NOSTALGIA IN LONDON

How cool is this old pic sis? Check where it is!



Yep! Sandhurst St in Kingsbury in the old days....

Here it is today!














Greg and I went there today..to Kingsbury Station, then to Sandhurst Road...talk about the memories flooding back.

It was so weird!

I remember it all as clear as when i was there when i was 15! The train station, the shop across the road from the station that used to sell potato croquettes!

The shop isn't there anymore, it's a Kebab place so of course, we had a donor kebab and salad there for lunch. Very yummy too.

I was looking forward to walking down Berkeley Street, into Princes Street to find that old thatched house at the end of Sandhurst Road. But it's gone! Well, the house is still there but the thatched roof has gone. And that was such a vivid memory too.....

Gee, it was weird walking down the street. I spend so many hours strolling up and down and around the neighbourhood in the 6 weeks i was there while Annie was at work, and Mum was on conference!

It was a time when Annie had just returned from a safari Africa and Mum and i went to visit her. I was 15 and Annie was 21. I was so naive! I thought she was so wise! And yet, in hindsite we were both so young.

And still are...hehe (I still think Annie is so wise!)

And the most weird thing..well not weird, but it does put things in perspective now, is that Mum was YOUNGER than i am now!!

So, when i think about it, that time in London, was a time when we were ALL young!!

Talk about having a reminisce. I remembered Anne and Gary....Greg.....to me, they were such hippies!

Gee....

That was THIRTY YEARS AGO!!!

I was SO YOUNG when i was there.

And I remember my thoughts from that period as clearly as a bell. Is that scary or what!

It was fun to go back there...

The train trip there showed a lot of slums..and grafitti and the area looked harsh and run down.

The little area surrounding the street was full of cheering (must have been a football team winning around there) and the street running by the train station had lots of fast food and internet cafe's and even a subway.














Once we got to the street and i'd gotten over the loss of the thatched room on that house i really liked, it looked quite pretty and the houses were all from the same period...bay windows...and arched keyhole shaped frontages.

And all uniform..

At least that house wasn't demolished....

What a fun day!

LONDON TOWN!

Day 206

London, England

We made it back to London!!!

We left Brussells at 9pm on our very cheap British Airways flight and arrived in London at 9pm!!!!

One hour time difference. So we're now 7 hours behind WA!

And we're back to pounds..!

And although Greg whinged about coming back here....due to being harrassed at customs, (not so bad this time seeing we're heading out to the US in a couple of days!) the horrific queues at the airport, the expense, the weather blah blah blah.....

We're here and we're enjoying it!

And our accomodation isn't as expensive as last time. We got savvy. Decided to book our hotel, as we did the first time we got accomodation here, at the BHRC HOTELS at Heathrow Airport. They're so good! Anyway, it's 60 quid a night for the two nights in London before we head off to the US...which is about the cheapest out..and breakfast this morning was not so bad.

We're in a renovated university complex, with toilet and shower outside..but at least it's not £75 like last time, in that horrible accomodation we had when we had to move out of our initial London luxury accomodation..(which was the special because they were working on the hotel).

Oh yeah, forgot to say, we ended up forfeiting the accomodation at that hotel that offered us a room for 15 pound more than we had originally been quoted. And yes, i did sent the 'nasty' letter..buggar them...they shouldn't be able to just get away with saying, 'London has been going crazy this week with extra bookings so the price has gone up!' I know they do it, but not after they've already quoted a price and we've agreed on it. I felt really let down. Silly hotel. Doesn't do much for London Tourism either because you don't trust that next time a hotel won't do that. We were relying on that hotel to stay in and once they said everything was booked we got worried.

But like i said, it's better anyway to get the last minute accomodation at the BHRC HOTELS desk at Heathrow! It's been cheaper and more efficent both times in London.

The only thing is Customs don't like you arriving with no address to go to!

Okies...so now we're off to finish what we didn't before...

To see the old place i stayed when i was here with Mum and where Annie lived in 1977 (Annies old London house) and to the London Eye....(hopefully, if this rainy english weather clears up!) and to see a West End play.

And of course, we need to be fattened up, we're skinny pinny's now...having lost weight with all the EXTREMELY healthy eating and food in Northern Europe!!!! And London is the place to do it..if i recall, England is where we put on a few kilo's eariler in the trip! haha!

