Holland 2012, Day Four

May 17th Day Four

Headed for Leiden, the closest large town to Wassenaar, described in travel books as a mini Amsterdam. That should give plenty of opportunities for bridge photos. We had also read that parking was difficult and expensive, so we parked at the park and ride (the transferium) just off the main road outside the town. From there we got a bus the short distance to the centre. It was relatively expensive at €2.00 each (even Amber) and tickets were only available one way, that would make it €16.00 total, parking in town would have been cheaper.

We arrived at the busy bus and train station and popped into a tourist information opposite, to get a town centre map. From there we followed the map towards the shops, only the shops were not open, in fact it was a public holiday, Hemelvaartsdag (Ascension Day). Again we are caught out by public holidays we didn't expect and especially didn't expect on a Thursday.

So all we could do was have a nice walk around a practically deserted town centre but I did get lots of bridge photos.

 

Eventually we stoped for a drink, at least the bars and restaurants were open and doing very well by the look of it. They had an old favourite of mine, Gulpener, Korenwolf from Holland so that's what I had and it was lovely.

Suitably refreshed, we continued our walk and I took even more bridge photos, until we arrived back where we had started, bit of good map reading there.

By now there were quite a lot of people out enjoying themselves eating and drinking on a day off. There was also a stage set up with a band playing, I would have stopped longer but we set off back for the bus. On the way back the driver didn't charge for Amber, so it was only €14.00 all together for the trip.

When we arrived back at the site, the car parking place next to our van was taken, as was just about every parking place on the park. I did manage to find a space eventually and it wasn't too far away.

Later we spent some time at the funfair before tea and then went for a drink at the campsite bar, our first visit. It is called the "Irish Bar" but the only thing Irish about it, was a picture of some Guinness on the wall. It was also cold and noisy (there are several a nine pin bowling lanes in there). The children's disco was starting just as we were about to leave, so we ended up there longer than we intended.

Holland 2012, Day Three

May 16th Day Three

It was a nice warm morning, so I wandered over to reception, to ask about buses to Leiden the nearest big town, or if there was a park and ride. I also asked if they had any DVDs for us to watch, the nice girl on reception said she would ask around for me and bring any over later.

Back at the van, I found a compass in my backpack, so Ralph and I had another go at getting the satellite working. We had some success, we managed to lock on to the satellite but not good enough to receive any channels, although it did allow us to watch all the stuff we had on the hard drive.

 

After a morning in the sun, we spent the rest of the day at the fun fair and went on just about every ride between us.

  

  

That night we walked back into the town centre for a couple of beers.  Later back at the van we had a much better choice of film to watch.

The Beers

Holland 2012, Day Two

May 15th Day Two

It had rained all night but now the sun was out so we had a walk into town. Amber needed armbands for the pool, they are mandatory for all smaller children, no mater what their swimming standard.

It is about a ten minuet walk to the centre of town, with lots of shops, eating and drinking places. We got the armbands and some goggles and topped up our food supply's from a supermarket.

 

Back at the site Dot and Amber went to the pool, while Ralph and I drove to find the beach, there was a nice sea front in the town where we had been to Lidl but it was cold and windy, so we drove back to make tea.

That night we walked back over to the town and had beers in a couple of bars, it was very quiet, perhapes we were out a bit early. I will add a blog just for the beers later. Afterwards we watched a cartoon film that I found on my phone and transfered to the laptop so we could all see.