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Month: June 2018

The Netherlands aka Holland

The Netherlands aka Holland

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The last long drive of our (continental) Europe trip took us 738km from Billund, Denmark through Germany (where we stopped in a city called Hamburg so of course we had to have a hamburger! Ha!), and into The Netherlands to a place 40 mins north of Amsterdam. We stayed in a cabin which they had described as located in a recreation park. I wouldn’t call it that. I was amused to see a flock of sheep out my bedroom window.

After a big supermarket shop, the first two days were rest, I wasn’t feeling well as I had picked up some bug somewhere. A highlight for the kids was watching BK start up the charcoal BBQ and giving them sticks with marshmallows on the end to roast, YUM!

On Tuesday we got up early and went to the biggest flower market in the world, Flora Holland, Allasmere. They auction flowers off between 7am and 9am. It’s hard to explain but the whole process of the flower market really tickled the logistical lover in me. The flowers came into the market on big trucks then through the auction room, then onto little scooters which towed mini trailers (where all the flowers sat), to be put in to buyer sets ready to be sent out to the buyer/customers. I could have stood and watched them for hours. I took a video on my phone which I’ll post it on Facebook, it’s total organised chaos!

We then went to IKEA for brunch (cheap food in their restaurant!) and to buy BK a thermos as the one he bought in Italy had fallen off a bench and smashed. Once we were tanked up again we went to a place called Zaanse Schans, it’s old time Holland in action. There were lots of clogs and lots of proper working windmills. We also saw a timber mill in action, which was so fascinating.

This was followed by another 2 days of rest and not feeling well, then it was off for a day in Amsterdam. BK did some research and found it would be a whole lot cheaper if we arrived after 10am, so we visited Edam first, and yep we ate Edam cheese in Edam. 😊Then we went into Amsterdam, their Park and Ride system worked well. We arrived just in time for our canal cruise around the city sights. Boats seem to be a recent theme for our sightseeing adventures. The audio guide for this boat was much better than the Berlin one, and they also had a pirate channel for the kids to listen to. After that it was a bite of lunch that we’d brought with us. Once we had people watched for a while we rented bikes, BK and R went on a tandem one made especially for 1 child and 1 adult, C and I had our own bikes. We cycled around the big park in town called Vondel. There were lots of groups of people just hanging out with their bikes around them. With cannabis tolerated for personal use in this country there was a distinct smell wafting around! Then it was back to Rouge and back to our cottage and into bed for me.

So a relaxed week for everyone thanks to me not feeling well. I didn’t manage to pass on whatever I had which was a good thing.

Till next time,

Claire

 

Budget update

The Netherlands : $392 under

Legoland, Billund, Denmark

Legoland, Billund, Denmark

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The next day we were all excited to go to Legoland!

I wrote this blog a bit differently for people wanting to go to there.

 

Legoland was built in 1968 so this year they are celebrating being open 50 years. I had read a few blogs on how to do it best. I wanted to do it quickly with the least amount of walking and waiting in queues! We downloaded their app which had wait times and a map and a bunch of other stuff.

We arrived early, got a good park, pre paid our parking while there was no queue, and went to buy tickets.

We had been very blessed in Slovenia, our Airbnb hosts had let us in on a local hint. There was 50% off vouchers on the back of some cereal boxes that expired on the 30th of June. When we showed our excitement about that on the last morning we were they actually went out and purchased us a box with the voucher on it. So so kind and generous of them, their €3 saved us $160 NZD!! So I proudly handed over my cereal cut out voucher and was stoked to see the price on my receipt.

We lined up for the gates. I explained to our kids that people may run, but WE were NOT running. The gates opened and we were 3rd in! There was no running by anyone either. Lovely. Just as you walk in on the right is a place you can get an armband for your kid. You write the kids name and your phone number on it incase they get lost. We had the ‘if you get lost’ chat and came up with a place.

Then it was into my plan and I’m happy to tell you, my plan was awesome and worked really well!!

We went straight to the back of the park, and onto the popular rides first. We started with Ninjargo and worked our way along the back, around the right hand side to the front. We got in at 10am, by 2pm we’d done ⅔ of the park. The left side of the park is mostly the Lego hotel but there are a few things to visit, so we did these in the early afternoon. Then we went and did our favourite rides again, by now they had wait times but the wait time is clearly shown as you enter the line. We enjoyed the Lego Canoe and the Eagle Roller Coaster the most and went on them several times.