Will let you know how it goes....

Lots of love and hugs.....

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS Good to catch up on all the blogs..we couldn't get internet in Amsterdam!

BRUGGE BELGIUM

Canals in Brugge












Day 205

Brugge

Well, yes! It was definitely worth going to Brugge!!!

Once we got off the train, finally, we went to our usual 'first stop' and headed for the Brugge Tourist Centre. And the accomodation was FANTASTIC!

After paying an absolute fortune in Northern Europe...and in Holland....we got a B&B in Brugge for a pittance. With a wonderful Belgian couple..on a canal.

SO WE WERE HAPPY AGAIN!

Oh, it had a double bed too!!!

No kidding.....until then, we had all twin beds...and falling down the crack was becoming a joke! haha!

Brugge is so beautiful at night.

Originally we were only going to have a day here..BUT WE ARE SO GLAD TO HAVE THE NIGHT in this romantic beautiful place.

After we checked into our B&B we headed for this beautiful restaurant right on the canal. (Brugge looked a lot like Gouda to be honest!) The restaurant, called DUPHARWEST captured our eye because it was outdoors...looked cosy and popular..and it was a warm beautiful night.

We were so lucky to have a cloudless sky and it was warm. Very romantic!

Some of the dishes on the menu were hilarous. Kangaroo steaks and Antelope stew. We opted for Vegetarian wok (which was hot and spicy and yummy!) and beef with Duvel Beer.

After dinner we walked into central Brugge which was about 3km away....and it was all lit up and the buildings looked so beautiful, a bit like the Brussells Square. Belgium has such lovely buildings.

There were shops full of chocolates..and different beers..and laces..and horse drawn carts were moving about...so beautiful.

The next day we experienced a HUGE Brugge market...which had everything from dead foxes to coronation memorabilia..to deer heads..to ornaments and furniture. IT's the biggest market i've ever seen and it stretched the length of Brugge central.

Which made trains out of Brugge impossible. There were literally THOUSANDS waiting for various trains...

But we won't go into the chaotic Belgian TRAINS again!

However, we did go all the way to Brussells in an overcrowed, two carriage (WHY only two carriages when it was so crowded???) and had to sit midway between the carriages because there were no seats................

Ohh.

But...anyway, our last night in Europe..was spent in a beautiful place.

We reminisced as sat at the Brussells airport, ate Belgian chocolates...and french fries and had our toast to Europe!

OFF TO LONDON NOW!!!!!

BACK TO BELGIUM!

Day 204

Brugge, Belgium

From Amsterdam we headed off to Brugge! We'd heard it was THE PLACE to see in Belgium and we didn't get a chance to see it when we were last in Belgium so...we bought tickets from Amsterdam to Brugge.

It turned out we had to go via Antwerp to get there..and we ended up staying a few hours in Antwerp because of the rail problems. We're not sure why, but all the trains were delayed or slow in and out of Antwerp.

The train to Antwerp delayed us by 3 hours..and the train to Brugge should have taken an hour, as we were told at the ticket office, but it took 21/2 hours!

So....we were VERY TIRED and disgrunted to say the least...

But..we did have a lovely lunch at THE ROYAL CAFE in Antwerpen Train station. Gosh, talk about grandiose. SO much gold!!! At least that made us happy for a while.

We arrived in Brugge in the evening..once again with no accomodation....and if you look at the pics of us under the sign at Brugge it will say it all.

NOT HAPPY JAN.

Due to this we had to cancel our meeting the next day with our Antwerpen friends, due to the feeling we wouldn't make it to the airport in Brussels in time for our flight to London. We booked a direct ticket to Brussells instead of veering off in Anterp again.

There must have been rail strikes. From what we could gather, all the Belgian train stations were doing HUGE renovations. All the train stations are in chaos. And a huge mess. The trains are slow, old and cumbersome and there is no english on the train at all.

At one stage...midway to Brugge...the train just STOPPED. IN the tracks on the edge of a station and everyone started disembarking. Greg said..we don't move, this is NOT our stop.

And once everyone was off..and one of the last couples told us there was trouble so we had to get off and change trains, we did....

Geepers. Talkabout miscommunication.

