As I think you know, we have been wanting to do this for years, and when the house finally sold, we acted on the dream. We found an 88 VW camper van over the Internet and went to Utrecht, Holland to purchase it. It is tight but manageable quarters. We had about 45 days for the whole process of selling off stuff and closing up our life in U.S. and baby, that is a lot harder than we expected. Many things to do from stopping utilities, to doctor checkups, to insurance, to packing and storing, to paying bills, etc., etc., etc. We were horribly stressed and frantic but we made it through and this is well worth it.

We can be gone for one year at least, and possibly two years, depending on how expensive it proves to be. We are camping and that is either free or averages about $15 night so far. Gas is about $4.50 a gallon, but in three weeks we have only gassed up 3 times, Europe is compact, thank god. We are cooking our own meals and food is costing us about $50 or less every 3 days or so.

We are in England right now, then to Ireland and probably will be in British Isles through July. It cost a fortune to cross the channel ($205 - it only cost us $265 each to fly from Oakland to Amsterdam on Airhitch!!!) so we have to take advantage of it. We are writing a travel diary and e-mailing it so I will send you the past installments and keep you current with the present ones as they are mailed. We have a laptop and a digital camera so we are pretty cyber-wise, even though we have to use cybercafes to connect. We are soooo glad you found us! I wanted to send a postcard a mere 4 days ago, but Bruce said you deserved a full letter and now we can send it to you (I can type faster than I can write)!!

More later...
Much love
Peg & Bruce

Berk & Shannon took us out to dinner at Skates by the Sea, a wonderful restaurant by the Berkeley wharf and dropped us off at Oakland Airport where we waited for 2-1/2 hours to see if we would be allowed on the flight. About 1/2 hr before takeoff the airline determined there would be room for us and 3 other stand by-ers. It was an 11 hour cattle car flight - packed full and cramped spacing -but we were actually on our way.
Saturday in the Netherlands is Queen's Day, Queen Beatrix' birthday, a national holiday and one of only two days when fireworks are allowed. The plane was full of Dutch people returning (I guess) for the holiday. We got to Amsterdam airport at 5:30 P.M. Saturday. This whole thing seems like a movie - like it isn't really happening to us, but that we are watching a script unfold as we go along - very surreal. At Amsterdam airport we got hints of rooms being hard to find and great activity throughout Holland due to the holiday.

We decided to take the train (which has a large station right at the airport) to Utrecht, the college town 25 kilometers south of Amsterdam, where we would pick up the van on Monday. We felt we would have better chance of finding a room there and then return to Amsterdam to party. And so, we lugged our luggage (is that where that word comes from?) through customs (without even a hello, much less a stamped passport) to the train station ($8 tickets for 2) and on to Utrecht, along with a full compliment of partying college students! Boy, these Dutch people area good looking nation!

Once at Utrecht train station, we were at a loss of what to do. It was about 7 pm and we were wearing out. We threw our stuff in a locker (thank you Berk and Shannon for that piece of info), actually three, and headed out looking for a hotel room. Well that was a joke!! I think Queen's Day may be the largest holiday in the nation, there were NO rooms in all of Utrecht. Defeated, we headed back to the train station. On our way we saw a little copse of trees behind a (full) hotel. Looking at one another, we decided this would be our room for the night. We grabbed our sleeping bags from the locker and headed for our "room". Actually, it was pretty neat, we were warm, dry, and the passing trains
sang us to sleep. Well, we were looking for adventure!

Sunday arrived and we began looking again for a hotel for Sunday night. Finally we were directed to the only one with any rooms, the Grand Hotel Carl V, a five star hotel that is wonderful. It is featured in those books referring to luxurious hotels in the world and we are lovin' it, all the way down to our pre-warmed terrycloth robes!!! It even included a shower (The bushbed was wanting in those features)! Truly, this is a very nice hotel and a good counter to our first night. Boy, we have experienced the greatest extremes of accommodations in 2 days!

