you may ask.
Lizzie has been a long time fan of the English TV programme The Darling Buds of May - based on the stories by H.E. Bates.

(Above photo - Ma and Pa Larkin and some of the cast at Tenterden train station - the Darling Buds of May)
It's twenty three years since the last series was made - staring David Jason and Catherine Zeta-Jones but off we went to try to find some of the locations used in the filming of the series.
It was mostly filmed in the villages of Pluckley and Tenterden and in one episode the family went to the seaside and rode on the Leas Lift at Folkestone. Ah, so that's why we're here.

(Photo above - the Leas Lift at Folkestone - built in 1885 and still in working order)
Using Airbnb, we made Folkestone our base for the next three days and went exploring.
Folkestone is very walkable, despite being hilly.

( Photo above  - Folkestone Harbour)

Our accommodation was on top of a hill, so it meant a quick walk down to the harbour and then ten minutes along the seafront to find the Leas Lift.

(photo above - Leas Lift - the view from the top.)
The Leas Lift is a brilliant but simple bit of machinery. Basically you have 2 rail cars connected to one another by a wire rope looped around a pulley....one carriage at the top of the hill and one at the bottom.
They have water tanks built in underneath each carriage. So the one on top of the hill has its tank filled up with water, which makes it heavier than the one at the bottom of the hill. When the brake is released, the weight of the one full of water, forces it down the slope, lifting the lighter one to the top. When the heavy one reaches the bottom, water is released and pumped back to the top and the process is repeated. Simple but brilliant!
The cost of a one way ride is one pound and twenty pence. I've heard of people complaining about the excessive fee, but really what can you buy these days for that sort of money? Not a lot.
Personally if my one pound twenty helps to keep this marvelous bit of gear going for another hundred and thirty years, it's money well spent.
Once at the top of the slope you can either carry on along the clifftops, past the band stand, towards the lawns and gardens leading to the Grand Hotel, or head away from the water and toward the lanes and alleyways of the old town.

(Photo above - The Grand Hotel - looking very regal - up on the clifftop at Folkestone)

After a quick look at the Grand we headed for the old part of town to look for somewhere to have lunch.

It didn't take long to find a nice pub near the church. The Pullman on Church Street has a varied menu and a nice selection of beers.

(Photos above - The Pullman pub on Church Street, Folkestone)
We got a table by the window and did a bit of people watching until our drinks and then our food arrived. We both had the Kentish meat pie ( actually more like a shepherds pie with mince and mashed potato served in a small cast iron saucepan on a board, with a side dish of veg) Unusual presentation but very tasty. I had a locally brewed ale and Lizzie had a glass of cold cider.

(Photo above - Lizzie about to enjoy her glass of Kent Cider).

The prices were about mid range for the food and for the drink. Quirky old pub and attentive staff. A nice touch was rows of hops hanging from the beams drying.

We also found a nice café on the old high street - it's a fairly narrow and quite a steep street  - so no wonder its called Steep Street Coffee House. I really love this café. Not just because it serves great coffee and tasty eats, but also because it's full of books. Book cases everywhere absolutely chocker block with books. Definitely my sort of place. A great space to sip coffee and read all day.

(Photo above - Steep Street Coffee House, Old High Street, Folkestone.)
Steep Street Coffee House is a literary coffee shop inspired by the famous book cafés of Paris. Interesting and arty books line the walls – poetry and local literature, classics and coffee table hardbacks.

Our next stop was the village of Pluckley. This was where the pub was in the series, plus the church where Charlie and Mariette got married and the homes of the Brigadier (called the General by Pop)  and Mrs Pilchester.
I had prepared a 7 page print out detailing where to locate these buildings......and promptly forgot to bring it with us......so there was a bit of guess work.
Found the pub (surprise, surprise - me finding a pub - well I never!)
In the Darling Buds of May it was known as the Hare and Hounds and was filmed from the back of the pub. The actual name is the Black Horse.

(photo above - view of the Black Horse pub from the front / carpark)

 Photo above - me enjoying a nice pint of ale in the Black Horse - picture of Pop Larkin on the wall beside me)

(photo above - interior of the Black Horse showing bar area and Lizzie knocking back a cider)

Suitably refreshed we had a short walk around this tiny village to see what we could find.

(Photo above - Pluckley Village from the steps of the Black Horse pub. The church where Charlie and Mariette married is in far left of picture, Mrs Pilchester's house is next to it and the Brigadiers house opposite - butchers shop and post office centre and right of the photo.)

(Photo above - Pluckley church where Charlie and Mariette married in the series)

Next stop was Tenterden - mainly for the railway station - where Charlie first arrived to seek out Pop and query his tax returns.....or lack of tax returns I should say. There was a few comings and goings during the 3 series of Darling Buds of May through this railway station.

(Photo above - Lizzie under the Tenterden sign with a Pullman carriage behind her - on Tenterden station platform.)

This is a light railway which runs for 10 1/2 miles between Tenterden and Bodiam. Full details and prices can be found at http://www.tenterdentown.co.uk/index.php/what-s-on/steam-railway-events/

(Above 2 photos - another couple of shots of Tenterden Railway Station.)

Platform only tickets are 1 GB Pound which gives you a chance to have a look at the station and a couple of carriages. There are also some engines further across the tracks, but these are in "Staff Only" areas so you can't get a close up look at them. There is a museum next door which may offer a closer look at the trains themselves - we didn't go in so I am only guessing.

If you buy anything in the station tearooms your platform ticket money is refunded.

More photos of this part of our journey will be posted on my facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/malcfrost