We were wondering why we bothered to even go to Brugge!

Was it worth it????????

THE HAGUE, GOUDA - For you sis

The Canals in Gouda!









THE HAGUE, GOUDA, HOLLAND

For you sissy...

To get to The Hague and then Gouda, we had to take a train out of Amsterdam as it about an hour away..

So we decided to make a day of it..and reminisce on Annie's behalf.

Even just sitting on the train to The Hague and looking out the window at the bicycles, the windmills, the tulip fields...the scenery....had me reflecting on what Annie had told me about Holland all those years ago....

My sister Annie lived here, in Gouda, in a house called RAAM 68. I'd heard all the stories, about the people she lived with, the house, her experiences, the hells angels....Mirjiam, Lorna, Potter, Norman..

And now i was going to go to where she lived.

And feel what she felt.

Or at least get a bit of a feel about the place.

First of all we went to the Hague. Den Haag the Dutch call it. We got out of the station and looked at the maps and around at the Hague. It wasn't what i expected.

In a way it was industrialised and not as quaint and gorgeous as i had expected it.

I asked at the Tourist centre if they knew of a pub called the Carte Blanche. They were really helpful and looked it up on the internet but no Carte Blanche could be found. Perhaps they were looking for a hotel we decided later, and not a small pub that i knew it to be from Annie's descriptions.

We got a map and walked around the Hague and found it got more beautiful as we veered away from the train station. Some places have the whole hive of activity right there, in the hub, around the station, but the Hague was deeper than that.

And the further we ventured the more artistic and 'Dutch' it felt. I don't know why, but by Dutch, i mean creative and colourful and free and almost spiritual.

There were Heineken signs and Amstel beer signs all over the place, displaying the pub culture so we decided to venture into one of these places after feeling a bit despondent because we hadn't really found any familiar...the names of places where Annie worked...Lummus nederland and armaco...

The pub we found was called Nderaar. It sold Amstel beer and so we sat on a little elevated table with two stools and soaked up the atmoshere. The table looked a bit like a beer barrel. It was warm and friendly and had lots of old bottles and colourful old pictures on the wall.

Photos tell the story so we got the camera out to take pictures and the gorgeous barmaid, with her Dutch accent said, 'I take picture of two of you'. SO there we were, perched, once again with our beers in our photos! Honestly this has almost become our call song...our statement...us with a beer!!

She was quite talkative too...telling us about Holland's pubs..and how each pub can only sell one beer. We were in an Amstel pub so we drank Amstel. But in a Heniken Pub you drink Heneiken! Heneiken is the 'National' beer of Holland!! When i told her i thought it was a German beer she said, 'Don't tell the Dutch people THAT!'

When we asked if she knew whether the Carte Blanche was in THe Hague or in Gouda....she just said that was a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PLACE!

So...we thought we'd better not get settled in...and we'd better get to Gouda or we'll end up staying there the night. The last train out of Gouda, we were told when we bought the tickets, was 10pm.

I bought a colourful arty scarf in The Hague..which reminded me of Annie....as it started getting colder than we had dressed for..and headed off on our half hour trip to Gouda.

More relflection.

On the way from the Hague to Gouda i was thinking...gee, this is the trip that Annie did from work every day.

When i used to envision her in Gouda, when i was in my teens....she in her twenties, it seemed so far away. So distant. ANother land, another country. And yet, he i was, right there...looking out at scenery she would have looked out at...

It made it all the frustrating because i was trying to message her on my mobile and couldn't get through. Grr. At one stage, we were sitting on the train, just about approaching Gouda station and i got a message from her! Saying she was sitting in the mall in Brisbane thinking of us!!!! We were VERY MUCH thinking of her.

Must have been reading each other's thoughts.

But why coudn't i text back. Ended up texting mum and couldn't get through there until really late. I'm sure i woke her up.

And as the night progressed...i wanted to text even more because the night revealed changes in Gouda.

It was funny when we got off the station in Gouda. We were like kids going to find treasure. Where was Raam 68. Where was Komijnsteeg 57. Where was the Carte Blanche.

Come hell or high water. We were going to find these places and report back to Annie what we had found.