It is now Monday morning, we just finished a lovely breakfast buffet in an elegant dining room and are preparing to pick up our van. That's it for now, we are having as much fun as we expected to, and it is only day 3. Adversities are meant to be overcome and turned into memorable experiences. Hope all is well with everyone, please drop us a line, but no jokes or attachments (takes too long to download-$$$), we will be back to you in a few days.

Early afternoon we decided to take the bus into town for some sightseeing. We caught local bus #57, going the wrong way, but we left the locals laughing(!) and finally found the right way bus to Central Station. We got off early though due to fascinating sites, shopping and people watching - unbelievable - the canals, the architecture, the people - unbelievable!. I (Peg) have lived my life being a tall person. In Holland I am only average height! The true Dutch are tall, fair, attractive and slim. Emphasize TALL

Bikes - did we mention bikes? There are more people riding bikes than driving cars. Unbelieveable (Bruce's buzzword for the week...). And, they are rickety! The cobblestone streets wreak havoc on these 3-spd,
2-wheeled, Wizard-of-Oz looking bikes. Boy, they are everywhere - parked on bridges, or being ridden by people of all ages - 80's to teens - everyone rides bikes. No wonder these people are thin - they are ACTIVE!! In Amsterdam alone, they say there are 900,000 people and 400,000 registered bikes. That is 1 bike for every 2 people. And, there are 800,000 reported bike thefts each year. That means each rickety, noisy bike is stolen twice a year!! How Funny!

After walking around Utrecht for 3 hours or so, along with way too many people for a Tuesday afternoon (Bruce thought a school holiday might help explain the activity) we decided to mosey towards the bus station to
go home. Upon arrival at the bus station, we couldn't find our bus #57 so we decided to hoof it on to the campgrounds. We meandered through Utrecht neighborhoods and wended our way home after about 1-1/2 hours. What a fun and lovely afternoon. Our evening was quiet and we plan to go to Amsterdam on Wednesday to find a cybercafe, among other things (Van Gogh museum, Rijksmuseum, Ann Frank house, Rembrandt house, and, oh, we can't forget Madam Tussaud's place) so we can post this to everyone.

Until next time...
B&P

Amsterdam -5/3/00 - 5/7/00

Well, this is a wild and crazy town! The manager of the campground at Utrecht suggested Gaasper Camping as a nice place to stay (and it was run by his ex-boss), so on Wednesday morning we took the big 35 minute drive to Amsterdam. The campgrounds were easy to find and very nice. Almost looked German-run with the efficiency and well-tended look. It was 100 meters to the Metro which took us right into Central Station which was a beautiful building and an active square with canals. We walked around the city looking for and finding the Internet
cafe where we posted the last letter. The cost was about 9 dollars including 2 beers for an hour on the internet - a little steep I thought.

Walking around Amsterdam is an experience that is well worth doing. The canals are everywhere, and the gables on the homes which date back to 1600/1700's are all different and astonishing. After 2 devastating fires, buildings were built with brick and there are only 2 wooden houses left in all of Amsterdam - we saw one in this private little courtyard called the Begijnhof, a peaceful place once reserved for single older Caltholic women who did charity work. This city is so different from anything we have in California - I suspect I am going to be saying that at every city we hit. All the buildings, which touch each other and stretch down the streets, are individual. We decided to go to the Anne Frank house and walked all around til we found it - Bruce is the navigator in towns and doing a wonderful job of getting us to wherever we are walking to. We walked around some more after the Anne Frank House and headed back to camp to cook dinner and turn in for a well deserved rest. We are walking miles daily, our shoes were the right choices but our feet are usually dog-tired by the end of the day. Pretty soon we'll be able to run (walk) marathons!!

The next day was to be museum day; the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum and the Amsterdam historical museum. After getting off at Central Station, we hoofed it down to the Rijksmuseum, another gorgeous building (it will be on web site - hopefully), but it wasn't open yet, so we continued towards the Van Gogh museum, stopping for some soup de l'onion (French onion soup, good, but not as good as the soup in Paris). Van Gogh museum holds 200 original paintings by Vincent as well as others by Gauguin, Picasso, Monet, with a few Rodin statues, and more. We are walking around looking at the Sunflowers, Irises, Yellow House in Arles, Vincent's Bedroom, and on and on. These are paintings I have learned about through art books, prints, and years of life, all of a sudden, it hit me where I was and what I was seeing and I was totally overwhelmed and started crying. This is unbelievable!