C was tall enough for all rides as he’s over 120cm. R is about 113cm so missed out on 3 rides (over the whole park!) Once we had done all the rides THEN we went to find mini land to have a look. They had done a great job of Copenhagen City, it is open for an hour after the rides close for the day. Then we visited the Lego shop, but if you go, don’t expect a bargain! Then if you’re like us, you’ll be leaving the park as the shut the gates behind you!

 

A day well done ✔️

 

Practical tips :

There are toilets everywhere!

There is a baby centre that looked amazing when I glanced in, my kids are too big so we didn’t use it.

Food is so expensive and many reviews I read talked of it being average so take your own. Lots and lots and lots of picnic tables with shade over them.

On the note of shade, apart from the picnic tables there isn’t a lot.

Take water! I read somewhere there’s drinking fountains all over the park, there isn’t, so I (along with a bunch of other Mums) refilled our drink bottles at a tap I found by the candy shop in the back left of the park.

They’re not kidding when they say you’ll get wet on a couple of rides. Take a spare tshirt or cope with being wet, the drying machines are useless (and cost extra). It was 28 degrees the day we went so having a wet singlet actually wasn’t that bad!

Don’t forget to reapply sunblock!

Denmark & Sweden

Denmark & Sweden

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It was a smooth drive out of Berlin and up to the coast to catch the ferry to Denmark. We arrived early checked in, lined up with everyone else, boarded quickly and early, parked, and went upstairs quite pleased with ourselves and the boat for the efficiency. Within a few minutes of being on board we glanced out the window and saw we were already departing, a whole 30 minutes before our sailing. We panicked slightly that we were on the wrong ferry! Where are we going? But we soon realised that while we were not on the ship that we were meant to be on, (it had a different name to the one on our tickets), but that dock only sends boats one place! So all good and it put us 30 minutes ahead of schedule. It was a quick 45 minute crossing with unloading being as efficient as loading was.

We arrived at our Airbnb which was a cute little cottage by the water about 45 mins north of Copenhagen. It was a very limited information check in which turned out to be too minimal when later we went to leave and realised we had no key to lock up! 😮 I sent a quick message and she came by to tell me it was in the garage on top of a fridge, I was never going to find it there!!!

A rest day of school work and laundry – where I got an electric shock from the machine! Ugh!

The next day it was off to Malmo, Sweden via some time in Copenhagen. I had booked us cheap bus tickets to Sweden a few months ago. We drove into Copenhagen and got a park right opposite where the bus left from and it was free because it was Sunday, score! In Copenhagen we got some snacks and visited the Hans Christian Andersen museum which had scenes from lots of his stories. The kids watched and listened to Thumbellina, The Little Match Girl, The Swinehead, The Emperor With No Clothes, and of course The Little Mermaid.

Soon it was time to get on the bus. The kids were stoked it was a double decker bus and we got on quickly and scored front row seats at the top. The drive to Sweden should have been about 50 minutes long. The bus took us through the Drogden Tunnel, which is 4km long under the water, then we popped up on a man made island and then we went on the most epic bridge, Øresund Bridge. It’s 8km long, very tall and it’s quite the experience to travel on the top deck of a bus on a calm day, I bet a windy day it would be awful! We then got to border control, they got on the bus and checked all our passports. three people got escorted off the bus, one was allowed back on but the bus driver was soon instructed to carry on and had to leave a young couple behind!

We saw some paddle boats as we drove into Malmo so as soon as the bus dropped us off we headed to them for a 30 minute thigh workout..I mean a leisurely paddle on the river! BK also saw a brew bar on the way in so he went to that while I watched the kids play (in their clothes) in a fountain with other kids. Strangely, they managed to stay quite dry!!!?? The 28 degree day helped dry them off as we headed back to the bus via a store to pick up a magnet and Swedish chocolate! It was only a few hours in Sweden but it was lovely. Back over the bridge, through the tunnel, and into Copenhagen and it was fantastic to have Rouge parked where she was as we got in and quickly hoofed it up the motorway back to our cottage.