We took photos of the huge map in the centre of the town because after asking at the Railway Station (advice from Annie) the guy, who looked younger than Sam, said, ' The Raam, I've heard of that!!' Geepers..we thought, well obviously it's a remote little street, how will we find it. And it had just gone 6pm and we didn't have a map. He told us to ask in the square where all the pubs were situated in a circle.

So we went about asking...where's the Raam, where's the Carte Blanche. Eventually a gorgeous young chef came to help us and even walked into the square with us telling us where we could find the long street named the Raam.

We walked towards where we thought his directions would lead us to the street and got a bit sidetracked because honestly Gouda is the most gorgeous scenic canal town and we were just blown away by the .. quaintnes for want of a better word. It was just SO COBBLY..and had little narrow streets with little A framed houses that looked like they had smiles on their faces. So colourful and bright, yet old and worn as if they held secrets.

Some of the little canals had obviously not been touched because they were green with mildew. We saw a row of ducks floating through with their beaks ducking in and out of the green water making little tiny streams behind them....

THe names were all Straats..or steegs...then to our excitement we found RAAM.

And we were filled with joy. And nostalgia, on Annie's behalf.

It is a long street.

We followed it down..in awe almost. Because the buildings looked as if they were waiting for us. People were on their bicycles going home....the sky was still blue and yet almost ready to go down, the air was fresh.

And we were about to find Raam 68. The house where IT ALL WENT ON. (You'll have to read the book Annie is writing to find out more about this!)

The right side had high numbers, all odd, leading down...157, 155...

The right side had lower numbers going down...86,94

Where was Raam 68?

We found a shop...Raam 62.

And a large vacant block of land.

We checked either side of the land.....all numbers BUT Raam 68.

It had been demolished.















I was in shock. And didn't realise i'd feel this as keenly as i did. It was a real blow. I felt sad for Annie that the house she'd lived in was no longer. I felt grief for a few moments and became tearful.

I SO wanted to see where she lived.

And it wasn't to be......

I grabbed a girl as she walked outside the not there anymore house....in amost a desperation, and asked her where the house was. She said she'd lived in the area for a year and it was vacant when she arrived.

We walked around the neighbourhood for a long time. We walked the streets where we knew she walked, to the train station. It was alike a journey from long ago, but one we didn't take. It was another person's journey and yet i felt it were my own as the memories she'd implanted in my imagination were acute.

We found the little canal close by..and the beautiful windmill as well. There were boats parked in the canal with 'Gouda' written on them. We took a lot of pictures....

And then went back and knocked on the shop next door. It was closed but we had to know what happened.....

The heard the old man came clumsily down the stairs and open the door...and thankfully he was talkative. We were hoping he wouldn't be cranky for banging on his door at this time....which was about 7.30pm by then..

And he said the houses there were condemmed and were demolished about 3 years ago....

He said it was changing in the area...

And so we found out about all were going going to find out..and had one last look down the street, up the street, and all around the streets and stared searching for Komijnsteeg but it was getting late, no one could help us...and apart from greeting all the cats in the area, we knew we weren't going to find that street unless we knew exactly where it was situated...so we headed off to find something to eat because we were starving!

We realised we hadn't eaten lunch! So absorbed in finding these places of my sister.

The Carte Blanche seemed like a place we just were not going to find in Gouda this time.

And as we were walking we saw a couple of tired little cafes that were deserted and looked unapetising..

Until...On Grownendaal Street, about 50 metres from the Raam, we came across a little spanish cafe called TAPAS. It was bursting at the seams....so, thinking it must be THE place in town, we entered and hoped to find a table.

It was absolultely the BEST FOOD we'd eaten in ages!! Pesto dip with a great bottle of recommended local wine...Fresh, fresh food...Fresh chicken...fresh veges...SO NICE!

The atmosphere was magical. And after a really emotional day..and feeling disappointed for Annie....we enjoyed this dinner and thought she would enjoy this should she come back here.



This is it, the Tapas Restaurant!












Our last train to Amsterdam from Gouda was leaving at 10...

So, in a last gasp, at 9pm we set off to ask at some more pubs as to the whereabouts of the CARTE BLANCHE!!

AND...by the stroke of good luck, at a pub called, Pyramide we came across a barman that looked about the vintage we were looking for and he KNEW THE NAME!!!