Inspired, we headed for the Heineken Brewery tour that began at 1:00 pm. That was a gas! After the tour (which cost 2 Guilders, or .82 cents) we got 3-4 beers apiece, a plateload of Gouda cheese and clever little Cheetos-type crackers. And we met some darling kids around 22-26 yrs old from Canada and the States; Utah, Pennsylvania and 2 girls from California who now live in Holland with their husbands. We partied together the rest of the day - they thought we were cool - but finally our age caught up with us so we went home while I am sure they carried on. The next day we were kicking ourselves that we didn't take a group photo for memories. Great kids!

Next day, Friday, was Liberation Day (from WWII). (And finally the weather broke out into sunny blue skies and warm temperatures.) They would have concerts, classical and techno and another huge party day. (It was a complete fluke that we hit both of the major holidays upon our arrival in Holland.) The Queen was going to show up for an appearance at the classical concert at 9:00 PM and the whole day was a flurry of activity at the sight as the military prepared for her safe visit and roadies prepared the sound stages for the orchestra.

We stumbled across it while we searched for the flea market to stock our van with pots/pans, etc. The flea market was interesting, very similar to flea markets in the states, a mix of commercial stuff and citizens dumping their stuff (been there, done that!!) we scored a colander, a 4-qt pan (or whatever the metric equivalent is), a 2-tiered wire hanging basket and a tea kettle we will probably have to trash cause we can't get the bottom cleaned. We probably paid less for the stuff than we realized since we are having a little trouble converting the currencies. 2.4 guilders = $1, but after that easy math I get lost and Bruce is only a little better than that. Thank heavens for our calculator
and converter. We dropped off our finds at the camper, rested for an couple of hours and headed back out to watch the festivities.

The Dam was hopping with a good rock/techno band and loads of people. A real difference between Amsterdam and the States is people get out, they are walking around, sitting at dozens of outdoor cafes people watching and socializing, they do not sit in the house and watch TV! Around 6 PM we headed for the little bridge and the Queen's classical concert. It didn't start until 9 PM when she would show up but we talked with an older man who has business in Aruba and Curaceau , and a young couple planning to marry next year. We laughed and giggled til the Queen showed up and the concert began. Afterwards it was back to the Dam, via Rembrandtsplein and an outdoor cafe where, for a few minutes, we watched the crowds mill by. We finally got back to the Dam which was still rocking hard. We are talking thousands of dancing people, celebrating hard! The Dam is literally where the Amstel river was dammed up and how the city got it's name, Amsterdam. It is a very popular meeting place which holds the townhall, Royal Palace, and for centuries has been a place of importance to Amsterdamers. It was getting to be midnight and we caught the last metro for the night and headed home.

We decided today would be our last day in Amsterdam. Our agenda for the day was telephone shopping, grocery shopping and the floating flower market. We got off at Waterlooplein, looking for Rembrandt's house but found the Mint, another neat building, instead. Then we headed for the flower market - about a block long with gobs of tourists. We can't say it enough - walking the streets with the buildings, the canals, the people, is just too awesome for words, and we are just that - awestruck! After the flower market we tracked down the Amsterdam Historical Museum, which showed the growth of Amsterdam from about 1200AD to now. Very worthwhile visit. About $5 to get in and plenty to see. We hear how they reclaimed the land from the sea, but having it shown to you makes it much more understandable and admirable.

Sunday - de Lakens campground, Netherlands.