The following day was another work/school/supermarket day. The weather finally cooled off a bit to 24 degrees. Everyone was glad for the rest.

We were up early the next day and back into Copenhagen for a walking tour. We couldn’t work out why the car parking machine wouldn’t accept our cards. I am carrying three types and it did not like any of them. So we wrote a note to the parking warden – in English – and left it on our dash. True kiwi styles! It turns out it was the Danish National day so parking was free! The tour guide was born and bred in Copenhagen and had a real love for Hans Christian Andersen and the Danish Royal Family. He had so much information in his head and one of our kids said to me “How does he know all this?!” Haha. “It’s his job” I replied. 1.5 hours in the group stopped for a coffee break, we’d seen an ice cream shop selling Copenhagen cones about 2 minutes back so while the rest of the group (which included some girls from Rotorua!) did coffee and sat and chatted, we walked back to get ice cream! $33 NZD later, all of us enjoyed a Copenhagen cone in Copenhagen. 🍦 We continued on the tour and saw HCA’s house, the new harbour, the Opera House (which was paid for by Mastek shipping, apparently a proud Danish company, the owner wrote off the cost of the opera house against his tax bill – smart!!!) and of course we finished at the Royal Palaces.

Little Miss R wanted to see the Little Mermaid statue, so we walked an extra 10 minutes up the harbour to see her. Finally we found the Little Mermaid after a few, “have we walked past her?” moments. We waited our turn for a photo, it was very slippy and the girl in front of us fell in, whoops! By this time it was 2.30pm, 28 degrees and we were done so it was the loooooooong walk back to the car.

Another rest day, (washing, school and work again) we did get out in the middle of the day to explore the northern coastline. Found a famous northern arctic explorers home. Looked right out onto the North Sea. Can imagine it’s quite awful in winter but the day we were there it was a perfect blue sky day.

Then it was a travel day west to the city of Billund! The home of…..LEGO!!!

We dumped our gear and BK at our Airbnb and the kids and I went off to explore the Lego house. It took us a while to move past the Lego shop on the ground floor, we had fun looking at lots of Lego sculptures and then went up to the roof and played on the multiple playgrounds, all in the Lego bright colours. We found out there was a class at 4pm so quickly nipped to the supermarket across the road for drink and ice creams, (at 1/4 of the price they cost IN the Lego house!) While we waited for 4pm I decided we would all make Lego mini figures. I carry a mini figure in my hand bag for THOSE moments when my kids are melting down and I just need them to hold out a bit longer. I’ve also lent him out to other kids on planes etc when I can see other parents at their end of their wick!! He always gets handed back which I’m thankful for. So I made him a wife 😄, the kids made a ninja and a princess – I’m sure you can work out who made who! 😛. When the class started we got given a Lego pack and built a little small fish with a surfboard, then we got to take it home – for free! Whoop! (I paid for the mini figures)

 

The following day was a much awaited for day and will get its own blog post.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

 

Budget update.

Denmark : $64 over!!! 😲

Germany Part 1 + Poland!

Germany Part 1 + Poland!

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Dresden + Gorlitz/Zgorzelec and Berlin

 

Because we had driven on the back roads between Austria and Pilsen, driving into Dresden we got our first taste of the German autobahns (highways). We’d been told there’s no speed limit but a bazillion trucks. Wow that sure was correct! We enjoyed the 3 lane highways the most (due to trucks passing trucks) and most of the time we sat between 130km p/h (the normal speed for highways in Europe) and 150km p/h (about as fast as Rouge comfortably goes) and had cars woooosssssh past us.

 

We checked into our apartment in the outskirts of Dresden, and were told not to go into the city as a couple of days earlier some guys on a building site had found a WWII bomb that hadn’t gone off, so specialists had been working on defusing it but had been having issues with the detonator. Apparently it did explode a bit and catch fire, but no one was harmed and they got it sorted within 24 hours of us arriving in Dresden. Phew. So we chose not to go into Dresden the next day while all that was going on and drove to Poland instead. We drove across the border and had a look around before realising they did not use the Euro and we were not changing any money just to get coins for parking! So we went back to Germany to park and then we walked over a bridge into Poland and along the river bank until we found a restaurant for lunch. BK had a Polish dish called borsch which was a sour beetroot soup that he really enjoyed. The rest of us had pancakes. Turns out Polish pancakes are just like the rest of the world’s pancakes! 😝 Then it was back to Germany in a rush as BK had booked hair cuts for him and C.