He said it was now a restaurant called, 'DE BEHRSKLOK'

And he wrote the directions on a little beer coaster for us! (just looked like a series of scribbles ..we laughed at that!) and yes, he remembered it was the Carte Blanche.

So off we headed. To find this pub!

And there it was..on the corner of these two little cobblestone crossroads. In very, very small writing...De Behrsklok. We could hardly see that..but we did see the BIG WRITING which was, 'JARDAN JAN'. Which, of course, is the beer it sells!! It seems the name of the beer is what is in lights!

In we go...............

And it had obviously been refurbished.

We orded the local beer at the bar which is still there..and peered around the place and saw the restaurant that is in a little cove area. We asked a few questions of the guy behind the bar and he said, 'She will remember!'















And so the girl waitress came over to us and said she did remember the Carte Blanche. I did wonder...she looked VERY YOUNG!!

Anyway...she said it changed names about 12 years ago...and had remained empty for about 6 months before they started refurbishing. She showed us where the roof was really low and where the 'swimming table' was! (pool table!) She said she was 24.....

We told her it was my sister's old haunt...(I think she thought i was literally talking double dutch) and that she lived here..and she was interested in that..and the fact that she was writing a book....

But it was getting very busy in the restaurant and we couldn't continue the conversation and so i wasn't able go into depth about her history there..but she must have been a girl when it was like that.

I asked her about the 'Hells Angels;' and she laughed and said they were bikers!

We imagined she must have known someone from back then..or being a daughter of someone or the owners or something...

She was busy waiting on tables...and the guy then told us there were old black and white photos in the restaurant if we wanted to look...

So we did. And took pics for Annie to see if she could identify any familiar faces....

















And then...

IT WAS TIME TO RUN!

ANd run we did...all the way to the train station, dodging the million bicycles outside, to catch the last train back to Amsterdam!

And that was Gouda.

Quite a revelation.

And a 'going back in time' for Annie.

I'm so glad we went there...it filled in a lot of gaps i've had about Gouda..and all the stories i've heard..and it gave me a little more of a glimse of the life my beautiful sister led, all those years ago...

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

Day 201 - 203

Amsterdam, Holland

Catching the train to Amsterdam in the afternoon at 12.45pm and arrived at 3.15pm...and as soon as we arrived we thought, yes we're in Holland! It had a really nice feel about it..i'd heard so much about this place from Annie and all about the years that she lived here so it just confirmed, that yes, it was all that she said. A creative, alternative country.

And the smells confirmed it too.....at the tram stop we could smell marijuana haha! And thereafter, wafts of it hung in the air.......

Once again, we checked in at the tourist office for accomodation and they said a conference was on...so prices were high at the moment! (Is this just an excuse to put all the prices up???? It's such a familiar comment, everywhere we go!)

We ended up finding a place called the KAP for a night and we decided we'd just search for something else later on. We were planning on staying 3 days which didn't really seem enough time at all! (And wasn't!)

The stairs at the KAP were so STEEP! I counted them in the end......there were 51 winding steep stairs that we decided was really a ladder! NO joke...steep alright. And when you're carrying a front pack AND a backpack it's not funny!

The next place we stayed, which was a place we found just down the street, called The Hotel Asterisk, was the same!!! We questioned reception about this and they said it was pretty typcial and the stairs saved space when they were building in the old days......i'd say that's why they're pretty fit looking as well....(altho dazed..hehe)

Amsterdam is such a cultural centre. We really loved it. Especially the museums....to see the famous Dutch Painters.

The Rembrandt Museum was just down the road..as was the Van Gough museum....We felt spoilt..fancy seeing the works of both of these incredible artists. Vincent Van Gough is a personal favourite of both of ours.

We spent a whole day looking at their work! We learned so much about both of the artists...and a lot about Vincent Van Gough as he kept quite a comprehensive diary and wrote a lot of letters to his brother Theo (who was his art dealer). He was only 37 when he died and only spent 5 years truly building and developing his work. He was depressive and ended up shooting himself. We saw the last painting he ever painted and i cried. The story on the audio was so sad.

Another thing we learned was Van Gough cut off his ear after a tempestous argument with Gaugauin, an artist that Van Gough loved and admired and whom he wanted to start an art haven with...!!!