We left Amsterdam after Bruce finished up his last laundry load, a lovely gray/white concoction that we are still trying to figure out what happened (Now we are looking for the Dutch word for bleach). We were in search of the elusive Dutch Tulip, reportedly in bloom in colorful fields west of Amsterdam. However we think they have been kidnapped and held for ransom, we hope someone pays soon, because they are supposed to be quite the sight. We headed for the beach at a National Park de Kennemer Duinen 4KM from Haarlem. A German camper in Amsterdam told us about it and so we went. It is a dune-filled beach campground, very peaceful and we are the ONLY Americans in attendance. Most people are German or Dutch. The beach is facing the North Sea - check that on your maps, folks!! The day we arrived, Sunday, it was perfect weather. And the beaches were crowded. The sand is very fine, the surf mild, and the water warmer than I would expect for early May, but not what I would eagerly swim in. Our campsite is no more than a 15 min walk to the beach, which is clothing optional. The daylight hours are longer here than at home. The sun has barely gone down by 9:15 and at 10:00 PM it is still light out. We are astounded, since we keep forgetting we are that much further north than California and what a difference that makes. Peggy came down sick Sunday with a nasty cold (it started on Sat, but I was hoping it wasn't true) and slowed everything down to zero speed. However it has been nice to do nothing. We do have a whole year, so we need to learn to take our time. Monday we slept very late and then went to the beach and slept some more (remember, Peg is sick), then came home and cooked bratwurst in beer, made a salad and zucchini for dinner. If the sun will ever set, we are going for a walk, then bed, so we'll end this and hope to post it soon.

Wednesday 5/10/00

Yesterday, we walked to Zandvoort, a tourist beach town - think Santa Cruz - about 5 kilometers from the de Lakens campground. It was a great little town with a boardwalk, a professional racing circuit, and all sorts of beach atmosphere. Our excursion took us about 4 hours and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Today, we learned about parking meters - the hard way! Haarlem was our destination for the day, but only by circumstance. We left de Lakens at 9 AM bound for Haarlem, the tulip fields, den Haag and finally Rotterdam to camp for the night. Haarlem is a whole 5 miles from de Lakens and while we didn't get lost going there, we got lost trying to get to the center of town. We circled it 3-4 times before finally coming close enough to city center for our satisfaction and at the first parking space, parked. Rick Steves guide books say look for the tallest church spire and you will probably find the center of the original town. So far he has been right. We were looking for the Grote Markt (great market) where resided: a) the GroteKerk (great church), a huge medieval cathedral with an organ reknowned throughout the world (and one on which Mozart played when he was 10) and; b) the Amadeaus Hotel because it has Internet access. As it turned out, we were very close to the Grote Markt - within 3 charming, colorful blocks. The market that takes place at the Grote Markt is only on Saturdays, but the square is quite large and rimmed with buildings of different eras, ranging from the church (circa 1400's) up to 1800 architecture. (notice we are still talking at least 200 years old!!!) The square was also filled with outdoor cafes. Haarlem is lovely, with canals (of course) and fascinating buildings, cleaner and on a smaller scale than Amsterdam. Well worth the visit. We entered the Grotekerk and the scale of the pipe organ stopped us cold in our tracks with a breathless "WOW". After a couple of hours of wandering about Haarlem we returned to the car and Surprise!!!! we got a parking ticket. What should have cost us 4 Guilders or about 82 cents was now a hefty $35.45 fine for not getting a ticket at the parking meter box about 40 feet behind where we parked. We didn't even know it was there, much less that we must use it!!! On another front, Bruce, who has been dealing with a toothache for days now, finally reached the point where he needed help with it, so we were in search of a dentist as well on our walkabout. We found an herbal pharmacy, bought some vitamin C and asked the counter girl if she knew of any dentists and she actually did! She directed us to a dental office fairly close by. They, in turn, gave us a phone number for a dentist in Zandvoort (the Santa Cruz of Holland) who had a practice helping tourists away from home. So now we are travelling backwards - Zandvoort was yesterday! We took our ticket, our car and Bruce's sore tooth back out of Haarlem and to Zandvoort. I went grocery shopping while Bruce dealt with the dentist, getting some antibiotics. He also found a police station where he tried to pay the ticket only to find out we had to pay it in HAARLEM!!!!! I got my first real chance for any driving this trip, through town and I ended up driving for the rest of the day - good experience. So we went back to Haarlem - found legal parking - and took off on foot searching for a police station where we could pay the ticket. It turned out to be about 3 blocks away from where we got the ticket, but about 2 miles from where we parked the car this trip. Finally mission accomplished and we could be on our way. We headed for Leiden which was near the tulip fields and about 30-50Km away from Haarlem. Then we got into a heated discussion about not sticking to itineraries, got caught in commuter traffic and overshot our turnoff. Finally we made it to Leiden around 8 PM and had our first experience free camping in a school parking lot. All in all, not a very good day. Haarlem was lovely, our experiences weren't.