 

The following day we braved Dresden and were surprised to find that parking was really easy! We had a walk around and could easily see which bits of the city/buildings were original and which had been rebuilt since the carpet bombing/fire of WWII. A stroll along the river was lovely and we even came across the shopping street my Mum got lost 10 years ago when she was in Europe. I reenacted several photos for her just to be funny! 😄😄 We also hit up a cheap clothes store called Primark and spent $83 NZD on replacing clothes, this got added to the daily budget. So that was our express trip to Dresden and Poland!

 

After that it was a quick drive to Berlin, less than 2 hours. A late check out at our place in Dresden meant we could just drive between the two places rather than waste some hours. We don’t leave our car when it’s full with our gear so that restricts what we can do on travel days. Berlin was very hot, 30+ degrees every day. Our hosts were amazing, almost as awesome as our Zagreb (Croatia) ones. Funnily enough it was the same kind of situation, them downstairs, us upstairs. After an incredibly informative check in we tried to go for a swim at a swimming pool but couldn’t find a carpark 🙄 We even played the game, you know, watch for someone to come out the door and head for their car, then slowly and stalker-ishly drive after them and hope to get their parking space. Nope, didn’t work for us. We did a day of sightseeing in Berlin, and again, as this is a city BK and I had been to we didn’t want to do the same walking tour we had done before. So we did it by boat. Unfortunately the English audio guide didn’t work very well and so that was a waste of €4.

We snuck a bakery lunch on board which kept us going in the extreme heat (haha this blog is really showing you our true colours, stalking car parks and sneaking cheap bakery lunches onto boats). After that it was a bus ride to Checkpoint Charlie. It was double decker bus that picked us up and when we got on we could feel the air con wasn’t quite right and then it totally clapped out. So imagine us, on the top level of a mostly full bus, 33 degrees outside. Yep. It was gross! The bus driver stopped in the middle of a traffic jam to come upstairs and unlock the small windows to let some kind of air in which still didn’t help much.

So that was 10 minutes of character building, or something! Gelato helped the situation when we got off.

When were in Berlin 10 years ago Checkpoint Charlie had been quickly covered on our walking tour so this time we got to actually take it all in at a leisurely pace. Then it was back on the train and to our apartment to rest and cool off.

The following day we enjoyed a rest day, you know the drill, laundry, supermarket, school work. We also visited an asparagus and strawberry farm on our hosts recommendation. BK used his best German to get across what we wanted to an older lady but a younger girl had great English and after hearing where we were from exclaimed we were very far from home. Yeah, tell us about it!

The next day we went into Berlin again, this time to our first aquarium of the trip. BK and I have been to aquariums all over the world and we were not disappointed, even seeing fish we’d never seen before.(Google: Leafy Seadragon) It was well set out and the kids were really engaged.
My favorite tank was one where it there was a convex dome. The fish came right up to you. It was amazing and looked so computer generated! In fact I spent a lot of time saying to BK, “Is this real or CGI?”
At the end there was a buzz about an ‘Aqua Dome’ so we were all for it and lined up to enter. We went into a circle shaped lift, then up through the centre of a giant fish tank. it was 25 meters high and took 8 minutes to ascend/descend, it was totally amazing! Apparently it’s the biggest cylindrical tank in the world at holding 1 million litres of water. Wow!

The tank was in a hotel lobby which had rooms facing it. You wouldn’t want to have the curtains open when you forgot to take your clothes to the shower, huh!! I felt the tank should be more heavily stocked with fish but my fish obsessed husband tells me that a) 1 million litres takes a lot of fish and money, and b) you can’t stock a vertical tank as much as a horizontal tank, it’s not good for the fish!

 

And that was Berlin.

 

Now we leave Germany for a couple of weeks, but we’ll be back for another week later on.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

 

Budget update :

Germany P1 : $305 under

Total budget : $4137 under