There was a whole intersting story to that.....

The things you learn......

Went to the Dentist here in Amsterdam....crikey, horrible experience..and still have a loose tooth...long story.....

We also went to Anne Franks House as well which was a revelation. I read the book when i was a teenager and always wanted to see the Annexe where she lived for that two years as a captive jew under the Nazi regime..and it was so depressing...yet so uplifting. SHe had over 300 pages of writing plus 3 diaries..so much more than i realised .. and i was so tempted to buy the critical version of ALL Her work..just to get the whole story as the original diary was very much edited when her father (the only survivor of 8 that were in hiding) published it after the war ended in 1947...

Such a story. So sad...yet as a quote by Mandella said when he read her book while in Robben Island prison...she was one voice that truly made a difference.












This is the Otto Ware house. And the annexe where Anne Frank and her family were in hiding for 2 years. It's just over the road from the canal and she was in hiding in the annexe out the back (it's the one that has the blue frontage, next door to the house where the steps are)

OK. Onto other Dutch things...

While in HOlland...do what the Dutch do....

So we decided to go one level down from actually trying...and visited the Hashish and Marijuana museum! haha......



Here it is!











And it was so interesting. I took heaps of photos for you mum.....some incredible hemp products there to be seen. Especially the home spun rugs!!!!

We went to the RED LIGHT DISTRICT..........and i tell ya.....the are so many girls trying to accost the boys.......all in doorways, illuminated..begging for business. And yet, somehow, it didn't look as seedy as i thought it would. Just girls going about their business. And very beautiful girls at that. At one stage, while we were looking over the road at these girls (well i was, Greg has lost his lens to his glasses so he couldn't see!!! hahaha) were yelling at a couple of guys in front of us telling them to stop taking photos. Drats. Cos we wanted to take some of the street and didn't...so lit up. And SO many girls. I wonder how they sustain their business to be honest............

The canals were amazing in Amsterdam...the people were friendly..the whole place was creative and wonderful....

Like i said, we needed more time...

But we found a day for The Hague and Gouda....

COLOGNE, GERMANY

Day 200 - 201

After spending the day mooching around Koblenz and having coffee's at as manz cafe's a we could to fill in time before we hoppped on the ferry to Cologne we finally arrived..and yes, more problems with the tickets on the second leg to Cologne! But we finally got that sorted out...crikey, anyone would think we were trying to get a free ride!!

The ferry lunch was beautiful though, on both legs...cruising the Rhine, drinking wine, eating...so lovely. The castles are truly maginificant that's for sure!

The first thing we noticed when we arrived in Cologne was the incredible cathedral there..so MASSIVE! Apparently this is the cathedral where the THREE WISE MEN are enshrined.......not sure how much i believe stuff like that though..i mean, how long can a person's remains last in a shrine......hehe

But! THe cathedral is fantastic! IT just stares out at you when you arrive...we arrived at the port and THERE IT WAS...and then when we left on the train, THERE IT WAS! So massive...ornate and just incredible. We've seen some cathedrals but i think this takes the cake!

We found a hotel here, called the GOOD SLEEP HOTEL near the central station on the fourth floor. The people at the tourist centre said there was a fair going on and accomodation was all around the 200 euros...but we found this one, cheaper, and pretty close to the centre. So i think it just takes a bit of mooching around to find something suitable!

Before we left Cologne we took a city tour bus..which was pretty crap and a waste of money..some of these tours are really good. This one was ridiculous..the only exciting part of it was when they were talking about when the witches got burned in the centre of the town...then it was back to just pointing out obvious buildings...!

Off to Amsterdam tomorrow..and REALLY looking forward to it!

xx

PS I forgot to mention that while we were on the Rhine we went passed the bridge that the Germans preserved as a rememberance for 7th March 1945 when the "Americans freed them!" Interesting concept, that the Americans freed Germany. We understand it to mean that Germany was liberated from Hitler's Rule which freed them from his rule.

Another comment they made on the tour was that Hitler always claimed the Autobahn as his 'baby' and creation. But it wasn't! And the Germans want that quite clear! IT was the Mayor of the time, Konrad Adenauer, who created it! Building started in 1929 and completed in 1932, ONE YEAR BEFORE Hitler came to rule!