Thursday, 5/11

Well, another day, let's try again! We were in Leiden, right in the area of the elusive tulip fields. We wanted to be by Lisse about 14k north of Leiden where the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens were. This is a world famous park with settings of planted tulips and other flowering plants. It receives 800,000 tourists in the 8 weeks of tulip harvest- March to May each year. There were also supposed to be tulip fields around it. Today, we would hit the tulip fields, go see the town of Gouda (it's the cheese, ya know) and then head back to Utrecht and see why we can't get the van’s refrigerator to work. We will need that option when we free camp and don't have electricity so this is important. We drove to Keukenhof and saw many fields with no flowering tulips. We stopped at a nursery and asked a man, he said the last tulips were cut about 2 weeks ago and that the unseasonably warm weather had ended the season rather earlier than usual, but that we should go to Keukenhof. So we did. And are we glad we did. It may be a tourist trap but it is a VERY good one! There were acres and acres of cultivated tulips, 100's of varieties, as well as azaleas, fuchsias, begonias, orchids and flowers I don't know. They had a maze, a lake with black and white swans who would swim right up to you, exotic chickens (not our average Rhode Island Reds or Leghorns), an albino peacock who wouldn't stop spreading his tail feathers, all in all like an enchanting fairytale setting. It was about $8.50 American to get in and well worth it! Feeling better about our day, we headed to Gouda, it's the cheese you know - we just missed the cheese market - but bought 3 Good Goudas -original, w/caroway seed, and green herb, and found out that Gouda is also famous for 70 stunning stained glass windows in Saint Janskerk (St. John the Baptist Church). Of course we went it, and I got a guide to the church, and we saw 70 stunning windows ranging in age from 1557 to the latest, 1947. If you ever go to Holland, make sure you go to Gouda and see these. They are magnificent! We got back on the road again and headed for Utrecht. We arrived with no trouble, except stiff necks from traffic tension, at our original campground of two weeks ago. We set up camp and headed for the cafe for a beer. There we met some Irishmen who work in Holland who shared with us some strategies for seeing Ireland. That of course, is assuming we ever get out of Holland!!! Tomorrow will rest for a day and try to contact Donna. Looks like we will spend the weekend in Utrecht and head for Belgium early next week. The weather is unseasonably warm - great for us Californians - everyone is glad we brought the weather with us. I am almost done with my cold, and Bruce has medicine for his tooth which is getting better.

Sunday, May 14 - Mother's Day

We made it! We got out of Holland! Saturday we returned to Donna Turner's for a checkup on the car – we learned how to properly start up the propane refrigerator, exchanged the bike rack for another propane gas tank, got a new house battery and an oil change, all of our questions answered and we were on our way. We headed for Delft, the town where all the blue and white porcelain that we see and think "Holland!" is made. On our way we decided to go to Kinderdijk, an area with 19 working windmills (an unusual thing). As the crow flies, it wasn’t very far from Delft. In fact everywhere we had been so far was no further than 80 kilometers from Utrecht. We aren't covering much territory, but we sure are seeing a lot. We stopped at a church bazaar just outside Kinderdijk and bought a small wall mirror for 1 Guilder - 41 cents. We found the Delft campground (the most expensive yet at $20/night with free hot water and they had TP!) and set up camp. We are still getting settled in the van and we continued rearranging stuff to allow us maximum room. We have inadequate maps at this time, so getting around is very adventurous and somewhat stressful. We hadn't eaten all day long getting to Delft so we were ravenous by the time we arrived. We walked into town and found a restaurant which served rijsttafel (rice table) an Indonesian-Dutch specialty we had been told to try. Then we had to find a bank since we were running low on Guilders. We covered all of Delft trying to find a bank. In the process we purchased a Delft porcelain Christmas ornament to add to our Christmas collection - this was after we found the extremely elusive bank. Then it was on to the restaurant for the rijsttafel - steamed rice served with 15 different items: fried 1/4 chicken, beef, lamb and pork in a assorted sauces ranging from mild to spicy to peanut butter sauce, green beans in mild sauce, tofu in mild sauce, cabbage & carrots in mild sauce (excellent), poached egg in sweet and sour sauce, chow mein in peanut sauce, a sauerkraut-type cabbage dish (excellent combined with the other dishes) peanuts and shoesting potatoes as a garnish and deep fried battered bananas with powdered sugar as dessert. We ate till we were miserable and there was still enough left to eat again. All for $10 bucks apiece! We waddled home to continue our cribbage tournament and split the two games we played. Today we left Delft around 9:30 to cruise the Delta Project a coastal flood control project that takes in the whole delta region. In 1953 a massive flood struck, killing almost 2000 people and the Dutch said "never again." Hence the project. It was a lovely drive along the coast that eventually led to our first ferry ride. A 20 minute crossing south of Middleberg that put us about 21K from Bruges, Belgium. Oh, boy! Bruges is unbelievable! We did a little cruising while searching for the campground and can hardly wait for tomorrow to really sink our teeth into this town. It is beautiful. I know, I know, I have been saying that about everywhere we have been. And I have been right! Everything just keeps getting prettier! While searching for one campsite in Bruge, we found a different one on a small skiing lake set in big tall trees. Lakeside camping with power and free hot water for $10/ night - not bad huh? Hopefully you will see a photo soon.

B&P

We got up early and headed to the communal shower house - many small cubicle showers with great hot water but hard to dry in because they were so small. When we were ready we walked to the bus stop, a short, 5 min. walk from the camping. At the bus stop we came across a German couple, a little older than us. They reassured us we were at the right spot. Took the bus all the way into Bruge Station and walked from there toward the center of town. Wow, this town is cool. We took the walking tour, which showed us the main sites of the center of town. We started at the minnwater, a waterwat that is a protected home for swans which are a symbol of the town. I am only going to say this once, but it applies throughout the day "Very picturesque!" The streets were narrow and lined with buildings dating back to 1500's. Beautiful old churches with astonishing spires and town monuments with amazing edifices and belltowers.

We climbed the 366 steps to the top of the belltower and were breathless, for more reasons than one. The bells went off at 4:00 PM while we up in the belfry and we got to see the mechanism in action. And what a view! Then we went to the Basilica of the Sacred Blood, a small church that was the home of a holy relic thought to be the coagulated blood of Christ that was brought to the church in Bruges in 1170 AD by a returning Count from the 2nd Crusade. It is really a big deal in Bruges - every year they have a huge pageant with hundreds of citizens dressing the part of 15th century life and the relic is paraded through the streets. Well, for some reason the relic was out for viewing and we got to see it! We are not religious people, but this was VERY awesome! And the basilica in which is resides, while small, is very impressive. The church is so old, 1200's, that the stone steps are worn down and the stained glass window which portrayed the story of the relic, as well as other windows, was fabulous. We had Belgian waffles for breakfast in an open air cafe on the Market Square. Bruges is famous for its (Belgian) lace. And it has a right to be. We watched an old woman who had been making lace for 59 years, make lace. She used at least 15 wooden bobbins with thread on them, pins to mark the pattern and wove the thread into intricate lace patterns. Just astounding to watch this. How she knew which bobbin to use or where it should go was beyond us but the result has amazing. There are tableclothes, baby shoes, curtains, jackets, bras and panties(!), window decorations, bookmarks, all done with lace and intricate designs. And there are a lot for sale, so there must be many, many lace makers. We saw two!! We checked into an Internet cafe and frustrated ourselves trying to work with a 28K modem to send the last email. If you didn't receive the one wishing Happy Mother's day, let us know, we will resend it. We planned to return to Bruges tomorrow for the museums and a boat ride on the canals. After a full day - 9 hours of touristing, we ran into the same German couple on the bus going home. It turned out we were camping at the same lake. We had tortellinis, fresh green beans, cookies and the beer of the day. We are buying beers for their unusual labels and saving the labels for souvenirs. Intersting tastes we have been experiencing!

Tuesday, 5/16/00

We have decided to pass on Bruges today and instead head for England. We will hit Bruge's museums and canal rides on our way back. We need to hear English for a while. We took the motorway to Calais, France and found out the price of the ferry is equal to one of our plane tickets from home to Amsterdam!! Yikes, are they trying to isolate the British from the continent??? We made a reservation on the Hovercraft for 10am Wed. morning and proceded to explore the town of Calais. It has a beautiful Hotel de Ville (city hall) and we saw a carousel that reminded us of Paris!! We went shopping at two different gocery outlet stores that were astonishingly cheap and tickled us to death since we blew our food and camping money for the next 3 days on the ferry ticket!! (We are sleeping & I am typing this in Hovedrcraft parking lot tonight!) What a gas! Speaking of gas, it is costing us about $4.00 a gallon to fill up, so you all quit complaining back there, and are we glad Europe is condensed. We spoke today with a Irishman from Florida who brought over his full sized "Endeavor" brand motor home (bigger than yours, Bro Bill) and a Tracker tow vehicle. Not only must he stop in the outer parts of towns, but it costs him $360 to fill his tanks!!! And it cost him $6000 to ship both vehicles over! By the way, Shonie won the name contest with the entry "Queenie" named for the Netherlands Queen Beatrix, since we arrived here on the night of her birthday. Shonie, you won a week's stay in Norway in the upper berth of the luxurious motorhome Queenie (air fare not included). Congratulations! Please pack light!!

5/18/00 Thursday

All night long Tuesday night we felt the wind blow and knew the halogen parking lot night lights were going to melt the car, they were so bright. But, hey, we felt safe!! In the morning the skies were gray and the wind was worse. We snuck into the showers in the men's bathrooms (the women's showers were locked) at the Hovercraft terminal - how nice of them to have them!! A free hot shower is a big thing in our lives right now! Then we queued up (that's "forming a line" in English-speak) to await boarding the Hovercraft. Soon, an attendant came out and told us the trip was delayed due to choppy waters (and boy, were they!). An Englishman parked next to us, suggested we follow him with a transfer to the car ferry so we could at least cross the channel. We agreed and 20 minutes later we were boarded on the P&O ferry line headed to Dover. The seas were choppy and we watched little French students throw up at the beginning of their field trip to Canterbury - poor little tadpoles! I (Peggy) got first shift driving in England - it's backwards, ya know, and I had some experience 5 years ago with my folks and our trip to England. Well, we did fine, but it is still stress-inducing - all those narrow streets and round abouts and speeding English drivers!! We drove up to the White Cliffs of Dover and walked along them - it was very windy and chilly - and drove by Bruce's first castle; Dover Castle circa 1200 AD. Pretty impressive but expensive at $9.00 a head to walk through it.

We passed. We decided to go to Canterbury, of Chaucer fame, and found a campground about 4 miles outside the city, The Yew Tree Park. After we set up camp and got our bearings, Peg took a nap, (being exhausted from driving those 23 backwards kilometers) and Bruce walked the neighborhood (backwards) and came back and read a travel book to familiarize himself with the area. He read about Whitstable a coastal town about 6K north of Canturbury which has specialized in Oysters for 2000 years. We decided that would be dinner and headed out! Arrival in Whitstable, we parked along the shore and set off afoot looking for an oyster bar. We found a precious pub called The Wall which we were told was the best pub in town, but didn't serve dinner so we had a Guiness and a Shandy (7-up & beer, sounds weird, tastes great) and chatted with 4 young adults who were shooting 8-ball with only red and yellow balls (and the 8-ball, of course), rather than numbered & striped balls like in the U.S. they told us this was the best pub and also directed us to a restaurant where we had oysters and fresh grilled tuna and cod and it was delicious. We felt like locals - this was not a tourist stop. Afterwards we drove home, and as we passed through Canterbury, the cathedral was all light up and it was breath-taking. We can't wait to explore it. That's it for now.